The Many Problems With American Sniper

America is not a peaceful country.

It takes only the briefest of perusals through a history book to realize that the USA was forged, expanded, and maintained in violent conflict. A major war is fought every twenty years or so with innumerable smaller conflicts and interventions seasoned throughout. Want peace? Move to Switzerland.

Along with war, America’s other favorite pastime is movie-making, with Hollywood as the epicenter of the world’s movie industry. It is no coincidence then, that the two of these hobbies often mate and produce offspring—the war movie.

Each of these bastard children seams to produce it’s own conflict as pundits and talking heads debate its merits or lack thereof. Experts and amateurs lock horns, in a contest to out-pun, out-analogy, and out-spin the other. Hyperbole rules and panties get bunched. (See: Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan) Provided you remain above the fray, it is all quite amusing.

So, it is with the latest offering from Clint Eastwood: American Sniper.

A bit of background

Before we get into that though, a bit of full disclosure. War movies are difficult for me to watch as I am myself a combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Oh, PTSD is not the problem. The problem is one of realism—or not, as is usually the case. I came away from Saving Private Ryan laughing, while my girlfriend at the time was in tears. I suppose it is a bit like a real forensics expert watching CSI.

I further admit, that I am defacto prejudiced—no, postjudiced is more accurate—against any film depicting Navy S.E.A.L.s, because I have direct experience with them and I came away unimpressed. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out a bit of their history here, here and here.

No one doubts their courage, but they seem to have a habit of dying without accomplishing much.

I do have some respect for the real Chris Kyle. I respect that he chose a macho profession and lived life on his terms. I further acknowledge that it is probable, likely even, that some of my Marine brothers returned home because he was watching their six. When talking about the real Chris Kyle, one has to consider some wacky stuff, but credit where it is due.

Thoughts on the movie

I wrote the above before seeing the movie. When it first came out, I really had no intention of seeing it, but the ensuing shitstorm piqued my curiosity. On the one hand, the leftist fruit bats were getting their panties in a bunch and on the other, the “America, Fuck Yeah!” crowd had a tropical rainforest sprouting in theirs. I had to find out for myself.

Boy, was I in for some serious underwhelming.

After the movie, I stopped off at my local watering hole to knock down a few beers and write out a few quick impressions, while the flirty bartender did her best to distract me. I had to search hard for something positive to say about this flick and here it is—despite all the hoopla, it is surprisingly neutral in tone. That is, it is neither nauseatingly flag waving nor is it an anti-war screed. I appreciate that in a war movie, but that is about all that American Sniper has to offer. Three times in my notes, I jotted down “meh.” That about sums it up.

The biggest problems

American Sniper is visually dull, as if it was filmed by first-year film students under strict orders to master the basics before trying anything fancy. Considering the subject matter (urban warfare, military vehicles, and men), it is a bit inexplicable that everything is rendered so unappealing to the eye.

Was this Clint’s attempt at brute realism? Possibly, but the camera fails to capture anything of the moment, nor convey anything like tension or drama. It even lacks the immediacy of the hand-held, jiggle-cam. The whole effort is flat and non-compelling; unforgivable when Eastwood had such an example to follow-

Boring cinematography is one thing if you then have the proper script and acting. American Sniper has neither. A piece of the petrified forest could have been broken off to replace Bradley Cooper and no one would know the difference. Sienna Miller, as Chris Kyle’s wife Taya, does add a touch of realism with her constant nagging and moaning. She does very well indeed portraying the standard, self-absorbed and even more deadly American Wife.

After a long and brutal tour of war in Iraq, Kyle comes home to bitching and whining. Small wonder he kept volunteering for additional tours. Even I began reflexively flinching each time she came on screen. I get that Eastwood was attempting to portray the toll that war takes on the family, but my question is: why would Chris have ever fallen for her in the first place? From the beginning until the last scene, she just comes across like a harpy. Possibly realistic, but as entertaining as nails on a chalkboard.

The centerpiece of the war scenes is the entirely invented “worthy other” narrative that plays out over the course of his four tours. Again, I get it. You have to have a specific antagonist…or at least supposedly, you do. Stanley Kubrick did just fine without one in Full Metal Jacket and in fact the lack of a specific antagonist kept the focus on the men, where it was supposed to be.

In this case, I see no point when the cynosure is on the stress induced on the home life of a warrior. They saw fit to add one though and apparently there was a writers strike in progress and an uncredited 10-year-old with a box of crayons scribbled it out. Parts of this storyline play out like a cheesy Sherlock Holmes rip-off- “Ah ha! That guy has a scrape on his elbow! What nefarious schemes must he be up to? Come Watson! The game is afoot!”

The only surprise comes when the enemy sniper finally gets his from 2100 yards out— the bullet doesn’t go through his scope. There is one detail though that surprised me, and one that can save your life if you ever find yourself under fire. This was gospel in my unit and shouldn’t be underestimated— never, EVER discuss wedding plans in a war zone. That is a sure way to get a bullet to the head. We will never know how many lives were saved because of my unit’s strict adherence to that.

Issues with the protagonists and the antagonist

So, American Sniper fails on the war front and the home front. We see his desire to be with his family and also with his team in action, yet what we never really see from either perspective is—Why? The enemy sniper “Mustafa” is used as the impetus to get him to return repeatedly to Iraq, but this just remains unconvincing. Kyle states openly (there is no subtlety in the dialogue, at all) a desire to protect his fellow warriors…fine, but what is missing here is any sense of the camaraderie that every man has experienced while off to war.

Kyle and his compatriots don’t show us the very real bonds that men in these situations cement. They instead progress through their lines quickly and stiffly, saying what they think and feel instead of showing us. In between tours, it is one long and tedious argument with his wife. It is only in the last scene where we see any real tenderness at all.

Both settings then result in a stilted, bone-jarring ride to nowhere, like driving through an endless construction zone in a Porsche—bumpy, boring and never getting out of first gear, despite the promise of 430 horsepower. Though it is riddled with problems, this scene from Full Metal Jacket still has much truth in it:

The real Chris Kyle said that war was “fun.” I know what he means. It is not really the act of killing, nor even the action per se, it is belonging to a group of your absolute best friends combined with having a clear mission in life all while testing yourself to the limit. That is what keeps men going back. That is why men such as Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle will leave the comforts of home and hearth to fight and risk everything on the field of battle.

And that is exactly what American Sniper fails to illustrate.

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324 thoughts on “The Many Problems With American Sniper”

  1. I think the rolling out of Michael Moore to be “the critic” of this movie was planned. Want to see people on both sides of the issue getting GAMED? Observe this issue.
    Now it’s “if you don’t like American Sniper you must be some kind of lefty pinko commie anti-gun anti-military fag” or “If you like American Sniper you must be a warmongering rightwingracistbigothomophobejesusphreakbitterclinger”
    Worst part is I can think of a lot of “conservatives” who need to be critical of this movie but will not because the paradigms and argument of the issues are now under control they are are now triggered into the conditioned responses of blind soldier (or “all things military we must support the troops blah blah”) worship. They’ll flap when they are the ones at the wrong end of more Chris Kyles.
    The “liberals” are not being critical enough, mainly because it’s their cult leader in charge of things now. So they are basically using Moore as the lightning rod.
    And speaking of conditioning and conditioned responses:
    “After a long and brutal tour of war in Iraq, Kyle comes home to bitching and whining. Small wonder he kept volunteering for additional tours. Even I began reflexively flinching each time she came on screen. I get that Eastwood was attempting to portray the toll that war takes on the family, but my question is: why would Chris have ever fallen for her in the first place? From the beginning until the last scene, she just comes across like a harpy. Possibly realistic, but as entertaining as nails on a chalkboard.”
    Just about every movie these days portrays the woman as being some kind of shrew with ZERO understanding of her man’s goals and obligations. It does not matter what the story is or what kind of movie it is: the woman is always at odds with the demand, the toll, or the hours. It’s excruciating to watch especially when the main character is well to do and his bitching wife is living well. I think Hollywood does this on purpose to program the women to fuck up mens’ lives and transmit to the betas (or make betas) that “he do does not put HER NEEDS first and foremost will suffer”. It’s fucking bullshit and only serves to ensure that real men with real goals past eat,sleep,shit,work,and maybe make middle management, end up taking a non-western bride.

    1. The people you accurately describe in the third paragraph are NEOConservatives, and the only thing conservative about them are their estimates about how much blood and treasure it will cost you and I as taxpayers to impose their Golden Calf of democracy on other nations.
      The Neocons are second only to secular Liberals on the list of groups who put this country on the path to ruin, in my opinion. A close second.

      1. aren’t most neocons former trotskyites? It shows, replace worldwide revolution with nationbuilding

        1. They are indeed.
          And nationbuilding (after bombing and destroying) IS worldwide revolution! They are re-making the world in their fascist, banker-controlled image.

        2. Very true. I thought that this view on Neo cons was only present in Europa. I’m happy to see that some Americans get it.

        3. BBC’s Power of Nightmares (available on archive.org) is a great look into the philosophy and history of Straussian neoconservatism.

        4. One thing they have in common with Trotsky is that they deserve an ice pick in the head.

        5. Actually very common in America just not well reported in the Neo-con press. Not sure why.

        6. Only Revolution actually involves the bottom up overthrow of a corrupt ruling class, whereas the neocon nation building at times seems like counterrevolution and is at its core based in outright invasion and aggression.
          Calling the whole neocon doctrine “revolutionary” is a disgrace to the great idea of Revolution.

        7. to be honest, I read things most Americans don’t.
          And Europe has a lot of former communists in charge of things interestingly enough,

        8. As written above, Neo-cons are former trotskystes, and even former hyppies… and they’re in charge in Europe too now.
          Communism, in the traditional meaning of the term, is dead.
          I know that in the U.S you think that communism is pure evil, but for example, in France, they were the only one standing up against the massive immigration, along with the nationalists, until the “softcore left” stopped criticizing capitalism and adopted the antiracist rhetoric to win some easy voices among the immigrants.

        9. i’m not sure. Its was very influential but elitist. Elitism doesn’t justify well

        10. Agreed, Anand! … Revolution implies to “revolve,” meaning, you do the same stuff over and over again. What we want is an E-volution, where we go beyond the current paradigm and abandon the old way of thinking: that some Top Down “Authority” can tell us how to live and what to do and have it turn out OK. … We want to move toward a “New Way” of thinking. Although, this “New Way” has been recommended since at least the pre-Old Testament thinkers, where the God of the Hebrews & Israelites clearly said to get rid of those King Things. But of course, they did not listen. Everyone wants their Mommy-Daddy to be in control of things. … And now, “the King” has been replaced with a President & Legislature. … We might not have been returned to slave status yet, but we are very close to being serfs.
          The American “Revolution” was indeed a civilization-level “E-volution,” but it got cut short by the oligarchs and crony-political-corporatists, and later the transnational elites, who were able to overturn the principles of the American E-volution and restore an updated version of the old King’s mercantilism.
          And yes, Marxist style “revolutions” — whether Leninist, Maoist , Trotskyite or U.S.ian — are only about getting someone ELSE in power, NOT dispensing with whole top-down power paradigm all together. We just give a different group of power- and war-mongers the White Hat for a while. Until we realize that under the dye, it was really a Black Hat.

        11. Yes. Cool. Though I would include the American and French Revolutions in the same great liberal-libertarian tradition of Liberty, natural rights, natural law, indivudalism, capitalism, and the dignity of individual human beings.

        12. Well, Anand, I’d like to agree with you, but I believe the French Revolution was engineered by Mercantilist Elitists, especially British, who, from behind the scenes, wanted to end any threats or competition from France. Many writings from John Coleman, Eustace Mullins, David Icke, among others, lead me to that conclusion. Saying the French Revolution was an “uprising of The People” is like saying the Japanese decided to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor without provocation, whereas, it is very well documented that Roosevelt had a secret, 8-point plan designed to force them into attacking the U.S. … And some of the U.S. higher ups knew it was coming. But Roosevelt wanted into the European war, and since the Japanese had an treaty with Germany, this was his VERY expensive ticket into the European theatre of war.

        13. Bollocks – The French Revolution was about replacing one class of rulers(Aristocracy) with another(Bourgeois)
          Liberalism leads to tyranny – whether it’s the Jacobins or the PC zealots we have now. The site is called Return of Kings for reason.

      2. They have also perverted what true conservatism is supposed to be into intrusive government for their own causes. They are every bit the statists that the liberals are.

        1. First they perverted the word liberal (see, even you are using it as a pejorative now). Then the neocons perverted conservatism. So you are left with fascist party A or fascist party B. But yay, we have democracy so we can CHOOSE between these two!

        2. Very true. I think Helmuth the Elder had an appropriate distinction of being statist and non-statist. As that is really the delineation that should be made. And now, pretty much every group other than Libertarians are statists.

      3. After a long and brutal tour of war in Iraq, Kyle comes home to bitching and whining.

        Sentence of the article and one thing every man can relate to, from the most pyscho of snipers to the mildest of stamp collectors. This is one tour of duty that never ends.

    2. Two movies were I noticed this annoying narrative from what would have been truly entertaining movies were JFK by Oliver Stone and Donnie Brasco, in both movies the men’s wives are unbearable. The bitching these women throw at their men is downright stressful. Having been married for 15 years, now divorced I would rather be in a combat zone than deal with the stress of the nagging and fighting ever again.

      1. But seriously Donnie Brasko is an amazing movie, I highly recommend it. It’s all about real life high-stress situations(infiltrating the mob in the 1970’s) and is very well made. The wife is an unbearable cunt though, I have to agree.

        1. The film is mostly fictional, artistic licence I believe it’s called. The book is completely different. But still fascinating in it’s depiction of day-to-day Mob life.

        2. Such men, like Donnie and Kyle, should never marry. Traditionally men who were uber passionate about something to the point it consumed their entire lives, stayed single.
          Marriage is the middle path.

      2. Oh yes Sissy Spacek does a great job of being the nagging, selfish wife of Jim Garrison in JFK. I remember tensing up with every scene she was in, as she reveals the hidden fear any guy who has ever contemplated marriage fears. The bitching and moaning all the time. All she cared about was her and the children, and couldn’t give a rip that her husband was working on uncovering unbelievable crimes and coups. Had zero interest in anything shocking he discovered.

    3. this. Most people want to see it to tell the people like Moore to fuck off.
      Although they are being manipulated I can’t really fault the instinct since I also suspect it was the reason Selma didn’t do well.

    4. Spot on, especially the bit about promoting Michael Moore.
      Anytime the mainstream media heavily promotes any “pundit” on the Left or Right, you know these talking heads are just operatives playing an acting role.
      Moore is supposedly against the Bush family. Well, did you know that Moore’s first movie, the infamous “Roger and Me” was partially financed and virtually co-directed by the nephew of President George H. W. Bush, Kevin Rafferty?
      Well did you?
      I can’t blame you if you are surprised, as most people don’t know that and would accuse you of promoting a conspiracy theory if you told them that. But it’s true. And when the facts came out, Democracy Now (another fake, shill organ) quickly did an interview with Moore to whitewash this fact. Search the following transcript for “Kevin Rafferty” if you don’t want to watch the video:
      http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/5/michael_moore_on_his_life_his
      What most people don’t realize is that Michael Moore is just another crypto-jew (pretending to be Catholic) and is just playing his leftist part, like a stage actor. The-Powers-That-Be trot him out whenever they need Left cover for their propaganda, or to steer the narrative into the Left-Right paradigm as doktorjeep pointed out.
      Moore’s most skillful piece of propaganda was Farenheit 911 – but NOT for the reasons most on the right believe. The movie purported to be an attack on Bush and his administration, focussing on lies and incompetence that led to the 911 attacks. This was just extremely clever misdirection to take peoples’ eyes of the growing 911 Truth Movement and from considering the more extreme truth – that 911 was an inside job (which it was). Instead, masses of left-wing activists left that movie thinking that 911 was out outside job (done by middle-easterners) and that all they had to do was get Bush out of the white house to “end the wars” – which only prepped the sheeple for Obama, and MORE WARS, just a few years later.
      Hollywood psy-ops are worth more to the Elite than a hundred armored divisions!
      Do you see how this shell game is played? The media disinformation runs deep. It’s sophisticated and all-encompassing. In the MSM, all sides of every argument and every viewpoint are tightly controlled and presented to you, like a scripted movie.
      Thank God for the internet – for however long it lasts in its current free expression form!

      1. Moore is part of the propaganda machine.
        The machine that creates the false dichotomy of..
        Republican vs. Democrat.
        Conservative vs. Liberal
        It’s the classic divide-and-conquer technique used to control populations…only now the people can vote which makes them think that have liberty.
        Kyle and American Sniper are part of that too.
        How convenient that he was killed so that he could be made a martyr.

        1. I have to agree.
          Any movie or film is an artificial reality. Its about charging and manipulating opinion via the manufacture of artificial reality. It is persuasion without a good reason. It’s called ‘art’ but what comes out of main stream Hollywood is propaganda that uses mindless entertainment as a vehicle.
          It is at best amoral self indulgent narcissism at worst evil manipulation.

      2. Michael Moore is a devil. His silence on Obama will be his ticket to the depths of hell. Nothing but a pawn for evil.

    5. Meh, it just doesn’t seem like a big deal even if the movie wasn’t accurate. Most of it was about feelings anyways. I believe a soldier with a high kill count is still more of a hero than some victim who had to “put up with being gay”.
      If this is one movie that counters liberal culture by sticking to the traditional narrative, let it be.

        1. That is true but a bomb can’t infiltrate behind enemy lines an kill a specific person so the government deny any involvement in their death like a special forces sniper can.

        2. Not specificaly coz it’s something the military will publicize but I guarantee it’s happened.

        3. If you read the book you’ll see that’s what they do every night. That’s counter terrorism. Bombs don’t permit SSE- site intel gathering. SSE is near the heart of CT/COIN

    6. You need to take the Travis Bickle avatar down – because you ain’t no Travis Bickle. And respond to people posting to you. Really shits me on this site – jerkoffs posting like they have the answer to everything, so wise, know everything – but won’t respond to posts that ask questions.

    7. This article and its comments wreak of fox with grapes.
      All these mental gymnastics to downplay how much of a natural, monogmous alpha this guy is (with sufficient alpha mental integrity to become a successful SEAL, unlike The Goat).
      A man without a reliance achieving an comformist (ideal) male identity in society through red pill pretentiousness and hypermasculine pedalization of women as status symbols (as implicated by the “80/20 rule”).
      Also a man not turned bitter by women, but wants to fuck them at the same time, wanting to enhance his sexual value and influence through these means.
      Truth is Chris Kyle encompasses all of the traits of an actual alpha, and to disagree is a defense mechanism.
      Tl;dr Chris Kyle hurts egos hence the hate here.

    8. I agree with most of what you, and the writer say about our government’s involvement with war lately. Also, what has been said about the harpies called “service men’s wives” being a real PITA (pain in the ass). Cheating when he is not there, and crying about everything like she is not being taken care of. I totally get that, and saw that in action during the movie.
      But this article is very harsh towards the film. I did not see the problems with it that many of you did. I could care less who he was killing. It is better to ensure that the person who gives him his orders is a better president than the a-holes we have had since forever. Many of the people he killed, he did say he was glad he killed them. However, he accused his vics of some atrocities.
      To denigrate this man this way is garbage. I don’t care if the hive mind mentality I am seeing here comes after me. Go ahead.
      But I don’t think it was a bad movie. I seriously do not think Chris Kyle deserves this level of shame.
      I also don’t give a damn if Iraq did not have WMDs. They had a history of trying to make them. I hate Bush, but don’t get it twisted. Iran, Syria with chemical weapons (which I wonder where they got them?), and about everyone else there would love to kill us here in the West.
      I get it, they are largely killing each other. But make no mistake, they would kill us all if they had the power. Someday, they may get it. You will wish for an army of Chris Kyle’s.
      So go ahead, accuse me of serving this bs ideology or that. Say whatever you want. I don’t agree with what was said in the article, or on the website about Chris Kyle.
      A soldier/airmen/marine/sailor must follow orders.
      To the author, how many kills did you have?
      Did you stand your ground based on your beliefs that the war was BS, and not go where you were told? Fight whom you were ordered to fight?
      Personally, I don’t think the movie was meant to portray much flash. Just the grit of the man whose story was being told.
      I suppose you think a real cops life is all about car chases, banging hot movie actresses, with perfect attitudes to match, always winning in under thirty minutes, and have to complete zero mountains of paperwork per day?
      It did happen over there that your boys in the Marines, SEALs, and Army expeditionary units, were targeted using kids. I get it, we were attacking their home and families.
      Yet if you are ordered to go there, do you just let them kill you? Or perhaps “Bowe Bergdahl” your service?
      Chris Kyle followed his orders. He joined like many of us did in order to defeat those that might attack us. Whether you think your politicians sphincter drips gold, or toxic crap.
      This whole article, to me, seems like an attempt to cater to the “war is always bad, so fuck each other, and smoke weed instead crowd.” As if every war fought must be against a Hitler. Or that we are ever going to have a “perfect war.” Let a lone a human leading the charge in politics whose character matches Jesus Christ’s.
      The fact is, it was a movie about his life. And a bunch of people wanted to honor a man’s service. He did serve. Damn well.
      I get it, the Iraq war was very likely the wrong one to fight. But if it was not that, a lot of people would be saying the same about Afghanistan.
      It is easy to sit back and attack those who make the decisions. But being in charge is hard. Especially at the top. So I sense that no matter what, you will never accept that maybe good people get up to the top, and make bad choices. Bush, far from being perfect, was an idiot that did what little he could with a bunch of war mongers pulling his strings.
      Yes, a bunch of good people died.
      But what wars are we suppose to fight? And how was Chris Kyle suppose to respond? “No sir, I don’t think Iraq is legitimate, I’m going to rely on the info gathered by a bunch of arm chair warriors back home. And not shoot down range, saving other men’s lives, and their ability to go home to their kids, and nagging PITA.”
      This article is too harsh.
      Feel free to call me whatever you want.

      1. I thought the article was pretty tame. “Serving” is not an exoneration of crimes. If you are wrongfully invading a country you are committing a war crime no matter how brave you were. A lot of Nazis were just “following orders” too and this was no mitigation of their crimes. And my understanding is that you are under a duty to refuse to follow unethical orders. So yes if Chris Kyle was an honorable man and was in possession of information that led him to believe the Iraq War was illegal he should have refused to go.
        In my opinion though, being in charge is easy. It’s being on the front line that’s hard.

    9. the most honest review….. the book was great, the movie might as well have been a black and white cartoon…… the greatest tragedy is yet to come when it gobbles up oscars like pacman

  2. This is my breakdown of the types of views Americans have about the movie:
    A) The right: America is the greatest, it is our destiny to travel to Muslim lands and kill them all in the name of God and America.
    B) The left: The movie is Islamophobic. The Muslims are simply protecting their homelands against the invading Americans and are unfairly vilified for doing so. We should never have invaded Iraq, etc.
    C) My point of view: I agree that invading Iraq did not accomplish anything whatsoever. But, invading was necessary in order to maintain the global status quo. Saddamn was not willing to give the global elites free reign in the Iraq oil markets and he started to make trouble for them. So, they had to get rid of him on the false WMD charges. After the invasion was over, the US government literally forced the new Iraqi government to change their laws to allow foreign oil companies to have full control of the oil. (More on this: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz/). But, I also believe that the lifestyle that I am able to live in the first world is the result of America’s constant conquest of the 3rd world. (More on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djwPqAJ_3GY). So in a way, I think that the wars and all the bullshit is justified because it helps maintain our (compared to other parts of the world) extravagant lifestyle. I truly think that the average person is just too naive and dumb to understand economics and geopolitics on a global scale, so they have to be spoonfed the lies (for example, WMDs in relation to Iraq) so that public opinion can be riled up and the people at the top are unfettered to proceed onto their next conquest. It’s a simple trick in social engineering: Create a problem, guide the reaction the way you want it, and then tell them that you have a solution. So yeah, in the end, I don’t really know if I have a true one dimensional opinion. I like to know the truth, and the truth is rarely simple and one dimensional.
    In conclusion, it is good to have a community of “above-average” individuals in a website like this where things like this can be discussed and understood by all. I can only imagine the look of pure confusion on the face of an average American if I repeated the same things to them.

      1. See that’s what I was trying to say though. I wish we could be honest too, but we can’t because the majority of people are too dumb to understand it. Plain and simple. And so the elites have to lie to us through the media in order to justify their actions to the majority. One of modern liberalism’s core concepts is that everyone is made equally and is equally intelligent. But in reality, it is my belief that evolution has not created everyone equally, and it is man’s natural desire to conquer and dominate others.

      2. Honest with ourselves?? How do you expect millions of impressionable young soldiers to sign up every year for deployment, with the dire consequences of PTSD, possible brain damage and or death?
        Do you just tell them, “hey guys we need you to kill arabs and take over the middle eastern regimes so we can control world oil prices and keep the military industrial complex churning.” Um, I have a feeling enlistment’s would fall down considerably.
        Instead, you keep fueling the myth of the noble solider, feverish jingoism, blind patriotism and unrelenting fear mongering to keep the masses backing unending war.

        1. “hey guys we need you to kill arabs”
          Worked for me. Worked for my cousin, who just finished USMC Boot Camp.
          That or just crush the economy and dangle Vet’s preference, GI Bill, VA benefits — or simply employment.

        2. We didnt get any oil from Iraq. nor was it the intention at all.
          France, Italy , Spain and Germany were getting cheap oil from Saddam under the auspices of the UN’s Oil for Food programme, literally supplying a regime with his needs..
          It’s not suprising that these same countries were against the invasion of Iraq and were the same ones that claimed the “US was after the oil”….they thought the oil belong to them.
          Now Iraq’s oil is sold on the open market , just like all oil and the proceeds go the Iraqi people.

        3. Yea I’m sure your typical hillbillies don’t need much incentive to leave the small town trailers and go kill anyone, let alone the “evil” arab enemy that’s been drilled into your head by church and media. Hopefully, you and your cousins don’t come back with brain damage or become the 1 in 3 vets who offs themselves.

        4. “At least 22 veterans commit suicide every day and young male veterans under the age of 30 are three times more likely to commit suicide when compared to civilian males in the same age bracket.”
          http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/08/31/older-vets-committing-suicide-at-alarming-rate.html
          http://time.com/304/report-suicide-rate-soars-among-young-vets/
          http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/us/22-veteran-suicides-a-day/
          I bet you and your recruiter buddies forget to mention stats like that to the impressionable youths who sign up?

        5. That does not mean 1/3 of all veterans kill themselves. I guess you’re not in the 60% of black males who graduated high school.
          “I bet you and your recruiter buddies forget to mention stats like that to the impressionable youths who sign up?
          Nope. I don’t care a thing about them other than getting their signature on the line.

        6. “Nope. I don’t care a thing about them other than getting their signature on the line.”
          How noble of you. Fellow soldier and brother in arms.

      3. Because United Fruit was formed by a brilliant, power hungry sociopath who also had phenomenal business sense? Yes. Also, Rule of unintended consequences applies. Everywhere United Fruit met real resistance continues to be a 3rd world shithole. Most other places where they installed receiptive governance are on the “Best places to retire” list. Hmmm.

    1. The world has casually forgotten that if Saddam had nothing to hide he would still be alive. He repeatedly made it clear that no UN inspectors would visit the suspected sites. The WMDs Iraq was working on probably ended up in Syria before our aircraft carriers arrived. Why else would Saddam stall at the risk of being invaded?

      1. Oh please! I thought this canard had died long ago.
        Apparently the Kool Aid is still being consumed

        1. Canard? Were the UN inspectors allowed access or not? Don’t give me your Kool Aid crap, give me your facts if you have any.

        2. Just because CNNMSMBCFOX – our Dear Leaders version of the Ministry of Truth – said it happened, doesn’t make it so. I view what’s told me through the same skeptical lenses as I would a woman talking to me: it’s not what they said happened it’s what they do afterwards b/c of it. The military industrial complex and the almighty United State all gain much as a result of these half baked lies that are fed to us as the gospel truth .

      2. Dude, diversify your diet from 100% jelly beans. They are nutritionally poor and, evidently, lead to a 30% drop in I.Q.

        1. Are you going to prove me wrong by presenting me with facts or resort to cheap insults like a woman?

      3. Your argument is invalid. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. Their government is about 10 times worse than Saddam’s government was. But they are not only allowed to have them, but our taxpayer money is also sent by the billions to them every year. Why? Because they are American allies because they have a very strategic location. You see how it works? How could we scold the Iraqis when we were literally helping Pakistan acquire WMDs of their own?

        1. The war was with Iraq, that’s why we held their feet to the fire. That being said, I’m not saying our policies are smart. In fact it was conservative magazine National Review that warned us not to get in the FIRST Gulf War. I also agree that we are grossly selective. We stood by as North Korea refused to allow UN inspectors as well because we have China to worry about. The result was that N. Korea developed the bomb.

      4. Maybe… hmm… he didn’t want a bunch of fucking tranzies stomping all over his home?
        “If you had nothing to hide, you wouldn’t mind us violating your home, your body, your nation, and your privacy’. Oldest excuse in the world to violate another human. Right up there with “If you were innocent you wouldn’t need a lawyer” and “pleading the fifth proves you are guilty.”

        1. Are you serious? You may not like the terms of surrender anymore than Saddam who already proved he would use his chemical weapons. The terms meant on-sight inspection of his sites and no, the inspectors weren’t there to be “stomping all over his home.” Nice of you to consider his feelings though, he must have won you over with his admirable dedication to human rights.

      5. LOL. You are asking for proof of something that doesn’t exist? There is no evidence that Saddam had WMDs. What “proof” do you require to further show this?
        Do you have an ass dildo in your dresser drawer because you haven’t allowed the neighborhood to rummage through it and check?

        1. I’m saying to show me where I’m wrong that he did not allow UN inspectors in. What you have given me is emotion. “Ass dildo, mother’s basement, small penis,” same poop, bigger scoop. It was also unnecessary if we are to have a civil discussion. You disappoint me.

        2. So, removing the double negatives, the false claim is -> Saddam did not allow UN inspectors in.
          1) Whether UN inspectors were there or not does not justify war.
          2) USA and most nations would never allow third party inspectors in its nation.
          3) Over 700 inspections were conducted in Iraq and nothing incriminating was found.
          “There were about 700 inspections, and in no case did we find weapons of mass destruction,” said Hans Blix, the Swedish diplomat called out of retirement to serve as the United Nations’ chief weapons inspector from 2000 to 2003; from 1981 to 1997 he headed the International Atomic Energy Agency.
          http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/03/18_blix.shtml
          4) The US government spied on Blix in order to blackmail him, because they knew there were no weapons, but wanted to blackmail Blix into lying, and were frustrated that they couldn’t get any leverage on him.
          https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/168/34684.html
          The point of the silly sex example is that you can make up any wild groundless claims you want, and it’s ridiculous to ask another party to prove they are false, when there is no evidence they are true.

    2. I haven’t heard anyone say such words, and I had convos with a lot of people belonging to a multitude of religious/political factions. Glad I’m not the only one who knows that respect is earned and if the US would be bitched about, then it would lose power, and no power=no influence=no money. It’s simple and it’s just human nature!!

    3. I’d agree that the Muslims are just defending their own tribe, and I’m ultra-right wing by white people standards.

  3. Great review, Martel. Well done. You read my mind on this. Like you, I worked with the SEALS on a few things when I was on active duty in the USMC, too…mostly WESTPAC stuff, but some JTF stuff also. I was not impressed. Triathletes masquerading as military men. Lot of preening, prima-donnas. Their arrogance and ineptitude hurt a lot of people. Unable to do basic patrolling, tactically incompetent, and unable to work in fast-moving situations. My thoughts on “American Sniper” were written up in a RVF post:
    http://www.rooshvforum.com/thread-43996-post-939783.html#pid939783
    A lot of guys here don’t know the reality, but we do. Fuck the teams, fuck Chris Kyle, and fuck Dick Marcinko.
    (And by the way, in case anyone cares, the greatest sniper in US history: Carlos Hathcock, USMC).
    http://www.rooshvforum.com/thread-43996-post-940063.html#pid940063

    1. What a bunch of fucking butthurt posers post here. Where did you see action jackass?
      “Triathletes masquerading as military men. Lot of preening, prima-donnas.” I know you can ban me at will ‘Mr. Mod’ but be a man not a ‘primadonna’ and answer the question please.
      Fallujah? Tikrit? Sangin? Kajaki?
      My guess? None of the above. Typical REMF
      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=REMF
      AMIRIGHT?!
      Guess who was still getting it done at the end when your ass rotated back Stateside? (And I’m not certain you ever were in the sandbox or ‘on the mountain’ at all) ISAF. German Choppers mainly, American & UK muscle, French assets and logistics, and faggot Navy SEALs on counter insurgency. Look it up…

    2. It’s the attention whoring that is entirely unacceptable to me. Some guys justify it claiming the command staff is doing it, but that is part of the command staff’s role- NOT the operators themselves. Seeking benefits from attention completely betrays the foundation of SOF units and the military in general.

    3. Thank you Quintus and Semper Fi.
      I was still pretty boot and believed the hype regarding the SEALs, when we began training with/alongside them (Med)…I was shaking my head, thinking- seriously?
      And yes, absolutely- White Feather by a mile.

  4. American Sniper is one of the most propoganda pieces devised by the CIA.
    The CIA has an entertainment liason division which helps Hollywood to churn out this kind of propoganda and in turn, manipulate and brainwash the masses. American Sniper, Argo, White House Down etc. The list of propoganda movies go on. Check out Mark Dice’s channel on Youtube for more info on this.
    Furthermore, it is a movie based on lies and false accounts made up by Chris Kyle. For example, there was no incident involving him punching Jesse Ventura. Jesse Ventura rightfully, sued the estate of Kyle (whereas the evil media claimed he was suing the wife) and managed to clear his name and receive damages for libel. Only in America can you be labelled as a villain for trying to defend your reputation from being tarnished and destroyed by liars.
    Also, this movie depicts Iraqis in the worst light possible and fuelled the endless amount of hatred towards Muslims.
    Piece of shit movie.

      1. Of course, the dumb sheeple of Murica will believe anything that is being shoved down their throats and forced into their minds.
        USA! USA! USA!

      1. Same can be said about the other mainstream religions.
        Jews say they can cheat goyims (cattle) and that it is allowed in their religion.
        Christianity says that it was necessary to carry out wars in the foreign lands.
        But when it comes to Islam, this must be the religion that is cherry picked by the masses to attack.
        Oh another thing, the Paris attacks- it was psy-ops and possible false flag attack. Don’t believe everything the mainstream media tells you.

        1. The crusades were a response to attacks on Christendom.
          There are things wrong with Christianity but that was a bad example.

        2. “Christianity says that it was necessary to carry out wars in the foreign lands.”
          No, Christianity doesn’t say that. Now, the Roman Catholics, after they fell from Orthodoxy (1054), did start Crusading in “foreign” (occupied) Christian lands. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, all occupied lands with oppressed natives (Christians). Now, was this necessary? No. Was it wise? No. Was it justified (when aimed at Islam, and not us Orthodox) when viewed in proper historical context (that of ongoing and never ending Islamic Jihad to conquer and enslave all Christendom)? Yes.

        3. So you hate jews, muslims, blacks…. is there a pattern here? Maybe it’s time to change your avatar to a swatshika and start posting on stormfront.

        4. So here’s whats up! #1 issue– you are wasting time arguing with a fucking retard. So, well, stop.
          #2 issue- Some retardation has a grain of truth. Leftist Jews -DO- have an agenda. And that is to turn white against black, muslims against the West, and ‘some other stuff’ I do not care to talk about right now.
          #3 issue- Do not be a typical mind slave. Stormfront are low IQ whites, who are generations removed from pure European stock. Sort of an entire website full of ‘special education’ students, if you will.
          All that being said, you better damn well know if you are the (to my eyes) high IQ black dude you seem to be— the leftist Frankfurt School descended CultMarx Jew and/or wait for it… wait for it… their co-conspirators the radical left liberal white woman DO exist. See what I just did there?! I’m European and condemned these honky bitches!
          They are here to destroy us. You, me, anyone else sir. Take that shit to the bank… Peace out.

        5. The first crusade was a creation by the papacy to regain control over Christendom, as it was losing power to regional leaders. Then it became a unique phenomenon.

        6. ”One must only read the Quran” Why do I think you never even read the Quran.. If one was to read the Quran cover to cover one would know there is nothing wrong with the Quran.. People cherry pick the Quran so badly it’s sad.. If the Quran was so bad people wouldn’t have to lie about it.. Every verse, even the violent ones, if read the way a book should be read, instead of quote mining, they make sense.. This is nothing more then sad Atheist propaganda… Anyway both Christians and Muslims love pointing wars they fought with each to say “your the violent one”
          Which for both sides isn’t true.. Religion isnt violent people are.. People fought war long before Islam and Christianity and will as long we live in this earth.. Anyway Christians don’t see who are the real treat to both of us.. Atheism is growing rapidly, soon will take the majority in America… Ever notice how Atheist love telling people of faith how they should act and I’m not talking about Islamic terrorist but secular Christians.. Don’t get me wrong I don’t care what you believe or don’t believe in but the militant Atheist does. Dont believe me? Turn on a left wing media network… Always have stories of how Christians need to hug a fag.. The enemy at home is far dangerous Then the one that can’t get here..

        7. jews, muslims and blacks, maybe there is a pattern? Perhaps of groups clustering under the ‘oppressed minority’ shield and using it to sortie out culturally damage their ‘privileged’ neighbors?

        8. Wait, what? No. The first crusade was an effort to reduce Moorish
          incursions on the Iberian Peninsula, which was choking off shipping
          (including, yes, Spanish wealth destined for Rome, but also pretty much
          choking off commerce moving by sea in the eastern Med) and forming
          support colonies for incursions deeper into Europe. Spain and Portugal
          are festooned with Moorish architecture from this time.
          Europe
          was very nearly entirely in Muslim hands, at one point controlling more
          land than Christian states. The invasion stopped only when reaching
          France.
          You should read history. It’s interesting. Rome decided to
          attempt to recapture Jerusalem, creating a win-win. If successful, the
          Holy Land would be Christian. Being also the focal point of Islam,
          success or failure, it would push the Moors to turn inward, taking
          pressure off Europe.
          …and it worked. Until 15 years ago, anyhow.

        9. Common dude! I have grown up around plenty of Jews. I dated Jewish chicks, I drank with Jewish dudes. There is no fuckin “secret conspiracy” on behalf of Jews to “Cheat the cattle”. LOL!!!! Jews comes in all forms. Some Jews are right wing, some Jews are Communists, some Jews are religious, and some Jews don’t give a fuck about religion.
          This idea that there are a few all powerful Jews who are secretly running around trying to “get the Goyim”. needs to stop. White folks who blame “the Jews” for all of their short comings sound just like a certain segment of the Black community who are quick to cite “racism” at every turn when things don’t pan out the way they think it should. I have read somewhere that around 50% of Jews marry out of the Jewish faith/Ethnicity. If they have a “secret plan” to destroy White Christian motherhood, Apple pie, and baseball, then they are doing a pretty shitty job of it.
          Jews are not to blame for the White meth head who decides to kill his his own parents so he can get money for his next fix. And the White man is not responsible for the black punk who shoots the convenience store cashier in the face after robbing the joint. The truth is, people do what they want to do. The reasons are tenfold. We are human beings with free will. The decisions we make are our own. But I suppose the temptation to blame everyone else is just too fuckin great to pass up.

        10. I’m very historically well read, and I can tell you – you have no idea what you are talking about.

        11. I think much of the animosity against Jews is their prevalence in certain lucrative industries. They are amazingly overrepresented in elite levels of wealth. However, they still don’t have any sort of majority, or even plurality, in those circles. So to think that Jews can mandate a certain agenda on other groups is simply baseless. Nor do all Jews have a unified purpose.

        12. This is why their arguments are so tiring. They don’t see how self-righteous it makes them look.

        13. Indeed, all three Abrahamic religions are worthless, trying to sit here and say one is better than any of the others is laughable. And I come from an Islamic background and won’t hesitate to bash it, but I won’t give credit to the other two either. All three have their ills, be it terrorizing innocents, controlling media and banking as a nepotistic mafia, or rampant child molestation.
          You can compartmentalize them however you see fit.

        14. I don’t think they deserve any privilege. But then again, I don’t think any group does. If given the option between a demographic group motivated by greed or one largely unmotivated, I would take the greedy bastards 10/10 times.

        15. They worked hard to get there, which is to be commended. They didn’t sit on their hands whining for government to give them shit.

        16. Bruh… Moorish incursions? Understatement? Much of Iberia was a Muslim country for hundreds of years.
          As for 15 years ago… I can’t speak for central Europe but Muslims quietly came to England sixty years ago. People only began worrying about Islam on September 11th 2001. As for whether Muslims were responsible for that… its all very murky and it stinks to high Heaven.

        17. Heil Hitler!
          Be honest, grown up and leave the naiveté. Conquest is based on financial gain. Religion is just there to get the population to go along with it.

        18. Hey man, see how great the comment section is without a long debate with bitches (by bitches I mean females).

        19. Do Jews really huddle under a minority shield? Seems to me that they run a lot of shit. I work with a lot of Jews and trust me, compared to them, you are the minority.

        20. I think they play too much on the sympathies of the Holocaust, but I’m also not sympathetic to any marginalized peoples. Their culture is much more useful to a modern society than Muslims, African-Americans, Native Americans, and probably Latinos.

        21. I don’t have a problem with them. I just have no sympathy directed at any marginalized group either.

        22. They’re good to argue against though. You can really hone your argument by arguing with them. But that ‘female’ I got caught up with the other day was a plant or something. She started to send me porn. Probably trying to fuck guys over on here.

        23. So the Islamists conquering christendom were the ones doing that, glad we agree.
          Besides, Hitler liked Islam and disliked Christianity so we know whoch side he would be on in this debate. In fact he wrote up something on Islamic Spain that basically tells is that he would be pro-islam and anti-crusade

        24. There are folks responsible for promoting the liberal culture wars that were about destroying traditional values that inhibited drug taking. The deliberate destruction of these values was about putting in place new values that were friendly to certain groups.
          a reading of Professor Kevin MacDonalds’s “the culture of critique” provides a soundly researched basis to how an outgroup succesfully attacked the culture of the majority and has effectively destroyed it ethnically. MacDonald has his own website; the occidental observer. As much as I feel,I can say.

        25. There were serious problem before then, PC censors everything from main stream media.

        26. Hitler was sucking up to the Mufti of Jerusalem at the time, so his statements need be considered as diplomacy. He certainly did admire some of the masculine aspects of the religion but he shouldn’t be considered a fan.

        27. Judging by the current (last few hundred years) state of Arabic affairs, its safe to say they didn’t pull off 9-11 simply by the fact that 9-11 was a “success”

        28. “Christianity says that it was necessary to carry out wars in the foreign lands.”
          It does not say that at all. No Western leader has invoked Christianity as a reason for conducting a war. They’ve used excuses based around human rights or rogue nations. The Muslim world provides rich excuses on that.
          Christianity separates church from state craft, which Islam does not. In fact Christian founding fathers wrote a whole book of the bible, Acts, to firmly state they were not interested in Government.
          St Augustine, who was in fact a Moroccan (likely a Berber) who had Roman citizenship did postulate the concept of “Just War”. In order for a war to be “Just” it had to:
          1 Prevent a far Greater evil than war itself
          2 Never ever be pre-emptive.
          When the first formal crusade occurred in 1095 it was a result of a request by the Ruler of Byzantine who was under attack from Islamic forces. Granted it eventually lead to the occupation of Jerusalem but considering Islam prior attack in Iberia (Spain/Portugal) and France I see no moral issue in taking the fight back to the enemy. A defensive war is a loosing war.
          Granted the Zionist project has added a little instability in the region but it was thus anyway.

        29. In the politically correct blue pill culture its OK for Muslim Arabs, Moors, Berbers, Tourags to invade part of Europe, conduct inquisitions, impose religious dominance as occurred in Spain, Sicily and Earlier in Syria. iIs just a case of friendly multiculturalism but its not OK for Europeans to fight back military and actually win.. That’s a double standard and a double standard is a sign of a hidden agenda.

        30. Stormfront is apparently controlled opposition. Their official position, which they won’t deviate from, is that the gov’t version of 9/11 is true and correct.

        31. Explain 109 explusions over different centuries on different continents by people of different customs.

        32. They mostly colluded. The jewish students who get admitted into the Ivy League don’t work hard to get there, they get favored.

        33. A very fair and balanced (Fox news, I know) article by a Jew at New York Times on stormfront and the KKK a year or so ago contradicts your assessment.

        34. That’s part of the wonderful Irony shield… unassailable power coupled with the instant ability to smite any dissenters with the power of yje holocast.

        35. We do agree. In my opinion all religion serves one purpose. The enrichment of the ruling elite and a PR campaign for the population. Occasionally, you have a war between elites which is what the crusades and Muslim expansionism was all about.

        36. They claim to be the chosen people so that probably feeds into hostility against them. And I’m only interested in the modern context where they are infinitely more useful than Muslims.

      2. You’re an idiot. You’ve never read the Qur’an a day in your life. What you may have seen, more likely heard about, were out of context quotes, to promote a negative idea. This isn’t a gossip site, show us the proof you speak of…

        1. Proof of my reading the quran? That’s a tall order.
          The quran was required text for a class. Here it is. [URL=http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/assfuckislam/media/P1000022.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n634/assfuckislam/P1000022.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

        2. The claim that the Koran is misread by western racists is an queer one. Do you think the endless decapitations of hostages might be inspired by the Koran talking about this as a suitable action against the enemies of Islam numerous times? How about Lee Rigby being decapitated, a off duty Soldier crossing the road. How about numerous non muslim “kafirs” murdered in their commute to work in trains and buses by bombs or suicide bombers reaching out paradise to those 72 perpetual virgins. The discrimination suffered by “Dhimis” or non muslims even in supposedly mild countries such as Malaysia is very real and enforced by law there.
          Muslims have spoken of taking captives and using them as sex slaves in modern times, just as Mohamed “allowed” and it’s certainly what ISIS is doing.
          So it’s muslims “misreading” the Koran by taking it litterally as written that is the problem?
          The Koran is a Wack job. It consists of 100 sura, or mini chapters. Because when it was assembled from debriefing men who had known Mohamed as well as a few written down scraps the editors were unsure of the chronology the assembled it in order of length, longest to shortest except for the first chapter. This makes it confusing, the Koran often contradicts itself so to resolve this they give chronologically latter sura precedence. After a few hundred years they worked out the chronology hence we can have a harsh pronouncement in a lowers numbered sura superceding a higher numbered milder sura because the preceding chapter was actually chronologically higher numbered.
          Much of the Koran is bits and pieces of bulletins Mohmaed issued from time to time. In Medina he takes an interest in public health and issues an edict about ass cleaning methods he approves of. Water if you’ve got it, sand if not. He didn’t anticipate toilet paper, wet wipes it seems.
          Because lots of it seems mistranslations of popular Syriac and Aramaic poetry and the superstious beliefs of pagan Arabs much of the Koran is incomprehensible gibberish, whic leads to anxiety regarding translation.
          In character and nature it’s completely different to the New Testament; it’s far more violent.

      3. You hate 28% of the World’s population? That’s a lot of hate to carry in your heart my brother…

        1. Most of those 28% didn’t have a conscious choice. That’s true of most adoptions of culture. Islam is by far the worst of religions in terms of imposing itself on others and dissenters.
          28% is enough, it doesn’t deserve to spread further, it adds nothing, it worsens everything.

      1. Yeah, and who are you exactly?
        Jesse Ventura and Alex Jones are the ones who report the real facts of life like the FEMA camps, the hoarding of wealth by the elites, the Bilderberg Group, the Federal Reserve, AI and surveillance on the masses etc.
        I would rather trust them than you.

        1. Keep laughing. You won’t be laughing when the economy collapses and you have no where left to go.
          Keep putting your trust in the government. But don’t say guys like Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura didnt warn you.

    1. Totally agree, movie was the biggest piece of pro-war jingoism I’ve ever seen. 9/11=war in Iraq, all iraq civilians=savages etc. I saw it thinking it would be a balanced, nuanced story of war and its consequences like Platoon. Instead, I saw a pro war propaganda piece about a sniper who glorifies killing and murder. The military industrial complex has done a really fine job at brainwashing the middle america sheep into thinking killing and following oil industry incentives are good for their own masochistic tenancies. This is the same revisionist, squeaky-clean propaganda you’d see produced by other militaristic nations like Imperial Japan, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany.

      1. I don’t think we saw the same movie. The movie I saw followed one soldier and his overarching drive to protect the guys he was assigned to protect, which had a profound impact on him despite the simple philosophy he relied on to deal with what he was experiencing.
        Rereading your post, I’m doubtful you watched the movie at all. Too much common language between a recent “Salon” article and what you’ve written. Plus, the way you talk makes me think that writing that rehash you plagiarized is an exercise in self-worship, not debate… like masturbating in front of a full-length mirror. I just don’t see where comradeship and esprit de corps gets turned into propaganda, except that the military is the only place to find it for most of today’s boys.

      2. Kyle looked insane when he bumped into his brother at the Airfoeld. His bemused look what his brother said “fuck this country ” exposed his mad he’d gone.

    2. SEAL teams were rarely allowed significant roles in AOs (still aren’t in most cases) and DEVGRU (“SEAL Team 6”) wasn’t performing the high profile missions until Obama showed up. Before that the Army’s tier one units (“Delta Force”) took on all the major operations such as capturing Saddam. And rarely did anything other than occasional books go public. Once Obama appointed Admirals to SOF flag officer positions, Naval Special Warfare (NSW) took on all the desirable missions and the attention whoring started following every successful NSW operation (look up the Norgrove incident in 2010 as I was in Afghanistan during that disaster). I can assure you, the hypocrisy of NSW routinely violating operator ethos of quiet professionalism is not lost on most operators. Even many within the NSW community. SEALs are the de facto attention-whores of the SOF community.

      1. I’ve been shocked at how quickly the details of every special mission gets splashed over the tabloids. So much so that I started to wonder whether the military has new special forces that are really secret as they’re supposed to be.

        1. Every special mission? I doubt it. If it is on the front page there is undoubtedly a very good reason. Why was the Osama killing pantomime on the front page? Obama needed a little help…

        2. It was not that way until Obama took over. I witnessed the transformation first hand as I was in the military during the transition from Bush to Obama. Even the language in press releases became very specific. It used to be generic “Special Operations Forces” and that changed immediately when NSW rose to prominence. The irony of it is that while SEALs have been marketed to the public as being superhuman beings, NO ONE likes working with NSW in the defense industry. Most of their command has very limited experience compared to other command staffs (for good reason as major US operations have been land-based for years). It’s all a facade. Just like the Obama administration.

    3. Don’t forget the hand of the DoD in all of this as well. Btw, seen CoD AW? Total propaganda. A real shame.

      1. You don’t like the idea of white men blasting the heads off brown bodies do you? What must you think of Zulu?

  5. “It is not really the act of killing, nor even the action per se, it is belonging to a group of your absolute best friends combined with having a clear mission in life all while testing yourself to the limit.”
    And it’s a shame that a hellhole like that is one of the few places where American men can still be American men.
    Thanks for your service, Charles.

        1. Lol. It’s so well scripted. The Colour Sergeant quoting Psalms is exellent:
          The Lord of Host’s is with us! Get back to work!

  6. I have to say I’ve been around a lot marines and I’ve never been impressed.Most of you have PTSD or are just bat shit crazy,brain washed and would argue with the devil and yes my dad was a NAVY SEAL and a few guys I train with were in the teams so yep I’ve seen excellence and I’ve never seen it from a marine just a loud fucking mouth and a bowed out chest so excuse me if I think you’re piont of view is shit because I’ve never met a marine that wasn’t full of it because I know many some close friends.I’m not telling you anything I wouldn’t tell them or already have either bud.

  7. Having served in the military doesn’t make you an expert reviewer of military movies outside of tactics,weapons, etc.
    I served 12 yrs in the regs and am now serving in the Reserves and I saw a much different movie.
    I saw a movie about a man and his experiences. It is a human experience movie. Anti-war, anti-Islam, anti-whatever…that’s more a function of your own idealogical bent than anything else…you see what you want to see, what fits with your sense of the world.
    Unfortunately, the US media is so binary in it’s views – red/blue, gay/straight, lib/con, etc. that everything is measured through this lens.
    Ignore all the shit opinions of what others think is wrong or right and go see it.

    1. I intend to – if for no other reason it’s directed by Clint Eastwood, one of the greatest Americans ever.

  8. As the Good Book so aptly reminds us : ” He who lives by the sword dies by the sword” Those words couldn’t ring truer when it comes to the life of Chris Kyle

  9. Fuck the US Marine Corps and Chris Kyle too, the only thing they do for America is lower the price of Afghani heroin while costing taxes.

  10. This movie does not glorify war.
    And if you have an axe to grind with Chris Kyle, that’s fine. I don’t think that changes the movie itself though. Clint Eastwood hollywoodized what was already a less than accurate story.
    This movie glorifies service, but if you think it actually tries to justify the Iraq war, I think you went in to the movie expecting just that.

  11. IMHO: There is a direct corollary between the weakness of men in this country and the bulging man crush they have on guys like Chris Kyle. Its really a sad commentary on how utterly pathetic and weak we are as a nation.

  12. Let me say one thing first before I rip you a new asshole. I -do- appreciate your perspective. RoK has become fairly shite in the last year to 18 months, but any contributor keeps it 100% real. Right or wrong, and in a world full of packaged, processed, PC horseshit, MSM, guess what? THAT is what I like about this article. That being said? Here we go—
    “Before we get into that though, a bit of full disclosure. War movies are difficult for me to watch as I am myself a combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps.”
    So what? Little more buddy. Semper Fi, do or die! Kill kill kill! A tour ever in the sandbox? Two? Kyle had FOUR over 8 years away from home and hearth. So have many in the MRA world for certain. PUA? Dunno, but it doesn’t matter either way. The guy did what he did and went back for more.
    “I further admit, that I am defacto prejudiced—no, postjudiced is more accurate—against any film depicting Navy S.E.A.L.s, because I have direct experience with them and I came away unimpressed.”
    This is where I had to tune out to anything else you said as relevant. I -did- read the rest of your article sir, but your credibility went to shit right after this.
    One of my -best- friends is in the most laughable ‘Armed Forces Branch’ in the US. Air Force? But he is an odd bird, to be sure. He is a ground pounder which by itself is not glamorous in the Air Force.
    -However- his role is extremely specialized. He is an ‘air drop asset’ which means other people fly him to where he needs to be. He was (until recently) a ranked officer, a colonel. I dare not say his name here, he is easily googled. His MOS? Training counterinsurgents deep in the Afghan high country and mountains.
    With such a highly specialized role, he encountered all branches of the armed forces. His view? SEALs are tough as fucking nails and have earned their reptuation as such. He of course, shit on pussy US Navy squids that spend their time on a boat far away from conflict, hot chow, warm showers, maybe air conditioned bunks? But was like, “these guys have no business being NAVY except for insertion.”
    One more piece of fuel to pour on the flame—
    “So, American Sniper fails on the war front and the home front”
    Except it smashed every box office record for a January release in the last decade give or take and has made the studio absurdly rich on a film they were not certain about. So did I mention objective reality? A good place to visit…
    That was just me lighting you on fire, because you needed to be lit on fire with such a bizarre and obviously butt-hurt opening.
    Now as for the movie itself? Jingoistic American propaganda. Any rational human with a wide worldview knows that Iraq was ‘Bush Jr’s war’ and ‘Afghanistan’ was a place no westerner should have ever been, period. Kyle was a known braggart and DID save many lives at great distance. He was also a good ol’ boy from the country hence his extraordinary training with long guns from a very young age. Nothing about -him- was actually exaggerated if you read the novel. Simple man, fly over country, America FUCK YEAH! as you mentioned. This is not hard math.
    You also did a great job with your characterization of the ‘typical American Wife’. A man, his country, his responsibility, his courage, his commitment? LOST on her, like so much sand in that last dust storm. CONSTANT bitching. You think so called ‘terrorists’ from that region with wives get this shit? No. They respect the fact that their men are willing to die for a cause. Right or wrong, it does not matter. And most of them never marry again. THAT is the commitment lost on women from the States and Western Europe.
    Finally, and I will call this what you are inferring ‘The Band of Brothers’.
    ” Kyle states openly (there is no subtlety in the dialogue, at all) a desire to protect his fellow warriors…fine, but what is missing here is any sense of the camaraderie that every man has experienced while off to war. Kyle and his compatriots don’t show us the very real bonds that men in these situations cement.
    The real Chris Kyle said that war was “fun.” I know what he means. It is not really the act of killing, nor even the action per se, it is belonging to a group of your absolute best friends combined with having a clear mission in life all while testing yourself to the limit. That is what keeps men going back.”
    Kyle was ‘part’ of a unit many times, but he was not the dude in the trench, kicking in doors, CQB. What bond could he -possibly- form? Even in the movie, they show him going off script against his CO’s orders to *become* a CQB entry team guy. And they flat out said the truth in that scene. (paraphrased) “Anyone can kick in a door and shoot at point blank range and likely be killed for doing so. Your value is that you kill with 100% certainty beyond 500 meters on average. The men like that safety.” Angel of Death then, innit??

    1. “Training counterinsurgents deep in the Afghan high country and mountains.”
      Cool story, brah,
      The Army Special Forces train indigence forces. The USAF’s elite soldiers are the Para Rescue — whose job is to rescue, and Combat Controllers who are attached to other branches elite forces to provide air support.

      1. First off, it’s indigenous you fucking mental midget. Second off, you are -definitely- in the know about all USAF special ops ‘random guy on the internet’.
        The man I talked about is not ME, get it faggot? What possible reason would I have to lie about this? He is also in the shittiest US service division there is, again, why wouldn’t I tell you about my bad ass Navy SEAL friend that kills people with his bare hands from 4 meters away?
        No, you are an internet warrior, and that is ok. But don’t become a subject matter expert or a man. It doesn’t suit you. The ‘air drop asset’ I described was rescuing no one, and especially not ‘indigence’ forces. In fact, he is a -seriously- fucked up PTSD dude because why?
        He could call Para Rescue for advanced op forces, but only ISAF. Those brave, poor, not well equipped, and at least willing to try ‘indigence’ forces? Left to die, or mercy killing and most ISAF wouldn’t let a person who couldn’t get a CASEVAC lay there and bleed out. Bullet to the head for a guy you just spent a month with then, innit?
        You will never know a task like this because like 90% of men, you are an extremely soft westernized pussy that has never known a day of hardship, regret, or true fear, in his life. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve done some really wild shit related to what I just said, but -nothing- like my man had to do often.
        “Cool story, brah” Get off your couch you fucking fat body, do something meaningful with your life (you probably can’t and won’t) and know your betters when you encounter them. <3 <3

        1. Sorry Euro fuck. I was in the army for a decade. My brother is in the USAF. My cousin is in the USMC. My other cousin and both of my grandfathers were in the army with my maternal GF retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. I know a lot more about the US military than you.
          Go into a Belgian clinic and euthanize yourselves.
          And what 3rd rate shithole spawned you?

        2. What I really want to know is how R. Lee Ermey managed to log himself multiple accounts on Disqus 😛 Watch your mouths, boys. 😛 😛

        3. I’m gonna start with my original comment just to clue your ass in—
          You know, you are actually one of my favorite authors here. You are -certainly- no Roissy, ermm, wait, Unmentionable! I mean Heartiste.
          Like Roosh and Roi… Heartiste, I came up and cut my teeth around the same time in ‘the city’ that has turned out the best authors in the so called ‘manosphere’. I never made a career out of it because I was already making bank but I did manage to almost trick Caitlyn Dewey into a hate fuck and a rim job.
          Sadly, -just- missed the mark.
          So all that unnecessary qualification out of the way don’t talk shit and know your fucking betters, as ‘MA’ himself would have.
          Much love—
          -Jay in DC-
          ——————————–
          Above is my original comment BTW– the best you are ever going to get, and it will never get this good again. I’ve been ‘blocked’ from commenting on RoK? LOL! DAFUQ?
          See above where I did not have to make a career out of blogging in DC? I was already working for -an agency- I have IP addresses on 3 continents you simpletons. IP ban my -entire- domain. Just means some niggas from DC will not be able to post.
          Maybe you, maybe Charley Mart, maybe Roosh? Doesn’t really matter. Did I mention FUCK YOU? because well, fuck
          you… I could create another half a dozen DISQUS accounts in 45 seconds. Same name, same avatar. I have neither the time or inclination to be bothered. The half a dozen I already have will do nicely if I want to just take the piss out of you any further.
          RooshV has been a massive pussy since well, what I originally mentioned.
          Only recently is he reacquiring his testicles, sadly, it is far too late. The CultMarxJews and Radical Leftist White Bitches have just
          about completed the destruction.
          You are little fellas at the end of the day, don’t try and run with the big dogs. You are not well suited to the task whatsoever. Here to help, stop with the faggotry please.
          Crippling a website is laughably easy if one is so inclined. Currently, I’m not so inclined so walk it off, man up, move on. I am busy keeping you safe from the ‘ scary bad’ muslims in cyberspace… I use to just get paid to keep sissy white boys safe by beating up scary negroes, now? Highly advanced career options…

    2. No offense to your ‘friend’, but amphib navy fucked his sister, especially us landers. We get in safely, deploy the jarheads safely, are under the most concentrated fire the whole time, no ability to get under cover except the boat we come in on, and ancient 50 cals as our only defense. If we take a rocket, missile, or even a willy pete, we are fucked, and EVERY ONE OF US DIES.
      He can shove his ‘air conditioned squid’ shit up his ass, as under the deck in a T can get up to 150 degrees easy… and we still have to keep working our asses off.
      Yes, we get better chow… but amphib and sub navy are no rack monkeys.

      1. LOL! Well sir unlike our ‘author’ and the various fatty ‘men’ detractors, you -HAVE- at least been in the armed forces for a bit.
        Landers, as you stated, different animal completely, and I don’t think his derision was shot towards anyone with a job that dangerous. It was mainly the ‘off shore’ motherfuckers SAFE AND SOUND in the ‘battle group’ AKA the fleet.
        I know USMC and Army pretty well. Navy and Air Force not so much. But are you telling me what? In 2015 the Navy of the -most militarily advanced nation- on planet earth are still using what? A fucking Higgins Boat?! Or something like it? LLLOOOLLL if so, you all are doing it wrong, completely.
        Analogy— Air Force WW2 Era, was air dropping most people out of B-29s. They got shot the fuck up over Germany mainly. They are gone. B-52s? A decade or so later. Still operational one of the scariest planes to fly ever. Insertion? Some variation of ‘The Platform’— AC-130 Gunship. Less guns = more leg room, more fuel, shorter flight.
        So the US Navy has either Higgins Boats or some busted ass design that mimics them? 60 years of warfare taught no lessons about how to build a fuckin’ better boat? This cannot be true…

        1. I kid you not, us Boatswains still used boats commissioned in newport news in like…55 when I was in.
          If you get hot, you lean against the hull for a while… asking about AC gets you laughed at or sent to ‘get some air’… which means scrubbing 180 degree sun-warmed steel decks topside.

  13. The seals are the navy’s flagship program, I personally have met them and was unimpressed they had attitudes and were very rude to a bunch of guys that look up to them. American sniper wasn’t entertaining to me you have him shooting a child and another child get his head drilled out. And I also have a problem with this, Kyle steals the bible from church never reads it and says he’s ready to stand before God and answer for everyshot hmmm then he drops it and quits the war. So are they saying the bible is the cause of the war, or religion is. Personally I think if one still believes 911 was a terrorist attack your blind, so why did we invade Iraq again and why are the seals supposed silent proffesionals writing so many books.

    1. Kyle was a Christian-Zionist. His version of Jesus is the one who returns when Israel recovers Jerusalem to judge the quick and the dead and the Jews convert to Christ.

        1. I dig the scene when Jesus walks into the temple and pisses off the money men. Would get in a time machine to see that. If true.

  14. The best part of American Sniper is the trailer… it tells an amazing story, all by itself.

  15. This movie creates a false dichotomy: If you’re a liberal you must hate it. If you’re a conservative it is the greatest movie of all time no flaws whatsoever. Mainstream media trying to divide people? Who would have guessed……..

  16. Are the SEALS becoming too Hollywood ?? I heard a funny joke…
    Q. How do you know if a guy is a SEAL
    A. wait 5 minutes and he’ll tell you
    Are the SEALS becoming corrupted by Hollywood??

  17. This movie seems to be the talking point of the month. . If your on the left you have to hate it if your on the right it’s the greatest thing that very happened. . As a wise man once said ” no one is morally right in war”- shershah

  18. I will watch no more of this snuff film than the trailer itself. The trailer shows Chris Kyle pointing his sniper rifle at a child and its mother, and Kyle radios that he is looking at a terist, and the boss tells him, well it’s your call, you can kill them if they are a threat. Right then I knew I wanted to see no more of this story. Chris Kyle is already a proven liar, and has said in interviews that he loves to kill, and does so not out of allegiance to any country or sense of duty, but just that he loves killing. In other words a sociopath and mass murderer. Since it is proven that he lies, and no one else saw this child and mother, I do not trust Chris Kyle when he says they are dangerous and should have been killed. Since he is a liar, one can conclude that it is likely he lied about how dangerous certain people were and killed them anyway. He likely lied about the number of kills too, since we know he is not honest.
    The disgraceful lie against fellow SEAL and former Governor Jesse Ventura shows that he has no honor; therefore he cannot be a hero. Also, it’s really sick to imply that some guy who drives around with a rifle shooting Arabs in their homes is on par with warriors who fought trained Nazi troops. Why don’t we reward the shooting skills of that guy in Norway who shot up all those kids at school? He was a good killer too.
    Apparently the film further reinforces the notion that 9-11 was somehow related to Iraq. I expect the majority of the country now believes this is true. Since Kyle went to the wrong country after 9-11 he just went and murdered a whole bunch of innocent people in their homes, killed a bunch of fathers and brothers, and feels good about it, he is precisely the opposite of what a hero is.

    1. “The disgraceful lie against fellow SEAL and former Governor Jesse
      Ventura shows that he has no honor; therefore he cannot be a hero.”
      Ventura wasn’t a real SEAL. He was UDT, a group that was later merged into the SEALs, but that had far lesser training and use in action at the time he was a member.
      http://cursor.org/stories/seal_or_udt_4.htm
      I asked Dick if this was a SEAL op. “Nope. That’s a UDT swimmer cast through the hellhole of an H-46 Sea Knight.”
      I asked Dick about the different NECs for UDT and SEALs. He didn’t pause: “5321 for UDT, 5326 for SEALs. Anyone who’d only served inUDT before the Teams combined in 1983 couldn’t truthfully claim to have been a SEAL.”
      I told Dick that Jesse had left active duty in 1974.
      “Couldn’t have been a SEAL, then.”
      I thanked Dick for his time and left.

      1. OK, I actually remember the Gov. talking about underwater demolitions now in a radio interview once. But regardless of what division he was in or what it was called, the fact remains that Kyle lied about an honorable man.

        1. Kyle > “Jesse Ventura” (“my copyrighted name”) aka George Janos
          Ventura never was a SEAL, although he profited from claiming to be one (“Navy SEALs” chapter of his book, pictures of himself captioned as “SEAL operation. That’s me on the right.”)
          Whether Kyle ever punched Ventura in the face for fasely claiming to a SEAL comes done to “he said, she said.” (Kyle was conveniently dead and unable to be present in the courtroom). Well, Ventura probably deserved to be punched in the face (if not sued by the Navy Seals and the government for “false honor”), far more than Kyle deserved to be sued for allegedly falsely claiming to punch Ventura.

        2. According to the lawsuit, it has been proven that Kyle was lying about it; hence why ventura won the case. No he said/she said, and try to remember that Ventura sued him before his death, his untimely death that nobody saw coming. Ventura profited from false claims, yet so did Kyle, so what is your point?

      2. I would never call a UDT diver or clearance diver a “pussy” profession. Apart from finding and destroying under water mines and booby traps both at sea and invasion beaches the attack enemy shipping in harbours. They conduct reconnaissance, mapping invasion beaches and coastal targets and venturing inland They are certainly trained for combat.

      3. So because Ventura wasn’t a “real SEAL”, that gives this sniper guy the right to lie about knocking him out in a bar? What are you defending?

        1. Yes. In a real SEALs eyes. Why did he not tell the world, and his voters, that he was a UDT? Rather than using the SEALs, which he wasn’t, to make office? He had been doing it for decades.
          The SEALs are not kind men. But many are good men. But they do not take kindly to those who use their service lightly. They will call these guys out all the time. It is sad really, how men will say they were a SEAL, and we find out later they were just trying to get attention.
          Ventura can talk some shit too. I imagine he thought too highly of himself, and this one let him know what he thought. If the story is true?
          I don’t know or care if he was a SEAL or UDT. Or both.

        2. Like how some men will lie about killing 2 guys in texas that were attempting to mug him, lie about knocking a guy out, lie about proceeds of book sales right? So in short, one man is a piece of shit for lying about his military training, and one man is a hero for lying about pretty much his entire service record and life? Ok. Seems like you do care about Venturas military history even though you claim not to.

        3. Kyle was beginning to establish a political career. Ventura was a pol. Pols lie about each other. Bfd.

    2. “I will watch no more of this snuff film…”
      then
      “Apparently the film further reinforces…”
      Nope. Stop.
      If Mr. Holier Than Thou doesn’t want to see the movie about the mean man, that’s fine. You don’t then get to critique the content of the film you didn’t watch.

      1. Does the film reinforce the idea that Iraq = 9-11 or not? My research on film reviews and talking to people who have seen it say yes. If you have different info, please share. Let’s stick to the objective facts about the film itself.

        1. I did not think so.
          If you are a Navy Seal watching the news on 9-11-2001, you know you are going to be deployed in the near future. That’s all that scene meant to me.
          Not another second of the movie was spent on 9-11 or overall strategy on the wars in the Middle East. Not what the movie was about.

    3. Tl;dr homosexuality. On the other hand, you did mention rewarding breivik, so maybe there is hope for you after all. Oh, and “kids,” my ass they were members of the Norwegian communist party

      1. The Breivik Massacre on Utoya was the single most effective right wing political act in the world since Franco recaptured Madrid.

    4. Don’t agree. Whether he was in the wrong country or not is not the point.
      What? You think that you can sign a contract joining the service, and tell your superiors to fuck off?
      Good luck with that.
      The fact is, it doesn’t matter about the guy at the top. Don’t like them, vote them out. Kyle did kill some kids. But those kids were pointing weapons at his brothers (fellow SEALs, and the other service members).
      The fact that there were “evil” men there was actually the justification used. And obviously, with ISIS now, there were evil men. The soldiers of the Iraqi Republican Guard eventually became a part of ISIS. You are telling me that he did not cause those people harm?
      I get it, the whole anti-establishemnt thing. I believe a lot of that too. But the grunts like Kyle don’t have the luxury of what you are doing. They have to obey orders.
      You are entitled to your opinion.
      I think it is just a popularity contest. And bull shit.
      Kyle, to me, was a hero. He deserves what accolades are accorded him. He was right not to get too emotional about the leaders at the top.
      His story was not meant to be flashy, but show the man’s grit. His story.
      He was not a “flashy” man. Just worked hard, and did his best to do his job. He obviously did it well.
      Personally, I could not do what he did. I would have hesitated. The fact is, regardless of the politics, and the perfect world you seem to think we live in, he had orders. He carried them out.
      SEALs are not like EOD (explosive ordinance disposal), literally a life “saving” entity. They are a life “taking” entity. Their purpose is to seek out, and destroy their enemy. Contrary to what the writer seems to think about them, those at the top seem to like the results they get.
      They get buried a lot. As in killed. The reason is that their loss, usually translates to a mission accomplished, and lower level warriors not being sent home in a pine box.
      Whether that offends you or not does not matter. The men who go there, obviously, have a very different mentality than you. I guarantee that if you talked with one, you would not say this shit. LOL

      1. There is a huge difference between murdering men, women, and children going about their lives in their own country, some of whom choose to fight back against invaders, and someone who is fulfilling the only legitimate purpose of a military, defending others from harm.
        An example of a true heroic sniper is Simo Hayha, a Finnish man who stood up, along with the rest of the outnumbered Finnish snow troops against a vastly larger army of Soviet invaders in 1939-1940. He operated in snow white camoflauge in temperatures of -40 degrees and killed over 500 Soviets in fewer than 100 days. He preferred using iron sights instead of a telescopic scope as the scope made him more of a target, and he was such a badass that he didn’t need one. He stuck snow in his mouth so that he wouldn’t breathe out water vapor and give his position away. He took a bullet in the jaw that blew half his face off, but survived and lived to the ripe old age of 96. Hayha was but one of a number of heroes who held off the enormous Red Army with a fraction of its troops (32 tanks versus 6,500, around 300,000 men vs the Soviets 1,000,000).
        Imagine the USA is invaded by the Chinese. A Chinese sniper kills dozens of Americans who resist the invasion, including some children, because, hey, orders are orders. Elsewhere, there is a lone American sniper who picks off several of the Chinese troops invading his country. Which of these two is heroic? No one is calling any “terist” in Iraq a hero, but one must put things into perspective.
        The fact that there were “evil men” in Iraq is not a justification I have ever heard for invading there, although many other excuses have been circulated before they were disproven. One of the excuses *was* that Saddam was an evil man, but now that the Americans have killed more civilians than he did (and in a much shorter time period), that excuse is also moot. And the presence of “ISIS” if one believes that is actually a real group, is something that happened after the American government destroyed Iraq’s government and society, and foreign troops moved in, so if “ISIS” is bad, then the Americans are fully to blame for them being in control of Iraq. Additionally, if “ISIS” is bad, then America should reverse course and call for a full on invasion of Iraq, instead of just retreating and ending the war as it recently did, leaving ISIS in control.
        If Kyle’s job is to be a sniper, then at best he did his job. Setting all morality aside (which personally is repugnant) he did his job, but nothing to make him a hero.
        There would be no point in talking a veteran in to seeing the pointlessness of their work in the mideast. Many of them will likely come to that conclusion on their own, as time passes by, or through their own observations, as Pat Tillman did, noting that all the Americans accomplished was securing poppy fields and destroying infrastructure and ruining lives, but in the end life is no better, and often much worse for those on both sides. And the few that think they are patriots or heroes or did some kind of “service” by killing people in an innocent country that had nothing to do with 9-11 will not be convinced anyway. It would be like talking to a feminist about why she should grow her hair out and act more submissive.

        1. I don’t want to be-labor the point but Kyle was basically doing overwatch for snatch squads. Otherwise he was plinking miners and bombers.

  19. This must be the most stupid article I’ve ever read. Don’t you realise: soldiers are more than just soldiers, some of them like women and get married! And yes, of course this is going to be a problem: loving partner wants her man to be with HER.. not travel around the world trying to get himself killed. Haha, at first I couldn’t care less about this movie. thought it would be yet another macho-BS-flick.. but if there is some info about their marriage and crisis, then I will definitely go and see it!

    1. Marines used to have ask permission to get married and generally were not granted permission until they made Sergeant. Saw too many guys marry the first trailer-trash hoe who put out for him after training was over.
      Most military marriages are fucking disasters.

  20. I highly doubt a single American was so moved by the bombings of the embassies in Dar Es Salaam to then join the armed services. How many could even find Tanzania on a map in less than ten seconds?
    The scene where his wife calls him to say “It’s a boy!” and then a gun battle breaks out at the same time was many shades of amateurish from a storytelling angle. I expected much better scene writing from Eastwood. Maybe he’s at the juncture where he just doesn’t give a fuck anymore, I don’t know (although I thought that was the whole point of Gran Torino)?
    As far as films about recent wars go, Zero Dark Thirty was night and day better. Ridley Scott is too hit-or-miss throughout his career (he hardly even bats .500!) to call Black Hawk Down his masterpiece. No need to even reference Platoon, Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now; they came from different eras where you could away with a lot more in Hollywood and actually tell the story you wanted to. They all shame modern filmmaking in ways today’s generation cannot even wrap their heads that never look up from their iPhones around. They can’t even contemplate what all of those master filmmakers contributed to the craft with their careers!

    1. The part about the embassies was pure fiction (not in Chris Kyle’s book, much of which I believe is fictional itself) added by Hollywood, or more likely, by the CIA handlers that admittedly work on set in Hollywood in order to create propaganda. It is meant to show that this solider joined up out of a sense of honor or duty, when really he was just a sociopath.
      The entire film is meant to glorify killing and the state, and to entice others to join up. The trailer made it look exciting and tense, when we all know the reality is 6 days of sitting in a tent in the desert, bored out of your mind, followed by a few hours out on patrol, where you could freely murder some locals if you thought they were armed, then back to your tent and repeat several dozen times.

  21. Eh, I enjoyed it. Not the best war movie ever, but certainly the best about the current wars in my opinion. To each his own.
    I think people will see what they want to see in this film. If it’s jingoism, there’s plenty of room for ‘Murica! If it’s i hate the troops, there’s plenty of veteran as victim.
    I agree with the critique of SEALs in general though. Tough, brave men. But not necessarily the most competent. They rely too much on their athleticism to make up for poor planning. Exception to this rule is the DEVGRU guys, but that is a small minority of SEALs.

  22. Operation Redwing and the incident Lone Survivor was based on demonstrates their arrogance, I don’t care if you go in with four clones of Chuck Norris- basic infantry tactics with riflemen and a few heavy machine guns will defeat you, as the Taliban did with them. Look at the big picture, these “elite” got their asses handed to them by malnourished Taliban that likely quit school after kindergarten. Then, a Chinook full of men was wasted trying to save them. If a platoon of Marines or small unit of Army soldiers sat up there (Chinook could have dropped them in no problem) the entire unit could have held and even smoked the opposition. Whole story was bravado with a recipe for disaster. I am tired of all the SpecOps/SOCOM hooplah these days. Remember WWII, when the common soldier was simply made to be a badass infantryman? These days, you just gotta have the “Special” title to be anyone. Look at that Medal of Honor recepient Clinton Romesha and his interviews, to me that is a warrior. Simple infantryman and his unit held their base and kicked some fucking ass, even at his age. To those not in the know, the “average” unit of American grunts is a force to be reckoned with and always has been, all the commando bullshit is getting old.

  23. I liked it for what it was – a story about one guy, not the whole war. I’m glad I wasn’t married before my war (Desert Shield/Storm). Soldiering and marriage don’t mix well.
    I thought the sounds (except the tank), dialogue, equipment, weapons, etc… were close enough to be believable. “Generation Kill” was the best movie / series on our current wars. The great guys, retarded officers, stupid shit, hilarious crazy Sergeant Majors…

  24. It’s a popular movie so the odds are in its going to be a shit movie – I haven’t seen a good film in the cinema for nearly three years.
    Regardless, Chris Kyle was a really shit human being. I have no problem with him killing people or any of that shit but he was obviously just a really nasty piece of work. He was a certified liar and ultimately a slave to Corporate America, fighting their wars for them, essentially as a slave, going against everything an independent man should do.
    PS. I wonder if this movie was funded by the same people who are making solid efforts to go back to the Middle East and continuing to fuck the place up? It seems like a great propaganda film and the level of racism after that film is truly worrying.

      1. It’s really strange too that his Wikipedia page has been substantially edited, presumably by his family or the government to attempt to conceal the fact that he lied about assaulting Jesse Ventura.
        Here’s a quote from his Wikipedia page:
        “Michael J. Mooney of D Magazine claimed Kyle told him he was the victim of an attempted carjacking of his Ford Super Duty truck at a gas station near highway 67 in Texas, sometime in January 2009, which resulted in the deaths of two armed carjackers whom he shot. Kyle, who had bounties on his head from international jihadis, further claimed that he gave the police that came to the scene a special phone number which resulted in no record of an investigation of the incident.[30]”
        Anyone else’s bullshit detector going off?
        He was a liar.
        All those terrorists he killed he did for corporate ‘Murica.
        I don’t care what anybody who actually knew him says. People rarely speak ill of the dead, especially when they’re the topic of a recent sensational blockbuster.

    1. I don’t think people should forget what wesley clark said, although its not apparent that the same people are still in power

      1. Now there is a fucking asshole. Every member of the military who ever served with him cannot stress what a fuck Clark is.

        1. so he’s a fucking asshole. The issue is whether he’s a lying asshole. So far things have played out as though what he says was true

        2. “The issue is whether he’s a lying asshole.”
          Consider that the lie may be the implication that he ever opposed such plans (he tried to start a war with Russia!), and that if did oppose the plans that he seems likely to have done so from the standpoint of them not being broad enough.

        3. certainly possible. I don’t know enough about the situation to speculate, but I’m somewhat surprised that his allegations didn’t spark more debate and recrimination than they did.

        4. the media don’t ‘know’ him, nor do they go with a story because the person telling it is an all round good egg . They go with stories because they’re sensational or potentially important. Here’s a senior general, advising that the people in charge of foreign policy intended to start war after war after …on the basis of a pretext. Even if every word was a lie, there would have to be some reason for that lie.

        5. They know that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff very famously told Clark: “Get your fucking face off the TV. No more briefings, period. That’s it.” As he was showboating his way through Yugoslavia.

        6. Guess who stopped ww3? The British Cavalry officer at the airfield was Lt James Blunt. The singer guy. He actually told Clark to fuck off.

        7. From what I can gather after a brief perusal Clark seems to have rubbed his superior Shelton up the wrong way. Clearly he was ambitious even in the 90s and his superiors wouldn’t have liked the fact he was stealing the limelight. But as far as I can tell Shelton publicly cold shoulders him in 2003 it seems only when his book is coming out (that seems to be the chronology anyway) i.e. the book detailing the anecdote about the 7 countries. Clark may have wished to discredit Bush but would he just have made something like that up. Isn’t it more likely that his ‘crime was to have broken ranks’. And for that matter what do you find so hard to believe about the allegation of a villainous plan which seems to be quite consistent with how american foreign policy has actually unfolded in recent years
          edit: this is the fullest information I can find on the matter, although its not neutral, but it seems to support the idea that the top brass came up with the idea that he’d been fired at the same time as he was publishing his book. There’s also stuff on record from 2000 of Cohen saying how wonderful Clark is.
          second edit: this is also really interesting. Sorry to pile it on, but I find this fascinating

        8. then that kind of punctures the whole zionist neo-con conspiracy thing then doesn’t it?

        9. It’s not like they didn’t try to start ww3 there. Some goy like Rose or Blunt always can prevent stuff if aware.
          Let’s see what the Nuland Axis do in Ukrane this summer

    2. It’s as good as Zulu. It’s a solid war film. I like how Kyle is totally unapologetic. He’s a simple straightforward man.

  25. Just some random responses to some of the less informed comments here, or which there seems to be a decent amount.
    First, to the author:
    “When talking about the real Chris Kyle, one has to consider some wacky stuff, but credit where it is due.”
    That link includes the claim Kyle supposedly made about going to New Orleans and shooting 30 looters from the roof of the Superdome.
    That shit has been peddled around the block on the internet, but I have yet to find ANY proof that Kyle actually made that claim.
    STOP peddling that horseshit, please, or provide proof. And if all you can come up with is the hearsay from that New Yorker article, don’t waste your time.
    “As the Good Book so aptly reminds us : ” He who lives by the sword dies by the sword””
    Right.
    Because throughout history, people who did not live by the sword were routinely NOT butchered with swords.
    And can I point out, Kyle was killed not in combat (wielding a sword), but trying to help someone who was suffering.
    So perhaps the saying should be:
    “Live with kindness and compassion, be killed for it.”
    Not as catchy, I admit, but perhaps more real?
    “Any rational human with a wide worldview knows that Iraq was ‘Bush Jr’s war’ “
    No, actually, rational human beings who pay attention to the facts know different.
    One, under Bill Clinton and Congress, it was made an official policy of the United States to depose Saddam Hussein.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Liberation_Act
    If you have a beef with trying to interfere with Iraq, then one should start at least here, no?
    Second, rational people know Iraq was AMERICA’s war, whether you liked it or not, because the elected representatives (We call them Congress) voted authorization for it.
    n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
    Now, I know a lot of Democratic pussies, and a few Republican ones, then tried to backtrack when things got real (ie, an actual war broke out after they voted for it), but their lack of spines does not allow them to dump it all into Bush’s lap.
    You might hate Bush, you might have your reasons, but it does not allow you to alter reality to suit your predilections.
    Whether you were for the war or not, whether you changed your mind or not, facts are stubborn things, and in any even should not be ignored.
    “and ‘Afghanistan’ was a place no westerner should have ever been, period.”
    AHHHH, yes.
    Even the place from which the worst attack on American soil was launched, and where the ruling power was hiding the perpetrators of said attack, was off limits.
    Now, we can argue strategy and all that for dealing with Al Queda, but are we really going to argue that the people who murdered 3,000 people in one afternoon on American soil were to be given a pass?
    Interesting.
    “I will watch no more of this snuff fim than the trailer itself.”
    And I will read no more of this comment than the first sentence.
    Thanks.
    “Fuck the US Marine Corps and Chris Kyle too, the only thing they do for America is lower the price of Afghani heroin while costing taxes.”
    Mmm, well, Kyle never went to Afghanistan, but thanks for playing. Time for your nap.
    ***
    It’s nice to be passionate and all that, even one is a troll, but getting your facts right helps make you look like less of an idiot.

    1. I have no problem with going and spanking the flint stones for inconveniencing us. However, the nation building the US has undertaken is a severely flawed policy and not the stated purposes of the missions in Iraq or Afghanistan.

      1. Kyle was a Christian-Zionist. Which explains the war. Film doesn’t address Kyle’s niche Judeo-Christianity.

        1. “It’s also a dishonest failing on your part.”
          Yeah, but that fat check from the Judeo-Christian Cabal I get helps take some of the sting out of that…

        2. It appears I was wrong. you ain’t betraying your own as you are most likely a Chosenite

        3. Damn! You got me! I would have gotten away with it too if you wasn’t for you, you meddling kid!
          Well, time for me to skulk off to the secret Chosenite lair to lick my wounds. But you shall rue the day, Daniel McGrath, when we shall return and set loose upon the world our Chosenite robotic army to do all the horrible things you imagine we’re up to!!!
          Broo-Hah-HAH!!

      2. That falls under my statement regarding strategy, and I tend to agree with you. We are guilted into rehabilitating our enemies. But to say ‘no westerener’ should have gone into Afghanistan is ludicrous.

        1. It would be a more feasible strategy if westerners acknowledged the discrepancies in culture and didn’t apply a westernized context to cultures that dont identify with such values. Iraq and Afghanistan don’t share similar cultures to the U.S. So basing a government system on US values is doomed for failure.

        2. Still not arguing with you. I think we need to accept that we have to work with governments that are not shining beacons of western thoughts and ideals.

    2. Ow, Ow, Ow! The logic! The facts! The rational arguments! Ow, ow, ow! Stop it! Go away! The truth is hurting me and it was all Bush’s fault!!
      George Bush! Adolph Hitler! Genghis Khan! The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!! Owwwww!!

  26. Good article. Few things:
    CK was a good sniper, and a good man to have on your side during a war.
    Clint’s movie was pretty B grade from beginning to end.
    The SEAL teams aren’t the superheroes they are made out to be, but they are a world ahead of the Marine Corps grunts.
    Whether America’s wars are right or wrong, I cannot fault a soldier for following orders and defending his comrades.

    1. They are ahead of any conventional forces unit, but their portrayal as being better than other Special Operations units is entirely misleading. And the scope of their missions reveal that as well. They have their purpose of maritime operations and have been deviating away from that heavily for years now.

  27. Idiotic review. I went not expecting anything, and just watched it for fun. One of my new favorites. Reviewer: meh, I’m cooooooler than you ‘cuz I’m a combat vet. Blech. I think you are just trying too hard.

  28. This movie is nothing more than a wave of Hollywood’s magic wand to split the left and right further into social cataclysm. Everyone is just speculating based on preconceived notions rooted in their own beliefs. Wake up sheeple!

  29. What is this crap and what does it have to do with living a masculine lifestyle, fucking girls, or self-improvement? If I wanted a movie review, I’d be on RottenTomatos, not ReturnOfKings.

    1. Because a lot of guys think people like Chris Kyle are macho, someone to look up to, or a good role model, and this must be disproven. There is a shocking lack of good role models in America today.

  30. I thought this was a site About/For Men. A-lot of blue pill articles lately, getting tired of all the Pajama Boys, maybe it’s time to look elsewhere.

  31. This is a great film. It’s as good as Zulu.
    Three problems:
    1) Kyle was a Christian-zionist. Eastwood and Cooper airbrush out this factor in his theology.
    2) Kyle was a Bush Fanboy. Again not addressed. That’s his politics.
    3) fake baby was odd. It did reinforce Kyle’s alienation from family life though.

  32. All I’ve been hearing about this movie is how flatly shot and dramatically inert it is. Like most Clint Eastwood movies.
    The great comedian Nick DiPaolo put it perfectly when he ranted about how much of it was about his family missing him and him missing his family. “We can just assume he misses them, who gives a fuck!?!”
    More shoe-horned in bullshit to try and draw the women into a movie that should just be about an American bad-ass killing scores of filthy savages.

  33. I’m getting really fucking tired of the trolls with their unfounded hate for Chris Kyle. Unless you knew the man personally and can either confirm what he actually did or didn’t do or what he actually said or didn’t say….you have 2nd hand knowledge AT BEST.
    It’s the easiest thing in the world to MF someone after they’re dead. That takes a big man, especialy after reading the “featured comment” here. What a joke.
    To imply that Chief Petty Officer Kyle was some madman let loose on the streets of Iraq with his rifle and a license to kill is preposterous. That he gunned down unarmed civilians, including women and children is flat out libel. Nearly every sniper of every unit is paired with a team, either on the roof to spot or on the ground to be supported. If he killed indiscriminately it would have been discovered, he would have been arrested, tried via military tribunal and sentenced. There is no way around that, despite what you may think. If you commit a war crime in country it is required to be documented. If you witness it and don’t document it, you can be charged if actively concealing said war crime:
    https://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/mcrp4-11-8b.pdf
    (see pgs 9-12)
    It’s insulting to say Chief Petty Officer Kyle was over there killing indiscriminately and the Marines he was protecting turned a blind eye to his “rampage”. Horse shit.
    if he lied about knocking Jesse Ventura on his ass, so fucking what? I wish that was the truth regardless because someone should shut that moron’s mouth for him.
    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if Kyle’s numbers are accurate and his actions saved one US or coalition forces soldier. So be it.
    If the Iraqis and Afghans could clean up there own hell holes the rest of the civilized world wouldn’t have to go in there and clean house.
    Oh Iraq wasn’t responsible for 9/11? Neither was Afghanistan?
    Then I wonder why every jihadi and his brother descended on those countries if there was no connection.
    To hell with this shit. You wait and see the ISIS (aka Al Qaeda) problem fester in Iraq and Syria for the next decade and then one day, BOOM!. Something goes off in America or the UK or wherever and we are back to square one.
    On that day, Americans will be praying the next Chris Kyle shows up to mete out some revenge right? yeah, that’s when we’ll need him. Until that time, we can call the movie BS and Kyle an a-hole in the meantime.
    Piss off.
    (Sorry if this came off as angry but I am. And it’s high time this country found its nuts. Patriotism is not nationalism. There’s a big difference and this movie is successful because people know that difference.)

  34. This review is irrelevant. I just read it, read some of the comments below and now can’t remember anything it said. I have no idea how much of the movie was fictionalized, composited, or just plain made-up to tell a better story. But it was a good story told in a way that worked for me and apparently a hell of a lot of other people as well. The so-called “flatness” made it feel more real.
    My youth pastor in high school had been a marine sniper in Vietnam for two tours and then a drill instructor out at Pendleton. He was proud of his service to his country and like Kyle did not suffer overmuch from guilt for killing. He suffered enough PTSD, however, that his wife could only wake him up by setting the alarm and leaving the room! He served his country well and then came home, just like Kyle.
    Jesse Ventura is a clown and an ass. His arrogance is in sharp contrast to the quiet stoicism of Chris Kyle. I hope he emmigrates permanently to Mexico where he now lives half the year, I believe.
    I knew nothing about Chris Kyle before this movie and I hope the heart of the story and the character portrayed by Bradley Cooper are true. But if not, my life will not be adversely affected. I’m proud of our service men. They deserve better leaders.

  35. The only reason I wont see this movie is because the guy is a proven liar. No politics involved. A big. Fucking. Liar.

  36. The need to go back to war was however amazingly portrayed in The Hurt Locker, one of the best war movies of all time.

  37. You lost me at “I do have some respect for the real Chris Kyle. I respect that he chose a macho profession and lived life on his terms.” The guy was psychopathic liar who defamed Jesse Ventura and ended up losing in court over it and who openly bragged about killing people. ALL these wars are sham based on lies that further the advancement of the Anglo-American Empire on behalf on the international banking elite who fund both sides of all these wars. But even IF these wars were LEGIT, only a psychopathic madman would openly BRAG about killing their enemies. Chris Kyle was no hero.

    1. Jesse Ventura is a scumbag.
      He beat him down. There were many witnesses to this event. He only “won” the case because they proved it “hurt Jesse’s reputation”. The actual event wasn’t in dispute, considering there were MANY witnesses in the favor of Kyle.

      1. Since the trial is public record, I’m sure one can support these ludicrous claims with facts?
        Because the evidence now shows that Kyle and Ventura never met until the lawsuit was in mediation. No witnesses on the record claimed they met that night in the bar, or if they did their testimony was impeached on cross examination.

      2. I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty sure you can’t win a defamation case simply by proving that the plaintiff’s reputation was hurt by the defendant’s claims. You also have to prove that the defendant’s claims were false.
        Of course, you never know nowadays with SJWs in charge of the legal system. Anything’s possible.

        1. I thought that as well.
          However, if you read about the actual case, Jesse never proved the comments were inaccurate.
          Far more witnesses supported Kyle’s version of the story.

  38. why should you never talk about wedding plans in a combat zone? i don’t get. can some enlighten me as why that would be so dangerous?

    1. It is a hacked bit of script in the movie where one guy begins talking about his wedding plans and then immediately takes a bullet to the head…the same gag was used twice in the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan alone. It was so predictable, I nearly walked out of the theater.
      I did laugh my ass off, though.

      1. Also see the movie “Hot Shots!” and look out for the character named “Deadmeat” for more exposition on this theme.

      2. ah i see, ty. reminds me of the final scene of the movie “All quiet along the western front” where the protagonist sees a butterfly and as he reaches out to it gets killed by a sniper. i suppose the real lesson is that one must never let their guard down when in combat.

    2. The dead comrades that Kyle describes all sorta lose faith. It’s quite a good process. Kyle is the last to crack.

  39. Speaking of the “war on terror,” has anybody noticed how much ISIS looks like a slipshod CIA mockery of an Islamic terrorist organization – with their pagan acronym, full, black face-covering appareil (as though jihadis are conscientious about anonymity), their muscular build and white skin (of what you can see), their orange jumpsuit-wearing prisoners and their “Joe-the-Texas-Plumber” pick-up trucks?

    1. Ever since the dodgy Nick Berg “execution,” I can not believe any emotionally-charged event as portrayed, from OK City to Gabriela Giffords’ miracle recovery to 911, Sandyhook, Boston Marathon, Batman or Marysville shootings, you name it.
      We know that America has a vast shadow black-budget unaccountable secret bureaucracy with questionable motives. We should assume that it is conducting psychological operations against US citizens and everybody else.
      Even the president is a fake – with fake documents and a demonstrably false back-story that smells very much like CIA.

  40. I just thought the film was predictable, formulaic, and the characters were bland and stereotypical.
    It would had been far better without the whiny wife too.

  41. The warriors of the past fought because it was a way of life. Their whole world view was geared towards it. Todays soldiers are little more than mercenaries fighting for Wall St and the Neo-Con agenda(Israel and American world hegemony) That so many Americans seem to be blind to the obvious is very worrying indeed. For example, picking a fight with Russia over the Ukraine is extremely unwise. Especially as there are no American interests at stake.

    1. And what of Syria? The White House and State Dept and John McCain were all in favor of standing arm in arm with the Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda/ISIS, etc., (ie., the same people who’d been taking our Soldiers’ hands, feet, teeth and lives with IED’s in Iraq) against Assad, shortly before turning against the aforementioned cabal. It is as if the American people have not only resigned themselves to but have actively embraced perpetual wars that can be launched, aborted or forgotten without the president having to provide any justification whatever. It’s great to support the troops, but is also great to question the civilian leadership from time to time.

      1. Precisely – Syria is a mess. There are no ‘moderates’. Assad was the best option. Another f*ck up courtesy of the American Empire.

  42. What a load of BS! You may have been there but portraying someone with a heart of gold is what this movie is showing. Remember we are talking here that Dirty Harry directed this movie not a Spielberggg or clone. I have not commented on this blog until some fool like you portrays this man who has given his life for his country as some worthless no nothing. His “whiney” wife isn’t the point here but his complete and absolute allegiance to his country is what Clint is portraying. Go crawl back to the hole you came out of and leave this movie alone.

    1. Is complete and absolute allegiance to country a virtue? or, is it a manifestation of the sin of mental sloth? To say that we are the good guys because goodness is defined by whatever the American president wants is circular reasoning. Courage is fine, but maybe we all have a civic duty to be a little more circumspect.

      1. Kyle was entitled to think like this. However mainstream cons should listen to the audio of Mein Kampf. Hitler sounds just like a grumbling Vietnam veteran who claims that the US won every battle and was stabbed in the back. Hitler does sound similar to an ordinary American Patriot in much of Mein Kampf as he describes ww1.

    2. Personally, i found spicynujac’s comment far more insulting than the ones from the author of this article. Whereas the latter was speaking more about the quality of the film, the former chose to attack Kyle directly with polemics and questionable statements.

    1. It’s instructive to compare this American Sniper to Brad Pitt’s Fury.
      In American Sniper a straightforward simple man shoots the heads off brown men. He’s unapologetic. He’s not too worried about the locals and is squeamish when he’s aiming at minors.
      The liberals go batshit crazy.
      In Fury a simple straightforward man blasts the shit out of hundreds of white men and glories in razing to the ground cities that are often better built than the cities the crew of the tank come from.
      Liberals don’t notice.

  43. Pretty funny how liberal, anti-military all you RoK Alpha-males are. Maybe if you weren’t too cowardly to put on the uniform you wouldn’t seem like a bunch of pansies.

  44. Kyle was a fraud. he claimed he fought Jesse Ventura (also a former Seal) in a bar. Ventura said this was untrue and successfully sued Kyle. Kyle claimed to have foiled a carjacking in Texas by shooting the culprits. no journalist could find any information on this. Kyle claimed to have shot and killed 30 looters during Katrina. Gen. Honore refuted this. I’m sure Kyle told many tall tales about his so-called Iraq exploits.

    1. If you want to be technical, jesse Ventura is hardly an example of verisimilitude. He is a left wing tool who sued kyle’s widow based on nothing more than a claim of besmirchment by proxy, given that she was the Wife of the Man ventura claimed had publicly ruined his name.
      Whatever your opinion of kyle is or was, it should end with Kyle. Dragging his Wife into it is a sign of poor character, to say the least. (speaking of ventura here, not you)

  45. I prefer the real life story of finnish sniper Simo Hayha from the russian winter war, that WAS a sniper.

  46. Good takes, spicynujac, and I don’t watch these deals, either, especially when the objects of the story are proven liars. People that lie about their service and especially those that expose tactics and methods better left hidden make me sick. From politicians on down, these guys just lie their asses off. Brian Williams and our head of the Veteran’s Administration are two more recent examples. Lies or not, I believe there’s too much expose’ in special forces, those guys used to keep quiet, but in the “look at me” times we live in, that’s over.
    Presidents used to keep things quiet, but the current “leadership” in the White House, never having served in military or intel themselves, just can’t resist taking credit for the deeds of others, breaking decades of security protocol as regards special forces. If there are political points to be scored, Obama never met a protocol he didn’t break.
    Lastly, there should be a stale date before which these movies aren’t made. Vietnam flicks didn’t come out until many years after it was over, and it makes sense why. Aside from perhaps, “Taking Chance”, there was no need for any Iraq movies to come out before the damned thing was over as it still is not. My humble opinion, anyway.

  47. A good movie, not a great one.
    In spite of the flat direction by Clint Eastwood. Who for some reason, is not well suited to war movies. I prefer Gran Torino, and Mystic River. And found Flags Of Our Fathers so dispiriting, refused to watch Letters From Iwo Jima. Because based on the reviews, it honored the Japanese, while Flags did not honor our soldiers. By portraying them as whiners, and losers.
    And now, American Sniper has racked up one more bad review. Which has inspired even more baffling Kyle hatred.
    I agree with those who said, the movie could have been great. If it had only it included Kyle himself. Who was not flat in life, was a great prankster, and indeed, a liar. Because with a soldier, like war, you take the whole thing, or nothing. Just the nature of the beast.

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