US lawmaker wants probe Bin Laden film project

A Republican lawmaker accused the Obama administration Wednesday of jeopardizing national security by cooperating with a Hollywood director planning a film on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, demanded an inquiry after learning of the Pentagon's collaboration with Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow.
Cooperating with a film "about the raid is bound to increase such leaks, and undermine these organizations' hard-won reputations as 'quiet professionals,'" he wrote.
The Pentagon confirmed preliminary discussions with Bigelow and journalist-turned screenwriter Mark Boal about a film focusing on the hunt for bin Laden.
The White House dismissed the criticism as "ridiculous".
"We do not discuss classified information. And I would hope that as we face the continued threat from terrorism, the House Committee on Homeland Security would have more important topics to discuss than a movie," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The Defense Department regularly allows filmmakers and television producers access to US military bases, ships or aircraft after reviewing a script and approving how troops and the armed forces are portrayed.
But King, a Republican lawmaker from New York, cited New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who suggested the White House was seeking to bolster Obama's image with the film project."
"The moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history," Dowd wrote over the weekend.
She also said the film was due to open in October 2012, "perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher." The presidential elections are scheduled to take place November 6 next year.