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Remembering The My Lai Massacre, And Lt William Calley ... And Colin Powell ...
Thirty six years ago today, the small piece of shit pictured above in a US Army uniform was found guilty of murder at a court martial for his part in the My Lai massacre, which claimed the lives of 500 innocent South Vietnamese civilians.
We remember the My Lai massacre well;too bloody well.
Who among any who knew could ever forget?
Or forgive?
Not us.
Nor should anyone else.
While the simple thrust and truth of this sickeningly, shocking and shameful US war crime story should be easy to see via these two links, we're sure many among our readers will want to follow some of the (inumerable), others to be found therein.
Especially, readers who are as interested as we always are in helping keep history 'straight'.
And to perpetuate the philosophy of our principled, personal practice (whenever possible), of naming and shaming -- particularly when there are BIG names involved.
You know, the high and mighty, as some would say.
Anyway, here's your first link:
29th March, 1971: Calley guilty of My Lai massacre - via the BBC.
Here's your second:
My Lai Massacre - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
To sum up?
So what's new?
Some things never change.
In or out of uniforms, shits are still shits.
And evermore shall be.
*
posted by Richard at Thursday, March 29, 2007
16 Comments:
Some officer and gentleman Calley was, eh Old brit?
I rember My Lai too. I almost died of shame. Then to make matters worse the freak walked - along with others - thanks Powell's help with the whitewash.
Hey! Dont forget Nixon. Don't let that shit off the hook.
I wonder if Calley's in hell yet?
Colin Powell's 'heckuva job' with the cover up was his first rung on 'the ladder'. The powers that be knew they'd found a guy made of the 'right stuff'. Their kind of right stuff - aka shit.
** Here's something I'd like everyone to know.
==================
Earlier today I visited America Blog. Their latest post was regarding a new massacre in Africa.
My comment was no more inflamatory that to say what a coincidence it was that just a few hours earlier I too had posted on the topic of massacres. I included a link to this piece.
Within a very short time, both my comment and link were removed. So much for the so-called liberal, AmericaBlog.
Richard: I thought you knew by now that "liberal" means something entirely different in America as opposed to Europeans' understanding of the word.
In most of the US anyone even slightly left of Ghengis Khan and Attilla The Hun is considered a 'dirty commie'.
Calley's most awful crime ~ in his bosses'eyes?
He got caught.
Years later, my criminal law professor (he taught criminal law that is) defending "Rusty" Calley saying that the higher ups should have gotten it (instead). How much higher do you ever have to go to get the triggermen? Isn't that like saying no war crime was committed, because everyone can point the finger at someone else?
Now we have many obeying illegal orders or operating in such a way as to insure that illegal things will be done.
Even as the world focuses on the law of the sea and whose territorial waters were breached by whom, it is clear that those of the Anglo-American forces running amok in Iraq should never have been there in the first place.
I don't think my particular family supported empire. In fact for generations they fought against it. And I think it foul scorn that my son should be drawn into the sack, brought back into this power struggle, by people we thought we had thrown off generations ago. I am glad we stood up to Hitler. And yet it seems you sometimes become your worst enemy.
America Blog now off blogroll.
That was a beautiful post, Richard. I knew none of those details. I would like to say, at the risk of drawing outrage, that I was not in favor of prosecuting the bum Calley, for several reasons. He was insane, as was anyone who was in Viet Nam. I don't feel comfortable prosecuting someone who was in that hell, who was put there by my government, largely against their will, for the profit of the MIC. Prosecuting a worm like Calley legitimizes thoses who sent him there, who profited form his crimes, but giving themselves a veneer of legitimacy. Johnson paid, somewhat, for Viet Nam. MacNamara, Westmoreland, Nixon, Laird, and certainly Kissinger never did. String THOSE motherfuckers up (even the dead Nixon). I do not mean to justify war crimes, but Viet Nam was a conflict of choice for the U.S. leaders. There would have been no war crimes if the criminals had not conducted the war, with its incipient draft.
I agree with you, Larry.
Having known someone who was severely psychologically damaged from his experiences in Viet Nam, I cannot forgive those who sent him there. The man, late middle-aged by now, still suffers. Therapy has not helped.
Calley came to symbolize what the United States (and countries before it) did to Vietnam, and later Cambodia. That country has not learned a thing, unfortunately.
Btw, Richard, I just noticed your comment about Americablog. I'm not a regular reader of that particular blog, I suggest you email the site owners and ask about your comment. I'd be very surprised if a blog critical of American foreign policy would actually censor a comment, much less one about My Lai.
Richard, it seems my comment didn't take so sending it again.
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At the risk of overstaying my welcome in this comment thread, I feel I must respond to Larry who wrote "I would like to say, at the risk of drawing outrage, that I was not in favor of prosecuting the bum Calley, for several reasons. He was insane, as was anyone who was in Viet Nam. I don't feel comfortable prosecuting someone who was in that hell, who was put there by my government, largely against their will, for the profit of the MIC."
Make up your mind. Was he insane or a bum? You imply something when you say "bum." But on to my reasons for thinking you are dead wrong:
Calley was a career officer. I doubt very much he was "forced" into 'Nam. To say that everyone who participated in that hell was a madman and therefore should be excused for the atrocities they may have committed is to dishonour the individuals who served honourably in spite of the conditions and circumstances of their being there.
The buck has to stop somewhere, Larry, and while I agree with you that the buck begins at the top of the chain of command, Calley deserved to be tried and judged for his actions, as did the officers who participated in the massacre.
Further, the article Richard posted subsequent to this one proves the ridiculousness of your assertion. Evidently there was one "sane" individual who tried to put a stop to it.
I don't know who you are Larry, and what motivates you to think people aren't responsible, but I hope you work that shit out. The planet - which is near the end of its rope - needs fewer people who refuse to accept responsibility for the decisions and actions they take. The genuinely insane are excused, but let's face it, the most egregious crimes are committed by sociopathic corporations and individuals who know exactly what they are doing and, coincidentally, also refuse to accept blame for what they do. Horribly, the planet has oodles of such people.
Is calley divorced? I heard he now lives with his son in Atlanta. Did the divorce have anything to do with his demonic past? How does his son think of calley as a father ? Is his son having problem in his daily life simply because his dad was an innocent people's killer?
Calley once said "the vietnamese are non human". This could be the mechanism for him to kill those women, children and babies. But do you think he is human enough that he couldn't even use his common sense before he killed those people. How could he shoot the babies? Could babies pull the trigger to kill calley? The answer is no. How can he call them unhuman while he himself unhuman?
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