In Defense of American Sniper

I'm a liberal.
So maybe it's the 26 years I spent in uniform, but I feel compelled to defend not only the movie, "American Sniper," but the guy the movie is based on, US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most effective sniper in United States military history.
I've had people tell me, "You're not really a liberal. You were an officer in the military, for God's sake!" One of my good friends, a girl I worked with for almost 20 years, used to tell me, "Don, you're a social liberal, but you're a fiscal conservative--we're all social liberals!" Maybe.  Maybe...
But lately I've come to wonder.
I watched Bradley Cooper in "American Sniper" last week and it was one of the best "war" films I've ever seen. The topic was difficult for me--in fact, I had to come back and watch it again because I couldn't get through it in one viewing. But it was a great movie.
And as I said, it was a "war" movie--let's be clear about that.
When you're talking about war movies, you're talking "All Quiet On The Western Front," "Pork Chop Hill," "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," Paths Of Glory," "Full Metal Jacket," "The Deer Hunter," "Zulu," and "American Sniper."
These aren't movies glorifying war--they're movies about war. Nobody in their right mind would glorify war.
I can't stand to hear someone who's never put on a uniform of the United States Armed Forces glorify war. I can't stand hearing their rah-rah-sis-boom-bah bullshit. They don't have a clue... they don't understand and they will never understand that no one hates war more than a warrior.
I want to thank those of you who have said you appreciate my service and the service of all the other men and women who've volunteered for a job in the Armed Forces of the United States. But we're not heroes, so don't call us heroes. The heroes have the Congressional Medal of Honor. The rest of us are just folks who were doing a job they loved because you paid us to do it.
It was a good job.  I loved it.  I should be thanking you for letting me do it.
But back to "American Sniper."
Two guys I admire for their contribution to American society came down on "American Sniper" for its "glorification of the sniper" and have semi-condemned this film because, to them, it was blanket approval of the war in Iraq and blanket approval of what they consider to be "murder."
As another good friend of mine is fond of saying, "Hate the game, not the player."
It's no secret that I'm not a fan of George W. Bush. Nor am I a fan of Dick Cheney. It is my opinion that they gave the Congress bogus intelligence in order to invade Iraq. And that's my opinion.
Regardless of the veracity of that intelligence, the Congress of the United States approved our invasion of Iraq. By proxy, we (that means all of us--the American people, through our elected representatives) approved the invasion.
Individual service members don't invade a country.
Holding a single service member who happened to be the best marksman in the country responsible for the Iraq war is ludicrous. Desecrating his achievements and his memory is blasphemous.
Did Chris Kyle lie in his autobiography? Yeah. He did. He went off the deep end after he returned home.
After he pulled four tours in Iraq, after post traumatic stress disorder got him. And despite that, he was helping others suffering from the same psychological condition. But nothing pertinent in the movie "American Sniper" concerned itself with Chris Kyle's personal life--it concerned itself with factual, authenticated documented service in Iraq. So I don't care if Chris Kyle claimed he could fly by wiggling his ears after he returned to the United States. In Iraq, he was "Legend."
If you want to live in a free country and you want that country to remain free, an Armed Force is a necessary evil. And in order to have a viable Armed Force, you need people in it who follow lawful orders during times of war. That's what Chris Kyle was doing. To vilify him as a "murdering psychopath" simply because he was good at his military assignment and skill is taking political correctness and liberalism to the most pathetic level.
Somewhere out there in the US Army, there's a "best personnel warrant officer," but nobody wants to see a movie about a pencil-pusher--it's not exciting and there's no action. Trust me on that one.
So if you want to condemn war, do it. I'm right there with you.
If you think "American Sniper" glorifies war, you either didn't see it or you're an idiot.
If you think Chris Kyle's service during his tours in Iraq make him a murderer, you're living in a fantasy land where armed conflicts don't exist. A country doesn't go to war with the goal of losing--it uses all assets at its disposal to win. Be thankful that your country can win one every couple of decades.
Hate the game, not the players.