Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Death Of An American Sniper"
Death Of An American Sniperby Laura Miller at Salon
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/07/death_of_an_american_sniper/
"SNIP.............................................
A self-described regular redneck, Kyle grew up in Odessa, Texas, and spent his youth hunting, collecting guns and competing in rodeos until he found his lifes purpose in the Navy SEALs. American Sniper lovingly recounts both the rigors of the special-operations forces training program and the extravagant hazing to which new members are subjected. (Kyle was handcuffed to a chair, loaded up with Jack Daniels, stripped and covered with spray paint and obscene marking-pen tattoos by his buddies on the night before his wedding. Presumably his bride got the message about whom he really belonged to.)
When the action-hungry commando finally got to Iraq during the initial push of the war in 2003, he was confronted for the first time with the soldiers prime directive: to kill the enemy. In Nasaria, Kyle shot his first Iraqi (an incident that opens the book), a woman he spotted on a road pulling a grenade from her clothing to throw at an advancing Marine foot patrol. I dont regret it, he
sure she didnt take any Marines with her.
It is both cruel and perverse to reproach soldiers for killing the enemy when thats what theyre sent to war to do, and when they do so in defense of their own lives and the lives of their comrades. Nevertheless, you can expect soldiers to kill and still recoil when they kill blithely and eagerly. In American Sniper, Kyle describes killing as fun and something he loved to do. This pleasure was no doubt facilitated by his utter conviction that every person he shot was a bad guy. Fallujah and Ramadi, where he saw the most action, were certainly crawling with insurgents and foreign Islamist militants, and Kyle swears that every man he picked off with his sniper rifle was manifestly up to no good. But his bloodthirstiness and general indifference to the Iraqis and their country dont suggest that he was highly motivated to make sure.
I dont shoot people with Korans, Kyle retorted to an Army investigator when he was accused of killing an Iraqi civilian. Id like to, but I dont. Later in American Sniper, he announces, I couldnt give a flying fuck about the Iraqis. I hate the damn savages, he explains. What does matter most to him are God, country and family (although much of the friction in his marriage arose from his ordering of those last two items). As Kyle saw it, he and his fellow troops had been sent to war in this contemptible place to make sure that bullshit didnt make its way back to our shores.
............................................SNIP"
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
1 replies, 745 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (0)
ReplyReply to this post
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"Death Of An American Sniper" (Original Post)
applegrove
Feb 2013
OP
He sounds like a dope, a very shallow and conscience deprived human being and yet...
tularetom
Feb 2013
#1
tularetom
(23,664 posts)1. He sounds like a dope, a very shallow and conscience deprived human being and yet...
He died because he was trying to help fellow soldiers who had more or less been abandoned or ignored by the government that sent them to war.
Unoriginally speaking there are two sides to every coin and I suppose Mr Kyle's life and death is proof of that cliche.