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From: caitlin Dalgleish aberdeen university, scotland
T1: u06cmd@abdn.ac.uk
Date: 10/29/00
Time: 12:55:11 PM
Remote Name: 139.133.7.20
I'm very sorry but I cannot agree with the sentiments in this e mail. While I sympathise with the soldiers that were put in what must have seemed an untenable position, I also fully beleive that in no matter what situation they are put, human beings are social and therefore moral animals. I have no doubt that what Calley did was contemptable, but to push all the blame on him is simplistic, and looking for a quick fix to a horrible situation. The food cans into landmines thing- a lot of the innocent civillians in the vietnam war were forced to corroberate with the North Vietnamese Army, and I find it very difficult to accept that a nine year old girl deserved to be raped, mutillated and then machine gunned because she gave an empty food can to the wrong person. Soldiers who refused to take part in the killings were not told to do it or die because they are still here today. That fact alone means that although it was a difficult choice, it was still a choice and those who massacred civillians cannot hide behind the incompetence and ineptitude of their superiors, whether they be commanding officers or the United States Government.