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The American Sniper Was No Hero
Reason Magazine ^ | January 29, 2015 | Sheldon Richman

Posted on 02/02/2015 4:46:55 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

click here to read article


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To: 2ndDivisionVet
That's weird. Sheldon Richman doesn't mention the scene where the Iraqi kills the little Iraqi boy with a power drill.

Guess that would let some of the air out of his argument...

61 posted on 02/02/2015 6:48:21 AM PST by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
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To: Old Sarge
Forty years from now, a Leftist will be in a government-mandated “end-of-life-dignity” facility, lying in a pool of her own piss, gasping out with her death rattle:

“BUSH STOLE THE ELEC...uuughgnghgn”

LOL!

62 posted on 02/02/2015 6:49:16 AM PST by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
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To: Old Teufel Hunden; wbarmy

Probably because he writes like a whiny assed bitch.


63 posted on 02/02/2015 6:49:18 AM PST by Salamander (No more nights of blood and fire..)
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To: kiryandil

Maybe he hasn’t actually seen the movie, since that would be giving money to “running-dog imperialistic warmongers” or some such?


64 posted on 02/02/2015 6:50:47 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Sheldon Richman, shilling for the left in Reason Magazine, bulwark of libertarian skepticism. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.


65 posted on 02/02/2015 6:52:35 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Nextrush

Excellent summation!


66 posted on 02/02/2015 6:54:21 AM PST by outofsalt ( If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: kiryandil
That's weird. Sheldon Richman doesn't mention the scene where the Iraqi kills the little Iraqi boy with a power drill.

The author also leaves out the scene in which "Chris Kyle" doesn't shoot the kid trying to pick up the RPG.

67 posted on 02/02/2015 6:59:47 AM PST by NorthMountain
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Wow this is stunning. Comparing Adam Lanza to Chris Kyle. Sheesh.

It’s irrelevant how or what one believes about the Iraq war, whether it had no justification or it did, it’s irrelevant to whether or not Kyle was a hero. The fact is he *did* save American lives (remember, his fellow soldiers were/are also Americans too). It doesn’t matter if he was fighting an unjust war he was a soldier doing what he was told. It’s not his job to decide if the war is just or not it’s his job to follow orders (within the bounds of moral law, and there’s no evidence he broke that).

To deny Kyle is a hero, and to liken him to the psychotic killer Adam Lanza is precisely the same disgustingly cruel way this country treated Vietnam veterans returning home from that war, denying their heroism and calling them names such as “baby killers”. That was wrong then, and this is wrong now, for the same reason.

I thought this country had grown past such lunacy, had come to realize every person in the military is honored and cherished for their bravery and selflessness, without question or consideration of politics. I guess I was wrong.


68 posted on 02/02/2015 7:02:29 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
LAUGH
69 posted on 02/02/2015 7:03:24 AM PST by baddog 219
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To: 2ndDivisionVet


"Peace" sign/Nero's Cross necklace -- Check

Grateful Dead shirt, combined with necklace -- Check

Smug pretentious smirk while chewing on a pipe -- Check

Laughing at and taking any opinions this guy writes seriously -- Check
70 posted on 02/02/2015 7:03:45 AM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: LS; 2ndDivisionVet
Another reason the Libertarians are utterly insignificant EXCEPT as a force to sink conservative candidates from time to time.


71 posted on 02/02/2015 7:06:04 AM PST by Old Sarge (Its the Sixties all over again, but with crappy music...)
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To: SZonian
Author:

Ayottolah Khomeini:

I'd say there is a striking resemblance...what a coincidence, eh?

72 posted on 02/02/2015 7:08:30 AM PST by jsanders2001
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Comment #73 Removed by Moderator

To: SZonian
Author:

Ayottolah Khomeini:

I'd say there is a striking resemblance...what a coincidence, eh?

74 posted on 02/02/2015 7:11:10 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: Old Sarge

Let me guess, Sheldon voted for odumbo.


75 posted on 02/02/2015 7:19:21 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I am a 12 year veteran, VFW member, and small “l” libertarian.
The idiot who wrote this is more liberal than libertarian. Back in the late 90’s the “libertarian” movement was taken over by leftists.
I would address this issue in this way:
Military members in our country have historically stayed out of politics and have been respected by both sides. That respect would last until the Vietnam War, of course, when the communist/socialist fomented anti-western leftist movement bloomed openly in our country. Then it became okay to use service members openly as pawns in political arguments and to set them up as the bad guys, as if they started the war and made the decisions.
As a serviceman who has looked over a gun at an enemy, I thought about the responsibilities of my actions and the line at which a decision is ethical or not. Just following orders does not cut it when one acts in an unethical way. Of course, at the same time you have to carry out the lawful orders in support of the goals of the civilian government of our country. That tension between right and wrong is at times palpable as anyone who has had to face it understands.
The leftists, including the leftists who have become the power base in the Libertarian Party, have again conflated the actions of service members ethically doing their jobs with the poor decisions of civilian leaders. Those same leftists are making a grave error because in doing so they alienate the military and make it more likely that the military will support such actions as moving against civilians or civilian government in our country in the future. Dragging the military and service members into politics is a mistake of monumental proportions.
As far as these wars in the ME go, I would have thought we would have been better served if we had gone in with a smaller footprint, and prepared the playing field ahead of time (SpecFor). Middle Easterners understand raw force, but they operate deceptively in their day to day lives. There were plenty of opposition forces that could have been stood up to destabilize the Iraq government and create a vacuum for another force to fill. That is all that can really be accomplished in their primitive culture. Then you use your overwhelming force to remind them that you will do the same to them if they misbehave.
As far as Afghanistan goes, treating distinct tribes/peoples as if they are a country is just foolish. Determine who is to blame for an act, bomb their village to rubble and let the goats take over. Rinse, repeat as necessary. You cannot successfully civilize primitives such as their tribes.


76 posted on 02/02/2015 7:35:04 AM PST by ExpatGator (I hate Illinois Nazis!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Oh, and bottom line is that Chris Kyle and all those others who went and did their jobs and are still doing it are heroes.


77 posted on 02/02/2015 7:36:00 AM PST by ExpatGator (I hate Illinois Nazis!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Reason magazine just lost all credibility with this article.


78 posted on 02/02/2015 7:37:25 AM PST by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Actually according to libertarians that I read, this is exactly how wars should be fought. With snipers taking out top people on the other side and thus threatening the entire top command of the enemy. They call it the Swiss method of war. Fully defensively armed and going after the top command of the enemy.


79 posted on 02/02/2015 7:39:53 AM PST by Chickensoup (Leftist totalitarian fascism is on the move.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I couldn't get but two paragraphs before I saw the direction this asshole was headed. Gibberish!!!
80 posted on 02/02/2015 7:40:45 AM PST by ontap
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