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Today marks the 40 year anniversary of the massacre of 504 Vietnamese women, children, and elderly men by American troops at My Lai, during the Vietnam War.
Led by Lt. William Calley, a platoon of soldiers entered a small village named My Lai, rounded up 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, herded them into a ditch, and shot them all.
In lengthy court martial proceedings years later, only Lt. Calley was convicted of any wrongful acts. Just a few days after the conviction, President Nixon commuted Calley's sentence.
Calley ended serving just 3 and 1/2 years of house arrest. He has been a free man ever since.
For those of you not old enough to remember that war, Americans were fed many of the same propaganda and misinformation by our leaders as our leaders gave in for justifying an invasion of Iraq.
In justifying the war in Vietnam, our leaders stated we needed to stop the threat of Communism. The "Domino Theory" of Communism basically stated that if we did not stop the spread of communism in Vietnam, it would spread across the Pacific, and that eventually communists would be storming the beaches of California.
A main justification for escalating the Vietnam War occurred in August of '64 during the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident. Supposedly, two American military ships were attacked by Vietnamese PT-type of boats over the course of two days. This was reported to the American public by President Lyndon Johnson and several high-ranking military leaders.
Following the incident, Johnson ordered a major escalation of US troops brining the total of American troops in Vietnam to over 500,000.
Years later, the news reports revealed the Gulf of Tonkin attacks never happened! It was all a complete fabrication by both American civilian and miliary leaders to justify increased military action.
During this era, supporters of the Vietnam War echoed many of the jingoistic, patriotic, slogans we hear today about the Iraqi War. The troops were "Defending our country," they were "Fighting for our freedom," and they were "Spreading democracy through the rest of the world."
Finally, after 12 years of warfare, the loss of 58,000 American soldiers, the loss of up to 1 million Vietnamese civilians, and the loss of hundreds of billions of American dollars, the United States finally pulled out.
The major "Domino Theory" of communist expansion never occured after the Vietnam War. Communism did not spread through the Pacific nor did the communists invade America despite the "loss" of the War.
The Iraqi War is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. Our leaders have already deceived us about Saddam Hussain having weapons of mass destruction being a threat to the security of the United States. Our leaders deceived us into believing Hussain was tied to al-Qaida. They also claimed Hussain was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks.
All these justifications for invading and occupying Iraq have proven to be false.
For several months, President Bush has been advocating military action against Iran. His claims about Iran possessing a nuclear power program for producing nuclear weapons was recently disputed by the National Intelligence Estimate--a written report of 26 American intelligence agencies. They reported that program ended years ago in 2003.
A famous quote about history is "Those who don't learn the lessons of history are condemn to repeat them." America made a mistake about entering into the War in Vietnam. America made a mistake about entering into the War in Iraq. Will we allow ourselves into yet another mistake into entering a war with Iran?
To learn more about the My Lai massacre, read on:
Led by Lt. William Calley, a platoon of soldiers entered a small village named My Lai, rounded up 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, herded them into a ditch, and shot them all.
In lengthy court martial proceedings years later, only Lt. Calley was convicted of any wrongful acts. Just a few days after the conviction, President Nixon commuted Calley's sentence.
Calley ended serving just 3 and 1/2 years of house arrest. He has been a free man ever since.
For those of you not old enough to remember that war, Americans were fed many of the same propaganda and misinformation by our leaders as our leaders gave in for justifying an invasion of Iraq.
In justifying the war in Vietnam, our leaders stated we needed to stop the threat of Communism. The "Domino Theory" of Communism basically stated that if we did not stop the spread of communism in Vietnam, it would spread across the Pacific, and that eventually communists would be storming the beaches of California.
A main justification for escalating the Vietnam War occurred in August of '64 during the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident. Supposedly, two American military ships were attacked by Vietnamese PT-type of boats over the course of two days. This was reported to the American public by President Lyndon Johnson and several high-ranking military leaders.
Following the incident, Johnson ordered a major escalation of US troops brining the total of American troops in Vietnam to over 500,000.
Years later, the news reports revealed the Gulf of Tonkin attacks never happened! It was all a complete fabrication by both American civilian and miliary leaders to justify increased military action.
During this era, supporters of the Vietnam War echoed many of the jingoistic, patriotic, slogans we hear today about the Iraqi War. The troops were "Defending our country," they were "Fighting for our freedom," and they were "Spreading democracy through the rest of the world."
Finally, after 12 years of warfare, the loss of 58,000 American soldiers, the loss of up to 1 million Vietnamese civilians, and the loss of hundreds of billions of American dollars, the United States finally pulled out.
The major "Domino Theory" of communist expansion never occured after the Vietnam War. Communism did not spread through the Pacific nor did the communists invade America despite the "loss" of the War.
The Iraqi War is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week. Our leaders have already deceived us about Saddam Hussain having weapons of mass destruction being a threat to the security of the United States. Our leaders deceived us into believing Hussain was tied to al-Qaida. They also claimed Hussain was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks.
All these justifications for invading and occupying Iraq have proven to be false.
For several months, President Bush has been advocating military action against Iran. His claims about Iran possessing a nuclear power program for producing nuclear weapons was recently disputed by the National Intelligence Estimate--a written report of 26 American intelligence agencies. They reported that program ended years ago in 2003.
A famous quote about history is "Those who don't learn the lessons of history are condemn to repeat them." America made a mistake about entering into the War in Vietnam. America made a mistake about entering into the War in Iraq. Will we allow ourselves into yet another mistake into entering a war with Iran?
To learn more about the My Lai massacre, read on:
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