Shanelle Peters

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty's torture scenes create the impression that these interrogations provided early clues as to the identity of Osama bin Laden's courier, who would ultimately lead the CIA to the man himself. This has outraged some US senators, including John McCain, who deny that in the strongest terms on the basis of their access to classified CIA material which is still not publicly available. The CIA document mentioned above says that: "The Agency's detention and interrogation of terrorists has provided intelligence that has enabled the identification and apprehension of other terrorists."

This does not relate explicitly to the finding of Bin Laden, and not merely because the document was written before he was found. As war on terror expert Jane Mayer has pointed out, former CIA director Leon Panetta has stated that "we first learned about 'the facilitator/courier's nom de guerre' from a detainee not in the CIA's custody" and that "no detainee in CIA custody revealed the facilitator/courier's full true name or specific whereabouts".

Historically, the torture scenes are broadly accurate as the CIA did use techniques like water boarding, sleep deprivation and forcing detainees into tiny, coffin-like boxes. They may not be accurate in terms of their context in this film particularly the fact that no one from the FBI or CIA is shown disputing their use or the results they show.