Comments on: My Lai memories https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/ Tue, 12 May 2026 20:11:45 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49254 RobVG Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:01:04 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49254 Yup Yup

]]> By: Pebble https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49253 Pebble Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:00:45 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49253 *may just* just? That does not belong in any sentence talking about people resorting to barbarism. Is it 'just rape' ? Is it 'just abuse' ? Don't minimise atrocities. It's bad enough with the aggressors doing that. *may just* just?

That does not belong in any sentence talking about people resorting to barbarism.

Is it ‘just rape’ ? Is it ‘just abuse’ ?

Don’t minimise atrocities. It’s bad enough with the aggressors doing that.

]]> By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49252 RobVG Mon, 04 Apr 2022 18:58:40 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49252 Good points. Good points.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49249 ER Mon, 04 Apr 2022 18:22:32 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49249 But ships in my squadron repeatedly engaged the beach with Naval gunfire. The aircraft carriers we protected from air and submarine attack were constantly flying missions into N Vietnam. We know now many of their targets were not necessarily "military". And many of the legitimate targets involved "collateral damage"? Believe me, I've given this issue a lot of thought. But ships in my squadron repeatedly engaged the beach with Naval gunfire. The aircraft carriers we protected from air and submarine attack were constantly flying missions into N Vietnam. We know now many of their targets were not necessarily “military”. And many of the legitimate targets involved “collateral damage”?

Believe me, I’ve given this issue a lot of thought.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49248 ER Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:58:22 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49248 He told me; "I can see why the Americans bombed the railroad station, it was an important link in the transportation network. But why did they have to do it at rush hour?" He also mentioned how the German troops were forbidden by their commanders to have any sexual relations, even consensual ones, with Italian women (because of their racial theories). "But we had to lock up our wives and daughters when the Americans came through. They were rapists." And of course, we all know what happened to Dresden. It was a town with no military value whatsoever. He told me; “I can see why the Americans bombed the railroad station, it was an important link in the transportation network. But why did they have to do it at rush hour?”

He also mentioned how the German troops were forbidden by their commanders to have any sexual relations, even consensual ones, with Italian women (because of their racial theories). “But we had to lock up our wives and daughters when the Americans came through. They were rapists.”

And of course, we all know what happened to Dresden. It was a town with no military value whatsoever.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49247 ER Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:51:16 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49247 This is the result of orders from a central command, and the result is an attempt to hamper the ability to fight and morale of the Ukrainians by destroying civilians and civil society. What has happened North of Kviv may just be the result of individual soldiers resorting to barbarism. If that is the case, those troops may indeed be guilty of genocide, but not the Russian nation. We should be extremely careful with the legalities, one day it may come back to haunt us. One of my neighbors proudly recounted the tale of how he and his comrades gang-raped a Vietnamese girl who was a prisoner of war. It was supposedly OK because she was "the enemy". In my opinion, that is a capital crime. But it is not genocide. This is the result of orders from a central command, and the result is an attempt to hamper the ability to fight and morale of the Ukrainians by destroying civilians and civil society.

What has happened North of Kviv may just be the result of individual soldiers resorting to barbarism. If that is the case, those troops may indeed be guilty of genocide, but not the Russian nation.

We should be extremely careful with the legalities, one day it may come back to haunt us.

One of my neighbors proudly recounted the tale of how he and his comrades gang-raped a Vietnamese girl who was a prisoner of war. It was supposedly OK because she was “the enemy”. In my opinion, that is a capital crime. But it is not genocide.

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49246 BuckGalaxy Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:50:01 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49246 And consider that dropping the atomic bomb on a city of no military value at all was in fact ordered from the top. 80k civilians killed. Why not a naval base? Why not a location that had significant Japanese forces? A war crime by any honest assessment, but does that even qualify as genocide? And consider that dropping the atomic bomb on a city of no military value at all was in fact ordered from the top. 80k civilians killed. Why not a naval base? Why not a location that had significant Japanese forces? A war crime by any honest assessment, but does that even qualify as genocide?

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49245 ER Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:39:45 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49245 Well said. Well said.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49244 ER Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:38:43 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49244 Are these undisciplined troops, thugs, bullies and criminals, or are they under orders from their commanders to punish the natives? Or as my generation used to say,"waste the gooks". Americans in every war have looted, raped, pillaged, killed and abused. But it was never government policy. We did it to loyal Brits during the Revolutionary War, to the Indians during the Indian wars, to the Yanks and the Rebs in the Civil War, and to the Germans and Italians and Japanese in WWII. In every army in every war there have been criminals like this. It was always a minority of bad apples who used the confusion of war to get away with crimes. Sometimes it is not policy, but the commanders "look the other way" and the crimes go unpunished. That's a crime too. I know the definition is tricky, the guilty do not always leave evidence behind. But its important we keep that in mind or we are no better than they are. Are these undisciplined troops, thugs, bullies and criminals, or are they under orders from their commanders to punish the natives? Or as my generation used to say,”waste the gooks”.

Americans in every war have looted, raped, pillaged, killed and abused. But it was never government policy. We did it to loyal Brits during the Revolutionary War, to the Indians during the Indian wars, to the Yanks and the Rebs in the Civil War, and to the Germans and Italians and Japanese in WWII. In every army in every war there have been criminals like this. It was always a minority of bad apples who used the confusion of war to get away with crimes. Sometimes it is not policy, but the commanders “look the other way” and the crimes go unpunished. That’s a crime too.

I know the definition is tricky, the guilty do not always leave evidence behind. But its important we keep that in mind or we are no better than they are.

]]> By: BuckGalaxy https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/04/my-lai-memories/#comment-49243 BuckGalaxy Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:38:20 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93211#comment-49243 I have had a number of conversations with people who throw out the word genocide at every outrage. An Israeli soldier shoots a civilian throwing a molotov cocktail at him and it's "genocide." Blocking migrants from crossing the border is "genocide." It dumbs down the true meaning of the word and thus the true magnitude of the crime. The massacres we are seeing in Ukraine, as horrible and shocking as they are, don't qualify as genocide. Ukrainians are not being marched off to concentration camps to be executed. There is no concerted effort to eliminate Ukrainians from the face of the earth. The Hutu massacre of 800k Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 was a true genocide. The ongoing Burmese killing of the Rohingya qualifies as genocide. The Chinese incarceration and reeducation camps for muslim Uyghurs is a massive human rights crime but not genocide. Words and their meaning matters. I have had a number of conversations with people who throw out the word genocide at every outrage. An Israeli soldier shoots a civilian throwing a molotov cocktail at him and it’s “genocide.” Blocking migrants from crossing the border is “genocide.” It dumbs down the true meaning of the word and thus the true magnitude of the crime. The massacres we are seeing in Ukraine, as horrible and shocking as they are, don’t qualify as genocide. Ukrainians are not being marched off to concentration camps to be executed. There is no concerted effort to eliminate Ukrainians from the face of the earth. The Hutu massacre of 800k Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 was a true genocide. The ongoing Burmese killing of the Rohingya qualifies as genocide. The Chinese incarceration and reeducation camps for muslim Uyghurs is a massive human rights crime but not genocide. Words and their meaning matters.

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