Zero Dark Thirty: Torture
Introduction
Popular 2012 film “Zero Dark Thirty” depicted several scenes of intense questioning and the use of torture on captured persons believed to be connected to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden (OBL). The conclusion to that part of the story consisted of a resilient prisoner being kept awake for four days straight, and when he recovered he found himself being rewarded. His captors told him he had broken and given them information, so they were treating him nicely with good food and guest-like accommodations, and would continue to do so if they gave him more details about what he allegedly already told them.
The prisoner either believed their story, since he had been so sleep deprived his memory of the past several days would be a delirious haze with very little memory, and decided to keep cooperating to avoid being tortured again, or, he simply played along after his captors gave him an “out” to allow him to save face and not have to admit he “broke” and willingly gave information, and finally decided to give them info to avoid being tortured again. Either scenario, the end result was the same. The agency got the information they wanted, which eventually led to the opportunity to capture and kill Osama Bin Laden.
Introduction
Popular 2012 film “Zero Dark Thirty” depicted several scenes of intense questioning and the use of torture on captured persons believed to be connected to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden (OBL). The conclusion to that part of the story consisted of a resilient prisoner being kept awake for four days straight, and when he recovered he found himself being rewarded. His captors told him he had broken and given them information, so they were treating him nicely with good food and guest-like accommodations, and would continue to do so if they gave him more details about what he allegedly already told them.
The prisoner either believed their story, since he had been so sleep deprived his memory of the past several days would be a delirious haze with very little memory, and decided to keep cooperating to avoid being tortured again, or, he simply played along after his captors gave him an “out” to allow him to save face and not have to admit he “broke” and willingly gave information, and finally decided to give them info to avoid being tortured again. Either scenario, the end result was the same. The agency got the information they wanted, which eventually led to the opportunity to capture and kill Osama Bin Laden.