McCain says torture scene in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ inaccurate in leading to Osama bin Laden
Posted December 19, 2012 12:19 am.
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WASHINGTON – The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” suggests that the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Republican Sen. John McCain watched the movie Monday night and says it left him sick — because it’s wrong.
McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment by his North Vietnamese captors during the Vietnam War, has insisted that the waterboarding of al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
McCain said Tuesday that he was provided a copy of the movie and that the filmmakers feel for the notion that enhanced interrogation provided the critical information.
Last year, McCain asked then-CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he said the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.
“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, it actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.
McCain has said he opposes waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning, and any form of torture tactics. He said they could be used against Americans and that their use damages 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,” McCain said.
