Vietnam was an unusually innocent-civilian-killing war by US standards, which is saying something. Mass murder of civilians including carpet-bombing of defenseless villages happened there on a scale much larger than Israel is currently doing in Gaza, yes.
But even within the context of Vietnam, something like My Lai was a big, big deal. The whole incident is pretty fascinating if pretty grim reading. We all instantly know of that single event however many generations after it happened. Even before the press got it, lots of the military brass became involved, congress was involved, a lot of people whitewashed it, but also, a lot of people didn’t. The army had already charged Calley with murder before the press found out about it; his prosecution (which they’d attempted to keep quiet) was actually what leaked to the press initially and got them to start digging for more details.
Hugh Thompson was the US commander who landed his helicopter between the Americans and Vietnamese civilians and ordered his men to shoot the Americans if they tried to get past. He was awarded a distinguished flying cross, and his men received bronze stars. Most of the country back home treated him as a traitor, but at least on paper, the army actually didn’t. He threw away his medal because the army had continued the whitewash in the description of the incident when they gave him the commendation, and the army found out, and they gave him a soldier’s medal instead, which was the highest honor they could give him which came along with an accurate description of an event that didn’t involve contact with enemy forces.
Calley was originally given life, then it was reduced to 20 years. I remember it being Nixon who pardoned it down to house arrest a couple years later, but Wikipedia says something different. IDK. Fuck Nixon.
The reason I’m saying all this is: I’m not trying to give the “finger fucking and carpet bombing” US military any kind of free pass on what they do. But also, when anything like all of that happens within the IDF or Knesset as a result of Israel doing approximately one My Lai per 2-3 days, let me know.
I remember it being Nixon who pardoned it down to house arrest a couple years later, but Wikipedia says something different. IDK. Fuck Nixon.
The Wikipedia article says
[Lieutenant William Calley Jr.] was originally given a life sentence but served three-and-a-half years under house arrest after U.S. president Richard Nixon commuted his sentence.
Oop, you’re right. I didn’t read the intro and it wasn’t mentioned lower down; in the main article body it just says the secretary of the army paroled him in 1974. But yeah it says Nixon.
At least Nixon left him with house arrest. In today’s climate he might have been pardoned by Trump like those Navy Seals and hosting a show on Newsmax or something.
Vietnam was an unusually innocent-civilian-killing war by US standards, which is saying something. Mass murder of civilians including carpet-bombing of defenseless villages happened there on a scale much larger than Israel is currently doing in Gaza, yes.
But even within the context of Vietnam, something like My Lai was a big, big deal. The whole incident is pretty fascinating if pretty grim reading. We all instantly know of that single event however many generations after it happened. Even before the press got it, lots of the military brass became involved, congress was involved, a lot of people whitewashed it, but also, a lot of people didn’t. The army had already charged Calley with murder before the press found out about it; his prosecution (which they’d attempted to keep quiet) was actually what leaked to the press initially and got them to start digging for more details.
Hugh Thompson was the US commander who landed his helicopter between the Americans and Vietnamese civilians and ordered his men to shoot the Americans if they tried to get past. He was awarded a distinguished flying cross, and his men received bronze stars. Most of the country back home treated him as a traitor, but at least on paper, the army actually didn’t. He threw away his medal because the army had continued the whitewash in the description of the incident when they gave him the commendation, and the army found out, and they gave him a soldier’s medal instead, which was the highest honor they could give him which came along with an accurate description of an event that didn’t involve contact with enemy forces.
Calley was originally given life, then it was reduced to 20 years. I remember it being Nixon who pardoned it down to house arrest a couple years later, but Wikipedia says something different. IDK. Fuck Nixon.
The reason I’m saying all this is: I’m not trying to give the “finger fucking and carpet bombing” US military any kind of free pass on what they do. But also, when anything like all of that happens within the IDF or Knesset as a result of Israel doing approximately one My Lai per 2-3 days, let me know.
The Wikipedia article says
So it seems to say how you remember, no?
Oop, you’re right. I didn’t read the intro and it wasn’t mentioned lower down; in the main article body it just says the secretary of the army paroled him in 1974. But yeah it says Nixon.
At least Nixon left him with house arrest. In today’s climate he might have been pardoned by Trump like those Navy Seals and hosting a show on Newsmax or something.