I didn’t want to see the movie
The American Sniper (which should have been called The
American Neocon Sniper) but again, my curiosity was
piqued, after seeing the throngs of Southern moviegoers
(I live in the Deep South) at the box office, clamoring
to see this movie. (Which hardly occurs in this little
town, movie theatres around these parts are almost always
half to entirely empty)
Well, I can tell you… I was
disappointedly, not disappointed, it was just what I
expected! A gung-ho Iraq war flick that was the most IN
YOUR FACE, Neoconservative Propagandized, hyperbole
that’s been pulled over the American Unthinking
Brain since Dick Cheney’s announcement in 1994, that
going to war with Iraq would be a mistake and then...
unscrupulously, changing his mind in
2003, lying, cajoling, demagogging and doing everything
but literally stand on his narrow-minded head to warn
AMERICA that we must invade Iraq to protect American
women from being forced to wear burkas after Iraq drops
their non-existing nuclear bomb deep in the heartland of
America.
Ta- dah, ISIS (and the many other
terrorist groups that were spawned from Cheney’s
war)!
The Success of American Sniper
is a Disgrace
by lawrencegoodman I saw this movie
this weekend. It's exactly what the right craves—a
way to make us feel better about Iraq.
Chris Kyle is an American good guy—loving father,
devoted parent, humble servant of his country,
crackerjack soldier. The movie only makes passing glances
at Kyle's trauma from serving in the war. We learn
nothing about the more than 150 Iraqis he kills.
So there you have it. We may have lost the war, destroyed
a country, and spent billions of dollars pointlessly, but
the goodness of Chris Kyle makes it all worth it. Don't
focus on those other things. Focus on the grit and
integrity of the American soldier.
The movie is patriotic propaganda. Yet it's raking in the
dough and being celebrated by critics.
Should We Honour Service in an
Unjust War?
by LiberalCanuck
I have been following the debate regarding the movie
“American Sniper” and have noted the split in
opinion regarding this movie generally falls along the
line of “how or should we honour someone who fought
in an unjust war?”
This question takes me back to the Vietnam war, the
conclusion of which I still vividly remember. At that
time as well, many Americans both on the Right and Left
argued whether Vietnam veterans should be honoured. On
the Left the feeling was they had participated in an
unjust war, committed war crimes and had prolonged the
fighting by agreeing to go. On the Right the feeling was
veterans had dishonoured America by fragging officers,
disobeying orders, showing a lack of discipline and
ultimately losing.
Only two decades later was it eventually decided that the
returning veteran deserved to be honoured as a person who
was simply doing his duty as best he could in a very ugly
war. The Right eventually embraced the Vietnam vet as an
honoured colleague and forgot entirely the abuse they
showered on his head when he first returned home. The
Left conceded that while the war was wrong, the veteran
was more often than not a poor person drafted to fight
against his will. So, very belatedly, the service of the
Vietnam vet was recognized and honoured.
I admit, the question of how to honour – or even if
we should honour – the veteran of an unjust war has
been of some interest to me ever since. I am a military
history buff and have read hundreds of war diaries from
both sides of many wars. A common theme in many of these
diaries is the demand that the service of those in
“enemy” armies be recognized as honourable.
