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The CIA and Hollywood episode 14 Zero Dark Thirty

July 24, 2016 – 2:08 pm

Robbie Martin is our final guest for this season as we dissect the 2012 docudrama Zero Dark Thirty. We discussed the difficulty in defining what kind of film this is – somewhere between a spy thriller, a documentary and a dry European art house movie. We get into the well-documented CIA support for the film and ask why this is the only major movie about the Abbottabad raid to get ‘Bin Laden’ and why it wasn’t particularly successful. Was the film meant to serve as a substitute for any real evidence of what happened in Abbottabad in 2011? Did the filmmakers even care whether what they were portraying was true or were they blinded by the excitement of the special access they were granted?

After summarizing the role of senior CIA and DOD intelligence officer Michael Vickers (who is portrayed in Charlie Wilson’s War) we discuss why so many CIA agents are portrayed in movies and TV. The conversation then zeroes in on ‘Maya’ – based on the real life CIA officer Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, who was critically involved in the 9/11 intelligence breakdown and the post-9/11 torture program. Getting back to the film we talk about the raid sequence itself which is very dry and realistic but we never actually see Bin Laden. We conclude that Zero Dark Thirty is like a rorschach test where you can bring your own expectations and prejudices to your experience of watching the movie. We round off talking about the portrayal of torture in the film and ask whether the controversies around the film were created as a smokescreen to avoid people asking the question: was it really Bin Laden?

Download The CIA and Hollywood ep 14

Show Notes:

Zero Dark Thirty

CIA Memo on Rewriting Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty the CIA and DOD files

The ‘Dynamite’ Pentagon Interview Behind ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Bin Laden Burial took place on Top Gun ship

CIA Inspector General’s Report on Engagement with the Entertainment Industry

Who is Richard Blee (podcast)

Alfreda Frances Bikowsky

Alec Station

CIA’s Queen of Torture Married to Former CIA Official Who Urges War Between Sunnis and Shiites

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio, The CIA and Hollywood | Also tagged 9/11, abbottabad, alfreda frances bikowsky, bin laden raid, CIA, DOD, false memories, Leon Panetta, mark boal, Maya, Michael scheuer, Michael Vickers, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, queen of torture, richard blee, Robbie Martin, The CIA and Hollywood, tom secker, torture, zero dark thirty | Comments (0)

Porkins Policy Radio episode 44 Homeland Season 5 ep 11

December 19, 2015 – 5:42 pm

On this penulitamte episode of our Homeland series Tom and I begin by venting about our hatred of Alison. Next we move onto the shows continual use of women as negative characters. WE discuss the similarities between Alison and real life Russian spy Anna Chapman. We look at the parallels between these two characters and the notion that Alison will receive a hero’s welcome if she returns to Russia. Next we explore if the Russian government would actually let an attack happen, as Homeland suggests, in order to galvanize the West to fight ISIS. Tom and I lay out some of our theories as to why the Russian’s don’t talk about the Gladio operations (Boston, 9/11, Paris) that they clearly are aware of. We discuss the emergence of yet another evil female spy this time in the form of a German Foreign Office offical. Later Tom and I discuss one of the major takeaways from this season: that the CIA no longer engages in torture. Through out this season we have seen several distinct plot lines that lead us to believe that the CIA no longer uses this brutal tactic. Tom and I discuss the moral issues surrounding torture and the aspects of torture that are never brought up in the debate. We discuss how the show uses the character of Marwan to illustrate that torture doesn’t work, and how this is most likely a deliberate propaganda move to wipe clean the CIA’s hands. We also note how the show has routinely made the German’s look not only like torturers, but Nazi’s and Stasi as well. Tom and I also touch on Hollywoods false portrayal of strong female characters in movies such as Spy, and how this is really just more of the same. Later we move onto the portrayal of Laura Poitras in the show and how this may reflect the CIA’s various desires to portray her as hero and villain. We round off the conversation by discussing some very interesting listener emails and tweets.

Tom and I briefly talk about our participation in a brand new media project being spearheaded by Sibel Edmonds at the end of the podcast.

Download PPR episode 44

Show Notes:

Homeland Season 5 episode 11 Our man in Damascus

Laili Helms

Laila Helms could be a character in Homeland

Kathryn Bigelow Prepping Jihadi Recruitment Drama for HBO

First Look Media snags Comedy Central and NBC alum Lisa Leingang

First Look Media wants to make the next “Spotlight”

Music:

DMX – X Gon Give It To Ya

By porkinspolicyreview | Posted in Porkins Policy Radio | Also tagged 9/11, Anna chapman, BND, CIA, feminisim, First look media, germany, Gladio B, Hollywood, Homeland, ISIS, Laila Helms, laili helms, Laura Poitras, Nazi, Paris attack, propaganda, Russia, sarin, stasi, Taliban, The Intercept, torture | Comments (0)

Porkins Policy Radio episode 25 The Bowe Bergdahl Psy-Op

July 11, 2014 – 4:05 pm

We are finally back! On today’s episode we take a look at the recent release of American POW Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for 5 Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Instead of focusing on the various theories as to why he left, and what he was actually doing, we dive into the psy-op that has been carefully constructed for us. We discuss the predictive programing elements, how the alt media has been fooled yet again, as well as what this means in terms of the evolving war on our reality. The Bowe Bergdahl saga represents a new stage of the blurring of reality and fiction and therefore deserves our attention.

This episode was a little rough to record due to the long gap in the podcasting schedule so my apologies if it seems a bit all over the place. Rest assured we will be returning to a normal schedule and much tighter episodes in the near future.