Opinion
Published on January 7, 2013
Op-ed by Michael Marks.
‘ZERO Dark Thirty” hits movie theaters this week, but it has already ignited a debate about torture. At issue is its efficacy — or lack thereof. The film suggests that torture was both effective and necessary in the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden.
But that’s just not true.
As it happens, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence just voted to adopt its 6,000-plus-page report on CIA post-9/11 detention and interrogation. It was this report that Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., consulted to debunk the claim that torture was integral to the effort to find Bin Laden. Others with access to classified information — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin, and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain — confirm that torture did not play a key role in the hunt.
Michael Marks, an Oak Harbor resident, is a retired Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent. He has served in more than 20 countries, including Bahrain, Afghanistan and Yemen.
