Modern History: My Lai 45yrs on

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My Lai 45yrs on

Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: Modern History
Forum Discription: World History from 1918 to the 21st century.
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33460
Printed Date: 12-May-2024 at 12:30
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Topic: My Lai 45yrs on

Posted By: Azita
Subject: My Lai 45yrs on
Date Posted: 16-Mar-2013 at 06:26

Today marks 45years since the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

I suspect that the actual event is something we should not discuss here.

However i did wonder about the recent words from David Cameron ( The British prime minister) when he laid a wreath at the memorial shrine and described the Amritsar massacre in 1919 by "British" troops as "a deeply shameful event in British history".

What would be the american public and media response should their president do the same in Vietnam?

What do members here think?

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I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart: but the saying is true 'The empty vessel makes the greatest sound'.

Replies:

Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 16-Mar-2013 at 09:46

posted by Azita:

" I suspect that the actual event is something we should not discuss here."

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Posted By: lirelou
Date Posted: 16-Mar-2013 at 10:16

Azita, Except for the racist fringe of the very far American right, I can't think of any Americans who do not view My Lai as a moment of national shame. However, just as in Vietnam, a great many young Americans are no more cognizant of My Lai than their Vietnamese counterparts are in areas outside My Lai itself. And information on the Hue massacres is blocked on internet sites in Vietnam, so barring those knowing enough to try a search on it, the majority of Vietnam's population remains ignorant of that massacre.

However, were an American official visitor to Vietnam to lay a wreath at the site, he or she would be figuratively tramping on the bones of the victims of the Hue massacres of 1968, which is variously estimated between three and five thousand. Those massacres were perpetrated by the NVA and VC as a matter of policy, not a failure of leadership (as was My Lai). And no one was ever charged, much less tried, for them.

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Phong trần mài một lưỡi gươm, Những loài giá áo túi cơm sá gì

Posted By: Centrix Vigilis
Date Posted: 16-Mar-2013 at 13:12

Originally posted by lirelou

Azita, Except for the racist fringe of the very far American right, I can't think of any Americans who do not view My Lai as a moment of national shame. However, just as in Vietnam, a great many young Americans are no more cognizant of My Lai than their Vietnamese counterparts are in areas outside My Lai itself. And information on the Hue massacres is blocked on internet sites in Vietnam, so barring those knowing enough to try a search on it, the majority of Vietnam's population remains ignorant of that massacre.

"ROGER...5''

"SIX...OUT''

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"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

S. T. Friedman

Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it's probably true'