Jessica Chastain plays an intelligence agent in the new film "Zero Dark Thirty". (Jonathan Olley/ Columbia Pictures)
Katherine Bigelow’s latest film "Zero Dark Thirty" comes out in limited release this week, but critics have already honed in on what’s become the film’s most controversial talking point: its depiction of torture.
"Zero Dark Thirty" follows the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. It opens with several torture scenes, including one of a CIA agent waterboarding a prisoner. Critics have subsequently accused the filmmakers of making an argument for torture.
Karen Greenberg is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and editor of "The Torture Papers."
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Comments [2]
Apparently, the U.S. Government not only tortures foreigners, but also it's own people: http://usgovt-atrocities.com
I don't like the idea of my tax dollars paying for kidnapping and torture. If government employees and contractors think they can get away with kidnapping and torturing people in other parts of the world today, then tomorrow they will be kidnapping and torturing you and me. It really is that simple.
If we cannot maintain our Empire using due process and a commitment to human rights, then it is best our Empire not survive.
Torture seldom provides useful information, and is rarely done for this primary purpose. Torture is done primarily because torturers like torturing, and to intimidate, cripple, smash individuals, groups, whole societies. From this perspective, the real targets of CIA torture programs are you and me.
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