Letters: Torture and the Hunt for Bin Laden

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Re "Senators Say Torture Scenes in Movie on Bin Laden Hunt Are Misleading" (news article, Dec. 20):

I am grateful to Senators Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, for seeking to correct the erroneous impression given by the film "Zero Dark Thirty" that the use of torture resulted in information leading to the location of Osama bin Laden.

Experienced interrogators have presented ample testimony that torture is not the most effective way to elicit reliable information, but whether this is true should be irrelevant. The deliberate brutalizing and debasement of another human being violates international law as well as universal standards respecting human rights. It is above all an immoral act that demeans the perpetrator as well as the victim. It should be as unthinkable as rape and murder.

Our government must reaffirm its commitment to ending the use of torture and call to account the individuals who countenanced its use.

RACHELLE MARSHALL
Mill Valley, Calif., Dec. 20, 2012

To the Editor:

Re "Bin Laden, Torture and Hollywood," by Frank Bruni (column, Dec. 9):

Glamorized depictions of torture and cruel treatment in Hollywood films should be viewed as entertainment, not as a serious discussion of what torture is and how it is used in the world.

The reality, as we know from treating torture survivors, is too horrific for any filmmaker wishing to generate an audience. Forms of torture and cruel treatment, such as waterboarding, painful stress positions and sexual humiliation, have known clinical, medical and scientific effects that result in serious harm to victims.

Additionally, when someone in the United States suggests that torture is necessary to protect our national security, brutal regimes elsewhere are telling their citizens the same thing.

We encourage people to separate the film from fact and seek a better understanding of the corrupting influence torture has on governments and societies.

CURT GOERING
Executive Director
The Center for Victims of Torture
Minneapolis, Dec. 10, 2012

To the Editor:

Frank Bruni's discomfort with images of torture in the new film "Zero Dark Thirty," about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, is certainly understandable. But his objection to the film's depiction of the role that harsh interrogations played in the eventual raid on Bin Laden's compound is misplaced, and shortsighted.

Mr. Bruni says the film fails to "reflect many experts' belief that torture is unnecessary, yielding as much bad information as good."

Yet nowhere does he refute the facts at hand: that intelligence gleaned from harsh interrogations played a key role in finding Bin Laden.

This is not to condone the use of torture. It is to commend the filmmakers for having the courage to accurately report disturbing information, thus facilitating an honest debate on the merits — as well as the costs — of such extreme measures during extraordinary times.

STUART GOTTLIEB
New York, Dec. 10, 2012

The writer teaches international security at Columbia University and is the author of "Debating Terrorism and Counterterrorism."

To the Editor:

The one question that the proponents of torture have failed to answer is: If our side tortures, by what moral authority will we protest when an American soldier or civilian is tortured by one of our enemies?

RANDY PAUL
Jackson Heights, Queens, Dec. 13, 2012

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