Yes he suckered a ton of people around here with that and also with his acting like a military man on movies. Some people have a hard time discerning a real uniform from a costume. I think this Diehard character is probably the closest to his own philosophy.
Bruce Willis played the Diehard character.
Consider that it is said his father actually moved the family to Australia to avoid his sons being drafted and sent to Vietnam. Mel denies it. Why doesn't he just admit it?
I haven't heard the comments, but it seems to me that some people on this board are expecting too much out of Mel Gibson. He is a filmmaker who made the best film of the year, IMO, but he is not a politician. He is a celebrity, and since we don't take liberal ones seriously why do we take seriously those who take a conservative point of view. Either way, it is their one opinion only.
He didn't "sucker" anyone. Antiwar freepers pointed out that he was antiwar at the time the Passion was released.