Canadian Sniper

This morning headlines:

• 'A hell of a shot': Sniper record latest example of deadly Canadian marksmanship - CBC
  
• A 'different level' of military sniper - Macleans.ca
  
• Canadian sniper in Iraq shatters longest-shot record - NY Daily News
  
• Canadian sniper hits ISIS militant with record-setting shot | CTV News
  
• How Canada's small military produced deadly, record-breaking snipers | Washington Post
  

This is straight-up propaganda. All the sources are anonymous "officials" telling what a great shot it. Normally JTF2 stuff is kept ultra-secret to the point of silliness. This is a crafted media release.

Canadian Military wrote:"Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn’t have a clue what was happening,” said a military source.

Look how 'liberal' sniping is! It kills "bad guys" but without "killing civilians".  Like conservatives it dehumanizes people into objects called "bad people" and celebrates blowing their skulls - yet it still cares about the sanctity of life like a liberal. This is the "extreme center" politics that is doing all the bombing and murdering these days.

Some nice modern military euphemisms on display.

The military source said the JTF2 operation fell within the strictures of the government’s advise and assist mission. “As stated multiple times in the past, members of the Canadian Special Operations Task Force do not accompany leading combat elements, but enable the Iraqi security forces who are in a tough combat mission.”

So "advise and assist" means sniper ops. To "enable the Iraqi security forces" means help them kill 'bad guys'.

I remember in my Afghanistan research when the Canadian military released information about another record-breaking sniper for propaganda purposes. A Newfoundlander in the Princess Patrica's infantry made the shot in 2002 during the first year of the war. The sniper became a Edmonton cop until he was "dismissed from the police for discreditable conduct, after an episode in which he physically abused and urinated on a fellow police officer." Sniping and drone-piloting destroy souls, destroying human life at the press of a button leaves deep psychological wounds.

The role of media is not just to print justifications for war,  not just to suppress anti-war voices and ever any background to the wars, but to actively prepare the audience to accept and glorify war.   These are media/military operations to groom the audience to make it more open to killing, to hearing about Canadian troops killing foreigners, to automatically insert the term 'bad guys' when they hear about such killing. These colorful graphics and anonymous quotes are directed at boys, teenage males, grown man-childs, and 'patriotic' women.



Its like the Murder Olympics with Canada dominating the podium. Hurray!

Osprey's History of Snipers shows how snipers used to be universally despised as 'unsportsman' and disbanded afterwards until Korea/Vietnam era when they became incorporated as a necessary evil. Now simplistic propaganda films about a 'heroic sniper' are nominated for Academy awards.

So come on everyone, stick your hand into the smear of brain matter and blood that was someone's head, wipe it on your face, taste it. These is what they are offering you, the thrill of killing, experienced from the safety of your office or home. Drip in before the blood congeals, before your conscience even knows what you are doing....

I was so angry when I saw the articles and the way it was portrayed. It is disgusting. It is doing the rounds on facebook and other social media sites with proud "canadians" celebrating the victory as if we had just won at the olympics.

Celebrating death and destruction as our greatest masterpiece. I really can't express how upsetting the media's and peoples respose to it have been.