New Republic Smears Slain SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle

According to New Republic senior editor, Isaac Chotiner, “if Chris Kyle had been a Muslim, we’d call him an extremist.”

Chotiner presents a scenario in which certain aspects of Kyle’s life are flipped, replacing the storied sniper’s origins with that of a young Muslim man. The hit piece deliberately takes Kyle’s quotes out of context, attempting to expose an American/Western bias when it comes to war and violence.

Here’s a sample of editoral:

Imagine the following scenario: a young Muslim from the Islamic world joins his country’s armed forces to fight an aggressive war against an overwhelmingly Christian nation. He gains accolades for his work as a sniper, executing his job with ruthless efficiency and little remorse. He admits to viewing the war he is fighting through the prism of religion. He gets a tattoo on his arm declaring that he embraces the concept of holy war. When parliamentarians in his own country question the conduct or course of the war, he states, “How would they know? They’ve never even been in a combat situation.” After shooting someone whose widow claims he was holding a Bible rather than a gun, he answers, “I don’t shoot people with Bibles. I’d like to, but I don’t.”

The story I’ve laid out is precisely the … life of Chris Kyle

With one difference: [Chris] Kyle was a Christian from the U.S., not a Muslim from a Muslim country. He was a U.S. Navy Seal, rather than a Muslim soldier from abroad. He spoke of wanting to kill people with Korans, not Bibles. He questioned Congressmen who had not served their country, implying that civilians should have no serious role in the conduct of war. He tattooed a “crusader’s cross” on his arm. The most he can manage to say about war crimes is that, “I am not saying war crimes should be committed,” before adding that a “warrior” like himself can’t do his fighting with “hands tied behind his back.

You can read the article in its entirety here.