For Immediate Release: January 10, 2013
Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications; Office: (202) 265-3000; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
People of Faith to Leaflet across U.S. to Tell the Public the Truth about Torture
National release of "Zero Dark Thirty" provokes people of faith to clear up misconceptions about torture
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the national opening this weekend of the controversial new film "Zero Dark Thirty," the National Religious Campaign Against Torture is gathering religious leaders and people of faith to greet moviegoers as they walk into the theater on the film's opening night Friday and throughout the weekend, to share with them via leaflet handouts the facts about U.S.-government-sponsored torture.
Fact Not Fiction, a national effort organized by NRCAT, is intended to share with the public across the country why "Zero Dark Thirty" is misleading and how Americans can learn more about the inefficient, illegal and immoral use of torture by U.S. authorities in the post-9/11 era. The cities at which people of faith are distributing the truth about the illegality, immorality and inefficacy of torture include New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Buffalo, N.Y.; West Hartford, Conn.; New Haven, Conn.; and Austin, Texas.
"Hundreds of thousands of people will see "Zero Dark Thirty," and many of them will walk out of the theater believing they saw the truth," said Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of NRCAT. "But the film is not based on the facts about torture. It is a work of fiction that depicts graphic acts of torture; it is neither investigative journalism nor congressional oversight. The movie's inappropriate – and dangerous – implication that the use of torture by U.S. authorities produced critical intelligence, including finding Osama bin Laden, is inaccurate."
As Friday, January 11, is the 11th anniversary of the day the first detainees were imprisoned at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, NRCAT also has organized an interfaith prayer service in Washington Friday, during which Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Jewish leaders each will describe why each of their traditions opposes torture, as well as jointly call for Obama to keep his promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The prayer service will conclude a series of activities in Washington Friday, all part of the National Day of Action Against Guantanamo, organized by a coalition of 28 human rights and faith-based nonprofits. The Washington events are part of several NRCAT is co-sponsoring across the country, including gatherings in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
Additionally, NRCAT is focusing current efforts on advocating for the Senate Intelligence Committee, which late last year adopted a more than 6,000-page report on its three-year investigation into the U.S. government's past use of torture during interrogations, to publicize the torture report's findings so Americans know the truth about torture committed by their government in their name. Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are both members of the Intelligence Committee, have publicly refuted the idea that torture provided critical intelligence in the hunt for bin Laden. McCain, in fact, directly criticized "Zero Dark Thirty," saying that the filmmakers fell "hook, line and sinker" for a false narrative about how the United States obtained the intelligence to track down bin Laden.
More information on NRCAT's "Fact Not Fiction" campaign can be found online at www.nrcat.org/fact-not-fiction.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 320 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha'i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations. More information is available at www.nrcat.org.
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