海角大神

The movie 鈥淶ero Dark Thirty鈥� is unquestionably a gripping drama and credible contender in this year鈥檚 Oscar competition (nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay). If director Kathryn Bigelow鈥檚 film presented itself principally as fiction, it could be judged exclusively on its technical or dramatic merits, which are considerable. But because it advertises itself as a factually grounded 鈥渏ournalistic filming鈥� of the hunt for Osama bin Laden,聽it cannot duck a further question about what it owes to truth.聽

Of necessity, condensing years into minutes and crafting story lines that engage the viewer require simplification. But it is still fair to ask whether the central lessons viewers will take away from the film are consistent with what really happened.

As a teacher, I am aware that this movie will shape more Americans鈥� understanding of the war against Al Qaeda聽than scores of books and major articles. As citizens, we know that cinematic historical fiction has left many Americans believing remarkable falsehoods. Oliver Stone鈥檚 鈥淛FK鈥澛爈eft a generation of students asking why the CIA conspired to assassinate an American president.

My account of the decisionmaking process that led to the raid on Osama bin Laden鈥檚 compound was a lead article in TIME magazine鈥檚 May 7, 2012 issue, a year after bin Laden鈥檚 death. And from my study of what really happened, I see glaring holes in the story as portrayed by 鈥淶ero Dark Thirty.鈥�

In assessing the essential veracity of the film, we could ask聽ordinary viewers three questions:

• Was information extracted by 鈥渆nhanced interrogation鈥� the key in聽finding the terrorist mastermind who killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001?
• Would 鈥渢he system鈥� (CIA as an organization with its counter-terrorism professionals and practices) have failed had it not been for the tenacious risk taking of one young female CIA agent?聽
• Was the White House, and specifically President Obama, essentially irrelevant or even a drag, delaying what should have been an easy, quick, early action to eliminate bin Laden?

Most viewers I have spoken to believe, based on the film, that the answer to each of these questions is yes. In fact, in each case, the answer is no.

The first question 鈥� whether 鈥渆nhanced interrogation鈥� or torture provided information key to getting bin Laden 鈥� has been debated exhaustively. The verdict is that the film exaggerates the pervasiveness and effectiveness of torture.

On the second question, as to whether the CIA would have failed were it not for the grit of a female CIA officer, the truth is thousands of intelligence officers 鈥� literally thousands 鈥� devoted a decade of extraordinary work collecting information from sources of all kinds, analyzing it for minute clues, connecting dots, and then subjecting conclusions to competing analyses that connected other dots to contrary conclusions. A number of these analysts were outstanding young women. But the film鈥檚 hype of a fictional heroine who succeeded by defying 鈥渢he system鈥� is fundamentally misleading.

Third, far from the film鈥檚 portrayal of Mr.聽Obama as an obstacle to success in this case, in fact, he was a critical energizer who intensified the search for bin Laden in 2009. And he was the decider who chose the raid that killed America's most-wanted terrorist. Counterfactuals require difficult and debatable assessments. But in my judgment, if聽George W. Bush had remained president, there is no reason to expect that the search for bin Laden that his last CIA Director testified had by February 2009 鈥済one cold鈥� would have heated up. And there is no question that if Vice President Joe Biden or Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had been president, as each has said, he would not have ordered the raid.

From the facts of what actually happened rather than the fiction, what should citizens take away from this dramatic event?

First, Obama and his national security team demonstrated that, contrary to what knowledgeable Washingtonians know, the US government can keep a secret. In this case, it聽kept the biggest secret the press never got to publish in advance of events. Contrary to Zero鈥檚 message that the White House dithered for five months for political advantage, Obama and leaders of the CIA took the time required to cross examine the evidence, explore options for action, and, in the end, make a hard call.

While the movie's heroine claimed 鈥�100 percent confidence鈥� that bin Laden was in the compound months before the president made his decision, CIA Director George Tenet conveyed the same level of confidence in assuring President Bush that finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq would be a 鈥渟lam dunk.鈥澛燗nd in fact, Mr. Tenet had more evidence for WMD in Iraq than the CIA had for bin Laden鈥檚 being at the compound the Navy SEALs raided the night of May 2, 2011.

Second, this mission could not have succeeded had Obama not been commander in chief of the US government in 2009 rather than the US government in 2000. Over that decade, the intelligence community and Defense department created advanced technologies and trained professional terrorist manhunters that gave Obama options not available to any previous American president or any other leader on earth.

Finally, contrary to a favorite Hollywood trope, the dominant storyline in the hunt for bin Laden is that the US government worked.

In the investigation of what was not done in the years before the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the most memorable line came from White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke who said: 鈥淵our government failed you.鈥澛燘ut the most important takeaway from the bin Laden operation is that American government performed. It not only succeeded in a supremely difficult assignment. It did so by achieving a level of performance across many agencies of government because of thousands of unsung heroines and heroes 鈥� not a singular maverick. That should make all Americans聽proud.

Graham Allison is director of Harvard Kennedy School鈥檚 Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a former assistant secretary of Defense.