“Zero Dark Thirty”: A vindication of Bush’s view of the war on terror

After seeing it, I can report that it is a clear vindication for the Bush administration’s view of the War on Terror. Moreover, “ZD30” subtly presents President Obama and by extension the entire Democratic establishment and its supporters in the media as hindering the effort to find bin Laden by politicizing harsh interrogation techniques and striking a pose against them that was naive at best.

Since the film is based on unpublished interviews with primary sources, it is unusually difficult to fact-check. But as information about the reality behind the story emerges, so far “ZD30” is standing up factually and is consistent with relevant statements by former CIA Director Leon Panetta and lawmakers with access to classified information about the raid.

The left is alarmed. Glenn Greenwald, without even having seen the film, wrote a piece headlined, “Zero Dark Thirty: New Torture-Glorifying Film Wins Raves,” then finished up by comparing Bigelow to (of course) Hitler’s favorite director Leni Riefenstahl.

Does “ZD30” glorify torture? No, because no one is tortured in it.