The appologists for Malai massacre in Vietnam always irritated me. When the only man convicted of responsibility, a Lyndie England type fellow named Lt. Calley, got out of jail his hometown welcomed him back warmly notwithstanding the pictures of scores of murdered innocents.
A similar situation exists for American troops in Iraq as Vietnam. They don’t know who is friendly and who is intent on killing them. So far I’ve not heard too many stories about our troops calling Iraqi’s “towel heads” but I’m sure it happens. The military knows that its politically incorrect. That’s not how it was after WWII. When I’d play war games I’d call the Germans, “Jerrys,” just like the actors I’d heard in war movies. In Vietnam it was “gooks” which was even more dehumanizing.
We can’t treat people who gun down civilians even in panic as heroes. They should be prosecuted. But we’re so desperate for manpower that we are sending troops in who shouldn’t be there. Damn the impossible situation that has turned some good Americans into monsters. If that’s not a war crime it ought to be.
