The senior senator from Arizona claims that the waterboarding technique as depicted in the movie did not lead to information about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in Pakistan.
- Dec 19, 2012
AceShowbiz - Getting closer to its limited release date, "Zero Dark Thirty (2012)" continues to stir controversy surrounding its much-talked-about "torture scene." The latest influential person who weighs in on the subject is none other than Senator John McCain, who admits to have been left sick of the film after watching it on Monday night, December 17.
As reported by The Associated Press, McCain slams the Kathryn Bigelow-directed movie for being wrong when depicting the waterboarding of Al Qaeda's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Despite what's shown in the movie, the Republican insists that the method used to Mohammed didn't not lead to information about Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in Pakistan.
The former Presidential candidate claims that the notorious hunt for OBL didn't start after Mohammed spilled some information to the CIA. "Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed (al-Kuwaiti), it actually produced false and misleading information," he said during a speech on the Senate floor.
McCain, who is supported by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also states that he's against the waterboarding technique as depicted in the film, adding that it could damage the nation's character and reputation. "I do not believe they are necessary to our success in our war against terrorists, as the advocates of these techniques claim they are," he goes.
The issue was first brought into attention when Frank Brunni of The New York Times criticized the early sequence of the Osama bin Laden hunt film, which featured an agent named Dan (portrayed Jason Clarke) went violent toward a detainee. "The movie shows a detainee being strung up by his wrists, sexually humiliated, deprived of sleep, made to feel as if he's drowning and shoved into a box smaller than a coffin," so Brunni wrote.
Since then, the movie was deemed a "pro-torture," but Bigelow insisted that her movie had been "misinterpreted." The film will open in selected screens on Wednesday, December 19 before opening wide on January 11 next year.
