Revealing mistake: There is a scene where Travolta is holding a prisoner up to a spinning airplane propeller to force him to reveal information. This is supposedly taking place in a pouring rainstorm. But during one of the close-ups, you can see that no rain is falling on Travolta's jacket. The jacket is wet, but no raindrops are falling on it.
Continuity mistake: Just before Hardy enters the room where Dunbar is sitting, he is telling Osborne what to say when the time is right. In the first shot she is leaning against the door frame on her right arm, the shot changes and she is leaning with her left arm, then back to her right. (00:13:35)
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the film when Osborne is interviewing Dunbar, the first shot of the interview room shows a pen and pad on the metal table. The pen on the pad moves from being along the width of the pad to being along the length of the pad. (00:05:15)
Factual error: The Ranger beret should be tan. The Rangers used to wear black berets but switched to tan berets after the rest of Army changed from patrol caps to black berets in 2001. And I doubt that Rangers take their berets out on FTXs.
Audio problem: At the beginning when Nielsen says it must have been an honor to know Sgt. West, Travolta says "Well, that's one way to put it" without moving his mouth.
Continuity mistake: When Hardy and Osborne are questioning Dr. Vilmer in the hospital, Osborne grabs a book with her left hand, but in the following shot, both hands are on the book. (00:59:10)
Continuity mistake: When Giovanni Ribisi starts spitting up blood, some of it lands on Connie Nielsen's face. As she and John Travolta talk about what just happened, the blood on her face disappears.
Continuity mistake: When Hardy and Osborne are talking to Dunbar again, just before Dunbar jumps on Hardy, Dunbar says, "I didn't shoot West," and Hardy's right hand is on the table palm down, but in the following shot his fingers are pointing at Dunbar. (00:43:50)
Continuity mistake: When Hardy and Osborne go to visit Kendall in the hospital, before Osborne says, "Should we go and see Kendall now..." Doc has his arms crossed in front of him, but in the following shot his arms are down at his sides. (00:26:45)
Revealing mistake: During one of the flashbacks, Dunbar goes to shoot Mueller in the head, but Mueller wakes up suddenly and pulls the gun away from his head causing the gun to go off and shoot a guy in the back. Now in this shot just before we see the blood, look closely at the guys back, and you can see the device/squib in his back simulating being shot in the back. (00:40:30)
Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the film when Pike is on the edge of the cliff with West talking to him. Pike throws his pack to West with his right arm in West's direction, but in a shot from below, it shows Pike throwing the pack in the opposite direction from where West is. (00:22:55)
Factual error: The Soldiers are members of a unit training to be Rangers. Rangers are a light form of infantry and women are not allowed to be in infantry units in the US Army. Roselyn Sanchez would not have been allowed to be a part of that unit in a traditional infantry role, at best she would be used in a support role to help deal with women and children encountered on the battlefield, but she wouldn't be going through actual Ranger training like the men.
Factual error: Captain Osborn wears a uniform with lieutenant bars on it, not a captain's emblem.
Factual error: Throughout the whole movie, in most of the scenes at the jungle bunker while the rangers are talking to one another you can see condensation from their breaths as they speak. This wouldn't happen in the jungle and at tropical temperatures. So this scene must have been filmed on a studio lot in the states during cold weather and not in the tropics.
Answer: It added to the plan of section 8, in that they were successfully able to stage two contradicting stories and source further incriminating evidence about the doctor and Colonel. By having Kapler there, they were able to see who would make an attempt on his life, the Colonel, and completely shut down the drug smuggling operation.