Distribute this flier to people far and wide – whether they’re going to see American Sniper or not.
U.S. War on the World is Wrong
No One Should Fight in Aggressive Wars
Download PDF
Download editable DOC (JPG1 JPG2)
The film American Sniper portrays Navy Seal Chris Kyle as a hero for killing a huge number of people, one by one, in Iraq. Right now, as the U.S. government is bombing Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and again — Iraq, and preparing to send additional troops to Iraq, this film is distorting many peoples’ memory of recent history and damaging their understanding of basic morality.
As a result of the U.S. invasions and sanctions in 1991 and 2003, more than 1 million Iraqis were killed, 5 million displaced, and the whole society and infrastructure was torn apart. Was this to stop “terrorism,” as is presently understood by far too many and wrongfully depicted in American Sniper? NO.
The justification for invading Iraq was based on lies told by the Bush regime that Iraq had WMD’s (weapons of mass destruction). Because these were known lies, the largest protests in world history (February 15, 2003) brought millions into the streets. Many countries refused to join the United States’ so-called “coalition of the willing” invasion force.
The people of Iraq who suffered so terribly from the years of bombings, military repression and corrupt sectarian governments propped up by US occupying forces are not our enemy, and certainly not “savages” who all deserved to die, as Chris Kyle called them.
Under international law, a war of aggression is the greatest crime against humanity, defined as war waged without the justification of self-defense. Who were the “good guys” and the “bad guys” when the US launched its war on Iraq? Could the U.S. military possibly do any good now in Iraq after killing a million people, repeatedly destroying the infrastructure of Iraq, and polarizing the society around a small but growing number of horribly repressive Islamic fanatics?
Why should anyone join the military and become a part of the machinery that is inflicting this needless suffering and cycle of hate? Chris Kyle did have a choice. He didn’t have to kill more than 160 people by gunning down those he thought were “a threat.” Anyone currently in the military has a choice also, and can refuse orders, resist deployment, and join the right side of history by fighting to end these wars.
Chris Kyle, in real life, called Iraqis “savages” and “wished he could have killed more.” This is the opposite of a sheep dog guarding people — rather a bloody-jawed wolf enthusiastic to do the bidding of his white supremacist masters. The lives of people in the United States are not more valuable than other peoples’ lives.
Learn more
wearenotyoursoldiers.org
Bring the truth about these wars to youth and students in danger of being recruited by the military
worldcantwait.net
Join antiwar protests in Washington DC March 18-21