3 Former CIA Officials Review “Zero Dark Thirty”

Flopping Aces ^ | 01-30-13 | Wordsmith

[Starman417]

Jan. 30: Members of Code Pink protest outside Capitol Hill in Washington as Attorney General Michael Mukasey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Melina Mara - The Washington Post

Yesterday morning, the American Enterprise Institute held an event titled “Watching ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ with the CIA: Separating fact from fiction.”

AEI’s Marc Thiessen (author of “Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack”) will host a panel discussion with three CIA veterans who were involved in the hunt for bin Laden.

Panelists: General Michael Hayden (ret.), Former Director CIA John A. Rizzo, Former Chief Legal Officer at CIA Jose Rodriguez, Former Director National Clandestine Service

http://bcove.me/v6ti2858

WashingtonExaminer:

At an American Enterprise Institute forum to discuss the movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, former CIA Director Michael Hayden added that the administration has made capturing terrorists for interrogation such a "third rail" that it's better for soldiers and CIA operatives to kill their targets rather than face a "legally difficult and politically dangerous" climate.

The two, along with former top CIA lawyer John Rizzo, also lashed out at a secret, 6,000-page Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report that endorses the administration's view that the interrogation program, noted for its waterboarding of terrorists, did not produce any intelligence.

"It's a ridiculous assertion when a report says that enhanced interrogation program had no value or produced nothing. Frankly it's disturbing. Because in my view it is an attempt to rewrite history. The narrative of this administration is that the enhanced interrogation program was torture and nothing came out of it, but in fact we were able to destroy al Qaeda because of it," said Rodriguez, who added that the committee never interviewed any of the three ex-CIA officials about their program.

While they said the movie was not totally accurate, the three praised it for showing how long and difficult the hunt for bin Laden was and how intelligence gathering works. However, they said that the make-it-up-as-you-go interrogation style used in the movie didn't happen as shown. They also said that no Italian sports cars were given in return for information.

~~~

In a revealing comment, Rodriguez recalled that in 2003, key detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed warned that interrogators would eventually be targeted by Washington for their methods. "You know," said Mohammed, " eventually your own government will come after you." Rodriguez said he just laughed at the time.

He and others have since been the targets of lawsuits and investigations and he said that being targeted by critics, combined with Obama's executive order killing the interrogation program, has had a "chilling effect" on top CIA officers in the field hunting down terrorists.

Rich Lowry:

(excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...

[what's up]

I saw this movie yesterday.

It's too bad they had to stretch the truth so much (composite characters, etc.)

Made it look like one woman was responsible for UBL when that just was not so.