Word: lais
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tragic reality of My Lai and what it stands for is being avoided in two ways. One is by concluding that the fault is universal and therefore requires a universal bath of guilt, comforting in its generality. The other is by pretending that what happened was necessary and even commendable. The first view insists on the original sin of American Viet Nam policy and holds that Presidents should go to jail. Apart from having obvious legal flaws, the "we-are-all-guilty" position presents a moral trap: if everyone is guilty, no one is guilty or responsible, and the very...
Thus far, Calley is the only man involved in the My Lai affair to be convicted by a court-martial. In all, 25 officers and enlisted men have been charged with various offenses in connection with the incident. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam at the time of My Lai, recently recommended administrative punishment?demotion by one grade?for Calley's division commander, Major General Samuel Koster, and his assistant, Brigadier General George Young Jr., for failing to report the incident. General Koster was also officially censured. Those relatively minor strictures against...
Michael Brower, first vice chairman of the Massachusetts Americans for Democratic Action, spoke for those who wanted the nation's leaders put in the dock along with Calley. "The guilt of My Lai runs up the chain of command into the White House," he said. "The Army is trying to sacrifice one or two low-level officers as token scapegoats." The most extraordinary demonstration against the verdict from the antiwar side was staged in Manhattan's Wall Street by the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War. Smack in front of the New York Stock Exchange, a dozen veterans in fatigue...
Still, difficult though it may be, the serviceman does have a moral choice, as well as a legal duty, to question unlawful orders. Surely officers in particular are expected to understand and enforce the laws of war. Calley claimed that Captain Medina gave orders to kill all My Lai villagers, presumably including women and children. Medina flatly denied this. Whatever the facts, Calley's claim gets short shrift from Columbia Law Professor Telford Taylor, who served at Nuremberg as chief counsel to the prosecution, with the rank of brigadier general. Writing in this week's LIFE, Taylor comments: "Such...
...Viet Nam, a man of "ordinary sense" may often be unclear whether his orders are legal or illegal. To be sure, every G.I. arriving in the country receives a wallet card listing forbidden war crimes and related acts, including torture, looting and mutilation. At the time of My Lai, those orders insisted: "All persons in your hands, whether suspects, civilians or combat captives, must be protected against violence, insults, curiosity and reprisals of any kind...