If these people had been roasted in napalm dropped by an officer going by at 900kmh no American would care or remember.
Codifying war crimes implies that honorable warfare exists.
As true as that is, one of the stories of that day is that there was a soldier that day extorting a blowjob from a terrified mother by holding a gun on her baby. The witness then went and got the commanding officer, Lt. Calley who came immediately and scolded the soldier for not following orders, which were to round up all these civilians and take them to a ditch for summary execution.
My source for said story is either Four Hours in My Lai or the American Experience Documentary I can’t remember which but they’re both worth a watch although obviously there’s a duplication of material.
reminder that the people who did this are still alive, have opinions and vote.
And only one was tried. His sentence was changed from life in prison to 3 years house arrest by Nixon. How the fuck is that possible? I would understand they would try to sweep this under the table, but it was a well known incident, such a thing that they should lock up everyone involved and throw away the keys just to show No, we do not do such things, THEY DO.
Not only that, but:
Initially, three U.S. servicemen who had tried to halt the massacre and rescue hiding civilians were shunned, and even denounced as traitors by several U.S. congressmen, including Mendel Rivers (D–SC), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
What’s in Wikipedia doesn’t match my memory; what I thought had happened was that Thompson did more than “try to halt.” He landed his helicopter between US troops and a group of obviously harmless villagers and told his men to shoot the Americans if they tried to continue murdering the villagers.
He and the other soldiers who stopped the massacre and reported what had happened were viewed by most Americans as traitors at the time, and for quite a while after.
Gentle reminder that Henry Kissinger is still dead
