The eyewitness account of the operation redwing and the lost heroes of seal team 10
The stereotyping of Muslims by Americans as America’s
enemy, fanatics, terrorists, fundamentalists, militants, etc. has been one of
the major concerns of the Muslim community especially after the attacks of
9/11. Muslims all over the world have been discriminated against or harassed
based on their religion and nationality. Such stereotypical behavior is also
noticeable in American media and literature.
Walter Lippmann in Public Opinion, in 1922, has
defined stereotype as “a distorted picture or image in a person’s mind” which
is derived on the basis of cultural aspects instead of personal experiences. He
argued that social, political, and economic motivations result in stereotypical
behavior. With time, these feelings become pervasive and resistant to change. A
stereotypical behavior has been defined by Mike Cardwell in his book Dictionary
of Psychology as “a fixed, over-generalized belief about a
particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell). Such generalizations make a
person ignore the differences among individuals. It often results in thinking
and believing things about people which are not true. In stereotyping, it is
inferred that the member of a group has all the characteristics and abilities
which all the members of the group are assumed to have.
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Lone Survivor is written by Marcus Luttrell, an American Navy SEAL.
He was the only member of his team to survive an operation in Afghanistan,
called Operation Redwing. The major purpose of the writer was to share the
accomplishments of the heroes of SEAL Team 10 of the American Navy, who laid
their lives for their country. The operation was to capture or kill the known
Al-Qaeda leader, Ahmad Shah, in Afghanistan. The memoir carries the details of
the training, transportation, and instructions provided to the team to fight
the Taliban.
In his memoir, Luttrell’s stereotypical attitude is
apparent from his statements. While recounting his experiences of missions in
Baghdad he comments that in Baghdad they scarcely knew the enemy and then he
lists down all Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Iraqi, foreigners as America’s enemy. He
taunts Muslims that the enemy could be a God different than their God, who
“sanctioned murder of innocent civilians” (Luttrell and Robinson 13). Here,
Luttrell completely ignores the fact that the enemy in Baghdad could be there
in response to the attacks by America, not because of their religion. He states
that Baghdad was tearing itself apart and Afghanistan was determined to tear
America apart (Luttrell and Robinson 14). Luttrell repeatedly uses the words
like “fanatic”, “lunatic”, “crazy picks” and other derogatory terms for the
members of Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Iraqis. He states that the men they have come
to kill might not be the ones who attacked World Trade Centre, nevertheless,
they were their blood brothers, heirs, followers, descendants, etc. and it all
meant the same thing to him. According to Luttrell, Iraqis had no pride. They
only wanted money and give out any information against some dollars. He also
keeps commenting on the religion of Islam and how it was being preached by
extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Talking about the people of Afghanistan, he
writes that they are “quintessential supporters” of the Taliban (Luttrell and
Robinson 83). They provide them shelter and protection in high mountain
villages. He calls the Taliban “evil, murderous religious fanatics” (Luttrell
and Robinson 73). When it comes to the killing of the people of Iraq and
Afghanistan, Luttrell casually states that “nothing is fair in war, and
occasionally wrong people do get killed”, however, when the World Trade Centre
was attacked, he felt pure indignation. This proves that for Luttrell only the
lives of Americans are important. He has mockingly observed that almost all the
communities in Afghanistan sympathize with the Al-Qaeda and Taliban, even the
kids are drawn towards them. Whenever Luttrell is talking about the country and
its people his tone is insulting. He makes jokes about their religion, their
beliefs, their culture, education system, living style, etc. (Luttrell and
Robinson)
Even the positive characteristic of the tribespeople
is seen as negative by Luttrell because he has clouded his judgment with a
stereotypical frame of mind. Hence, the whole memoir of Marcus Luttrell depicts
his resentful feelings towards the Muslims, all of whom he has stereotyped as
America’s enemy. Luttrell suggests all of them as untrustworthy, violent, and
dishonest. Even when he is praising them because he is indebted to them, he
compares them with the Christian Americans, known to him. Instead of using any
flattering remarks for his saviors, he calls them strange and different. Thus,
in the light of Cardwell’s definition of stereotypes, Luttrell’s behavior can
be categorized as stereotypical behavior.
This article is written by Saba Alam, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
