Osama

The critical acclaim for the new Kathryn Bigelow movie "Zero Dark Thirty" has renewed the debate on the efficacy of torture. The movie dramatizes the decade-long effort to find and eventually kill Osama bin Laden. In a riveting opening section, the film obliquely credits the discovery of the key piece of information in the search for Bin Laden to the torture of an Al Qaeda prisoner held by the CIA. This is at odds with the facts as they have been recounted by journalists reporting on the manhunt, by Obama administration intelligence officials and by legislative leaders.

As the overstressed beating heart of "Zero Dark Thirty," a CIA analyst named Maya who relentlessly chases after the hated phantom that was Osama bin Laden, Jessica Chastain is at times steely, at times shattered, potty-mouthed but somehow girlish, touchingly lonely but scrutinized by the entire spy agency's hierarchy. To get to her character's essence, Chastain used her preferred technique, which is more methodical than Method. "Every project I start I make lists, and the first one is what everyone [in the film]

BEIRUT - The leader of Al Nusra Front, militant Islamist fighters whose role in the Syria uprising has raised concerns in Washington, acknowledged Wednesday for the first time his group's affiliation with Al Qaeda and the extremist movement's Iraq affiliate. In a seven-minute audio message posted online, Abu Mohammed Jolani pledged Al Nusra Front's loyalty to Al Qaeda chief Ayman Zawahiri and acknowledged its ties to the Islamic State of Iraq, or ISI. However, the Syrian militant expressed surprise at a statement by ISI late Monday of a merger between the the front and ISI. He said the leadership of Al Nusra Front, or Jabhat al Nusra, “had no prior knowledge of this [announcement]

When the Osama bin Laden-raid film  “Zero Dark Thirty” was coming together last year, right-wing commentators scoffed; after all, any film about  President Obama's hallmark overseas success timed for a pre-election release had to have partisanship on its mind. Rep Peter King (R-N.Y.) asked whether the administration was getting too cozy with the filmmakers by offering them high-level access. The movie, his questions implied, would be little more than an extended campaign ad for the president as sponsored by Hollywood, the Democrats' resident Super PAC. What a difference a year makes.

A trio of Senate leaders have condemned the Kathryn Bigelow movie "Zero Dark Thirty," calling elements of its dramatization of the Osama bin Laden manhunt “grossly inaccurate and misleading.” In a letter to Sony Pictures chief Michael Lynton signed by the senators -   Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) - the three stated: "We write to express our deep disappointment with the movie 'Zero Dark Thirty.' We believe the film is grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of Usama bin Laden," wrote the senators, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Under fire for the accuracy of "Zero Dark Thirty," director Kathryn Bigelow is defending the film's depiction of torture in the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and other lawmakers have criticized "Zero Dark," saying the film is "grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location" of Bin Laden. The lawmakers asked studio Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional. In her most explicit comments on the controversy to date, Bigelow conceded that there are disagreements over certain specifics of the manhunt but insisted that torture was an undeniable part of the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks of Sept.

WASHINGTON  - The Pentagon said Tuesday that a former Navy SEAL's account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden contains classified information, intensifying a dispute with the author over whether the book harmed national security. Defense Department spokesman George Little said that an examination of the book, “No Easy Day,” revealed “sensitive and classified information,” and he reiterated that author Matt Bissonnette, writing under the pen name Mark Owen, violated nondisclosure agreements by failing to submit it for government review before it went on sale this week.

Re "Where's Osama?" letter, June 22: Osama bin Laden is the latest version of Pancho Villa, a Mexican warlord who invaded the U.S. in 1916. He and his band laid waste to the town of Columbus, N.M. President Woodrow Wilson sent most of the Army into the mountains of Mexico to "hunt 'em down and smoke 'em out." Alas, the American armed forces never found Villa or his band. What they did find was the aroused population, who fought against the Yankee invaders of their country. After three months the Army returned to the U.S. Why not send the politicians with all their slogans and bombast to hunt for old Osama?

When it comes to “Zero Dark Thirty,” there's been a lot written about the CIA and torture - whether it looked in real life the way it does on screen, whether it was effective, whether it was ethical. As we've been reporting this week, John McCain and other lawmakers don't agree it went down that way . The film, they say, misrepresents how the CIA found Osama bin Laden. Filmmakers say they've created an accurate depiction. Now that the movie has opened, we thought we'd ask you what you thought of the scenes.

I fear that the United States' war against defenseless Afghanistan only makes the point that we are the haves and they are the have-nots. It further points out to those who hate us that the only weapon they have is terrorism. Our early victories (?) have not flushed out one terrorist. I don't believe that Osama bin Laden will ever be taken alive, and if he is pushed to suicide he will become a martyr, which will only encourage others to rise up and take his place. Philosophically the only thing terrorists have plenty of is time, and with time they will again find our soft underbelly and strike.