General Chat

I think you will also find that drugs were Involved too.

Jean I will delete it, it was just in response to the lack of response as it were... I was angry at a sweeping statement on another thread and wondered if this would be sweeping enough to warrant a comment in return!

My apologies...

there is no such thing as a 'clean' war , and i certainly understand that in that situation things are done which in retrospect are regretted sincerely.

Rose ....I take exception to your last remark.

Vietnam was a war like no other. The American soldiers went into it very gung ho led on by their politicians.

It was a totally alien environment and the Americans were not trained in guerrilla tactics. Most of the time they had no idea who the enemy was as the Viet Cong operated from the villages.

I am in no way condoning My Lai but I do understand how it could happen.

We train and order young men to kill so why is so surprising when they do.

Thank goodness I have never been in a position where I had to make a split second decision on whether to kill or be killed because I honestly don't know what I would do.

Oliver Stone's 'Platoon' said it all for me...but of course that was in hindsight and with the benefit of knowing the outcome.

Jean.

Edited, my deleted comment was written in anger at 'double standards' that I felt were in play.

It is Rox , that little word 'remorse' seems to make all the difference , not that I am suggesting he is not genuine.....but wonder how much comfort there really is in that for those involved ....

personally I think I would rather no remorse were apparent if one of 'my own' were a victim...it is always much easier to hate someone who shows no remorse.

xx

Sorry,is such an easy word,isnt it??

Hi Cat, well I thought it an interesting comparison...

xx

So he got 3 years of being unable to leave the house.

It'll be interesting to hear the thoughts of others, especially those who have commented on the 'Disgusted' thread about this.

As for America....well the words hypocrites comes to mind.

"Vietnam massacre soldier 'sorry'

Calley maintains that he was following orders from his superior
The US army officer convicted for his part in the notorious My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War has offered his first public apology, a US report says.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened," Lt William Calley was quoted as saying by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

He was addressing a small group at a community club in Columbus, Georgia.

Calley, 66, was convicted on 22 counts of murder for the 1968 massacre of 500 men, women and children in Vietnam.

Cold blood

"I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry," the former US platoon commander said on Wednesday.



The My Lai massacre was a turning point in the Vietnam War
He was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killings in 1971. Then-US President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence to three years' house arrest.

But Calley insisted that he was only following orders, the paper reported.

He broke his silence after accepting a friend's invitation to speak at the weekly meeting of the Kiwanis Club, a US-based global voluntary organisation.

At the time of the killings, the US soldiers had been on a "search and destroy" mission to root out communist fighters in what was fertile Viet Cong territory.

Although the enemy was nowhere to be seen, the US soldiers of Charlie Company rounded up unarmed civilians and gunned them down.

When the story of My Lai was exposed, more than a year later, it tarnished the name of the US army and proved to be a turning point for public opinion about the Vietnam War. "

Hatred, sanctioned or encouraged by any government or religion or person inevitably leads to tragedy for 'innocents'. IMO speaking for no one else but myself.

Lyrics to Doppelgänger : Dory Previn

I seem

to see this stranger

almost everywhere

i do not wish

to frighten you

but you should know

he's there

so that if you're threatened

if evil's ever done

you'll know

it’s him who did it

you’ll know

that he's the one



his looks

are ordinary

but he does things in the dark

he hides inside the shadows

watching children

in the park

he whispers things

in subways

you’d tremble with alarm

i tell you

he will get to you

he's out

to do you harm



i've seen him

in the headlines

and on the evening news

i saw him

on the sideline

when stones were thrown

at jews

and marching in montgomery

pretending that he cared

i saw him wink

as though

some old conspiracy were shared

he was in the crowd in dallas

at the close of camelot

i spotted him

on campus when

the students had been shot

in an oriental village

with civilians left to rot

he was hanging out

with soldiers

trading heroin for pot

and he was

smiling

smiling….



last night

i found obscenities

scrawled across my wall

i swear

i can't repeat

the filthy words that i recall

and then

the most immoral

damned insulting thing of all

as I read each line

i noticed

his handwriting

was identical

with

mine.