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Every movie rewrites history. What American Sniper did is much, much worse

How do you know it's the same man named Juba?

It could be a collective of people, so you don't know if any of them are true, the only thing you know is the video which you have no way authenticating them.

Anything you cannot authenticate is a rumour........

I said sniper or snipers. Look at the post above.

Besides icasualties.org was disclosing the number and names of the dead and wounded at that time. Some unidentified people were killing enough US personnel.
 
Did anyone see Taras Bulba ? It's about the Ukrainian revolt against the Poles in the 17th century .Every actor takes 5 minutes to die when he's shot on the battlefield,time in which he explains in melodramatic words how he's happy to die for Russia.At least the Americans aren't so despicably cheesy.:rofl:
cant beat bollywood in melodrama.
 
The kyle guy seems to be a lier, I read recently that he got sued for lying about a fight in bar in his book and openly telling the name of the guy. (just so that his book sells)
Now his widow will pay for it. Am not watching this stupid movie.

@jhungary why is it acceptable in civilized world to boast about 'kills'?(numbers). As a civilian it sounds so weird to me.

From what I hear (I have not read the book yet) the number was released by the government, more like the SEAL wanted to brag about him. on his behalf, I do believe and remember I read somewhere he do not know about how many he actually killed.

SEALs are more or less in competition with other SF in other branch, that's the reason when they did something other can't, the boost about it

About the fight, Chris Kyle lose because he cannot provide evidence or witness that the governor said that, depend on where your angle, some people believe the governor did said something bad about the SEALs, (He was a UDT back then) and some people don't.

But in all, he brag about a lot of things, and from where I heard first hand, the part about his tours is true, I cannot vouch for anything else lol

I said sniper or snipers. Look at the post above.

Besides icasualties.org was disclosing the number and names of the dead and wounded at that time. Some unidentified people were killing enough US personnel.

lol, what I said is the video cannot be authenticated. Not the facts.

Fact is somebody did die in that time frame, but how do you know the video is showing the moment exactly when they were killed? If you cannot authenticate the video, it would be a rumour.
 
lol, what I said is the video cannot be authenticated. Not the facts.

Fact is somebody did die in that time frame, but how do you know the video is showing the moment exactly when they were killed? If you cannot authenticate the video, it would be a rumour.

Juba is the nickname given by American forces to an insurgent sniper operating in southern Baghdad. They do not know his appearance, nationality or real name, but they know and fear his skill.

"He's good," said Specialist Travis Burress, 22, a sniper with the 1-64 battalion based in Camp Rustamiyah. "Every time we dismount I'm sure everyone has got him in the back of their minds. He's a serious threat to us."

Gun attacks occasionally pepper the battalion's foot and mounted patrols, but the single crack of what is thought to be a Tobuk sniper rifle inspires particular dread.

Since February, the killing of at least two members of the battalion and the wounding of six more have been attributed to Juba. Some think it is also he that has picked off up to a dozen other soldiers.

In a war marked by sectarian bombings and civilian casualties, Juba is unusual in targeting only coalition troops, a difficult quarry protected by armoured vehicles, body armour and helmets.

He waits for soldiers to dismount, or stand up in a Humvee turret, and aims for gaps in their body armour, the lower spine, ribs or above the chest. He has killed from 200 metres away.

"It was the perfect shot," the battalion commander, Lt Col Kevin Farrell, said of one incident. "Blew out the spine.


"We have different techniques to try to lure him out, but he is very well trained and very patient. He doesn't fire a second shot."

Some in the battalion want marksmen to occupy rooftops overlooking supply routes, Juba's hunting ground, to try to put him in the cross-hairs.

"It would be a pretty shitty assignment because he's good," said Spc Burress. "I think it's a sniper's job to get a sniper, and it'd probably take all of us to get him."

American snipers operate in teams of at least two people, a shooter and a spotter, the latter requiring more experience since he must use complicated formulae to calculate factors such as wind strength and drag coefficients.

Some worry that Juba is on his way to becoming a resistance hero, acclaimed by those Iraqis who distinguish between "good" insurgents, who target only Americans, and "bad" insurgents who harm civilians.

Elusive sniper saps US morale in Baghdad | World news | The Guardian

The fact is that Iraqi sniper/s under Juba nickname hunted US soldiers and uploaded videos on internet.
 
Juba is the nickname given by American forces to an insurgent sniper operating in southern Baghdad. They do not know his appearance, nationality or real name, but they know and fear his skill.

"He's good," said Specialist Travis Burress, 22, a sniper with the 1-64 battalion based in Camp Rustamiyah. "Every time we dismount I'm sure everyone has got him in the back of their minds. He's a serious threat to us."

Gun attacks occasionally pepper the battalion's foot and mounted patrols, but the single crack of what is thought to be a Tobuk sniper rifle inspires particular dread.

Since February, the killing of at least two members of the battalion and the wounding of six more have been attributed to Juba. Some think it is also he that has picked off up to a dozen other soldiers.

In a war marked by sectarian bombings and civilian casualties, Juba is unusual in targeting only coalition troops, a difficult quarry protected by armoured vehicles, body armour and helmets.

He waits for soldiers to dismount, or stand up in a Humvee turret, and aims for gaps in their body armour, the lower spine, ribs or above the chest. He has killed from 200 metres away.

"It was the perfect shot," the battalion commander, Lt Col Kevin Farrell, said of one incident. "Blew out the spine.


"We have different techniques to try to lure him out, but he is very well trained and very patient. He doesn't fire a second shot."

Some in the battalion want marksmen to occupy rooftops overlooking supply routes, Juba's hunting ground, to try to put him in the cross-hairs.

"It would be a pretty shitty assignment because he's good," said Spc Burress. "I think it's a sniper's job to get a sniper, and it'd probably take all of us to get him."

American snipers operate in teams of at least two people, a shooter and a spotter, the latter requiring more experience since he must use complicated formulae to calculate factors such as wind strength and drag coefficients.

Some worry that Juba is on his way to becoming a resistance hero, acclaimed by those Iraqis who distinguish between "good" insurgents, who target only Americans, and "bad" insurgents who harm civilians.

Elusive sniper saps US morale in Baghdad | World news | The Guardian

The fact is that Iraqi sniper/s under Juba nickname hunted US soldiers and uploaded videos on internet.

dude, you miss my point...

In war, a lot of propaganda happens on both side. A lot of "Legend" from Amazon, warrior princess to Liongate were created as a common myth. I did not deny or accept their existence, but again, unless you can definitely proof said person or people, did exist. Not just a bunch of American soldier talking about it, that would be a rumour.

What they are describing is an incident, for them, they don't even know if the sniper is the same sniper every time, how do they give it a name to its existence? When the very existence is in question?

Dude, trust me, I know about these kind of thing, I have been to combat and unless you have a way to authenticate that is the same person or same group of people are behind those video, then you can say for sure they did exist. Otherwise it would just be hearsay...
 
dude, you miss my point...

In war, a lot of propaganda happens on both side. A lot of "Legend" from Amazon, warrior princess to Liongate were created as a common myth. I did not deny or accept their existence, but again, unless you can definitely proof said person or people, did exist. Not just a bunch of American soldier talking about it, that would be a rumour.

What they are describing is an incident, for them, they don't even know if the sniper is the same sniper every time, how do they give it a name to its existence? When the very existence is in question?

Dude, trust me, I know about these kind of thing, I have been to combat and unless you have a way to authenticate that is the same person or same group of people are behind those video, then you can say for sure they did exist. Otherwise it would just be hearsay...

Do you question the authenticity of the videos related to Syrian civil war?
Do you question the authenticity of the videos related to IS insurgency in Iraq?

Other than the improved cellphone technology, events are much or less the same. Point is: Sniper or Sniper team whom Americans called Mustapha was in reality Juba whom insurgents themselves called.
 
Do you question the authenticity of the videos related to Syrian civil war?
Do you question the authenticity of the videos related to IS insurgency in Iraq?

Other than the improved cellphone technology, events are much or less the same. Point is: Sniper or Sniper team whom Americans called Mustapha was in reality Juba whom insurgents themselves called.

what that got to do with IS in Iraq and Syria civil war?

Dude, can you distinglish between facts and rumours?

Fact are backed up with authentical information, where as rumour is just a hearsay.

Mustafa or Juba , those are urban legion, nobody knows if that person or people were actually exist, each war have its own urban legion. And each war have its own myth.

And yes, Video of ISIS and syria war have been and can be authenticated by all party, hence those video is real and those are jot rumour. But can you say the same with thos ebootleg sniper video alledgely killing American soldier?

Soldiers, on both side, died everyday, that does not necessarily mean one party or one man are responsible, hence those are urban legion, those are rumour.

If that juba or mustafa indeed exist, who is he or she and why we do not have any more proof beside some Ameican soldier accounts or some video we dont even know if they are true?
 
what that got to do with IS in Iraq and Syria civil war?

Dude, can you distinglish between facts and rumours?

Fact are backed up with authentical information, where as rumour is just a hearsay.

Mustafa or Juba , those are urban legion, nobody knows if that person or people were actually exist, each war have its own urban legion. And each war have its own myth.

And yes, Video of ISIS and syria war have been and can be authenticated by all party, hence those video is real and those are jot rumour. But can you say the same with thos ebootleg sniper video alledgely killing American soldier?

Soldiers, on both side, died everyday, that does not necessarily mean one party or one man are responsible, hence those are urban legion, those are rumour.

If that juba or mustafa indeed exist, who is he or she and why we do not have any more proof beside some Ameican soldier accounts or some video we dont even know if they are true?

Appearently you didnt watch the videos during the years of US occupation.
 
I didn't make that wonderful picture, but I sure loved it. Who knows maybe it was made by a disgruntled cowboy somewhere on a forum like this. Who knew the moooovie invoked such strong emotions, it's not often I see you trying to stick up for 'Murrica in ridiculous ways, even when it's not 'Murrica being attacked.... Oh wait...

It brings me back to this:

View attachment 186125

Anyway, back to your response(s).

The butthurt floweth through hither and yon,
like the waves of the Euphrates river,
I made this poem up to provoke you,
Iambic pentameter; more butthurt.
I thought it was funny that you would use the word 'predictable' in your...ummm...'critique'...of American Sniper. The word is just about the most hackney-ed in criticism. It is usually used by those who wish to impress but there is nothing substantive to support the impression. In fact, it is predictable that junior critic-wannabes would use the word 'predictable'.

Predictability is not the same as formulaic. But...What is wrong with a story being predictable, any way ? TV serials are not only predictable but formulaic, week after week, and many of them runs for yrs, even into the double-digits yrs. Life is filled with patterns, which are predictable, and formulas. If anything, without predictable patterns of behaviors and formulas, we would not have civilizations.

I was there when Star Wars came out. Do you know why Star Wars was so radical ? Because it was largely unpredictable and unconventional instead of being formulaic in the realm of science fiction. But American Sniper is not fiction but based upon the life of a real human being. We have a man who met a woman and they got married, so the storytelling must contain the predictable and formulaic 'boy meets girl' pattern. What else can it be ?

But what make predictable and formulaic TV serials so popular -- and profitable -- is the attention to details that set one episode apart from another. A favorite show of mine is NUMB3RS where there is an FBI agent and his genius mathematician younger brother. Each episode is the same, a crime occurred, then high level math and high intensity police work always saved the day. But the details of the math is different from episode to episode for 6 yrs.

For American Sniper, Clint Eastwood, who already had a legendary career in front of the camera and is poised to have an equally legendary second career behind the camera, it is far less about the politics that involved the protagonist -- Chris Kyle -- but more about Chris Kyle as a flawed human being engaged in the most brutal thing man have known -- war.

Remove the politics from the movie...sorry...film...and YOU have nothing significant to criticize the storytelling. American Sniper was well told (directed) and well acted. Cooper was believable as Kyle. The war Kyle was engaged in was not a fictional event in a fictional country. Iraq was a real country. As such, the movie...ooops again...film...had no choice but to be predictable and even formulaic at times. The audience is not that stupid but for junior critic-wannabe like yourself, you have to believe the audience is THAT stupid to swallow your criticism that American Sniper was 'predictable'.

Did Cooper -- as Kyle -- adequately conveyed the human toll war have on a man ? By many of all the (real) critics' account, Cooper's performance deserves an Oscar. This is one of the many details that regular people like me watch for, whether the story it is a TV serial or a movie..:tsk:...I mean...film. Aaargh...Sorry about that...I keep forgetting I am talking to a junior critic-wannabe who writes bad poetry.
 
7 heinous lies “American Sniper” is telling America
The Clint Eastwood film suggests Chris Kyle was haunted by his actions in Iraq. The truth is more unsettling
Zaid Jilani, AlterNet
The film American Sniper, based on the story of the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, is a box office hit, setting records for an R-rated film released in January. Yet the film, the autobiography of the same name, and the reputation of Chris Kyle are all built on a set of half-truths, myths and outright lies that Hollywood didn’t see fit to clear up.
Here are seven lies about Chris Kyle and the story that director Clint Eastwood is telling:

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle’s actions in the film is to believe he’s there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.

2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle’s primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle’s book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film’s earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn’t need me – I’d be back in a heartbeat. I’m not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O’Brien’s show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn’t “shoot people with Korans. I’d like to, but I don’t.”
4. The Real Chris Kyle Made Up A Story About Killing Dozens of People In Post-Katrina New Orleans: Kyle claimed that he killed 30 people in the chaos of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a story Louisiana writer Jarvis DeBerry calls “preposterous.” It shows the sort of mentality post-war Kyle had, but the claim doesn’t appear in the film.

5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas: Kyle told numerous people a story about killing two alleged carjackers in Texas. Reporters tried repeatedly to verify this claim, but no evidence of it exists.

6. Chris Kyle Was Successfully Sued For Lying About the Former Governor of Minnesota: Kyle alleged that former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura defamed Navy SEALs and got into a fight with him at a local bar. Ventura successfully sued Kyle for the passage in his book, and a jury awarded him $1.845 million.

7. Chris Kyle’s Family Claimed He Donated His Book Proceeds To Veterans’ Charity, But He Kept Most Of The Profits: The National Review debunks the claim that all proceeds of his book went to veterans’ charities. Around 2 percent – $52,000 – went to the charities while the Kyles pocketed $3 million.

Although the movie is an initial box office hit, there is a growing backlashagainst its simplistic portrayal of the war and misleading take on Kyle’s character. This backlash has reportedly spread among members of the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences, which could threaten the film’s shot at racking up Oscars.


Zaid Jilani is a Syracuse University graduate student and freelance writer. Follow him @zaidjilani.

As controversy rages over American Sniper, many supporters of the movie have suggested that it's apolitical and shouldn't be construed as supportive of war or bigotry; that it's merely a character study of a tortured soldier. The problem with that analysis is that the film isn't focused on a group of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or the difficulties with being reacquainted with civilian life, or the inadequacies of the Veterans Administration.

The movie is about Chris Kyle, a remorseless sniper who said his job was “fun” and wished he could return to Iraq to fight even more, and who made millions of dollars and gained worldwide fame writing about his exploits. If anything, Kyle is the absolute worst soldier one could pick to talk about soldiers coming home and our need to take care of them. The way he wrote and talked about his time in Iraq, one would think the war was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Filmmaker Clint Eastwood has responded to critics by noting he was against going to war in Iraq, and was skeptical of the war in Afghanistan as well. This doesn't explain why Eastwood chose to base his film on a soldier who viewed the war as both just and enjoyable, and it doesn't excuse him rendering the Iraqi characters of the film into mere props, either helpless civilians or evil terrorists. Nor does it justify Eastwood's use of 9/11 imagery in the film to imply that invading Iraq was revenge for terrorist attacks, which is a bastardization of history that has been used by war proponents. If Eastwood does consider himself a war critic, it appears he threw out his own principles in order to make a film that wouldn't ask its viewers any challenging questions about the war.

Whatever Eastwood's intent, the most damning indictment comes from how the film is being received. Critics of American Sniper's portrayal of Chris Kyle have received a torrent of death threats, even calls for decapitation, and the film has spawned an outpouring of anti-Muslim bigotry on social media.

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Cooper suggests that the film is apolitical and shouldn't be construed as supportive of war or bigotry:

“My hope is that if someone is having a political conversation about whether we should or should not have been in Iraq, whether the war is worth fighting, whether we won, whether we didn’t, why are we still there, all those [issues], that really—I hope—is not one that they would use this movie as a tool for,” Cooper told the Daily Beast, when asked about those targeting Kyle’s temperament. “And for me, and for Clint, this movie was always a character study about what the plight is for a soldier. The guy that I got to know, through all the source material that I read and watched, and home videos—hours and hours—I never saw anything like that.... It’s not a political discussion about war, even…It’s a discussion about the reality. And the reality is that people are coming home, and we have to take care of them.”

For a film that is supposed to be apolitical, American Sniper has become a rallying point for the political right. Fox News has done lengthy segments defending the film and decrying its critics; Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh have all become champions of Chris Kyle's reputation.

Perhaps there's a reason this Iraq war film has become politically polarizing in a way a long series of other Iraq dramas—The Hurt Locker, Green Zone, In the Valley of Elah, The Tiger and the Snow—haven't. Unlike most of the other major motion pictures about the conflict, American Sniper wants you to cheer on the morality of what Kyle is doing. Whatever the follies of the larger war may be, Kyle is the epitome of good, and the hundreds of people he does battle with are the epitome of bad.

The film hit wide release just weeks after terrorist attacks in Paris and resurgent Islamophobia, and just months after state violence was coming under heavy scrutiny in the United States following a string of police shootings of unarmed men. It gives people who want to see their country—represented by the government—as a powerful force for good against legions of swarthy, foreign masses of bad a reason to feel proud again. Troubling moral questions simply aren't good box office fodder.

The biggest shame is that the film could have sparked discussion about the tragic plight of America's soldiers. Veterans are coming home to a country that hasn't done enough to take care of them. Twenty-seven percent of veterans are disabled compared to about 14 percent of the general population; six percent of households receiving food stamp benefits have a veteran in them. The federal government estimates there are almost as many as 50,000 homeless veterans at any one time.

But Kyle is not one of those veterans. He made millions of dollars writing about his time in the military, and was eager to go back. He was a star featured by Conan O'Brien and the mega-church talk circuit. Although his family promised to donate book royalties to veterans organizations, only two percent ever actually made it to veterans. Kyle manufactured tall tales of shooting down carjackers in Texas and looters in Katrina, none of which was held against him, despite the fact that armed vigilantism is illegal.

Kyle's life story is designed to glamorize military life during the post-9/11 era, to make it seem exciting, morally unambiguous and sexy. It is about as far away as you can get from showing the very real horrors our military men and women have endured during 14 years of war: broken bodies, homelessness, unemployment, and more death than financial rewards.

When it comes to the people of Iraq, Eastwood is perhaps most faithful to Kyle's memoir, positing them simply as caricatures. No major feature film, including American Sniper, has looked at the impact of the war on the people of Iraq.

In 2006, Eastwood directed Letters From Iwo Jima to show the Japanese point of view following his film Flags of our Fathers. As far as I know, Eastwood has not planned a movie to show the vantage point of Iraqis who took up arms following the invasion and occupation. Whatever reason he may give for that, the answer is undoubtedly political. Doing so would put him in the same crosshairs as the critics of this film. Although the Imperial Japanese army killed millions of people in unprovoked warfare, it is simply more politically safe today to portray their soldiers in a humanistic light than to show the Muslim insurgents conservative America views as the greatest threat to their way of life.

American Sniper is a lot of things, and perhaps as Oscar season approaches, Eastwood's skill as a filmmaker and Bradley Cooper's talent as an actor will be rewarded. But as America continues to wage war in several Muslim countries and refuses to take a good, hard look at what the Iraq war did, both to our own veterans and to Iraqis, one thing no one can say about the film is that it's apolitical.
'American Sniper' Has Incited Death Threats and Racism -- It's Far from 'Apolitical' | Alternet
 
I love the movie not the typical Clients movie but I love the story line.Must salute to this soldier.
 
Just depends on how you interpret this movie, while on the surface its all about good vs evil.. a subtle hint on Kyle's obsession with protection and not what he was doing and for what reasons is shown in the movie. There are various narratives on the real Kyle; some are coherent with the movie whilst others say kyle was a redneck who routinely boast of his kills.

In the end, considering the script.. Eastwood has done justice in a way that only those looking for smallest changes in expression and emotion will see. Its not about good vs evil, but its about the protecting those whom you care about. Even as the wrong reasons for GW-II start to hit "kyle", he suppresses these under the guise of being the protector. The narrative about Mustafa, the Butcher and all cater to the usual "Slam bam thank you maam" audience back here..but at the same time the idea of why what was done was done is shown. They were soldiers, under orders.. and at the end had to make up their reasons to fight and survive.
@jhungary
 
Appearently you didnt watch the videos during the years of US occupation.

dude, i was there, i was there fighting the war,

You cannot say the beheading video is real until they are authenticated, i am not saying the urban legend had never exist, or ut did exist, the problem is, you dont know.

If you look at a few you tube and belief those myth exist does not mean they are, it just mean you are gullible. They were called urban legion for some reason, thats becuase not body actually know anything about it
 
Iraqi Sniper: The legendary insurgent who claimed to have killed scores of American troops

A still of a video tribute to the Iraqi sniper known as 'Juba' appears as propaganda online.Photo: Internet Archive

In American Sniper, the wildly successful yet controversial film that tells the story of Chris Kyle, said to be the most lethal sniper in US military history, the titular marksman has a clear foe: A mysterious insurgent dubbed "Mustafa," believed to be a former Syrian Olympian.

While the film portrays Mustafa as a mighty rival to Kyle, in the autobiographical book upon which the film is based, Mustafa earns just one paragraph."From the reports we heard, Mustafa was an Olympics marksman who was using his skills against Americans and Iraqi police and soldiers," Kyle wrote. "Several videos had been made and posted, boasting of his ability. I never saw him, but other snipers later killed an Iraqi sniper we think was him."

Propaganda videos made by the Iraqi insurgency can still be found showing footage of US soldiers being killed by an Iraqi sniper known as 'Juba'. Photo: Internet Archive

It's not clear who Mustafa was or if he ever existed, but there were similar legends of Iraqi insurgent snipers. Probably the most famous was that of "Juba," a sniper with the Sunni insurgent group Islamic Army in Iraq, whose exploits were touted in several videos released between 2005 and 2007. Some attributed scores, even hundreds, of kills to the sniper, and accounts from the time suggest that he got deep under US troops' skins.

"He's good," Specialist Travis Burress, a sniper based in Camp Rustamiyah near Baghdad, told the Guardian in 2005. "Every time we dismount, I'm sure everyone has got him in the back of their minds. He's a serious threat to us."

According to ABC News, one video claiming to show "Juba" showed at least a dozen attacks on US troops. In that video, the sniper claimed to have killed 143 US service members. "He definitely knows what to do with a rifle," Major John Plaster, a retired Green Beret sniper instructor, told ABC upon seeing the tape. "And he has the judgment and discipline to take a shot, wisely choose an escape route, and immediately depart to avoid capture. This is not a zealot; this is a calculated shooter."

"Juba" even sent a message to the US president in one video. "I have nine bullets in this gun and I have a present for George Bush," the sniper tells the camera. "I am going to kill nine people."

Snipers have long been a terrifyingly evocative feature of warfare: Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev was said to have killed more than 200 Germans during the Battle of Stalingrad, though his famous duel with a German rival is probably a myth. Finnish sniper Simo Hayha became a national hero after he killed more than 500 Soviet soldiers during the 1939-1940 Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.

In Iraq, where much of the fighting was taking place in urban areas, US troops seemed especially vulnerable to snipers. The Islamic Army in Iraq's distribution of DVDs showing the sniper operating in Baghdad seemed to be a successful act of psychological warfare.

After a couple of years, "Juba" seems to have ceased activity. Some have suggested that the sniper must have been killed, while others say that no one sniper ever actually existed. "Juba the Sniper? He's a product of the US military," Captain Brendan Hobbs told Stars and Stripes in 2007. "We've built up this myth ourselves." Certainly, some of the higher death tolls attributed to Juba seem far-fetched.

However, the legend of Juba lives on online. Many videos claiming to show "Juba" in action still float around the internet, purportedly showing the mysterious sniper picking off American personnel. At one point, there was even a website and blog that claimed to have been set up by the "Baghdad sniper" with messages in English and French. A few years ago, rumours circulated on conspiracy websites that "Juba" had been – shock! – an Israeli agent all along.

Much like the Mustafa of "American Sniper," at some point the legend of Juba seems to have become intertwined with that of Chris Kyle. Kyle is said to have had his own nickname among the insurgents – "The Devil of Ramadi" – and his high kill rate likely struck fear into them. When Alex Horton, a former infantryman in Iraq, wrote a remembrance of Kyle for the New York Times, he referenced the Iraqi sniper.

"For American troops, Juba was a terror, but for the insurgents, he must have been a comforting legend," Horton wrote. "I'm willing to bet Iraqi insurgents had the same debates and fears about the Devil of Ramadi that we did about Juba."

The Washington Post

Iraqi Sniper: The legendary insurgent who claimed to have killed scores of American troops

dude, i was there, i was there fighting the war,

You cannot say the beheading video is real until they are authenticated, i am not saying the urban legend had never exist, or ut did exist, the problem is, you dont know.

If you look at a few you tube and belief those myth exist does not mean they are, it just mean you are gullible. They were called urban legion for some reason, thats becuase not body actually know anything about it

Like the article said, there was NO MUSTAPHA. But there was JUBA. Point.
 

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