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

To: Ilaine who wrote (141814)	7/28/2004 11:31:51 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

How many women did YOU rape? Can you even remember? And how many children did you kill? You demean yourself. You know that NO ONE has maintained that all, or even most, veterans of combat committed atrocities. You also know, or should know, that atrocities were a part of every war. The only issue is how widespread such abuses were, and are. That's a question whose answer is well hidden. Take a look at the reaction when such atrocities are mentioned and ask yourself how many people will speak freely of committing such acts. The truth is that at least in Vietnam they were far more common than you could ever imagine. If the ingredients of close contact between soldiers and civilian populations that were suspected of supporting the "enemy," and troops that had suffered significant casualties were present, the usual result was that atrocities started and then accelerated. So who is it who hears of such acts? The military doesn't want to know about it. It took more than a year for the army to act on the My Lia massacre even though it was witnessed by chopper pilots and resisted by some soldiers who did not participate. They just hushed it up until they couldn't conceal it any longer. The bad actors aren't going to talk about it to middle Americans who will think of them as monsters. Many of them won't talk about it at all and many of them are "good people" who've left that past behind and lived good lives. But if they do talk about it, it will be with someone who was there and understands the pressures and the fact that everyday men got sucked into the darkness of murder, abuses and torture, and understands why. That's people like me. So don't talk about things you don't want to know and wouldn't understand. And don't make light of things that must be understood and taken seriously, because they are all part of the horrible cost of war. And if you wish to LEARN something about the matters which you dismiss so smugly, read the accounts of some of the men who WERE there and did such acts. I'd suggest the comprehensive series of articles at the following source: toledoblade.com I'd also suggest the book written by the acknowledged primary reporter of the Vietnam War, Laurence: "The Cat From Hue." After you've reviewed those sources and evaluated their likely veracity, THEN maybe you'll have something to say that's worth hearing. In the meantime, if you wish to make more joking comments about issues which took lives and ruined lives, including the lives of those that committed such acts, please don't address them to me. I can't joke about these things.