My Lai

On the topic of anniversaries, last weekend was the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre. For those who might not know, the story of My Lai is the story of how American troops descended upon a small Vietnamese village and proceeded to execute its inhabitants. By the end of the nightmare, 500 unarmed villagers were murdered. The American government subsequently attempted to cover it up. Only 1 person was convicted for this crime.

The great Seymour Hersh, the journalist who broke the story, is interviewed about My Lai here . To read his original article, go here.

There are many parallels to Abu Ghraib (incidentally, Hersh is also the reporter who broke that story): a brutal war of choice; the manifestation of evil; government cover-up; and minimal convictions. A final parallel: despite the disgust and moral outrage (or was it moral posturing?), the uncovering of both war crimes did nothing to arrest the momentum of war. We withdrew from Vietnam 4 years after learning of the My Lai massacre, and of course we are still mired in our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the significant moral costs and moral taint, it appears impossible to extract ourselves from war in a timely manner. This highlights the imperative of severely scrutinizing the deliberations that lead us into wars.