[Peace-discuss] Fwd: WAR-FILM ‘HERO' IS A RAPIST ... more on Black Hawk Down

[Margaret E. Kosal]

Additional information w/r/t _Black Hawk Down_ and the Pentagon's influence 
on the script that constitutes the film.

The real-life Army Ranger portrayed as the 'all-American-hero' was also 
court-martialed and convicted of raping and sodomizing a child under the 
age of 12.

There are so many levels & entanglements on which one could speculate - 
long-term effect of Army Ranger training/indoctrination, evidence of 
feelings/assumptions of (patriarchal military-reinforced) entitlement, 
revisionist history for war-time propaganda, children viewed as property, 
limits of acceptable 'titillating' behavior ... Gary Condit's sexual 
indiscretions are reported widely but this isn't ... ?

Regards,
Margaret

>http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/36965.htm
>
>WAR-FILM 'HERO' IS A RAPIST
>
>By MEGAN TURNER
>
>December 18, 2001 -- The Army pressured the filmmakers of "Black
>Hawk Down" to change the name of the war hero portrayed by Ewan
>McGregor - because the real-life soldier is serving a 30-year
>prison term for rape and child molestation, says the man who wrote
>the book that spawned the movie.
>In Ridley Scott's highly anticipated movie, McGregor plays Ranger
>John Grimes, a desk jockey who is called into battle during the
>botched Army operation in Somalia in 1993.
>
>The character is based on real-life Ranger John "Stebby" Stebbins,
>but Pentagon officials asked his name be changed in an attempt to
>keep his shame a secret, claims author Mark Bowden, who also
>penned the original screenplay for the movie.
>
>Stebbins' embittered ex-wife, Nora Stebbins, complained in an
>e-mail to The Post: "They are going to make millions off this film
>in which my ex-husband is portrayed as an All-American hero when
>the truth is he is not."
>
>Army sources confirmed to The Post that Stebbins - who was awarded
>the Silver Star, one of America's highest honors, for his bravery
>in the bloody Battle of Mogadishu - was court-martialed and
>sentenced on June 8, 2000.
>
>Janet Wray, a spokeswoman for Fort Leavenworth military prison in
>Kansas, confirmed yesterday: "We have a John Stebbins here. He
>arrived on June 9 last year and is serving a 30-year sentence for
>sodomy with a child under 12 and rape."
>
>"Black Hawk Down," the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie which
>opens Dec. 28, is based on Bowden's best-selling book of the same
>name.
>
>In the book, Bowden refers to Stebbins by his real name and says
>he surprised everyone with his heroics.
>
>"He was a changed man, a wild animal, dancing around, shooting
>like a madman," wrote Bowden, who also penned the original draft
>of the screenplay.
>
>But Stebbins will not get to see McGregor's portrayal of him in
>the $95 million film, which was filmed in Kenitra, Morocco, in
>March this year.
>
>"As it happened, Stebbins got in trouble with the law," Bowden was
>quoted as saying recently. "The Army asked us to change the name."
>
>A Revolution Studios spokeswoman would say only that the
>name-change was "a creative decision made by the producers."
>
>"There were 100 men in the battle and only 40 speaking parts, so
>we had to condense some of the characters," she said. "[Grimes] is
>one who is a compilation of a number of soldiers who fought in
>that battle so his name was changed."
>
>Stebbins, 36, a former baker from upstate Ithaca, had tried and
>failed to join the Army three times during the Persian Gulf War
>and finally made it into the crack Rangers unit, Bowden's book
>says.
>
>But he worked as a company clerk, and was ribbed by his fellow
>soldiers as "chief coffee maker" and "paper pusher."