My Lai 55th anniversary yesterday

[Derfel Cadarn]

Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, perpetrated by the US Army ehich saw only one prosecution. An act rovalling the worst excesses being done today by Russia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mỹ_Lai_massacre

One pilot, Hugh Thompson, did save a number of people, threatening to shoot US troops. He was vilified for a time but later honoured for his role.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.

[maarsen]

A sad anniversary and an event that I remember all too well being a teenager who was all too aware how lucky I was to be Canadian and not American.

 

 

[Denvek]

More about Hugh Thompson

 

[Spockydog]

Ain't nobody coming to talk about this. Observe:

Two decades later, it feels as if the US is trying to forget the Iraq war ever happened

Quote

Two decades ago, the United States invaded Iraq, sending 130,000 US troops into a sovereign country to overthrow its government. Joe Biden, then chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, voted to authorize the war, a decision he came to regret.

Today another large, world-shaking invasion is under way. Biden, now the US president, recently traveled to Warsaw to rally international support for Ukraine’s fight to repel Russian aggression. After delivering his remarks, Biden declared: “The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another country – since world war II, nothing like that has happened.”

Wut?

Edited March 18 by Spockydog

[A True Kaniggit]

17 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, perpetrated by the US Army ehich saw only one prosecution. An act rovalling the worst excesses being done today by Russia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mỹ_Lai_massacre

One pilot, Hugh Thompson, did save a number of people, threatening to shoot US troops. He was vilified for a time but later honoured for his role.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.

Damn. What a brave human being. 

[James Arryn]

4 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Ain't nobody coming to talk about this. Observe:

Two decades later, it feels as if the US is trying to forget the Iraq war ever happened

Wut?

Said it before, I’ll say it again; the US is great at many things, but the thing it does best is forgive itself.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Its gut wrenching.

I didnt see this topic until today or I would've commented earlier.

Legendary Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recieved a Pulitzer for breaking the massacre story wide open.

Hersh is currently reporting the U.S. actually planted the explosives that blew up the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

I dont think you should ever forget or discount the depravity of our foriegn policy whether it be in Mai Lai, Abu Ghraib or the Baltic Sea. We always seem to find a way to unleash some of the darkest behavior imaginable.

You cant wrap yourself in a flag, stick your head in the sand and absolve yourself of it.

 

Edited March 19 by DireWolfSpirit

[Impmk2]

17 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Hersh is currently reporting the U.S. actually planted the explosives that blew up the Nordstrom pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

Some context is needed here. He's also a massive Assad and Putin apologist these days, denies things like the Syrian chemical attacks, and offers no source or proof of the nordsteam claim.

It's possible to have too much of an anti-american bias.

[DireWolfSpirit]

16 minutes ago, Impmk2 said:

Some context is needed here. He's also a massive Assad and Putin apologist these days, denies things like the Syrian chemical attacks, and offers no source or proof of the nordsteam claim.

It's possible to have too much of an anti-american bias.

He doesnt deny the Syrian chemical attacks, he disputes which beligerant was responsible.

At the end of the day I believe both sides likely violated Geneva protocols.

[Impmk2]

3 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

He doesnt deny the Syrian chemical attacks, he disputes which beligerant was responsible.

He outright claimed the 2017 attack was a conventional weapon attack. The UN body responsible for investigation of chemical weapon attacks later found it was a sarin attack which the Syrian government was responsible for.

Anyway I'm not particularly interested in a debate about Hersh. Would only point out that he's made several controversial, anonymously sourced claims in the last decade, and tends to defend the actions of various regimes if they align themselves against the US.

Would encourage anyone to have a read of his articles and interviews and make up their own mind. I personally would take his claims with respect to nord stream with a giant grain of salt.

[DireWolfSpirit]

4 hours ago, Impmk2 said:

He outright claimed the 2017 attack was a conventional weapon attack. The UN body responsible for investigation of chemical weapon attacks later found it was a sarin attack which the Syrian government was responsible for.

Anyway I'm not particularly interested in a debate about Hersh. Would only point out that he's made several controversial, anonymously sourced claims in the last decade, and tends to defend the actions of various regimes if they align themselves against the US.

Would encourage anyone to have a read of his articles and interviews and make up their own mind. I personally would take his claims with respect to nord stream with a giant grain of salt.

I get it, hes certainly a lightning rod.

A hard figure for me to weigh in that he has had these sort of groundbreaking stories like Mai Lai and Abu Ghraib for which hes recieved all the top journalism awards. And yet somehow I have to square that with his later career controversy (Syria and now Nord Stream) thats widely attacked.

Its a strange duality to me.

Either way for the purposes of this thread and story (Mai Lai Massacre) he distinguished himself as did the courageous helicopter pilot upthread (Officer Thompson). I cant diminish that.

Edited March 19 by DireWolfSpirit

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:25 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, perpetrated by the US Army ehich saw only one prosecution. An act rovalling the worst excesses being done today by Russia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mỹ_Lai_massacre

One pilot, Hugh Thompson, did save a number of people, threatening to shoot US troops. He was vilified for a time but later honoured for his role.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.

1. I didn’t know about Thompson. Only Calley.

2. To hear some people tell it, this type of thing was far more common in ‘68 than some would care to admit. I think that might have even  even part of Calley’s defense.

[LongRider]

My Lai massacre "We had to destroy the village in order to save it.'   nightmare 

[James Arryn]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:26 AM, LongRider said:

My Lai massacre "We had to destroy the village in order to save it.'   nightmare 

Sadly, that was said about an entirely different atrocity, well several in fact but most famously after the battle of Ben Tre. The left-wing NYTimes was the first to get ahold of it and, probably in some devious socialist plan to stop the war, chose to bury it. To be fair, the vast majority of the countless villages and up to millions of civilian casualties were destroyed from aerial bombardment. The US’s own findings determined that aerial bombardment alone destroyed over 400 villages…and though overall casualty estimates vary wildly, the US’s own numbers bear almost no resemblance to those of every independent and/or VM estimates. 

Of note: US operational command made no official distinction between civilian and military casualties, a fact blamed by many for the wildly overestimated enemy military casualty numbers recorded in US field reports.

Edited May 17 by James Arryn

[Conflicting Thought]

On 3/19/2023 at 1:18 AM, DireWolfSpirit said:

I get it, hes certainly a lightning rod.

A hard figure for me to weigh in that he has had these sort of groundbreaking stories like Mai Lai and Abu Ghraib for which hes recieved all the top journalism awards. And yet somehow I have to square that with his later career controversy (Syria and now Nord Stream) thats widely attacked.

Its a strange duality to me.

Either way for the purposes of this thread and story (Mai Lai Massacre) he distinguished himself as did the courageous helicopter pilot upthread (Officer Thompson). I cant diminish that.

the mai lai and abu ghraib stories where controversial, and denied (mai lai) on their time too.