My Lai Masscre Forty Years Later Exposes New Lie
This is the last day of the Winter Soldier hearings organized by the Iraq Veterans Against the War, where veterans and active-duty soldiers have been giving eyewitness accounts of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is the 2008 version of the 1971 Winter Soldier testimonies then arranged by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
How timely that documentary evidence should emerge and be reported this weekend, forty years after the infamous My Lai massacre of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians by US troops on March 16, 1968, that the official line about the killings was a lie.
Gareth Porter in IPS News writes, "For decades, it has been generally accepted that the My Lai massacre of as many as 400 Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army troops on Mar. 16, 1968 was a violation of official policy directives on the treatment of civilians in South Vietnam.
"That was the conclusion reached in the most definitive official account of why My Lai happened -- the final report by Gen. William Peers, who investigated the question of responsibility for the massacre in late 1969 and early 1970 for the Department of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff.
"Documentary evidence from U.S. army archives shows, however, that the Peers report misrepresented a key directive from the top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, describing it as calling for a blanket policy of humane treatment of civilians in villages controlled by the Communist movement.
"The directive in question, a copy of which has been obtained by IPS, makes it clear that the policy of humane treatment did not extend to civilians in areas which had been under long-term Communist rule, (underline added) as was the case with My Lai. That revelation would have placed the responsibility for the orders on the My Lai operation squarely on Westmoreland’s shoulders.
"The Peers report found that the troops who entered My Lai and three other hamlets of the village of Son My had been led to believe that everyone in the village should be killed. Testimony before the Peers inquiry also showed that the platoon leaders involved in the operation had been given that same message by two company commanders.
"The report concluded that the Task Force commander responsible for the operation, Col. Frank Barker, had failed to 'make clear any distinctions between combatants and non-combatants in their orders and instructions.' The result, it stated, was that he had 'conveyed an understanding that only the enemy remained' in My Lai."
And so the war in Vietnam, the war that never should have been, still continues to haunt this country and its military. Repetition resonates in what the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings are exposing about the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. As Pete Seeger's song cries, "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn
It is the 2008 version of the 1971 Winter Soldier testimonies then arranged by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
How timely that documentary evidence should emerge and be reported this weekend, forty years after the infamous My Lai massacre of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians by US troops on March 16, 1968, that the official line about the killings was a lie.
Gareth Porter in IPS News writes, "For decades, it has been generally accepted that the My Lai massacre of as many as 400 Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army troops on Mar. 16, 1968 was a violation of official policy directives on the treatment of civilians in South Vietnam.
"That was the conclusion reached in the most definitive official account of why My Lai happened -- the final report by Gen. William Peers, who investigated the question of responsibility for the massacre in late 1969 and early 1970 for the Department of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff.
"Documentary evidence from U.S. army archives shows, however, that the Peers report misrepresented a key directive from the top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, describing it as calling for a blanket policy of humane treatment of civilians in villages controlled by the Communist movement.
"The directive in question, a copy of which has been obtained by IPS, makes it clear that the policy of humane treatment did not extend to civilians in areas which had been under long-term Communist rule, (underline added) as was the case with My Lai. That revelation would have placed the responsibility for the orders on the My Lai operation squarely on Westmoreland’s shoulders.
"The Peers report found that the troops who entered My Lai and three other hamlets of the village of Son My had been led to believe that everyone in the village should be killed. Testimony before the Peers inquiry also showed that the platoon leaders involved in the operation had been given that same message by two company commanders.
"The report concluded that the Task Force commander responsible for the operation, Col. Frank Barker, had failed to 'make clear any distinctions between combatants and non-combatants in their orders and instructions.' The result, it stated, was that he had 'conveyed an understanding that only the enemy remained' in My Lai."
And so the war in Vietnam, the war that never should have been, still continues to haunt this country and its military. Repetition resonates in what the 2008 Winter Soldier hearings are exposing about the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. As Pete Seeger's song cries, "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn
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