(CNN)If a extremity of the Sept. 11 terrorists was to undermine American values, "The Forever Prisoner" makes the lawsuit connected that score, astatine least, the atrocious guys won. Focusing connected the attraction of Abu Zubaydah, a erstwhile subordinate of Osama bin Laden held successful detention since 2002, manager Alex Gibney's HBO documentary argues the US effect marked "our retreat from the ideals we assertion to beryllium warring for."
Gibney (who again narrates the film) manages to interrogation respective cardinal players successful the counter-terrorism fight, meticulously documenting the grade to which the authorities compromised established guardrails successful the sanction of information and security.
Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's erstwhile main of staff, says the stunning quality of the Sept. 11 attacks "made america stupid." The prevailing belief, the movie notes, was that each bets were disconnected successful dealing with the perpetrators, who by virtuousness of their actions "had opted retired of the quality race."
Gibney contends the terrorists had frankincense efficaciously provoked the US authorities "to wantonness the principles of ideology that we assertion to unrecorded by." The quality of however those principles were bent fell straight connected Zubaydah, the archetypal detainee subjected to what were bureaucratically known arsenic Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.
Although erstwhile FBI cause Ali Soufan indicates that much accepted interrogation methods began to carnivore effect successful breaking down Zubaydah's resistance, the programme forged up with much brutal methods. (Gibney sued the CIA to un-redact portions of Soufan's publication "The Black Banners: How Torture Derailed the War connected Terror aft 9/11," which helium had antecedently been incapable to publically discuss.)
"Forever Prisoners" presents elaborate descriptions of waterboarding sessions and includes an interrogation with CIA contractor James Mitchell regarding specified practices. Although immoderate officials person objected to characterization of the argumentation displacement arsenic allowing torture, the documentary illustrates misgivings astir it astatine the time, with Jose Rodriguez, the erstwhile manager of CIA's Counterterrorism Center, telling subordinates, "Do not enactment your ineligible concerns successful writing. Not helpful."
The damning revelations recovered successful the Senate Intelligence Committee report connected the program, besides dramatized successful the movie "The Report," highlighted the government's actions. Two decades later, Zubaydah remains incarcerated astatine Guantanamo Bay, prompting Gibney -- whose caller HBO documentaries see "The Crime of the Century" and "Agents of Chaos" -- to ask, "How tin we imprison a man, without charge, for the remainder of his life?"
In that and different ways, "The Forever Prisoner" asks the close questions regarding not conscionable Zubaydah but the broader prosecution of the warfare against terrorism. As the movie makes clear, it's the answers that person proven elusive.
"The Forever Prisoner" premieres Dec. 6 astatine 10 p.m. ET connected HBO, which, similar CNN, is simply a portion of WarnerMedia.
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