Originally posted by photodude:
Originally posted by ambaker:
For our (USA) part, we cannot claim a whole lot better.
Remember Mai Lai? Lt. Calley? Between 347 & 504 people were killed (depending on whom your believe). Some mutillated, some sexually abused. 4 1/2 months in jail for the whole deal.
Finally apologized for it last week. No cancer, just connections. The witnesses who turned him in, received death threats, the condemnation of congress, and only after 30 years were they recognized for their efforts to save lives that day.
Before we throw rocks at Scotland, perhaps we should apologize to the families of those who were killed in Mai Lai. Maybe Viet Nam screwed up and should have tried Calley themselves. |
The Mai Lai circumstances were very different.
The following are facts:
We were at war there.
Villages and Villagers often harbored or were the Viet Cong fighters, who killed US Soldiers.
The act was not planned in advance - by all accounts it was spontaneous.
Clearly Mai Lai was not our finest moment, but there arent many parallels with Lockerbie. |
Yes they wre different...
It was not one simple bomb that took those lives. It was shot, after shot. Shooting the wounded woment and children it ditches. It took time for that killing orgy. Had not a helicopter crew stood up to them, and protected some of the women, children and wounded, it would have continued.
Those who told the truth recieved deat threats, and condemnation from congessmen. Yes we were at war. Yes, some villages did harbor combatants. (I was there.) What they did violated all rules of combat, violated the articles of war, and I do not believe for a moment that it was spontaneous. Medina admitte later to supressing evidence, and lying. I believe the action was orderd, and Calley was as low on the rung as they could go, and make it look like they were not using the enlisted guys as scape goats.
As mentioned above, my point was not that they were the same, but that intervention was made when it became convenient for those in power. |
