Actually, I was surprised that Calley was still alive. It turns out that he had been living a quiet life in Ohio and Georgia.
It's probably useful to remember what happened. Here's a version from the "apology" story.
Calley explained [at his court martial that] he had been ordered to take out My Lai, adding that he had intelligence that the village was fortified and would be “hot” when he went in. He also said the area was submitted to an artillery barrage and helicopter fire before his troops went in. It turned out that it was not hot and there was no armed resistance. But he had been told, he said, that if he left anyone behind, his troops could be trapped and caught in a crossfire.Not leaving "anyone behind" was a euphemism for killing hundreds of unarmed people. Event though Calley didn't serve nearly the time he should have for the horrific crime, the commanders and politicians who put Calley in that position are the ones who should have been punished more severely.
The same way that Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the people behind the Iraq War should be punished.
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It is interesting. When I read this post I recall the descriptions of the My Lai massacre and was horrified all over again. But what really struck me the most was my reaction to the final sentence in your post, “The same way that Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the people behind the Iraq War should be punished.” The shear anger and repugnance and fury which those three names evoke in my mind completely eclipsed my moments-earlier reaction to My Lai.
I think that the difference for me is that while Calley carried out the most mercenary of orders claiming ignorance of the real situation into which he ordered his troops. He may have believed his troops were in peril should he leave “anyone behind”, or he may simply be a sociopath murderer who is very gifted when if comes to feigning remorse. We will never know.
On the other hand, there is no question about culpability concerning Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the others who pushed for and got their war in Iraq. There is not the slightest doubt that these people knew that Iraq was not a threat to national security, that Iraq had no WMDs, and that Saddam Hussein was not in league with al-qaeda, did not harbor al-qaeda, and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. They knew it was a war of choice for oil, for billions in government contracts to Halliburton and Bectel. They KNEW that our men and women in uniform were being put in harm’s way for money, power, and nothing more. They did not care. They still don’t. They have never been held accountable even insufficiently as was William Calley. They never will be held accountable at all. They will live from the blood-soaked dividends derived from their Iraq investment (why not call it what it was), until they die very old and very wealthy.
If one believes in an afterlife where punishment and rewards are assigned based upon one’s works and intentions in mortality and if one believes in even the basic heaven/hell concept, I have to wonder, would hell itself have them? Folk ontology says that parents should tell their children that there are no such things as monsters. Considering Cheney, Wolofowitz, Rumsfeld, et al, I think that folk ontology, conventional wisdom, whatever one calls it is wrong.
I am tempted to analogize this to The Inferno portion of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, but I will spare any who might read this one of my long, drawn-out analyses'. Sometimes a little goes a long way.
It is interesting. When I read this post I recall the descriptions of the My Lai massacre and was horrified all over again. But what really struck me the most was my reaction to the final sentence in your post, “The same way that Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the people behind the Iraq War should be punished.” The shear anger and repugnance and fury which those three names evoke in my mind completely eclipsed my moments-earlier reaction to My Lai.
I think that the difference for me is that while Calley carried out the most mercenary of orders claiming ignorance of the real situation into which he ordered his troops. He may have believed his troops were in peril should he leave “anyone behind”, or he may simply be a sociopath murderer who is very gifted when if comes to feigning remorse. We will never know.
On the other hand, there is no question about culpability concerning Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and the others who pushed for and got their war in Iraq. There is not the slightest doubt that these people knew that Iraq was not a threat to national security, that Iraq had no WMDs, and that Saddam Hussein was not in league with al-qaeda, did not harbor al-qaeda, and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. They knew it was a war of choice for oil, for billions in government contracts to Halliburton and Bectel. They KNEW that our men and women in uniform were being put in harm’s way for money, power, and nothing more. They did not care. They still don’t. They have never been held accountable even insufficiently as was William Calley. They never will be held accountable at all. They will live from the blood-soaked dividends derived from their Iraq investment (why not call it what it was), until they die very old and very wealthy.
Folk ontology says that parents should tell their children that there are no such things as monsters. Considering Cheney, Wolofowitz, Rumsfeld, et al, I think that folk ontology, conventional wisdom, whatever one calls it is wrong.
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