Forgotten Atrocities, Vietnam Edition

vietnam my-lai-page-a1---half-page-15ec9996b53962ae

Some folks responded to my recent article on Sheridan’s 1864 atrocities in the Shenandoah Valley by denying that there was any systemic effort to downplay or bury U.S. military atrocities.  The New York Times reports today that the Pentagon’s effort to whitewash the Vietnam War’s 50th anniversary events are sparking controversy:

The website’s “interactive timeline” omits the Fulbright hearings in the Senate, where in 1971 a disaffected young Vietnam veteran named John Kerry — now President Obama’s secretary of state — asked, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” In one early iteration, the website referred to the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which American troops killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, as the My Lai Incident.

The glossy view of history has now prompted more than 500 scholars, veterans and activists — including the civil rights leader Julian Bond; Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers; Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan; … in demanding the ability to correct the Pentagon’s version of history and a place for the old antiwar activists in the anniversary events.

This week, in a move that has drawn the battle lines all over again, the group sent a petition to Lt. Gen. Claude M. Kicklighter, the retired Vietnam veteran who is overseeing the commemoration, to ask that the effort not be a “one-sided” look at a war that tore a generation apart.

The Times noted that “the presidential historian Robert Dallek said he would like to see the anniversary effort include discussion of “what a torturous experience” Vietnam was for presidents.”  Ya – Lyndon Johnson claims he lost some sleep over sending tens of thousands of Americans to pointless deaths.   He might have even had a few moments where he thought about the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese killed  by the U.S. intervention.  And Nixon – who promised to end the war and then dragged it out until after his re-election….  Not exactly sympathetic figures.

David Hackworth, a retired colonel and the most decorated officer in the Army, commented in 2003: ”Vietnam was an atrocity from the get-go…. There were hundreds of My Lais. You got your card punched by the numbers of bodies you counted.” American soldiers faced more legal perils for reporting than for committing atrocities. Rank-and-file whistleblowers would be threatened with criminal charges if they tried to inform higher-ups about a massacre or other abuses.

Here’s a link to an article I wrote on the Daniel Ellsberg’s memoir Secrets, which discussed the deception that permeated U.S. policy on Vietnam from the beginning.

35 thoughts on “Forgotten Atrocities, Vietnam Edition”

  1. For those who are interested, there is an excellent article about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, written by Robert Honyak, the CIA historian. It's a strange title, "Skunks, Boogies, Silent Hounds, and Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August, 1965". It tells in a dispassionate way the attack on a US destroyer in the Gulf during broad daylight. The destroyer fled from attacking torpedo and missile boats and called for air support, which strafed the boats and left them dead in the water with a number of men dead and wounded. One heavy machine gun round hit the smokestack of the destroyer. One night later two destroyers were on patrol well off the coast of VietNam and the commander of one panicked and fired over 300 rounds of five inch shells at heavy wave action thinking it was torpedo boats. Navy planes overhead told them there were no torpedo boats in the area. A report was sent in to cover his embarrassment and it was conflated into the infamous attacks.

  2. Bush campaign officials — who have had to handle persistent questions about the president's National Guard service during the war — have largely steered clear of the topic, preferring to focus on Kerry's Senate votes on national security issues.

  3. While i say My spouse and i tried the many not suitable solutions to make money online, I necessarily mean it. I did the web site with Adsense, tried out Click Standard bank with digital camera info textbooks, Amazon's internet marketer, and a great many others. I assume providing others ended up prospering in doing obtaining results it was going to be feasible for me for you to copy. I often knew My spouse and i needed your adaptability and lifestyle that the net business be capable of provide nevertheless I ended up being still being employed by others.tree finance

  4. What's so great about franchising on the franchisor are generally that franchisee has got to buy license through the franchisor to own the franchise's. To obtain this licenses, the franchisee pays a whopping amount on the franchisor, along with besides this specific, pays a new monthly fee for retaining that brand. Moreover, a franchised organization can grow considerably quicker than if your owner can be responsible for you to finance the many outlets. In addition, the process can be cumbersome.iutc finance

  5. Get your track record ready when looking for a life insurance coverage, because hanging around is usually a hassle for anyone. You be aware that they'll request your track record, and until you've kept a record of it on your own, the hospital's documents system usually takes weeks as well as months to acquire it to you personally.river source insurance

  6. In addition, in supplement to products insuranc insurance, there will be more covers available that you can seriously look at when getting a motor pickup cargo insurance policies. Refrigerator foot brake down, received freight insurance plan, loading along with unloading insurance, and thieves coverage can be a few to note. However, it is under your control whether to provide these more optional coverage for a truck cargo insurance policies for a smaller portion involving additional top quality. Anyway, you'll want to make the choice carefully so as to maximize your current scope involving cover.insurance like it shoul be

  7. You are unable to trust just about any reckless car owner while travelling. The advent in the internet features made car insurance policy a remarkably competitive market place, and with countless companies around, insurers are a lot less likely to look at your credit ranking into bill than these folks were during the past. With a decreased annual distance, many older residents will quickly realize they can lower your expenses on their car insurance policy by spending some time to accomplish some comparability shopping and seeking out car insurers using these custom car insurance policy policies.insurance health quote

  8. Midst East is a trendy tourist destination for those from across the world and since the quantity of people traveling to different countries in the center East can be increasing yearly the require of insurance is usually increasing. The majority like to acquire insured on a trip to deal with any mishap in the tour, similar to any health care emergency, or any risk with your luggage as well as the airfare as insurance plan for journeying covers most such aspects on a trip.dau to insurance

  9. When the Muslims in UK want to make preparation to perform hajj, they check the previous record of the tour operators, which are working from last many years and they have executed various tours of Hajj and Umrah successfully and they come up to the expectations of the Muslims.business banking secret

  10. Are you in the market for a new home? Million of Americans move each year, so even if you’re not quite ready to answer “yes” at the moment, you likely will before long.homeland security market

  11. The battery life for the Kobo should last you one month and sometimes 2 before another charge is needed. Another great feature of the Kobo is the free apps it has. You can download the apps from the internet into your smartphones,career ssurgery

  12. Everybody must learn to sail. It is the similar as studying survival. Or gun protection. You might not utilize it all that often, however you know what to act when circumstances calls for it. The sailing is regarding self support in natural world.travel plan signs

  13. People nowadays want to plan their wedding best among all and they want it to be perfect. It is the occasion that comes once in a lifetime, so they want to make it special at any cost.fashion flatirons

  14. Well, this got me thinking what other workouts are good for those of us who find ourselves on the road or have limited equipment options.

  19. Cell phones- it really is hard to keep in mind a moment before we were holding so everywhere, but today the cellular phone has become an essential piece regarding technology for many people. Many put it to use for enterprise, others put it to use for entertaining, but regardless how they're deploying it, most people may possibly.cellphonescrazy.net

  20. The swiftly growing reputation of cell apps promotes enterprises to buy mobile program development. But the particular mobile iphone app developers constantly battle to make an application compatible together with different mobile phones and systems.mobilexpert.net

  21. When an individual leave your property for several work or any purpose then which are the things which you carry together with yourself. A typical person carries their purse together with themselves. Another impotent device which they never forget to help keep with themselves can be a mobile cell phone.mobiletreasures.net

  22. The cell application and also development companies are ringing on top of techies and also mobile programs development organizations. The many strong and also loud noise happens from any segment including youth and also full-time world wide web user local community that what people mean about among a couple of and thirds with the world human population.outlookmobileservice.net

  25. Are you planning with what trends to wear this wedding season? If, yes this article will surely help you select the best trousseau items that you can add up to your list.fashionmodelsecret

  27. Then in early Might 2007 my brother in regulation informed me about this golf swing move he learned from an outdated dusty golf e book that had carried out wonders for him – a move he said puts his golf swing on aircraft early in the swing. Once I first practiced the early backward wrist break at the range my golf swing felt actually totally different, unusual virtually. http://www.wiigamerz.com/

  28. I steadily began to note the golf membership felt much lighter as I swung…I additionally started to seek out it simpler to drop the golf club into the "slot" throughout my downswing permitting me to really attack the golf ball from the inside. http://www.riverbendtreasures.com/

  29. http://www.all-enlinea.com/ Yet, we try to be taught this unbelievably difficult transfer and surprise why we can't hit that little white ball like Tiger Woods on our first try. Once we put all of them collectively, the final piece is learning learn how to utilize the center of gravity in the swing. In most sports, to attain higher steadiness, we want to preserve our middle of gravity as little as possible. I normally have GHIN of round 12 and a swing speed proper at one hundred MPH.

  34. ”Vietnam was an atrocity from the get-go…. There were hundreds of My
    Lais. You got your card punched by the numbers of bodies you counted.”
    I’m fully agree with David Hackworth. Vietnam was horrible. Hope there will be no iteration.

Comments are closed.

viewpoint highlights
breaking news
© 2024 Antiwar.com. All rights reserved.
Antiwar.com Blog Stock Photos provided by our partner Depositphotos