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From: Lee Nagele
T1: MTtke83@aol.com
Date: 10/30/97
Time: 10:06:52 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.194.235
Lee Nagele Vietnam War 10-31-97 Colin Powellıs Memoir
I can understand the mentality of people like Colin Powell when he says that Vietnam was a kill or be killed war. However, what he describes in his book is a far cry from what some soldiers were doing. Thereıs a difference between firing at a MAM from a helicopter and taking aim at a child and shooting from a 10 foot distance. I can accept the fact that there are unfortunately, innocent victims in wartime. What I canıt accept is when innocent people are brutally massacred for no valid reason. The accounts of the My Lai Massacre are disgraceful. Would we be just as passive if the innocent children and women being killed were American? I highly doubt it. America bought the fable that the U.S. was the good guy in this war, and that these massacres were just a part of the war. I cannot condone what happened in Vietnam, but at the same time it is not a cut and dry situation where blame is easy to identify. Yes, there were young, inexperienced men fighting and yes they made poor decisions. But those young men were being led by experienced combat officers. In addition to the officers failing these young men, the U.S. Government failed these young men. The U.S. Government did not adequately prepare them for combat. The Vietnam War was handled poorly from the top officials in government right down to the soldiers carrying out the orders. Of course not all soldiers were corrupt. And not all combat officers were inadequate at their positions, but the ones that had poor judgment and questionable tactics, made it impossible for those who were trying to do the right thing. I believe that the people that were proven to have committed war crimes should be punished to some extent. What that punishment is and how it is carried out is another question all together. If there were an easy solution, the problem would have been solved two decades ago.