Chris Kyle: The "American Sniper" Portrait (Update)

UPDATE:  I don't think Chris Kyle will ever be 'old news' and it's sad that neither he, nor his friend Chad Littlefield, are around to see how the nation has embraced them.  Not to mention that a trial is set to begin this week in Stephenson Texas not far from where Kyle and Littlefield were gunned down by
Eddie Ray Routh, 27, whom both men were trying to help adjust to life after wartime. Routh is expected to plead and NGRI defense. In a rambling post-arrest interview with police, Routh admitted to murdering both men in a rambling and sometimes incoherent confession. 

I previously posted a blog entry a few weeks ago (below) regarding the film (and the book) which was number one at the box office. It broke all profit records for this type of film, even as it was released in the post holiday calendar atmosphere often regarded as a movie burial ground.  "American Sniper" has now dropped from the number one slot to the number two slot, which is remarkable for a film that's been out for so long. 

Again, I urge people to read the book.  I'm not finished with it yet, but pushed through a good deal of it today while waiting for my truck to be repaired.  Really, it's a book inside a book and one of those 'books' reveals the toll the military life takes on family. You have to think Kyle's wife was a hero, too, for having to bear the worry, the heartache, the pain of living under circumstances which would have crushed others with less fortitude. There should be a special place in heaven for military wives and children.

Previously, I wrote:

I was reading the book "American Sniper" without having seen the film. Last night, I did see the film, and it's become clearer why the weakest among us (think Michael Moore) are compelled to attack it.

Much has been said already about the American Sniper movie and less about the book but there is one thing that must be understood. It may be described as a "war movie" but it's really a character study of a particular individual, a rare but fortunately not extinct type in American culture.

Chris Kyle was "that guy," the one who understood the basic foundational good heart of America and didn't waiver in his devotion and loyalty to its principles. He never doubted that America was better, even while acknowledging its flaws. Guys like Chris Kyle are an in-your-face reminder that America is better than its alternatives. He didn't make a lot of noise about it. He just was. What flies most in the face of  his detractors, and what antagonizes the compromisers, and the breast beating apologists, the mealy-mouthed politicians and other critics, is that he never apologized for himself, nor for killing America's enemies.

I think that the huge crowds watching the movie have found something lacking, something dishonest in the way President Obama and his left-leaning progressive political whores are trying to turn the country away from who we are. We're a free and independent people, and that's how we want to remain.  To remain free, you have to tell yourselves the truth. Except at the Obama White House, it's obvious that America is being threatened by Islamic extremists who want to murder, torture, rape, behead, burn, terrorize anyone who believes in basic American freedoms.  Most of what comes out of the Obama White House these days is designed around Hermann Goebbels' big lie theorem.  Mass deception can be achieved by the unrelenting repetition of lies and the bigger the lie, the more will be deceived. (think here of the 'offensive video' scenario barrage of brainwashing to which we were subjected for months).


For better or for worse , film has a higher profile than books do.  Movies reach a wider audience because, of course, you don't have to be able to read to watch and understand a film.  Even if you didn't speak the language, there are subtitles and dubbing.  So the "American Sniper" audience has risen to stunning proportions even going into the third week of its release. It fulfills the American need for honesty from its government, for democracy's requirement of honesty. That so many people would come to love and appreciate a hero who kills the enemy to save the rest of us is a phenomenon akin to the Knights of the Round Table legend.

American Sniper has broken all records for a film of this type, even though it was released in the dead money after Christmas holiday environment where films normally go to die.  I could tell it was film garbage season by the avalanche of bad Hollywood junked-up garbage movie trailers I was whipped with before watching American Sniper.

The Regal Cinema theatres where I saw the film was so packed that I thought there was a Harry Potter movie playing.  I was shocked when about 80 percent of that crowd marched into "American Sniper."  I had to sit in the third row front with my head craned upward like President Obama when he strikes one of his frequent phony camera-ready "gravitas" poses. I had waited to see the movie precisely because I wanted to avoid the discomfort of a crowded theatre. For this to have happened, three weeks into the release, could only mean that "American Sniper" struck a deep chord in the American psyche.

$200 million dollars for an R-rated movie never before happened in ten days of release.  Something is happening in America, and more and more people are realizing finally what it is.

American Sniper: It's a Book Also

Update:  The "American Sniper" film has created a resurgence of interest in Chris Kyle's book "American Sniper," written in conjunction with Jim DeFelice and Scott McEwen.  The book is back on the NYT best seller lists. It's published by Morrow (I'm interested in such things). It's an exciting read, contains lots of information about modern military weapons systems and equipment. (also interest in such things as these).  Reminds me of the exciting "Black Hawk Down" though about a different military scenario. 


I’m planning to be in a movie theatre this afternoon to watch Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper.” The movie is a blockbuster, which was released at a time when blockbusters aren’t supposed to happen. I could write a bunch on why “American Sniper” has caused a great deal of Hollywood penis envy, but today I want to remind people that the movie came off of the “American Sniper” book written by the late Chris Kyle.

It’s not James Joyce but that is a good thing (no disrespect to James Joyce, a great writer) “American Sniper” is both readable and informative and “fun” for people who like to read Soldier of Fortune magazine. That would include types like me. I’m one of those screwed up neo-intellectuals who have morphed from blue-collar to whatever I am now. Here’s a clue: I’m always checking the air on my Ford F-150 pickup truck tires in case I have to move into battle position while taking Geritol or another old-age supplement. I go to the range as often as I can.  I do fitness drills, gym workouts, boxing exercises almost daily. I don’t know what I’m fighting for or fighting against, but it’s all because I’m American and appreciate that America let my grandparents, and my mom and dad into this country. We’re not great heroes like Chris Kyle but my clan has surely met its obligations to military service—from WWII until now--

Anyway, the book. “American Sniper starts out with training descriptions exercise—considerable discussion of weapons systems, and transport systems like DPV (desert patrol vehicles) and limitations thereof.

There was a horribly naïve “movie critic” Jan 23 who was trying to put down the film version by saying there were parts of it that weren’t realistic—b/c it showed the Kyle character, in the midst of a shooting war, talking to his wife on the telephone.  “Now  that wouldn’t happen,” she said cluelessly.” It was shocking to see such techno-dumbness from a supposedly young hipster movie type. But this is what passes for “film critic these days.  Give me gay Rex Reed any day.

There is much of Kyle’s wife Taya in the book, including letters she sent, worrying about her husband’s safety and her own sanity.  The letters show how families at home are sacrificing.  The war fighters and their families have to risk everything and suffer so that I can sit on my ass in the EZ chair without bullets and shrapnel flying or anyone trying to cut off my head.

Well, I should admit I did my bit in military service, ultimately ending up in an MP battalion.  It was a trifling bit dangerous once in a while, but nothing like the dangers experienced by real war fighters like Chris Kyle. Still, it gave me some insight, updated and modernized, into weapons and tactics used today.  It was heartening to read, for example, that one of my favorite weapons, the M-60 machine gun, is still in use today (albeit with some updates and improvements and a name change).  It was called a “pig” when I was in uniform and it’s still called a “pig” today.  I guess that’s because of the fast fire and way it eats up ammo. I was put on a range detail once to set up four M-60s on a range at Fort Benning Georgia.  We had to set the guns up, set boxes of ammunition near, and test fire them. With no one shooting back, it was thrilling fun. The M-60 is almost as fast as my chain saw for cutting down timber.  I never killed one bad guy but I chopped up lots of Georgia pine.  But that’s not in the book. I mention it only because there are millions of former soldiers out there who might enjoy the weapons, tactics, and equipment discussions in the early parts of “American Sniper.”  Stay tuned, however—I’m on page 70, where Iraqi Freedom and the shooting starts.  Great book, so far, and a good companion read to the film. More on both will be forthcoming. 

Things to Know about Terror in #Belgium

An anti-terrorist operation in Belgium may have been given added impetus from the mass murder in Paris at the Charlie Hebdo offices, but Belgium has long been a hotbed of Islamic terror cells.  The French are often criticized for having a lackadaisical attitude toward radical Islamists who immigrate but do not integrate, and turn toward AQ and ISIS or other terrorist groups.  But take note:

• Belgium has been the destination of choice for over a decade as moving into France, and dealing with its more restrictive immigration policies and anti-terror laws, has made many radical Islamists turn to Belgium.

• Belgian based terrorists have been behind 2004  terror bombings in Casablanca and in Madrid and have recruited fighters for the insurgency in Iraq to fight against and kill American troops.

• Belgian based terrorists gave logistical support to  terrorists who posed as journalists to kill American ally and anti-Taliban leader Shah Masood in Afghanistan. 

These are just a small part of the story. The list of Belgium-based terror groups and activities is long and goes back to the time of the World Trade Center attacks.  Due to Belgium's lax criminal and anti-terror laws, it has had difficulty even in prosecuting known terrorists like Nizar Trabelsi, who in 2003 was convicted in a plot ot drive a car bomb into an American air base located in Belgium. 

Counter-Terrorism Ops in Belgium Kills Three Terrorists

Breaking news now reported by several sources describes a police raid in Verviers, a town in eastern Belgium.  Early reports say that three suspected terrorists have been killed in a shootout, and that at least one has been taken into custody.

The raid follows upon the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris. Police have not confirmed that the police raid stemmed from the search for other suspect(s) who may have been involved in the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

Dershowitz, Clinton, Prince Andrew and the Kitchen Sink Civil Lawsuit

Why would I, humble citizen of Hoi Polloi Nation, feel obliged to defend noted Harvard Law Professor, writer, and criminal attorney Allan Dershowitz, who  specializes in difficult higher court appeals?  He’s a millionaire and has access and knowledge of the judicial system way beyond a lay person’s comprehension.  I am Citizen Schmuck, probably like you, dear reader (if indeed anyone reads this) struggling to pay my mortgage, health insurance bills, and other expenses.

The reason is that Dershowitz and I have something in common.  We like to defend ourselves from slander and damage to our reputations.  Yes, my reputation is as important to me as his is to the world that knows him. The world that knows him will also know that his name has been associated with that of notorious billionaire playboy and convicted pedophile sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

You can read about Epstein’s sexual predations on a number of web sites from the Huffington Post to the Daily Caller.  If you do, you will also note that Epstein liked to entertain celebs on his private island in the Caribbean.  Epstein has hosted high profile people like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and it is alleged also that Dershowitz was present at some of these sexual soirees and participating in the corruption of minors.

               What this is about, though, is that Dershowitz has been deprived of the right to a defense. Imagine that a high profile lawyer like Dershowitz, with all the resources of law, has been muffled and  menaced by a court system which cares less about facts than about the tangle of bureaucratic laws that enables someone to criminally accuse you while you have no right to defend yourself against the accusations—in this case of pedophilia.

Dershowitz is not taking it lying down as you might expect. Today’s Wall Street Journal contains his essay explaining his side of the story. You need to read Kafka, as Dershowitz suggests, to understand why he cannot sue the lawyers who brought the hearsay to a criminal court while they have sued him for defending himself.  Dershowitz has challenged the lawyers to show any evidence they have, other than the self-serving statements of certain women who were ostensibly engaged in sexual practices on Epstein’s private island and elsewhere. Dershowitz has courageously risked everything in signed statements waiving statute of limitations if any of the allegations against him can be proved.

         Of course, the sleazeball attorneys bringing the civil case (named in Dershowitz’ WSJ article) are not interested in proving anything except how much money they can get from the U.S. government. Yes, the primary target of this smear is the U.S. government prosecutors who made a deal with Epstein, accepting his guilty plea on lesser charges in exchange for a lighter prison sentence.  The lawsuit, however, names Dershowitz and Prince Andrew and just about anyone who flew over the island as victimizers of the poor young women who were paid to perform sex acts with high profile Epstein guests.

        To be clear, there are several women who allegedly worked in the sex trade, who filed suit against the U.S. government for making a deal with Epstein and his lawyers—without their participation. To give additional heft to the suit, and to apply and accuse publicly, the lawyers and the ‘plaintiffs’ have used high profile names as a sort of public reputation blackmail.

  If underage women were raped or preyed upon, then those cases should be tried in the customary criminal courts and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  The problem here is that that the attorneys who brought the suit are taking advantage of a special interest quirk in the law that essentially puts Dershowitz under a gag order.  They are not interested in filing criminal rape cases against Dershowitz or Prince Andrew or Bill Clinton, because they know that, in doing so, they risk being disbarred and jailed for false accusations. 

Dershowitz  is right to disobey the law and bring the case to the court of public opinion—though he risks a great deal in doing so. Congress needs to change that special-interest protection that the lawyers in this case have so that the truth can come out. 

Hayat Boumeddiene Married or Not?

 Hayat Boumeddiene -- lover of messed-up killer Islamist Ahmed Coulibady is variously said to be married to him or his girlfriend.  The facts, I believe, were revealed in a Wall Street Journal article today.  Apparently, a religious service was conducted at Coulibady's home with the purpose of uniting the couple in matrimony.  There was one big problem, however--Hayat Boumeddiene did not attend. We don't know where she was but she wasn't there for the service.  Only two sets of parents were there, giving approval and blessings for this "marriage" made in hell, but Hayat wasn't.

That means the "marriage" isn't recognized by the French government, nor by most other governments.  I don't know where such marriages are recognized, since such an arrangement would be convenient for all of us wishing to marry up.  
I might wish (with the approval of my parents) to be married to Pippa Middleton, for example.  But duh!  If no one tells her of this marriage, and if no one knows whether she consented or not, the marriage is a mirage.

A mirage! As was much of the news coverage of this horrific event.

Kouachi Brothers Killed in Dammartin-en-Goele Police Assault

Update:  Five hostages held by Hayat Boumedienne and Amedy Coulybady are alive, and the two terrorists are dead. Total of 4 terrorists dead.

The French police assault on the factory where the Kouachi brothers were holed up looked like a TV film production.  Explosions, gunfire, and smoke accompanied the police assault. The Kouachi brothers were holding a female hostage in the print factory, while their counterparts in the Paris supermarket threatened to kill their estimated five or six hostages if the Kouachis should be killed by police.  In the latest report, French police forces killed both Cherif Kouachi and his brother Said.

A key tactical move by police, considering the dual hostage situation, was to control or limit communication between the two terrorist locations.  The supermarket hostage takers, Amedy Coulbaly and Hayat, have not been apprehended as of this moment.  At least one of the hostages has been rescued as a result of the attack.

French-Algerian Man and Woman Linked to Charlie Hebdo Massacr

A 33 year old man and a woman are being sought in connection with the Charlie Hebdo massacre. It is likely this man, Amedi Coulibaly, who has entered the Parisian kosher supermarket, taking hostages, and perhaps killing some of them. 

 It is reported that both individuals were part of a Islamist terrorist recruitment cell based in Paris and operating against the U.S. presence in Iraq. French police believe that one or both of these two were involved in the shooting Thursday of a police woman and an accident investigator in the Montrouge neighborhood in southern Paris. 

Further SPECULATION is that the Kouachi brothers have remained in contact with these two, and perhaps others, and that the male, named Amedi Coulibaly or his 26 year old female partner/GF named Hayat Boumedienne (take your pick) shot the two officers yesterday to create a DIVERSION or at least another crime scene – enabling the brothers to escape.  That didn’t work, obviously. This raises the question as to whether it was one of these two that Kouachi brother was signaling to as he left the Charlie Hebdo slaughter. 

Note: The brothers Kouachi:  Cherif and Said Kouachi were the first terrorists identified by French police.  Cherif Kouachi had been previously convicted of aiding Islamist extremists in Iraq.  He was taken into custody by American troops, turned over to the French judicial system.  Cherif Kouachi was convicted of recruiting for terrorists in Iraq.  He was sentenced to three years, but served only half of the sentence.

Explosions, Gunfire erupt at Factory where Kouachi Bros. Hold Hostage

UPDATE:  The Gammartin-en-Goele factory where the Kouachi brothers are making their last stand erupted in gunfire, smoke, and explosions at 11:00 a.m. EST. This was the moment the French police tactical squad felt they had to move.  There has so far been no police announcements regarding the outcome of the attempt to resolve the standoff.

France Wakes Up to Two Hostage Situations:

THE WAKEUP:  France wakes up this morning to a better understanding of the shooters who massacred twelve in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices.  Whereas the information reported yesterday was soft in spots, several things have now become clear.

HOSTAGE STANDOFF:  At this moment, there are two active French Police vs. Terrorist standoffs.   One is occurring in an eastern suburb of Paris called Port Vincennes.  The terrorist in this case has taken over a Kosher supermarket and is said to be holding an unknown number of hostages, as few as one or as many as five.  Police have surrounded and blocked off the area. The number of hostages in the supermarket is not clear. The terrorist in this case is quite possibly to be the third member of a 3-man assault team which conducted the original attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices. 

STANDOFF WITH KOUACHI BROTHERS is close is near to Paris and near to one of the Paris airports—in the industrial town of  Dammartin-en-Goele. The Kouachi brothers are reported to be holding one hostage.

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS are going on in both cases. It is being reported that TWO ARE DEAD at the KOSHER GROCERY MARKET.

Writer’s Note: As I am an amateur blogger, compiling the news from mainstream media sources, I’m wondering about my theory that the Kouachi brothers were heading toward the French border with Belgium.  It’s quite possible that this speculation was completely wrong, but it’s also possible that the brothers were blocked en route (they were heading northeast. In fact, all key locations are in the direction of northeast—the direction of Belgium).

Charlie Hebdo Killers Reported Holed Up In Woods

Update: Latest information is that the two brother/murderers were spotted running into a wooded area northeast of Paris and closer to the French border with Belgium.  Given that their identities were known, one would think their first concern would be getting out of France. Apparently, there was a sighting of two individuals fleeing in the forest after abandoning their highjacked vehicle. French helicopters are circling above and, like the police scouring the area below, are equipped with night vision and infrared equipment which should be able to spot movement and/or heat signatures--if there is movement and movement is above ground.  It is believed there are caves in the area, but if this is so, it would be difficult such people as these two terrorists to stay underground for long.  The temperature in the woods hovers around 40-45 degrees--not frigid, but certainly uncomfortable and likely extremely difficult for comfort loving urban or suburban types.  They are not like our American survivalists like the Pennsylvania cop-killer Eric Frein, or Richard Rudolf, both of whom lived in the woods for considerable lengths of time before being apprehended. So if it was indeed these two who were seen running into the woods, it is a matter of being thorough, patient, relentless, alert and cautious about having more cops killed.Were I a less humane individual, and were I certain there were no innocents in the area, including furry animals (who matter much more than these two subhumans), I would be thinking napalm.  

Were the Killers running to French Border with Belgium?

The following speculations have been based on a variety of media and social network sources. This does not presume to be a factual and accurate account as I do not have access to information held by law enforcement. Everyone’s invited to point out where I am in error. In fact, I would appreciate it. This is a crowdsourced report.

                

I’m puzzled by the French police response to the attack and the time it took to execute people in the Charlie Hebdo offices. Several news stations/papers report that the attack/slaughter took thirty five minutes. Other news reports have it that the killers got their way into the “secure” building by forcing a woman to use her passcard/keycard to open the electronic door. One report has it that the terrorists weren’t sure where the Hebdo offices were and got an answer from someone at the building. They then proceeded up the stairs to the magazine offices.  A report says they killed the receptionist.  They knew that the editorial board meeting was on that day and that most of the principals of the satirical publication would assemble. They separated men from the women and asked for Charlie Hebdo who was the first to be killed.  Other cartoonists and writers were identified and shot. 

During the shooting, several people called police and, of course, there is that excellent amateur video that will provide a minutes to second timeline.  Is it true that the first cops to respond were bicycle policemen who were unarmed and fled when they heard gunfire.  I don’t know how long it was before a police car came with two cops. There is plenty of news coverage showing that bullet-riddled  police vehicle, and I believe both of those cops were  killed. The most horrendous scene of all involves a wounded police lying on the sidewalk. One of the terrorists approaches him calmly and, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal says something like:

“You tried to kill us.”

Wherein the cop, with his hands up says something like:

“No problem here, you’re the boss,” before getting shot point blank and coldly by the terrorist.

They then get into the Citroen and drive away.  News reports differ in telling why one killer stoops underneath to retrieve something under the car.  One says it was a shoe. Another reports it was an ammo magazine.

Were there three people involved in the attack itself—that is, present at the drive- in or the killing?  Most reports say that there were two assailants and a third man, a driver, who began the attack. Two assailants, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, are identified as the gunmen.  As of this writing, none of these three principals have been apprehended or killed.  The two brothers were identified by a passport left by one of the brothers in the Citroen used first to attack the magazine offices and then later to escape.  The Citroen was abandoned later when another vehicle was carjacked.  One news story has it that the driver of the carjacked vehicle was allowed to take his dog before the two carjackers escaped in his vehicle.

  What is the connection between the 18 year old who turned himself in to police and the two/three men who committed the slaughter? Many news sources are reporting that this person was in school at the time of the shooting, and that he turned himself in when his name was associated with the massacre on social media. Police have not released anything more than his name--Hamyd Mourad and the town where he surrendered himself: Charleville-Mézières.

 Since the town is close to the border with Belgium, I speculate that they want to enter Belgium as part of their escape plan.  This comports with other news reports of a convenience store gas station robbery, and the murder of a policewoman in a Paris suburb, also to the northeast.  The direction of travel is clearly toward the northeast and Belgium.  As a consequence of these events, French gendarmes have concentrated on investigations in that area.

I expect that when the two brothers are captured/killed, the followup investigations will yield astounding results which will be surprising to the general public but not to anti-terror investigators. Hopefully, this latest attack will be enough to convince people to give up being polite or PC in the way information about terror is disseminated. People are not stupid. Everyone knows that every Muslim is not a terrorist. There’s no need to apologize or genuflect to the Muslims of the world every time it is necessary to take action against Islamist Nazi killers. We know that description does not apply to every lovely Muslim lady who works at the supermarket or at the school. But this current level of mealy mouthed discussion of terror will only lead to more innocent victims being slaughtered. Liberal courts freed  Cherif Kouachi after he served 18 months of a 3 year sentence for sending recruits to fight Americans in Iraq under the command of the notorious butcher Zarquawi.  Zarqawi got his from a Bush ordered missile strike and I hope the brothers Kouachi, and anyone else associated with this slaughter will get theirs, too.  Coming soon.

Pawel Pawlikowski"s Beautiful Film Ida Does More with Less

 My last two posts were about film.  That's sort of scary. Scarier still is that this one is about film, too.  I try to stay away from movies because, with so many being produced and flung at you these days, I can't separate the wheat from the chaff.

Last night I watched "IDA" on the home video and it actually kept me from watching a football playoff game, a boxing match, and a sex tape. I'm only kidding about the sex tape, but "IDA" is a seriously good movie that the 'Big Players' will try to diminish. It breaks all of today's film conventions and, like a cat, lands on its feet.

You don't make black and white films any more without being ridiculed by the big studio production heads.  "We're not there any more," they gurgle like depleted oil wells.  We may not be there any more but we're not anywhere else unless you like a steady diet of Hollywood fantasy films with money-making plot templates.

See, the problem with Pawl Pawlikowski's work is immense.  He's (or was) a film nobody, a documentarist, a European, an Oxford graduate with a down-to-earth view of things. That's outre in Hollywood, you know. He's lacking in decadence.  The other problem is that Pawel Pawlikowski's "Ida" is tight in all the right places.  It doesn't have any screwy baloney plot twists. Noone gets head blown off, no cops rush into the screen saying "go, go go!" and no car chases.

Well, it does have a "car chase" of a sort.  A main character, an elite judge in Polish society of the 60s, drives a young novice (before you become a nun, you're a novitiate) in search of her parents, victims of the Nazi occupation.  It looks like a cool 50s Studebaker, even though the setting is the 60s.  A ten year old car marked you as one of the elite in the Soviet dominated era. The two women are related; "Red Wanda" is Ida's aunt and, too, suffers from the horrendous brutality attendant of the era.  Actually, "Red Wanda" suffers from lots of things, her demons are plentiful, as she was an integral part of the Marxist-Socialist purging of Nazi sympathizers at the end of WWII. "I've put lots of people to death" she says with a tormented look in her eyes--implying they were not all guilty....

Stay tuned. Life has intervened but later I would bring you another episode in this exciting tale of a movie which is truly great.