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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (93369)	4/14/2003 1:51:53 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

My Lai was no exception at all You are going "Apples and Oranges," Marcos. I am talking about lawless behavior of grunts, you are talking about Military programs organized by the HQ. Did you know that North Vietnamese Generals now say that the "Pheonix Program" was the most effective military action that our Government came up with against them? We were fighting a combination Guerilla/Civil/Conventional war in Vietnam. I am not going to get into a conversation with you about the rights and wrongs of the war, I have read your repeated posts on what you think of this country's Foreign actions. But you can't get around the world wide liking for our individual soldiers overseas, as compared to the reaction to those from other countries.

To: marcos who wrote (93369)	4/14/2003 5:48:12 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 281500

Marcos, I was stationed at Ft Benning (jump school instructor, tower committee) when Calley returned there in 1968. I lived 5 houses down from him. Let me help you out. I have told you a million times not to exaggerate. During the entire My Lai Op (the actual name of the village BTW was Son My) less than 350 KIA were reported. Some of those were American soldiers. Others were VC and NVA soldiers. Calley was convicted of 22 deaths and sentenced to life. A military appeals court later reduced that to 20 years. In 74 or 75 a federal appeals court threw out the conviction. The point I am making is that Calley's case was handled completely within the military and federal court system. A system available to all Americans. I do not know a single Nam Vet who was not appalled by that platoon's "reported" actions. But please keep in mind it was one platoon. they had been in combat too long, had questionable orders and had recently had some of their members killed by armed women and children. I offer that not as an excuse rather as extenuation and mitigation. Their actions were not an example of business as usual in the US Army. Son My (My Lai) was not a Phoenix Op. Conventional US Army units were not involved in Phoenix. As a matter of fact Phoenix was about 98-99+% manned with Vietnamese. War is war buddy and we have learned. The difference today is rather than keep secret OPs secret, our leaders go on TV and tell you that we have sneaky, tricky and dirty little OPs going all over the war zone designed to eliminate the enemy's top leadership. Now let's switch gears here and talk about the tens of thousands of Nam era draft dodgers, their courts-martials and their lengthy sentences. Or better yet, let's discuss the horrors the Iraqi people have been subjected to for 30 years by a murderous oppressive regime and how major elements of the UN were prepared to let that continue indefinitely. I can tell that the end of the Iraqi war of liberation is near because the search for the guilty and the punishment of the innocent is definitely reving up. unclewest