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Originally Posted by Pangloss62
A Vietnam vet/colleague of mine saw the parallel, but he was not at Mai Lai. Whatever analogy, what happened was good for nobody.
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My Lai was only a more severe example of what was normal in Vietnam. Everyone was the enemy. A shot innocent did not matter. They were gooks. Peers described how one on their chopper would just automatically shoot from the chopper a farmer for no reason - and no one said anything. It was situation normal.
Do you think for one minute that things have changed in Iraq? Do you watch documentaries where convoys routinely empty 50 cal ammo boxes shooting 'over heads' at anything that gets too near? A car maybe 2000 feet down a highway coming at the convoy. They shoot at it because, in Iraq, everyone is a potential enemy. This right out of a Frontline documentary maybe two years ago that also noted how the Baghdad to airport highway was routinely attacked (Remember the Italian hostage rescued only to be shot at by American soldiers on that highway? Such shooting has long been normal.)
Same mentality now is in Afghanistan where Taliban now controls maybe 50% of the country. That was obvious from posts here about a year or so ago. When a crowd in Kabul started getting threatening, American troops in a last convoy truck fleeing the scene fired directly into the crowd. This even from a former commander of the Northern Alliance whose car was destroyed by the American truck. A crash, he said, was not a fault of the driver. But Americans did fire on and kill at least four Afghan civilians, he said.
Don't fool yourself for one minute. They were just gooks. Iraq, in particular, is how Vietnam became a quagmire. Iraqis complain bitterly how often Americans shoot up cars only to keep Iraqis distant from any convoy. Why? Iraqis are the enemy as far as soldiers are now concerned. Deja vue Vietnam. Do you foolishly think Abu Ghriad was an exception? Torture represents an attitude of too many Americans who are at risk everywhere except in green zones.
The American occupation of Iraq has become so unpopular that even Basra (in the south) is now going violent like Baghdad; doing what was also once a peaceful Mosul. It does not help when American soldiers now regard every Iraqi as a potential enemy - and regularly spew 50 cal warning shoots (by the ammo box) during every urban convoy.
This is a same country that others here insist was safe. This is a country attacked on lies and therefore going the same way as Vietnam - because the American government even claims an Iraqi democratic government will solve these problems. Haditha is but the tip of an iceberg so large that even journalists rarely leave green zones. Iraq now so unsafe, despite domestic propaganda from Rush Limbaugh types, that American troops routinely fire 'warning shots'.
How out of control were those Marines in Haditha? Well a taxi was driving down the road. They shot the car and driver - no questions asked. He was only one of the 24 massacred. Shooting at any approaching car is now normal in Iraq. Is Haditha the exception? Not really. Even American commanding officers lied to cover up this massacre. Do you for one minute think this was the exception by a large group of American officers? Of course not. For so many to lie, this must be just another *event*.
This time, the situation was more flagrant. You have not one reason to think Iraq is any different than Vietnam. These massacres occurred for the same reasons. Reasons that start with the White House occupant (Nixon or George Jr) who lies in outright denial. 85% of all problems start with top management.
Massacres, international kidnapping, and torture are now acceptable behavior to so many Americans. Just another reason why there must be a smoking gun before ever entering into war.