PATRICE GREANVILLE
UPDATE! Clint Eastwood has made a biopic honoring Kyle’s life. Read our review, A Tale of Two Snipers, HERE. There’s also a very solid essay on the topic penned by Chris Hedges. Read it here.
[dropcap]Like most of today’s Death Star troopers[/dropcap] serving the American juggernaut, Chris Kyle, “America’s deadliest sniper,” never understood what he was doing overseas. Soaked from the cradle in the chauvinist Texas cultural DNA, he was thoroughly indoctrinated to believe in all the dense mythologies comprising the self-righteous national propaganda canon, especially as it relates to foreign crusades to save the world or protect the homeland, from real or imagined foes, no questions asked.
Obviously a gun enthusiast, war lover, upright Christian, G.W. Bush supporter, and a committed hunter, he was proud of his skill as a precision killer, and morally undisturbed by his mission in Iraq and elsewhere. Macho to caricature dimensions, by his own reckoning he killed upwards of 160 people, with 255 probable. His first kill was a woman cradling a toddler, supposedly about to toss a grenade into a nest of Marines. Kyle’s friends do not recall him dwelling unduly on the incident although such events probably left a mark on his psyche despite the buffers his military training had provided. More on that later. In any case, suffering from serious empathy deficiency for “the other”, and zero political knowledge, it never occurred to him that a mother with a toddler and a grenade only occur under very desperate circumstances, when a citizens’ irregular and vastly outgunned army is forced to resist a superpower’s almighty invading force. Wars are ugly by definition, but colonialist wars even more so, since the disproportion in kill ratios is usually grotesque.
Bradley Cooper deciding life and death as Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper (2014), a propagandistic homage to the late SEAL.
Kyle fought to keep his doubts and demons under control, but his behavior eventually suggested a maelstrom of unresolved emotions. As noted by Nicholas Schmidle in his excellent profile of Kyle for The New Yorker in 2013,
When Kyle came home on leave, he shut himself in the house for days; Taya (Kyle’s wife) has said that he was “numb to everything.” When he did venture out, his mind was still in Iraq. He swerved to avoid scraps of trash in the road—in Ramadi or Fallujah, such items were used to hide bombs. Once, after Taya accidentally tripped the home alarm, Kyle took cover under a desk. Other times, he’d wake up punching.
In all likelihood, Kyle’s pious certitudes about his country being good and right and superior to “the damn savages” he had been sent to fight insulated him from feeling, a mental curtain he reinforced with the feelings of proud elitism SEALs and similar branches of the military carefully inculcate their ranks.
In an interview in 2012, as Schmidle notes, Kyle had observed,
“There’s no way you can go in, kill people, see people blown up and maimed and everything, and not come out with some stress”; however, he added, acknowledging P.T.S.D. was “hugely frowned on” by most SEALs.
Schmidle continues,
Another psychiatrist, who works at a military hospital, said of special operators, “Their culture is still that you don’t show any signs of weakness. You have to believe you’re invincible and better than anyone else. Narcissism is reinforced in that culture. They’re very bright and they’re in top physical shape. All they do is train.” He added, “They’re trained to sight someone and shoot them in the head and see the bullet shatter the whole head. They’re trained not to flinch.” (Italics ours)
Yes, he was a “natural warrior”—the sort of specimen that the ruling orders and their hirelings—these days that would be the professional political prostitutes and the media—have cultivated and adulated down the ages. Perhaps unwittingly, Kyle victimized many people, but, ironically, he was also a patsy for another crowd he had been brainwashed to honor and obey, a puny but immensely rich sliver of society that cynically uses such massively ignorant yet narrowly skilled people for their own ends. Now Kyle is dead, himself victim of a bizarre incident probably triggered by PTSD (see below)—which also haunted him, even if he tried to deny it till the end. Karmic justice? Maybe. If you believe in such notions. The sad thing is that he will never know what he really contributed to. Not that such clarity would have arrived for sure if he had lived longer. Some people never learn—and that goes equally for those who call themselves conservatives or liberals. Still, it would have been nice to see Kyle struggling with his conscience after he finally figured it all out. Too bad that ingested propaganda (especially when moored in a conservative upbringing and unquestioning culture) is a very hard thing to overcome.
American Sniper – Extended Trailer #3 [HD]
FINAL COMMENT
Kyle is now being remembered as a hero, but in reality he belongs to a much more morally equivocal category, those legions who serve evil as a result of misguided patriotism. Many (you know who) will argue he was brave and loyal “to his country.” But bravery —however admirable—is not a moral category and can’t be used as excuse for horrible deeds, or for serving ignoble causes.
As the hundreds of thousands who died fighting fiercely in a Nazi SS uniform ought to remind us, “loyalty to country” —always an ethically slippery slope— cannot apply to wars of aggression—”of choice”— waged behind a thick curtain of lies. That much was settled by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal and later ratified by the United Nations, and even the US Congress, which of late—along with the DOJ— has been conveniently oblivious to their duties in this regard.
One thing now seems certain. With America’s morally bankrupt military involvements around the world extending into the indefinite future, with a wobbly economy that offers little solace to a growing sector of the lower middle class and the US population in general, and with an expanding demand for well-trained, dull-witted killers, Dante’s Seventh Ring will surely become a pretty crowded place before long.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Media and political observer Patrice Greanville is The Greanville Post’s founding editor.
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Chris Kyle, America’s deadliest sniper, offered no regrets
By Alan Duke, CNN
CNN) — Chris Kyle had no regrets about any of the 160 people he killed as a Navy SEAL sniper during his five combat tours in Iraq. His first kill was a woman who cradled a toddler with one hand and held a grenade in the other. “I had to do it to protect the Marines,” Kyle told Time magazine a year ago. “You want to lose your own guys, or would you rather take one of them out?”
Standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing a muscular 220 pounds, Kyle developed a deadly reputation in Iraq, prompting insurgents to put a bounty on his head, according to his autobiography. “I’m a better husband and father than I was a killer,” he told Time. “I’m pretty comfortable with not having to kill anyone. Now, don’t take deer hunting away from me.”
When Kyle’s military career ended after a decade, he joined other former SEALs to start Craft International, a security company with the motto “Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems.”
Friend: Kyle ‘a guardian of Marines’ SEAL: Insurgents knew how to identify me Former Navy SEAL killed at gun range Timeline of events in Navy SEAL death
He also became a best-selling author, a reality TV personality, a supporter of fellow vets suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, an avid hunter and an outspoken opponent of gun control.
Kyle, 38, was shot to death Saturday — by a former Marine, police say — while shooting for fun on a Texas gun range. Another veteran was also fatally shot.
A west Texas native, Kyle studied agriculture at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, after graduating from high school in 1992. He left college after two years to work as a ranch hand until he joined the Navy in 1999.
He left the Navy as a chief petty officer in 2009 with a chest full of medals, including two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars, according to his service record released by the Pentagon.
It was another distinction accumulated during Kyle’s five tours of Iraq that has brought him the most attention. He wrote about it in a best-selling book published a year ago, titled “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.”
Although the military does not release such statistics, the book claimed Kyle had 160 confirmed combat kills from a distance of up to 2,100 yards. He holds the record for a U.S. military sniper, previously set at 93 by Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam war.
Kyle seemed humble during a guest appearance to promote his book on TBS’ “Conan” last year.
“I had more kills, but that doesn’t mean I’m better than (Hathcock) is,” Kyle said. “I was just put into a position where I had more opportunities. I definitely cheated. I used a ballistic computer that tells me everything to do. So, I was just a monkey on a gun.”
He showed O’Brien a sense of humor when talking about the $80,000 bounty placed on his head by Iraqi insurgents. “I was worried about my wife coming home, because I thought my wife would turn me in,” he joked.
Kyle modestly acknowledged to the Time interviewer that he was “decent” at killing.
“The first time killing someone, you’re not even sure you can do it,” he said. “You think you can, but you never know until you actually are put in that position and you do it. … And then, you’re worried when you get home, are the politicians going to hang you out to dry and put you on trial for murder?”
Did he regret any of his 160 kills? “No, not at all,” he told Time.
Kyle’s opinion of the American public’s ability to understand war was poor.
“For the most part, the public is very soft, you live in a dream world,” he said. “You have no idea what goes on the other side of the world, the harsh realities of what these people are doing to themselves and then to our guys. There are certain things that need to be done to take care of them.”
His combat persona, though, could be turned on and off, he said. “You’re a little more aggressive when you’re at work and when you come home, you relax and try to be the different person,” he said.
Kyle helped established the FITCO Cares foundation, a charity that helps U.S. war vets “who have survived combat but are still fighting to survive post-traumatic stress disorder,” the group’s website said.
Life back home was a challenge for Kyle, who acknowledged that he turned to alcohol for comfort at one point. “After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian,” he told a lawyer during a deposition for a lawsuit last November.
“You’re in a combat zone one day,” he said. “You come home, and then you have to readjust, and it takes a few days. We just sit in the house, hang with the family and then things get better. But it’s simple things of trash blowing across the road, reminded of an (improvised explosive device), you might want to swerve. So that’s why you just stay at home.”
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura filed a lawsuit last year accusing Kyle of defaming him in the book by exaggerating his description of a fight between the two at the wake for SEAL Mikey Monsoor, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
The book quoted Ventura, also a Navy veteran, as saying he “hates America” and telling Kyle, who was mourning the death of a SEAL teammate, “You deserve to lose a few.” Kyle described punching Ventura out at the Coronado, California, bar.
In the suit, Ventura denied making the statements in the book, contending that “the entire story about a confrontation with and physical assault and battery of Governor Ventura was false and defamatory.”
At his deposition last November, Kyle continued to insist his book accurately described his clash with Ventura.
“He was complaining about the war, that we shouldn’t be there,” Kyle testified. “Complaining about Bush, that, you know, Bush was a war criminal. How we were killing innocent men and women and children overseas.”
Kyle acknowledged in his deposition saying that he hated Ventura “with a passion.”
His relationship with another politician was warmer. His company did some security work for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whom he met while on the “Stars Earn Stripes” reality TV show with her husband, Todd.
“Chris was a wonderful man, a good friend, and a true American hero who loved our country and served honorably. He was loved and admired by so many, and he will never be forgotten,” the Palins said in a statement Sunday.
Much of Kyle’s time since leaving the military was spent building Craft International, which offers military training for law enforcement and provides security services.
His company also organizes “civilian and corporate shoots” at gun ranges, he said. “It is only fun day shoots, self-defense, or weapons familiarization,” he said.
In a Guns.com interview at a gun dealers convention in Las Vegas last month, Kyle was asked about President Barack Obama’s gun control proposals, which he said he believed to be aimed at “trying to ban everything.”
Banning 30-round magazines for assault rifles would be “opening the door to start taking more of our rights,” he said.
The aim of the corporate military state
is to destroy all human conscience in each person. Automatons for Empire is their desire. That is why those who are best at killing receive all the glory and awards. Those who suffer an attack of conscience after the crime are left to commit suicide or act out at society in other ways.
Fascism is a death cult. This guy was the perfect fascist.
Submitted on Monday, Feb 4, 2013 at 6:14:24 PM
We have been told for a long time that
“he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.”
Thanks for an excellent article!
Submitted on Monday, Feb 4, 2013 at 3:47:09 PM
THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR COMMENTS. Much appreciated. THESE LINES ARE CHIEFLY IN REPLY TO KURT B., who responded to this article on OpedNews. He says: KurtB The true enemy We have no business executing resistors in the Middle East whether it is done with Chris Kyle’s sniper rifle or Barrack Obama’s drones. To those appalled at the thought of shooting a mother holding a baby, were you equally appalled when an agent of your government did the same thing to Vickie Weaver at Ruby Ridge as she held her infant daughter but no grenade? It’s time to stop the demonization… Read more »