Shooter Killed Chris Kyle Because He Hated what Sniper Stood For
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The more news reports I read about the shooting death of famed sniper, Chris Kyle, the more frustrated I become. The corporate news media lacks the courage to say what should by now be obvious. Whether or not 25 year old Iraq war veteran, Eddie Ray Routh suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the former soldier was no deranged, mumbling lunatic. Routh in all likelihood killed the greatest sniper in history because he hated what Kyle stood for. Period.
But why would the media evade this issue? The reason is that American society, already preoccupied with issues of gun violence, is not ready to investigate the mainstream media's support for launching a war, contrived by neo-conservatives in the Bush Administration for the sole benefit of arms manufacturers. It is not necessarily mental illness for some soldiers returning from the Iraq war, to believe that their lives have been destroyed. It is, in all too many cases, true. Whether they are able to control their rage is of course a different matter. But it would be delusional for the rest of us to pretend that soldiers who lost limbs, buddies and the innocence of youth to fight people who, contrary to what they had been told, had nothing to do with 9/11 can just fade into the wood work. Because from time to time we will be hearing from more of these angry soldiers, it is yet another reason for Congress to get semi-automatic weapons out of everybody's hands.
Even though I disagreed with the politics of Chris Kyle, I feel deeply saddened at his tragic death. His wife and two children have had a husband and father wrenched from them just when they believed they could relax and enjoy his presence in their lives, because he had survived several tours of duty in Iraq. Next time the U.S. flippantly decides to go to war, it might remember that its highest cost will not be found in the Congressional budget.
The more news reports I read about the shooting death of famed sniper, Chris Kyle, the more frustrated I become. The corporate news media lacks the courage to say what should by now be obvious. Whether or not 25 year old Iraq war veteran, Eddie Ray Routh suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the former soldier was no deranged, mumbling lunatic. Routh in all likelihood killed the greatest sniper in history because he hated what Kyle stood for. Period.
But why would the media evade this issue? The reason is that American society, already preoccupied with issues of gun violence, is not ready to investigate the mainstream media's support for launching a war, contrived by neo-conservatives in the Bush Administration for the sole benefit of arms manufacturers. It is not necessarily mental illness for some soldiers returning from the Iraq war, to believe that their lives have been destroyed. It is, in all too many cases, true. Whether they are able to control their rage is of course a different matter. But it would be delusional for the rest of us to pretend that soldiers who lost limbs, buddies and the innocence of youth to fight people who, contrary to what they had been told, had nothing to do with 9/11 can just fade into the wood work. Because from time to time we will be hearing from more of these angry soldiers, it is yet another reason for Congress to get semi-automatic weapons out of everybody's hands.
Even though I disagreed with the politics of Chris Kyle, I feel deeply saddened at his tragic death. His wife and two children have had a husband and father wrenched from them just when they believed they could relax and enjoy his presence in their lives, because he had survived several tours of duty in Iraq. Next time the U.S. flippantly decides to go to war, it might remember that its highest cost will not be found in the Congressional budget.
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