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It’s Fun To Shoot Some People

ByMark Vallen

Back in December I wrote that Universal Pictures was going to produce, No True Glory: Battle for Fallujah, a pro-war film with Harrison Ford starring as Lt. Gen. James Mattis. Well the news just keeps getting stranger and stranger. At a recent forum Gen. Mattis publicly said:

“Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up front with you, I like brawling. You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”

Mattis made his remarks on February 1st, while speaking at a panel discussion in San Diego. The statement was recorded and broadcast by NBC news. Mattis’ comments were met with laughter and applause from the military audience.

Not only is Mattis currently the commanding general of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, he’s in charge of “developing better ways to train and equip Marines.” Perfect. I wonder if Universal will be including Mattis’ remarks in Harrison Ford’s script?

Come to think of it, It’s Fun To Shoot Some People would make a much better title for Universal’s film. Military officials have said Mattis will not be disciplined for his remarks.

[UPDATE: On July 9, 2010, President Obama picked Gen. James Mattis as the Chief of the U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which means Gen. Mattis is now in command of all U.S.  military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Middle East.  On the day Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Mattis’s appointment, the Washington Post published the video clip of Mattis’s famous remark – “It’s fun to shoot some people.”]

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