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Peter King's latest target? Hollywood

Perhaps Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is feeling a bit hearing-impaired.
Peter King's latest target? Hollywood
Peter King's latest target? Hollywood

Perhaps Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is feeling a bit hearing-impaired. The Republican congressman who attracted a lot of attention (and heat) for his trilogy of Very Important Hearings™ on Muslim-American "radicalization" yesterday called for an investigation into a movie that no one has seen:

(Rep. King) said too much information already has leaked out about the Navy SEALs’ raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan in May, and Pentagon officials have cautioned against discussing details of the mission. Mr. King asked the inspectors general of the CIA and Defense Department to determine what consultations occurred in the Obama administration about providing Hollywood with access to covert military operators and clandestine CIA officers.

Yes, a film is being made about the killing of bin Laden. Depending on whom you ask, the project may or may not be in good hands. Director Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" was celebrated for its powerful depiction of an American EOD team in theater during the (most recent) war in Iraq. But what is particularly ironic here is that Bigelow's film was also panned widely by veterans, including IAVA co-founder and frequent TRMS guest Paul Rieckhoff, who asserted that Hollywood took too many liberties with the truth.

Still, Congressman King is worried that Bigelow will make a military film that reveals too much truth. Why is he concerned now, all of a sudden?

Perhaps it has something to do with the movie's scheduled release date in October, 2012 -- which you may recognize is one month before November, 2012, something Congressman King noted in his complaint. This is likely not the only reason King is being laughed off by the White House and by Bigelow herself, but it is a key one. How did Congressman King reply today? "Obviously, I hit a sensitive nerve."

This isn't so much about making Bigelow into an Obama propagandist in advance of next year's presidential election, which Republicans were bound to do when the movie was released anyway (and still might). It's just government-as-the-dozens, using Washington's mechanisms to get under the skin of the President.

Even worse, Congressman King is doing so mere days after the largest loss of life in a single day in the entire Afghanistan war. Twenty-two of the 38 men killed aboard a Chinook transport helicopter were Navy SEALs, some of whom were reportedly in the unit that killed bin Laden.

All of their names were released today by the Department of Defense, and are listed here.