American Sniper

 

My parents and I are movie aficionados. Ordering pizza and binge watching movies is a typical Sunday night at our place. On one such night, after much squabbling, we decided on watching the movie American Sniper together. My mom being a rom-com person wasn’t thrilled. Nevertheless, she agreed. After all, it was movie night. Plus, who can say no to something when there’s pizza involved?

The movie American Sniper is a non-fictional story about a man named Chris Kyle, played by the renowned actor, Bradley Cooper. Chris was an American, brought up in the state of Texas. As he grew up, he tried many different avenues including sports and becoming a cowboy. Ever since he had been little, he’d learnt traditional American values which resulted in him adopting nationalist beliefs. He always said that America was the greatest country in the world, and that he’d do anything to protect it. Ultimately, he found his calling. He joined the military and became a SEAL. He was trained as a specialist sniper. During his rigorous training, he met a woman named Taya whom he married later on and started a family with. When Kyle was sent to Iraq to fight in the war as a US Navy SEAL, his fantastic shooting skills were unveiled. Driven by the love he had for his country, he performed extraordinarily well in his task as a sniper. In fact, his skills were almost eerie. He attained the title of America’s most successful sniper after the war was over. However, Chris’ success as a sniper was something that bothered him even long after the war was over. He suffered from PTSD. Personally, I as a viewer thought that the reason for his disorder was the fact that he killed many people in the war. However, to my surprise, it was later revealed that the actual reason was that Kyle felt that he could have saved many more lives. Reflecting upon the movie, I now understand why.  

During the war, Chris did not only see the enemies die, he witnessed many of his friends dying in front of him. One day when his kids were playing with their pet dog, Kyle ran towards them and almost beat up the dog with a rock, thinking that the dog was trying to hurt his children. But in reality the dog and his kids were only playing around and having a good time. Eventually, he was able to recover. He managed to do so by figuring out what made him feel comforted and relieved. Reaching out to veterans with physical and emotional disabilities calmed Chris’s anxious and troubled state of mind. The time he spent with them helped him greatly through which he was finally able to let go of the fact that there were people who he could do nothing to save. 

After I finished watching this movie, I had a discussion with my father and discovered that this movie had a deep historical backdrop. I got to know that the Iraq War in which Chris Kyle fought is, in itself, a major historical event. Being a history nerd, I researched more. US led forces, Chris Kyle included, invaded Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain and destroy the weapons of mass destruction that were possessed by his government. Talks about invading Iraq had been going on for a long time in the US. It ultimately happened after the 9/11 attacks; under Bush’s administration. The question that arises is what was the relation between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussain? After a varying set of answers, I came across an interesting viewpoint of Dick Cheney- former US Vice President. “It has been confirmed repeatedly in Iraqi government documents captured after the invasion, that Saddam had deep, longstanding, far-reaching relationships with terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda and its affiliates. It is undisputed that Saddam’s Iraq was a state based on terror, overseeing a coordinated program to support global jihadist terrorist organizations”, he wrote in the Weekly Standard. 

I can connect this to the current, heart wrenching situation of the people in Afghanistan. America first invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the presidency of Bush. Their invasion followed the 9/11 attacks, like they invaded Iraq. The American military was sent to overthrow another government’s rule. Instead of Saddam Hussain it was the Taliban. Similar to the perspective of Cheney’s regarding Iraq, the US military went to Afghanistan because they sought the Al-Qaeda militants who bombed the Twin Towers. The Al-Qaeda militants had received support from the Taliban. Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban, the Islamists who had been in power since 1996. When they refused to hand him over, the US intervened militarily, quickly removing the Taliban and vowing to support democracy and eliminate the terrorist threat. 

Today after 20 years, the US has withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan. Leaving behind innocent civilians who are now at the mercy of terrorists. There are restrictions over women's freedom to work, to dress as they choose, or even to leave home alone. Fear is spreading like wildfire as people make desperate attempts to flee. They would do anything rather than going back to living life in constant dread, waiting for the moment the Taliban captures them. Afghans are jumping on planes that have already taken off. There is chaos and madness everywhere. They don't know what the day will look like for them. There is uncertainty in the eyes of even children. Another major fear is that the country will once again become a training ground for terrorism. Kids will grow up watching violence everywhere. As of now we can just help in whatever way we can. My heart aches for the people of Afghanistan. May they find peace and solace.