A review of Zero Dark Thirty

Katherine Bigelow's movie about the investigation and subsequent liquidation of Osama bin-Laden is a work of genius. Bigelow has a vision of what she wanted to present and wasn't about to let anyone dictate what she was going to say.

The movie focuses on CIA agent Maya (a fictitious name of course) who is relentless in her pursuit of bin-Laden. We don't know a lot about Maya except that she was recruited out of high school and has no boyfriend, spouse or all that many friends. She's a dogged detective and grows from being squeamish about our enhanced interrogation techniques to being--if not a participant--a believer in them.

She tracks bin-Laden for a decade, following up what she believes are credible leads while butting heads with the DC CYA types. She finds a thread, pulls it and begins to see her work produce results. Jessica Chastain played her perfectly.

Many media outlets have opted to focus on the enhanced interrogation such as sleep deprivation, man-handling and water boarding because the last thing they want anyone to believe is that these measures work and that damn cowboy Bush may have been right in sanctioning them. Several noted senators have also said that this is not the case but our legislators are kept out of the loop on a lot of information because they have the tendency to leak it--but I digress.

The actual take down of bin-Laden is almost anti-climactic after seeing how Maya puts the pieces together. It makes one proud that we have people like her and the other CIA agents portrayed. people who are willing to pursue America's enemies to the ends of the earth, live in hell holes around the globe and provide information that allows our special operators to exterminate those who wish us ill. It's not pretty, it's not happy but it is essential to keeping us protected.

Unfortunately, these people are the first ones vilified when things go south. Benghazi was not the fault of the CIA, I'm positive they warned those who needed to know but that warning was ignored and politics came into play. The same is probably true of the recent Algerian fiasco. If I were president, you can be damn sure that the first thing I would do after being inaugurated would be to increase the funding for black operations and the obtaining of human intelligence because this war is not over.

There was concern that Bigelow would make a movie that would show Obama as a brilliant decision make who was willing to take the risk. In fact, Obama is shown in one small segment on a TV where he says the US does not torture and the CIA agents all wince because they know that the intel gleaned from such measures is, in fact immeasurable. And for the record, black sites, rendition and enhanced interrogation techniques are still being used even today.

9 out of 10 stars. Bigelow did it right.

Is the New Swiftboating Called "Sealed"? One Can Hope

Back in 2004, John Kerry ran as some kind of war hero. It didn't play well. We were inundated by the media portraying the man who married into money (twice) as a real-life Rambo who single-handedly beat back the Viet Cong and NVA. Not the man who sold out our good men who fought and died for their country he really was.

 Those who served with him didn't see things quite that way and Swift Boat Veterans For truth was started to dismantle the false claims Kerry was making. In spite of the media self-imposed ban on reporting the swifties claims, they still trickled out and that, in conjunction with Rathergate and the fact that Kerry is completely devoid of a sense of humor, humility and personality sunk him.

 Could this happen to Obama?

 Here we sit on the verge of having two candidates who've never served our nation in uniform. There is no military angle to this...at least until today.

Meet Navy Commander Ryan Zinske--a special forces operator and former leader in SEAL Team 6. He's a state senator and has started a PAC to combat Obama's claims that he was the one who took down Osama and his reckless disregard for the safety of our special forces personnel who would rather not see their methods and strategies leaked to the press to make Obama look like a tough leader. Quoth Cdr. Zinske, a man who this country owes a debt it can never repay:

“The President has failed and he is jeopardizing the safety of our troops, their families and our National security for political gain. Obama has exposed the identity of special operations units, leaked classified information, and limited the rules of engagement of forces on the ground,” said Mr. Zinke. “For those who have taken an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, it is a call of duty to take back America from a Commander-in-Chief that is incapable of understanding the sacrifices that have been made for the values that have made America great.”

This may well be a huge turning point in the campaign. While Americans were happy we got bin-Laden, the excessive victory laps by Obama and other liberals whose actions always showed disdain for the military did not endear him to the military and those who've served. We should never have known the details--at least not two minutes after the mission was completed. This was Obama letting the world know our special forces doctrine and planning and at this point, they are the most active part of our military in the War on Terror.

 But no, to the Obama campaign and his supporters, it was all political. The fact that their gloating and victory dance may have or may well lead to the deaths of our men and women in uniform means nothing to them because they look at our military as a necessary evil that is expendable as long as the liberal leader sending them to battle can prop up his street cred. It was not a bold move to okay the mission (especially since he laid the final call on a subordinate so he could blame someone if it failed).

Anyone would have made the call and accepted responsibility if it failed like a man or humbly gave credit to those who were on the trigger side of the gun and put themselves in harms way. Instead we have had to hear pussy liberals tell us how brave Obama was in making the call.

 I support Commander Zinske and hope he can survive the coming media garage he's about to face. But as a hardened hero who faced real men in combat, a bunch of weak-spined, beta male writers shouldn't be much of a problem.