My Lai attorney speaks out on Iraq massacre (Lt. Calley's lawyer)

i wish he would also talk about the hysteria that grips this country and the attitude of the soldiers and their commanders.

I've never been in combat and I don't pretend to know better than one who has. But, as regards Lt. Calley, I would think the human response when faced with the decision whether to slaughter innocent, defenseless women and children would be "I think not"

I don't defend his actions, but we turn these kids into killers then recoil when they do what we turned them into

We can go round and round about whether it was the Army training or whether Calley was inherently evil, but the fact remains he ordered his platoon to butcher, torture, rape and murder innocent people without a hint of human feeling.

What's telling is that one hero of this tragedy was a helicopter pilot who placed his chopper between the GIs and some surviving villagers. This man had the courage to not only defy an unlawful order, he told the murderers that if they continued, he'd turn his turret guns on them.

His name was Hugh Thompson Jr. And, like Calley, he was 24 years old.

Traudl Jung discusses how she came to be a 'junior secretary' and spend time with Hitler. She also speaks - with amazing clarity - about how the Nazi regime used and twisted personal morality. She recalls an interview she heard after the war with a man who had been a soldier at a concentration camp. The soldier was asked whether he had no feelings of compassion for the Jews - and the soldier replied that, of course, he had compassion for them, but he had to put those feelings aside to keep Germany safe. The Nazis told the Germans that the Jews had to be rounded up, to be killed to protect the Germans? It was self-defense, according to the Nazis. If the Russians invaded, the Jewish citizens of Germany would rise up and fight with the Russians to kill the Christian citizens of Germany.

George W. Bush, please meet General Dr. Otto Ohlendorf...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/IndyOp/1

The Fog of War is an intense fog. We, as a society, won't get more Hugh Thompson's until we lift the fogs of militarism, racism, and materialism from our nation's consciousness. (Hat-tip to Dr. King's for enlightening us to the nation's triplets).

shot him and his crew at one stage if he looked at them directly for too long.

He was 24 too? Wow! I know courage isn't necessarily a function of age, but that is a young age to show such character.

From that cruel, arrogant, AWOL prick in the White House.

Although I was young at the time I did feel some sympathy for Lt. Calley. He was stressed out and forced to fight a never ending war. He should have been able to do the right thing when faced with the slaughter of innocent women and children, but his mind failed him. At the time I doubt that much was known about the stress troops were going through, so Calley fell through the cracks. As I said I was young at the time this occurred, but I still blame The higher ups who sat on their asses and sent the Soldiers off to fight.

here's a synopsis of the case:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm

You must be kidding. "Scapegoat" implies one who pays the penalty for the truly guilty, but where was the penalty? This pig-faced monster served three and a half years house arrest after Nixon ordered him released the day after he was convicted. This pocket Pol Pot walks the street and breathes free air when he should be fucking rotting in a federal shithole.

Lt. Calley did this:



and this:



and this:

but the fact that he alone was convicted out af all the responsible parties on this page indicates he took the fall for many:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/findings.html

Three and a half years house arrest? If I threw a two year old child into a ditch and shot him point blank in front of witnesses and all I got was less than four years house arrest, I'd think I'd won the lottery.

I don't disagree that the other guilty parties (Medina, Henderson, et. al) got off scot free for their complicity, but it was Calley in that village, ordering his men to massacre innocents and doing it himself when they were too slow for his liking.

I am simply saying he took the entire fall for Medina, Henderson et al. In fact, I believe the government only TRIED the others in order to lose the case and say "Calley got convicted! Justice is served."

I think the same thing will happen in Iraq. Even though we KNOW the brutality being committed is endorsed all the way up to the top, lesser officers will be paraded through the news in a feeble attempt to save face internationally in the end.

Sorry...I get a little heated about My Lai.

The interesting thing from your link is looking at the opinion polls of the day. WTF was the public thinking?

QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree with the decision of the military court which found (Lt. William) Calley guilty (in connection with the My Lai incident) and gave him a life sentence?

Agree 7%
Disagree 78%
No opinion 15%


From a telephone survey of 1,090 adults from across the United States conducted for President Nixon on
April 1, 1971.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/SurveyResults.html

I am hard pressed to believe the numbers are all that different although the brainwashing after 911 certainly animalized any humans from the middle east to a large group.

That site is great though. It has the Scottsboro case, the Manson muders, My Lai and several other famous cases.

As an aside, we did the Calley case in moot court back in the 80's. Our team discovered that one COULD NOT convict Calley were Medina tried first and this was most likely the gov't's position as well in terms of who saw the courtroom first.

on edit: and regarding beinfg "heated" about a subject, I, of anyone, can TOTALLY get that ;) Certainly didn't mean to suggest that Calley was wrongfully convicted by any means.

and I certainly didn't mean to say that you did.

Thanks for the site....I'm going to explore!

There should've been charges up and down the line on My Lai and jail time. From the lowliest private who pressed the trigger and killed innocents to the brass who covered it up and averted their gaze. I know the grunts were under a ton of pressure, but they still could've refused to pull the trigger. You gotta know that opening up on women and kids in a ditch is just plain wrong.

Will * pardon any soldiers from this debacle on his way out the WH door? I wonder.

Now I don't think he should, but this callous bastard will probably let them rot and not give a damn.

It bothered me back then (at the time), when a high school teacher asked our class "who thought Calley should be prosecuted?", and only two of us raised our hands.

The obvious racism is appalling, sickening.

Blows me away to read any defense of Calley on DU.

I can understand these self-serving, narcissistic mother fuckers, without hating them. But, I can still ABHOR/REJECT/OBJECT/HATE their behavior.

Disgusting, fucking human horrors!

They deserve to rot,...as they have and will.

history has shown us that we can show a depraved indifference to our fellow man...

A charismatic leader, profound nationalism....and hatred directed towards one group can turn even the most cultured societies into monsters...

That given the right combination of circumstances, almost anyone can become a killer.

Mini My Lais does anyone think there were in Nam?