My Lai: Aberration or A Common Occurrence During the Vietnam War?

Nevertheless, at that place seemed to be no enemy firing off back at Char finesse Company. "The only people shot were civilians- old men, women, and children" (21). However, there have been enough stories which some(a) of Charlie company surely had heard about women, notwithstanding children, firing at Americans, setting traps, change surface planting mines. So, while there were some, such as Herbert Carter, "one of the men who refused to shoot civilians" (21) the others went with My Lai guns blazing. The soldiers acted because the high command made it possible: "In the eye of the Governmentathe people who continued to live in theaarea were considered globally to be VC or VC sympathizers" (47). In other words, whether they wore a uniform or were actually organized cadres, civilians who remained were suspects.

While My Lai may have been more publicized, and the action eventually condemned, surely there were scores of villages where the selfsame(prenominal) sort of action took place. A famous American general once said "War is hell". It was in a strange land, fighting people with totally different tradition and traditions, and a different view lead on the sanctity of life. For the second-rate American soldier, the duty was clear: kill before you pick up killed or hurt. The fact that civilians- women, old men, and children, had been kno

It is easy to lay blame on this sort of cleanup position spree, which was done not merely on someone's orders, but also because of fear of what had happened in other villages. It is also easy to point the finger at racism: "My Laiawas symptomatic of a floriculture of racism and violence that became endemic in the United States" (146).

The Vietnamese people, whom American troops were thousands of miles from home to defend, were seen (so critics say) as "gooks" or some other lower form of civilization, far below American standards of living and life.

Yet, there were many then (and still today) who " treasured to exonerate Lieutenant William Calley and the troops of Charlie Company, not because the event had ne'er occurred but because Vietnam was a different type of war" (146). It had rifle clear during other engagements that Vietcong mingled with civilians, even posed as civilians. Supporters of the troops, even Charlie Company, laid blame on "policy makers in uppercase D.C. who led a nanve nation down the road to Vietnam" (147).

wn to lie in wait to ambush American troops, and had killed or wounded many Americans, surely was one reason for My Lai's killing of civilians, even though these particular civilians were not armed or, at runner glance, "dangerous".

Olson, J.S. & Roberts, R. (1998) My Lai: A Brief History with Documents Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's

The
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.