Easy there, tiger, you do know Osama Bin Laden is not actually hiding in that building, don't you?
"Zero Dark Thirty represents a new genre of embedded filmmaking that is the problematic offspring of the worrisome endeavor known as embedded journalism. . .An already problematic practice—giving special access to vetted journalists—is now deployed for the larger goal of creating cinematic myths that are favorable to the sponsoring entity (in the case of Zero Dark Thirty, the CIA). If the access that Boal and Bigelow received was in addition to access that nonfiction writers and documentarians received, I would be a bit less troubled, because at least the quotes in history's first draft would be reliable, and that means a lot. But as it stands, we're getting the myth of history before getting the actual history." - Peter Maass, "Don't Trust 'Zero Dark Thirty'."Critical reviews of "Zero Dark Thirty," the highly-anticipated film by magician/director Kathryn Bigelow are concentrated on the film's treatment of torture. This is a smart propaganda move by the establishment and it is intended to corner the criticism of the film's narrative only on this controversial issue rather than on the film's grander claims.
"The very idea that this is some sort of apolitical work of art is ludicrous. The film is about the two most politicized events of the last decade: the 9/11 attack (which it starts with) and the killing of bin Laden (which it ends with). George Bush got re-elected running on the former, while Obama just got re-elected running on the latter. It was made with the close cooperation of the CIA, Pentagon and White House. Everything about this film - its subject, its claims, its mode of production, its implications - are political to its core. It does not have an apolitical bone in its body. Demanding that political considerations be excluded from how this film is judged is nonsensical; it's a political film from start to finish." - Glenn Greenwald, "Zero Dark Thirty: CIA hagiography, pernicious propaganda."
"Perhaps it’s unfair to expect the entertainment industry to convey history accurately. Clearly, the creators of “Zero Dark Thirty” are storytellers who really know how to make a thriller. And it’s true that there are no rules when it comes to fiction. As Boal, the screenwriter, has protested in recent interviews, “It’s a movie, not a documentary.” But in the very first minutes of “Zero Dark Thirty,” before its narrative begins to unspool, the audience is told that the story it is about to see is “based on first-hand accounts of actual events.” If there is an expectation of accuracy, it is set up by the filmmakers themselves. It seems they want it both ways: they want the thrill that comes from revealing what happened behind the scenes as history was being made and the creative license of fiction, which frees them from the responsibility to stick to the truth." - Jane Mayer, "Zero Conscience in “Zero Dark Thirty”."
The grandest claim the film makes is that Osama Bin Laden was hunted down and killed, backing up the CIA's version of history. But numerous experts, both in and out of government, have said that Osama Bin Laden died of natural causes in late 2001.
Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik, a former State Department official, told Alex Jones in an interview shortly after Obama's announcement that Bin Laden was killed that Bin Laden had already died before President Obama stepped in the White House.
Bin Laden's legend was kept alive in the global public mind to justify the continuation of the illegal war on terror for a decade and also to make his final exit from mythic history a politically useful event for the President after Bush.
No matter how many times the official lie about the location and nature of Bin Laden's death is repeated, it should not be believed. Bin Laden was not in the raid. The wide-eyed hunters were searching for a ghost. Their superiors send them out on a fake mission, and later got rid of them in a suspicious helicopter crash.
We may not know for certain what happened to the men in Navy SEALs Team Six because of the shadow government's cover-up. But we do know that they did not find and kill Bin Laden.
Bin Laden was not hiding from the United States government, but probably from his soul since he was already a ghost by the time Uncle Sam came searching for him. And although Washington's sprawling surveillance state is super powerful, it is not yet powerful enough to spy on the other side. Give it a few more years.
Whether or not the other side is real is a debate we should all engage in because the question concerns all of us. But forget proving the existence of God for now, let's first begin with proving the official story of Bin Laden's death.
There is absolutely zero evidence behind the White House's claim that Osama Bin Laden was hunted down and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There is no body, pictures, video, eyewitness testimony, nothing. Hence, "Zero Dark Thirty," the greatest child of the Hollywood-CIA marriage.
The film gives a sense of history to what is an otherwise fictional account of Bin Laden's last hours. Images are more powerful than words. Bin Laden's fictional death had to be dramatized for the ridiculous story to sink in the public consciousness. The film "United 93" performed the same function, which was based on the hoax that a hijacked plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
As far as adding onto the public mythology of Bin Laden, "Zero Dark Thirty" is hugely successfully. I haven't seen the film, but judging from the trailers, it hits all the right symbolic notes. That it begins with 9/11 is a stroke of brilliance. From tragedy to victory. Wow, what a story. If only it was real.
But, sadly, it isn't. Nothing out of Washington and Hollywood is real. As Dr. Ron Paul said in May 2009 in one of his most remarkable speeches, Current Conditions or Just a Bad Dream?, "We have broken from reality–a psychotic Nation."
"Zero Dark Thirty" is a reflection of America's national psychosis. Sure, it's entertaining and electrifying, but its claim that it is telling the real story of how Bin Laden died is bogus. It's impressive as a work of art but even more so as a product of the CIA's totalitarian propaganda machine.
Ahab - The Hunt.
