7 big lies ‘American Sniper’ is telling America about Iraq and Chris Kyle. Raw Story [View all]

[Quixote1818]

Someone needs to do an accurate movie about Chris Kyle. Really delve into how he was such an enigma and what made him tick. There is a very, very interesting story to be told here when it's not glossed over into a shallow, extremely inaccurate, propaganda, pro-Iraq war, flick. I think someone might also think about doing a movie about the Iraq war from the perspective of an Iraqi family whose lives are completely uprooted and their children are brutally killed in the action. It could at least fucking mention that the whole thing was based on a lie.

Zaid Jilani, AlterNet
23 Jan 2015 at 00:01 ET


The film American Sniper, based on the story of the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, is a box office hit, setting records for an R-rated film released in January. Yet the film, the autobiography of the same name, and the reputation of Chris Kyle are all built on a set of half-truths, myths and outright lies that Hollywood didn’t see fit to clear up.

Here are seven lies about Chris Kyle and the story that director Clint Eastwood is telling:

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle’s actions in the film is to believe he’s there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.

2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle’s primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle’s book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film’s earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn’t need me – I’d be back in a heartbeat. I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn’t “shoot people with Korans. I’d like to, but I don’t.”

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/7-big-lies-american-sniper-is-telling-america-about-iraq-and-chris-kyle/