The My Lai massacre in Vietnam is considered a war crime in USA
matt605  Updated: 2004-09-29 08:43

The My Lai massacre where 120-500 Vietnamese civililans were killed execution style is an example of a war crime. However, most people say that it isn't a war crime committed by America, but by one misguided 2nd Lieutentant.

In a crude joke, some people say the My Lai massacre was a case of mistaken identity. In fact, the standing order for certain areas of Vietnam was that anyone in them was assumed to be an enemy combatant. The civilians may also have been told by the Vietcong to stay put or they themselves would kill them. The US soldiers killed at least 122 civilians, and the officer in charge was eventually convicted of killing 22 civilians in a US Military trial. Several years later he was released on a technicality, partially because the public grew to blame the command structure as much as the soldiers. The massacre occured in March 1968, an election year, but the public didn't learn about it until November 1969, a year and a half later.

The officer charged turned out to be calm-headed, but also characterized as possessing low intelligence and bad judgment. He leads a private life now, so assessments of his actual intelligence beyond the days of the My Lai trial don't exist. About half a year before My Lai became public in November 1969 and in another area of Vietnam, another 2nd Lieutenant led his force into a village and killed about 13 civilians in a confused firefight. So while there may have been rumors of a civilan massacre that had to be brought to trial, there also now appeares to have been some choice between which massacre the American public would see.

Interestingly, the other 2nd Lt. was then and is still today known as an intelligent man who is hot-headed and capable of rash language. His name is Robert Kerrey, a former US Senator (no known relation to John Kerry). His most recent gaffe occured during the 9/11 Commission hearings where he served as a Commissioner. In an intense exchange between Robert Kerrey and Coldolessa Rice, he referred to Rice not as "Dr. Rice" but as "Dr. Clark" about four times in a row without realizing his error. Now that's a case of mistaken identity for the record books -- Conolessa Rice is an African American female and Robert Clark is a white male.

If President Nixon, who historically is credited with abusing power, had issued an executive order that the events in My Lai were to be held secret for national security purposes, then the public may have only seen the Trial of Robert Kerry. All the blame would have been placed on one rash-talking officer who can speak in error repeatedly when stressed, but not on the overall military command structure. The Vietnam the war would have continued with public support. This makes me wonder some about Nixon's critics, and also about Vietnam.

If anyone assumes that America's involvement in Vietnam was just an excuse to place 500,000 combat troops next to China's border, I would be interested to know what you think took place between early 1968 and late 1969 to make America's leadership believe that a downsizing of troops was appropriate. After all, the first step to scaling down a military presence is to reverse public support for the effort. If China discontinued policies that made an American presence in Vietnam a necessity in the eyes of American politicians, what were those policies?

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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