“If we do not end war — war will end us. Everybody says that, millions of people believe it, and nobody does anything”. -H.G. Wells. The two wars, My Lai and Abu Ghraib changed history forever. The My Lai war oversaw the torching of a whole village. They killed innocent people to obtain information leaving the rest of their population frightened. Leaving merely nothing left of the village and the civilians in it. Many of the soldiers involved got away with their war crimes. Abu Ghraib went to extreme measures, to obtain information but with unspecified but surely ruthless methods of obtaining such information, which the prisoner had known nothing about. My Lai and Abu Ghraib we’re similar in the way they were torturing innocent civilians, …show more content…
March 16th 1968 oversaw a unit of highly trained US soldiers savagely execute several hundred Vietnamese civilians. They killed majority of the South Vietnamese Hamlet of My Lai. The My Lai massacre is remembered as one of the most vicious episodes of the Vietnam War. The victims of this merciless attack ranges from men, women to even small children. Many of these civilians were additionally sexually assaulted, tortured or injured severely. The plan was put into motion once the “Charlie” Company proposed a plan to torch the village that we’re suspicious of the Viet Cong. “The Viet Cong is a member of the communist guerilla movement in Vietnam that fought the South Vietnamese government forces along with the support of the North Vietnamese arms and opposed the South Vietnamese and US forces in the Vietnam War”( My Lai Massacre. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre). Their mission was to burn houses, kill off livestock, spoil crops, and pollute wells. Thus denying them of food, water, and shelter. The massacre of My Lai was ruthless and downright illegal, breaking the basic rules of Internal Humanitarian Law. Later on in the year of 2003 a similar massacre to My Lai took …show more content…
The Universal Declaration provides that everyone without discrimination has the right to: be free from slavery, be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile ((The Universal Declaration of HUMAN RIGHTS, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2014, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a1). History has been repeated an enormous amount of times degrading people of their human dignity. Some examples listed above. Situations such as slavery and torture rip a person of their human dignity. To fix this problem we add two new players to the field. Adding observation officers can allow problems from being captured and forced for slavery, also torture to be limited. Adding officers in battle to enforce the rules is a lot more beneficial then written laws. Incorporating officers in battle will enforce the rules intimidating the two sides to follow them. Officers will have the power to terminate their position of being a soldier if they’re wish to break any rule that has been clear and performed. Also, another example is no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. This means that there will be no random arrest. Although this usually does not
Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder of unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16, 1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period.
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
On the thirtieth of January, 1968, as the sun set over South Vietnam, nothing seemed out of place. A cease fire had been declared in observation of the Tet holiday and the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces welcomed the break. The latter half of 1967 had been filled with violent, bloody and perplexing battles for the anti-communist troops. For the last three months the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) were launching regimental sized suicide attacks against remote U.S. outposts near the Cambodian border. The losses for both sides were mounting and morale was dipping due to the perceived stale mate. The peace was exactly what was needed, but it wouldn’t last. Shortly after midnight North Vietnam would launch the largest offensive
the guards began mistreating the prisoners, not physically, but emotionally and psychologically, taking advantage of the power and authority appointed to them by the experimenter (Zimbardo 109). Crimes of obedience and mistreatment to other human beings are not only found in Milgrim’s and Zimbardo’s experiments. In 1968, U.S. troops massacred over 500 villagers in My Lai. The incident is described by social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman and sociologist V. Lee Hamilton in the article “The My Lai Massacre: a Crime of Obedience.” Lt. William Calley, charged with 102 killings, claims to have followed orders from his superiors, only accomplishing his duty, which is also a theme throughout the movie, A Few Good Men. After presented with a request from William Santiago, a marine on his base, to be transferred, Jessup refuses. The film depicts, through Colonel Jessup 's authority, the refusal to obey a reasonable request as well as the pride one possesses when fulfilling his duty
On March 16, 1968, in the Quang Ngai region of Vietnam, specifically My Lai, the United States military was involved in an appalling slaughter of approximately 500 Vietnamese civilians. There are numerous arguments as to why this incident even had the capacity to occur. Although some of the arguments seem valid, can one really make excuses for the slaughter of innocent people? The company that was responsible for the My Lai incident was the Charlie Company and throughout the company there were many different accounts of what happened that reprehensible day. Therefore there are a few contradictions about what had occurred, such as what the commanding officers exact instructions for the soldiers were. Even with these contradictions the results are obvious. The question that must be posed is whether these results make the American soldiers involved that day “guilty”. There is the fact that the environment of the Vietnam War made it very confusing to the soldiers exactly who the enemy was, as well as providing a pent up frustration due to the inability to even engage in real combat with the enemy. If this is the case though, why did some soldiers with the same frustrations refuse the orders and sit out on the action, why did some cry while firing, and why then did one man go so far as to place himself between the Vietnamese and the firing soldiers? If these men who did not see the sense in killing innocents were right with their actions, then how come the ones who did partake were all found not guilty in court? The questions can keep going back and forth on this issue, but first what happened that day must be examined.
In Germany there were concentration camps for Jews, in Japan they were for Chinese, and in the United States, after WWII, there were internment camps for Japanese immigrants and citizens. To be clear, the difference between internment and concentration camps is that The internment wasn’t spread equally. All Japanese and Japanese Americans on the West Coast were relocated to internment camps, however in Hawaii only 1,200-1,800 of about 150,000 Japanese Americans were interned. In addition, 62% of those taken into internment were American citizens that had never even been to Japan. The internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans was a disgrace to America.
The whole issue involved with the unfair treatment of Japanese Americans in the internment camps by the Americans, started not so long after Japanese warplanes bombed the Pearl Harbor. President Roosevelt, the chief of staff at that time signed an Executive Order 9066 which entailed the detainment of anyone who had any descendant from Japan. Contradictory to all evidences presented by the intelligence agencies, first generation Japanese Americans were the easy prey used by the government to show they had total control of the situation. Using several primary documents and secondary sources, the forced imprisonment and harsh mistreatment of Japanese Americans in internment camps would be examined. Since there was a huge influx of Japanese Americans in the West Coast, there was anger and fear that they might take over the U.S [Yellow Peril]. The imminence of the World War II solidified the motive to be afraid of the Japanese Americans and created cause for the U.S government to lead them to internment. Surprisingly even though Americans boasted about democracy, most of the Nikkei placed in internment were American citizens by law and had no right to be incarcerated. After 30 years, President Ford, the current chief of staff reversed Executive Order 9066. He stated that it was wrong to detain Nikkei as they were loyal to America. A public apology and a payment of $20,000 were made out to Nikkei. This gesture solidifies the wrongdoing of Nikkei by the U.s government. The same conclusion could be drawn from a close look inside of the internment camps. From my research on the issue at hand, I propose a thesis stating that the incarceration of the Japan...
Tragic events occur not only in the United States, but also all over the world. From these tragic events communities, families, and the government decide to place memorials for people that were lost and as a thank you for people protecting the citizens of the country. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C. is one of these cases. However, what exactly was the purpose of this memorial? The purpose of putting up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was not only to thank the veterans for their bravery, but to remind future generations about happened during the Vietnam War. Also, the memorial is important to help people and the veterans to accept the fact that the war actually
It was the evening of Christmas, 1776. The voice of an army sergeant shouted, “Everybody, up this instant! We’ve got a battle to win!” George Washington’s order awoke us soldiers, and we prepared for a rough night, as General Washington knew it would be more than strenuous to get the Continental Army, made up of 2,400 men, across the Delaware River especially in such harsh weather conditions. The plan was to attack in the morning since the Hessians would be celebrating Christmas tonight, they will hopefully be too tired to put up a fight tomorrow morning. The cold, brisk air intruded into the tent, as the rest of the soldiers arose from their slumber, not knowing what the day would bring them, or should I say, night.
i. Difficulties faced by soldiers due to the nature of fighting in the Vietnam War - Personnel had difficulties with transportation supplied with adapted vehicles back seat faced rear to provide additional fire power (Source A) – It appears as if the government didn't worry enough to supply men with safe and capable equipment - Threat of traps led to fear as vehicles had to be parked on street at night (Source A) o Check for traps each morning became a daily ritual particularly in fuel tanks (Source A) o A request for a locking fuel cap was denied because weren’t entitled to one” (Source A) • What circumstances would have needed to arise for them to be entitled to one? The Offensive full guard was set up (24hrs a day), personnel got no sleep and were constantly on alert (Source A) – How significant would this have been in the personnel’s mental frame of mind?
The 1986 during the Vietnam war, the slaughter at My Lai Massacre “is an instance of a class of violent acts that can be described as sanctioned massacres (Kelman, 1973): acts of indiscriminate, ruthless, and often systematic mass violence, carried out by military or paramilitary personnel while engaged in officially
...nd innocent villagers of My Lai, it was a time when American’s questioned their own as being “bad guys” or “good guys”. Were America’s tortuous and cruel acts to be considered patriotic or dishonorable? Some Americans, with bitter feelings for all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War, gave credit to Lieutenant Calley for leading troops in participating in such an atrocious event. History shows that there is still much debate on some facts of the massacre and many stories and opinions, although we will never know the facts exactly, what we do know is that America will never forget this tragic event, it will be talked about in American History for many years to come, and the Vietminh hearts will always fill with sadness when they think of the many lives that were lost on that tragic day in history, their minds will always have unspeakable memories of that day.
It doesn’t matter who is fighting, what countries are involved, or which weaponries are used; innocent civilians die in every combat. The My Lai Massacre was one of the most ungodly times in the Vietnam War. On the morning of March 16, 1968 a collection of American GIs arrived on the settlement of My Lai, located in the Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam. The Vietnam War arose in the 1940’s as a conflict of liberties between Vietnamese nationalists known as the Viet Minh and the French who had control in Vietnam. Foreseeing a communist takeover if the North Vietnamese succeeded, the United States contributed economic and military assistance and by 1967 the United States had approximately 400,000 troops in the country (My
...med people including women, the elderly and even the children. in Vietnamese village of My Lai because they were probably aiding the Vietcog, hence their actions were justified, (Parrillo, 2011).
The paranoia and fear of death never left them. The My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968, when the village of My Lai was completely destroyed, although it did not contain a single enemy troop. Over a hundred villagers were slaughtered. It became clearer to Americans how soldiers were losing control, and how there was no easy way to win this war.