Scene at My Lai, with some of the hundreds of villagers slain, in 1968 by Lt. William Calley and his troops.
Photo from May, 1985 in the Teutoburger Forest, W. Germany, with former German Wehrmacht members Dieter (on the left), and Hans. Reinhardt - our translator- is at far right. Hans, Dieter and fellow soldier Werner refused to perpetrate atrocities on wounded Americans in a WWII battle near the forest.With the massive release of the Wikileaks documents on the Afghan occupation, some time ago, an unsettling eye was cast on the U.S. effort there which still has overtones in the corridors of power. Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, shed a new and disconcerting light on the extent of chaos and upheaval in Afghanistan, reinforcing why we've no business there.
However, more recent and disturbing news has trumped this document release, and even threatens to do irreparable harm to the U.S. effort there, as much or more than the My Lai massacre in Vietnam back in 1968. For those for whom this is ancient history, My Lai was the name of Vietnamese hamlet where up to 500 innocents were butchered, most of them elderly, women and babies (see photo). On top of that sexual atrocities were perpetrated on the victims, many of the people were tortured before being killed, and "souvenir gook ears" were sliced off and stowed away. Twenty -six soldiers were originally brought up on charges, but only one: Lt. William Calley, was convicted. He was supposedly sentenced to life but served only three years of the original sentence, and most of that under 'house arrest". So much for Vietnamese lives being extended much value!
Meanwhile, the current war crimes investigation of Calvin Gibbs and cohorts, is the gravest to confront the Army since 2001. It entails charges of the killing of innocent Afghan civilians for sport, and then dismembering and burning the corpses. Added to that, "souvenir" collecting in the form of chopping off fingers of the slain before sending their bodies into waiting pyres. The Army is currently scrambling to locate dozens of digital photos of various soldiers posing along side corpses. (Much like the Abu Ghraib atrocity was exposed by way of photos taken by the participating trooops)
If these charges and allegations are validated it will have the most dramatic impact since the slaying of dozens of innocent Vietnamese villagers by Lt. William Calley and his group. While Calley definitely escaped the full weight of justice for his mass murder, the primary just outcome was the undermining of the entire Vietnam war fiasco - which never should have reached the stage of a half million ground troops anyway. The whole thing - like most recent U.S. wars - was trumped up and inflated for war profiteers (mainly defense contractors eager to test new weapons systems) and oil profiteers (every gallon burned up by tanks and planes in 'Nam increased demand and prices at home). Calley and his mass murdering goons were merely the symptoms of an entrenched military mentality that took over the nation after JFK was assassinated in November, 1963. (JFK had intended to withdraw all U.S. personnel by the end of calendar year 1965 under National Security Memorandum 263. When Johnson became president, he immediately rescinded it with his NSAM-273)
LBJ's final touch (the onset for the Vietnam intervention proper) was the bogus claim of the North Vietnamese firing on the Maddox and Turner Joy in alleged “international waters” in August, 1964, the immediate trigger for the massive U.S. military action leading to over 58,000 lives lost. As years passed it became clear this was a ruse employed by Johnson and the Pentagon to justify putting boots on the ground and getting involved in a conflict they had absolutely no business in. A conflict that cost over $270 billion.
The story on Gibbs and the allegations against him can be found here:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16211613
All of which brings back memories of my visit to Germany (for the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II) in May of 1985. During one interlude while staying in Dissen (with our friend Reinhardt's family), my wife and I traveled to the Teutoburger Forest with three former Wehrmacht soldiers: Werner, Hans and Dieter. On reaching the top of a wooden platform overlook(see photo), the trio pointed out where they fought a final battle in March, 1945 against a company of advancing U.S. troops. (Note: all three former Wehrmacht soldiers were members of the Schildesche Men's Choir, in Dissen for a co-performance with my wife's choir, The Cecilian Singers.)
However, they broke off the battle as the Americans fell under heavy fire and took losses. These proud Wehrmacht troops didn't believe it was worth it to pursue a fallen enemy - and the war end was barely weeks away. They wanted to return to their families. Alas, a small contingent (which Hans believed to be "embedded, diehard Nazis") wanted to "finish the Americans" and do some damage. He didn't elaborate but let us say that the atrocities, and souvenir hunting exploits during World War Two were as vile, debased and driven as they are now in Afghanistan- and were practiced by ALL sides. (If you believe the Yanks were "holier than thou" and never did such, than try to watch HBO's 'The Pacific' to see what was actually documented from the factual base, diaries that contributed to the series!) As the renegades approached the Americans- Dieter fired a warning round to alert them, and fortunately they were able to retreat as American reinforcements entered the fray. (The incident highlighted a problem the Wehrmacht faced throughout the war: regular infiltration by the S.S.)
Reinhardt, our translator who accompanied us (far right of photo) tackled the difficult German as it hurtled from Hans in streams of obvious invective. "Schwein Hund!" was one of the tamer variants.
As I still have the notes I made, he said:
"Not all troops are heroes, not at all. Some are vermin, pigs. They exploit the chaos of war to commit the crimes they would have committed anyway had they not been drafted, or joined. They believe a war gives them cover to do anything they want!"
Very telling words, and I believe applicable to both the My Lai massacre and the emerging ones in Afghanistan, as earlier with the disgusting Abu Ghraib debacle in Iraq. None of which have helped to win hearts and minds!
Troops, those who deserve it, have a right to be honored and treated as heroes especially if and when they rise to perform heroic tasks, like saving fallen comrades, or rescuing innocents. But those who abuse trust, and use their situtation to execute innocents, rape them or debase them merit no respect at all, they are simple vermin and swine- as Hans put it.
We do our service people no justice at all when we carry troop hero worship to the extreme of failing to make distinctions and indiscriminately treating all troops as heroes, when some may not deserve it at all. Indeed, they may well have earned the opposite: as true living demons, not the fictious"supernatural" variety as peddled by certain fundies, but wholly natural and driven by their basest, most atavistic reptilian brain imperatives.
However, more recent and disturbing news has trumped this document release, and even threatens to do irreparable harm to the U.S. effort there, as much or more than the My Lai massacre in Vietnam back in 1968. For those for whom this is ancient history, My Lai was the name of Vietnamese hamlet where up to 500 innocents were butchered, most of them elderly, women and babies (see photo). On top of that sexual atrocities were perpetrated on the victims, many of the people were tortured before being killed, and "souvenir gook ears" were sliced off and stowed away. Twenty -six soldiers were originally brought up on charges, but only one: Lt. William Calley, was convicted. He was supposedly sentenced to life but served only three years of the original sentence, and most of that under 'house arrest". So much for Vietnamese lives being extended much value!
Meanwhile, the current war crimes investigation of Calvin Gibbs and cohorts, is the gravest to confront the Army since 2001. It entails charges of the killing of innocent Afghan civilians for sport, and then dismembering and burning the corpses. Added to that, "souvenir" collecting in the form of chopping off fingers of the slain before sending their bodies into waiting pyres. The Army is currently scrambling to locate dozens of digital photos of various soldiers posing along side corpses. (Much like the Abu Ghraib atrocity was exposed by way of photos taken by the participating trooops)
If these charges and allegations are validated it will have the most dramatic impact since the slaying of dozens of innocent Vietnamese villagers by Lt. William Calley and his group. While Calley definitely escaped the full weight of justice for his mass murder, the primary just outcome was the undermining of the entire Vietnam war fiasco - which never should have reached the stage of a half million ground troops anyway. The whole thing - like most recent U.S. wars - was trumped up and inflated for war profiteers (mainly defense contractors eager to test new weapons systems) and oil profiteers (every gallon burned up by tanks and planes in 'Nam increased demand and prices at home). Calley and his mass murdering goons were merely the symptoms of an entrenched military mentality that took over the nation after JFK was assassinated in November, 1963. (JFK had intended to withdraw all U.S. personnel by the end of calendar year 1965 under National Security Memorandum 263. When Johnson became president, he immediately rescinded it with his NSAM-273)
LBJ's final touch (the onset for the Vietnam intervention proper) was the bogus claim of the North Vietnamese firing on the Maddox and Turner Joy in alleged “international waters” in August, 1964, the immediate trigger for the massive U.S. military action leading to over 58,000 lives lost. As years passed it became clear this was a ruse employed by Johnson and the Pentagon to justify putting boots on the ground and getting involved in a conflict they had absolutely no business in. A conflict that cost over $270 billion.
The story on Gibbs and the allegations against him can be found here:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16211613
All of which brings back memories of my visit to Germany (for the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II) in May of 1985. During one interlude while staying in Dissen (with our friend Reinhardt's family), my wife and I traveled to the Teutoburger Forest with three former Wehrmacht soldiers: Werner, Hans and Dieter. On reaching the top of a wooden platform overlook(see photo), the trio pointed out where they fought a final battle in March, 1945 against a company of advancing U.S. troops. (Note: all three former Wehrmacht soldiers were members of the Schildesche Men's Choir, in Dissen for a co-performance with my wife's choir, The Cecilian Singers.)
However, they broke off the battle as the Americans fell under heavy fire and took losses. These proud Wehrmacht troops didn't believe it was worth it to pursue a fallen enemy - and the war end was barely weeks away. They wanted to return to their families. Alas, a small contingent (which Hans believed to be "embedded, diehard Nazis") wanted to "finish the Americans" and do some damage. He didn't elaborate but let us say that the atrocities, and souvenir hunting exploits during World War Two were as vile, debased and driven as they are now in Afghanistan- and were practiced by ALL sides. (If you believe the Yanks were "holier than thou" and never did such, than try to watch HBO's 'The Pacific' to see what was actually documented from the factual base, diaries that contributed to the series!) As the renegades approached the Americans- Dieter fired a warning round to alert them, and fortunately they were able to retreat as American reinforcements entered the fray. (The incident highlighted a problem the Wehrmacht faced throughout the war: regular infiltration by the S.S.)
Reinhardt, our translator who accompanied us (far right of photo) tackled the difficult German as it hurtled from Hans in streams of obvious invective. "Schwein Hund!" was one of the tamer variants.
As I still have the notes I made, he said:
"Not all troops are heroes, not at all. Some are vermin, pigs. They exploit the chaos of war to commit the crimes they would have committed anyway had they not been drafted, or joined. They believe a war gives them cover to do anything they want!"
Very telling words, and I believe applicable to both the My Lai massacre and the emerging ones in Afghanistan, as earlier with the disgusting Abu Ghraib debacle in Iraq. None of which have helped to win hearts and minds!
Troops, those who deserve it, have a right to be honored and treated as heroes especially if and when they rise to perform heroic tasks, like saving fallen comrades, or rescuing innocents. But those who abuse trust, and use their situtation to execute innocents, rape them or debase them merit no respect at all, they are simple vermin and swine- as Hans put it.
We do our service people no justice at all when we carry troop hero worship to the extreme of failing to make distinctions and indiscriminately treating all troops as heroes, when some may not deserve it at all. Indeed, they may well have earned the opposite: as true living demons, not the fictious"supernatural" variety as peddled by certain fundies, but wholly natural and driven by their basest, most atavistic reptilian brain imperatives.
2 comments:
Most people forget the fact that the U.S. Army are the ones that are doing the investigations and uncovering these stories in the first place.
But you make a great point with the fact that these people are only doing what they would have done anyway, war just gives them a larger scale to do it on.
Budd wrote:
But you make a great point with the fact that these people are only doing what they would have done anyway, war just gives them a larger scale to do it on.
--
Thanks, but it was actually Hans (Borchers) the Wehrmacht soldier who made that point, I merely related it.
What impressed me talking to these guys is how they are still raging mad at Hitler for leading Germany into that destructive morass. In the case of Dieter, he had a sister and brother killed in the fire bombing of Dresden.
I had no idea how bad that was until another German friend, in Frankfurt, showed us archival films he had kept of it.
Most of the Germans that fought in WWII are worried that the new generations will or may forget the lessons learned, as they're too wrapped up in their Facebooks and twitters, like most young Americans.
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