Posted on 01/14/2014 2:07:03 PM PST by Lakeshark
CNN’s Jake Tapper would have done well to read “Lone Survivor,” rather than just seeing the new movie, before interviewing former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell last week. If he had, Tapper might have been more careful than to describe the deaths of Luttrell’s SEAL comrades in Afghanistan as “senseless.” And he would have been wary of Luttrell’s contempt for the liberal media.
The film “Lone Survivor, which ” took in $38.5 million at the box office its opening weekend is based on a 2010 book by Luttrell that tells the tragic story of a 2005 operation in which the three other members of Luttrell’s SEAL team, along with 17 other special ops warriors, were killed. The story turned on the team’s agonized decision to turn lose some Afghan goat herders who had stumbled onto its concealed position. As the SEALs had feared, the freed civilians went straight to the Taliban, precipitating the battle.
While the movie recounts the fateful decision, it doesn’t explicitly tell the audience that a big part of deciding not to kill the goat herders was the certain knowledge that, “The media in the United States of America would crucify us,” in Luttrell’s words.
To kill or not kill the goat herders was a horrible choice to have to make – a moral, ethical and military dilemma that weighed the lives of the civilians against the lives of the team. Luttrell was rightly furious at having to to decide knowing that the SEALs would never get a fair shake from a hostile news media.
Throughout the book, Luttrell registered distrust of liberals in the media and in Washington – and did so with a very direct eloquence. Here are 10 of the best examples from the book.
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-philbin/2014/01/13/10-best-lone-survivor-takedowns-lib-media#ixzz2qPfOAyo3
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
3. “That situation might look simple in Washington, where the human rights of terrorists are often given high priority. And I am certain liberal politicians would defend their position to the death. Because everyone knows liberals have never been wrong about anything. You can ask them. Anytime.” (p. 37)
1. “This entire business of modern war crimes, as identified by the liberal wings of politics and the media, began in Iraq and has been running downhill ever since. Everyone’s got to have his little hands in it, blathering on about the public’s right to know.” (p. 38)
2. “It’s been an insidious progression, the criticisms of the U.S. Armed Forces from politicians and from the liberal media, which knows nothing of combat, nothing of our training, and nothing of the mortal dangers we face out there on the front line.”(p. 36)
I don’t think there should have ever been a question of whether or not to kill them. (How did sparing their lives work out?)
Ah... not exactly.
when the dogs are off the chain, the last thing they should be thinking about is the rantings of some busy body house wife half way across the global
of course, the only reason they had to worry about it is because a non-dem was in the office.
now we have 0failure... more people have died in Afghanistan with him at the helm then GW... yet not one word in the press.
it’s no longer bias. it’s just blantant propaganda
Just have one comment and input.....All Americans that love our country should go out and see this great movie, “Lone Survivor”. The Obamabot, liberal, Democrat low life and Obama media are are attacking this movie, making fun of these men who sacrificed their lives to protect their& our nation and people!!!
We need another “Chic-fil-a” & “Duck Dynasty” pushback moment from the overwhelming numbers of the American people (millions)!!! Folks....just do it!!! This film has had an amazing opening turnout this weekend, that now sits at $41,000,000 bucks. It is the highest January opening in many years. It’s the “sleeper’ that is awakening the sleeping American giant!!! It could hit the $100 million mark by the end of next weekend....if we all do our thing!!!
Contact: Limbaugh, Levin, Hannity, Greta, Meghan, O’Reilly, Tucker Carson, Fox & Friends, Lucianne, etc, etc. We can send a powerful message of support for our military folks and tell the dreg Obama, Democrats November, 2014 is coming quickly....and we are coming to throw them all out of office and take our country back!!! End of story!!!
....the definition of “ipso facto” is “by the fact itself”....
So, ipso facto Marcus is exactly correct, their decision on a life or death, no quarter, battlefield to free the goat herders was a decision to committ suicide.
I hope the day returns when America rediscovers that “being nice” on one of the worlds battlefields means, more often than not, our boys die. Of course the Marxists in our whitehouse could care less. Santa Anna scoffed to his officers on the subject of getting too many of their soldiers killed. Laughing, he just said “their just so many chickens”.
I can literally see team Obama saying the same thing.
What happened was a bunch of poorly led, out of control soldiers working the graveyard shift were taking prisoners out of their cells and placing them in humiliating poses, sometimes simulating torture. And the scumbags took pictures of it all.
The Army was already on this and near the end of its investigation when the news media got a leak and acted like they exposed it all, which was totally false.
The soldiers involved were not prosecuted for torturing prisoners because they didn't do that. They were prosecuted for harassing and humiliating prisoners, which is not torture, but is prohibited by Army regulations.
But don't bother the media with the facts.
Are you suggesting that our forces in the field should kill civilians in order to preserve their own mission?
I’m considering going to see it again.
Why not if needed? We certainly didn’t worry about civilian casualties when we fire bombed Dresden and Tokyo.
This obsessive worry about civilians just gets more of our people killed. My boy goes back this year. If it’s him or some civilian, the civilian comes in number two.
Are you kidding me? Did you miss WWII and the unrestricted bombing of cities across Europe. The block by block, street by street, building by building fighting through Europe's towns and villages. Tens of thousands of civilians died.
Its a bummer but that's war. The survival of one American troop is worth more to me than 100 or 1,000 Iraqi goat herders. Walking up on a Seal Team in combat should be just as unlucky as being on the receiving end of a 500 pound bomb dropped by a B-17.
Here’s a question for you guys: what does the Geneva Convention say about killing civilians in the field?
Another question: What does the UCMJ say about that?
And another: Is the intentional aerial bombing of civilians a war crime today?
When fighting unconventional enemies that do not wear the uniform of a nation and use civilial populations to conceal movements. The Geneva Convention is null and void.
Miller: Climb down off that cross of yours, close your eyes, think of England, and pull the trigger! -GUNS OF NAVARONE.
Then there was Sophia Loren shot with a silenced weapon in OPERATION CROSSBOW.
The NYT would foam at the mouth if those things really happened today.
Haul 'em out, call for exfil. The operation was blown no matter what, no sense in getting yourselves killed in the process. I'll never understand the decision they made (yes, I read the book).
“Are you suggesting that our forces in the field should kill civilians in order to preserve their own mission?”
Well, that’s a toughie. I’d suggest that America would have much been better served by killing them, and the entire village, with a 3am strike by a B-52 dropping 10 or 15 2000lb JDAMS.
Or better yet, a cell of 3 B-52s.
We send in small commando teams because we lack the will to obliterate the enemy. This war has been characterized by the use of SOF units due to our paralyzing fear of using the full crushing force we could use. Supporting arms are woefully under used today, because we think we can win the hearts of the savages.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.