Wordslinger wrote:gatorfan wrote:Wordslinger wrote:gatorfan wrote:2seaoat wrote: I am certain innocent people were killed, and I am certain folks were killed who if they were not shot would have hurt our troops. Heroic. I have another concept for the same.
Innocents are FAR less likely to be killed or wounded by a sniper than - let's say - a missile fired from a drone. You know - the current administrations favorite tool for scratching names off a certain Presidents kill list.....the collateral damage - women, kids, American citizens are just unlucky they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right?
First, my problem with the American Sniper film isn't because "innocents" were killed by Chris Kyle. In the film, every one of Kyle's targets was an active opponent against American troops. I'm not a great fan of drone warfare either.
The thing I object to in the movie, was that Iraqi freedom fighters (yes, that's what most of them were) -- were resisting unlawful invasion and occupation by a foreign army. If you're the invader, anyone who resists you is an "insurgent." If someone invades your country and you fight against their presence, you're a Patriot.
I can't speak to the movie because I haven't and don't intend to see it. One other thing to keep in mind, even though it's a major mistake for us to fight anywhere in the Mideast over "terrorist threats" I do know most of the insurgents, if that's what you want to call them, aren't from the various countries they are fighting in. Most are simply mercenaries being paid to fight for the real terrorists who are really only after power and money, the root cause of most "wars" in spite of rhetoric to the contrary.
During the Iraq war, foreign Muslim fighters, including those of Al Qaida, were greatly outnumbered by Iraqi Sunni fighters whom we stupidly made our number one enemy.
The Sunni in Iraq were a MINORITY gumby. 60/40 split.