I finally saw the movie, American Sniper.
I feel compelled to share my thoughts about it, since my last post on this was written before I’d even seen the flick.
It was a good movie, as Clint Eastwood directed movies generally are.
I also loved, absolutely loved, Gran Torino.
Now, did it make me feel intensely patriotic, as that seems to be the effect on a whole segment of the populace?
No, it didn’t.
What does that say about me?
That I just don’t “love my country?”
After all, Chris Kyle did what he did in order for me to have the cherished privilege of freedom, correct?
Well, let’s explore that for a moment.
A Texas shitkicker like Chris Kyle was, I guess, made for a program like the Navy Seals. A tough, athletic guy, who never shied away from a fight. Prime meat for the recruiters.
And his dad even taught him how to shoot straight and carry a gun well. I guess that’s what most Texas dads do.
He was borne to be a warrior.
And he was a damn good one, as the movie goes to great and perhaps hyperbolic lengths to demonstrate.
But a thinking person might see a questionable overlay that drapes across his warring exploits like the shroud of turin.
It sort of clouds the picture.
And gives rise to inquiries…such as…
Why was he over there for those 4 tours, that his loving wife agonized so dramatically about, to begin with?
And if in reality he had no business being there, then it puts Kyle’s 4 tours and 170 or so kills in a different perspective…
Our government puts these guys into a position to kill and then demands that they do so…
And they generally do a damn good job…and in the case of Kyle, a legendarily good job.
Why 5,000 of “ours” were killed in the Iraq conflict, versus well over 100,000 of the “savages.”
The country had nothing, ZERO, to do with the tragedy of 9-11.
There were no “weapons of mass destruction.”
What weapons they did have, and that they used against us, were actually supplied by us to Saddam Hussein…
Because we deemed him a better bet for access to the vast oil reserves contained underground than we did the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini…
Those people that Chris Kyle was picking off from atop his well-hidden perch, including the women and the children, were simply trying to defend their country from a foreign invasion…
perpetrated by US.
When you open your eyes and view this movie with the truth in mind…
it tends to put a damper on the gushy patriotism.
You see, it’s possible to love America without loving its questionable wars.
In my opinion, Kyle is a hero, but the Iraq War in which he fought so valiantly, a disgrace.
That’s a shame, but it’s the truth.
image credit: CinemaStreaming via Compfight cc
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