The Forever Prisoner

I have always had a skewed view of the CIA and FBI. After all they Coined the term conspiracy theory to throw people of the scent of what was actually going on. This is even more eye opening of the horrors that the powers that be will goto to get what they want. It is a total abuse of power. A total lack of restraint . Its sadly nothing new though. MK ultra is another perfect example of the CIA going to far. What gives them the right to be able to do this to people is beyond me. I am under no illusion techniques like this are being used still as the US government will go to any ends necessary to get what they want. Even worse they seem proud of it! Terrifying and barbaric.

As "The Forever Prisoner" (2021 release; 119 min.) opens, we are briefly introduced to a prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who amazingly has never been charged with a crime and who has no right to appeal his imprisonment. We then go back in time to the horrible events of 9/11 and the dramatic fallout afterwards, as the Bush administration is desperate to show the American public it has things under control... At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from esteemed and Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi To the Dark Side, Agent of Chaos, The Armstrong Lie). Here he looks back at what happened to Abu Zubaydah, believed to be involved with or have ties to the group responsible for 9/11. He was captured in 2002, and brought in for interrogation. As it turns out the FBI and CIA had very different ideas what would make effective interrogating. The CIa prevailed, and charged ahead with its ultra controversial "enhanced interrogation" program, a/k/a its torture program. With stunning effect, Gibney lays out how the CIA misled, if not outright lied, about the program. Even worse, the program turns out to be massively ineffective if not counterproductive. I cannot easily recall a more blistering indictment and utter rebuke of the CIA, and how it has damaged not only the intelligence community in the US, but also America's standing in the world, period. Gibney has plenty of insider talking heads who narrate their story calmly and with devastating effect. Your blood will likely boil in utter disgust and disbelief as you watch the sheer ignorance and incompetence within the Bush administration in the post-9/11 era.

"The Forever Prisoner" premiered on HCO earlier this week and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max (where I caught it last night). If you have any interest in what unfolded after 9/11 or simply want to get to the bottom of what the CIA's "enhanced interrogations" were all about and how they came to be, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

For someone who doesn't regularly seek out political documentaries like this, I found this film to be surprisingly entertaining. Dare I say, it is perhaps the funniest film about government sanctioned torture???

It was incredibly gripping and an infuriating look back at the key players responsible for the U. S. government's torture program. It also brought to life the world of Abu Zubaydah in a creative and compelling ways. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in better understanding the events leading up to and unfolding after attacks of September 11th, without feeling like they're watching a news program. Well done.

Half of americans think torture is okay. Is this for real????

I actually can not believe what have I just seen and heard.

You - Americans, have a big big big problem!!! And it's just getting worse!!!!

The facts of this have been presented elsewhere so it's not breaking news, but is still a compelling two hour view. One fact however, which might have been overly simplified, was fascinating. The "expert" psychologist who failed to understand that torture is about manipulation, not an easy path to truth, was himself so easily manipulated. When repeatedly told the hypothetical "what if there's another 9/11 and you didn't do all you could?" he went on the warpath, willing to do anything heinous. It says alot about him, not doing any due diligence or honest evaluation of his work which failed compared to normal relationship-building techniques. The initial methods of interrogation were bad enough, and what any normal person would consider torture...the "enhanced" interrogation was of course torture. Or what the psychologist called "temporary discomfort." Like Rumsfeld comparing his not sitting at his desk to prisoners being made to stand. They needed to minimize and dismiss torture because of their guilt. They knew it was indefensible for any reason, even national security, and was just a form of revenge.