An American hero, the American sniper

Who is Chris Kyle? Well, if you’re a movie fan, Chris Kyle is the man whose life and experiences are used for the film, “American Sniper.” He is the man that Clint Eastwood chose to be the hero of his film.

But, he was no hero . . . he was an assassin whose job it was to kill targets from hundreds of feet away. For Kyle, there was no conflict, he represented the U.S., God and country, while he viewed the Iraqis as evil.

Michael Moore made some interesting comments about this film. One that I’d like to share with you is as follows:

My dad always said, “Snipers are cowards. They don’t believe in a fair fight. Like someone coming up from behind you and coldcocking you. Just isn’t right. It’s cowardly to shoot a person in the back. Only a coward will shoot someone who can’t shoot back.”

Below are some of Kyle’s comments which will help you better understand the man who is portrayed as an American war hero.

“Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq. That’s why a lot of people, myself included, called the enemy ‘savages.’ There really was no other way to describe what we encountered there.”—Chris Kyle

Here is a man, in Iraq, who is given the job of assassinating Iraqis, to whom this country belongs, who thinks of them as evil savages. It doesn’t occur to him that he is in their country, he is the interloper deciding who lives and who dies.

“I don’t have to psych myself up, or do something special mentally—I look through the scope, get my target in the cross hairs, and kill my enemy, before he kills one of my people.”—Chris Kyle

This is consistent with someone who perceives the other as evil savages rather than people with families and lives of their own.

“The Navy credits me with more kills as a sniper than any other American service member, past or present.”—Chris Kyle

I’m not certain whether Kyle was boasting about this.

“Every time I kill someone, he can’t plant an I.E.D. You don’t think twice about it.”—Chris Kyle

“I never really believed the Iraqis would turn the country into a truly functioning democracy, but I thought at one point that there was a chance. I don’t know that I believe that now. It’s a pretty corrupt place. But I didn’t risk my life to bring democracy to Iraq. I risked my life for my buddies, to protect my friends and fellow countrymen. I went to war for my country, not Iraq. My country sent me out there so that bullshit wouldn’t make its way back to our shores. I never once fought for the Iraqis. I could give a flying [fu**] about them.”—Chris Kyle

Wow!! Not only is he a hero but he is a humanitarian as well.

“Another question people ask a lot: Did it bother you killing so many people in Iraq? I tell them, “No.” And I mean it. The first time you shoot someone, you get a little nervous. You think, can I really shoot this guy? Is it really okay? But after you kill your enemy, you see it’s okay. You say, Great. You do it again. And again. You do it so the enemy won’t kill you or your countrymen. You do it until there’s no one left for you to kill. That’s what war is.”

- Chris Kyle

This guy reminds me of our glorious former president, George W. Bush, who stated emphatically that he feels no guilt at having executed more prisoners in Texas than any other state in the union while he was governor of that “great” state. He claims that he never executed an innocent man.

“Just because war is hell doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun.”—Chris Kyle

Is he referring to the fun he had assassinating Iraqis, the evil savages?

“We killed the bad guys and brought the leaders to the peace table. That is how the world works.” ― Chris Kyle

“I am a strong Christian. Not a perfect one—not close. But I strongly believe in God, Jesus, and the Bible. When I die, God is going to hold me accountable for everything I’ve done on earth. He may hold me back until last and run everybody else through the line, because it will take so long to go over all my sins. Honestly, I don’t know what will really happen on Judgment Day. I believe the fact that I’ve accepted Jesus as my savior will be my salvation. But in that backroom or whatever it is when God confronts me with my sins, I do not believe any of the kills I had during the war will be among them. Everyone I shot was evil. I had good cause on every shot. They all deserved to die.” ― Chris Kyle,

Once again, we have the contradiction between a man who claims to be a man of God and how he chooses to live his life.

“But I wondered, how would I feel about killing someone? Now I know. It’s no big deal.” ― Chris Kyle

What can I say after that comment? This is the man Eastwood chose to portray as an American hero. Considering the violence the U.S. exports around the world, selecting Kyle is consistent with who we, as a nation, are really about. That’s why this film is a box office hit that’s making millions of dollars.

Forget about bringing freedom and democracy to the countries in the Middle East. They are merely public relations gimmicks that keep us thinking we are special and exceptional.

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.