[antimedia] antimedia: When I read this sort of thing....

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Posted by antimedia:
When I read this sort of thing....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1154966367.shtml


   ....it makes [1]my blood boil.

     A study of declassified Army documents by the Los Angeles Times on
     Sunday found that the killings of civilians by U.S. soldiers during
     the Vietnam war were far more numerous than previously known -- and
     went largely unpunished. In total, 320 incidents of abuse by U.S.
     soldiers are substantiated.
     "Abuses were not confined to a few rogue units," the Times
     reported. "They were uncovered in every Army division that operated
     in Vietnam."

   Now watch this closely.

     A Pentagon task force in the early 1970s compiled a file with 9000
     documents. Records reveal seven massacres in Vietnam from 1967
     through 1971 in which at least 137 civilians died, excluding the
     1968 massacre in My Lai.
     There were 78 other attacks on non-combatants in which at least 57
     people were killed, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted.
     The Times report includes, available online (at www.latimes.com),
     sworn statements by witnesses, investigators' reports, a list of
     "verified civilian slayings," and a memo by John Dean, President
     Nixon's counsel, among other material.
     One-fourth of the 203 soldiers accused of harming Vietnamese
     civilians or prisoners were court-martialed, but only 23 were
     convicted, according to the Times.

   The one thing I agree with (and I'll bet every honorable man and woman
   who has ever served will agree with) is that those who committed
   atrocities should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
   Let's say that all 203 were prosecuted and convicted. How many [2]men
   and women served in Vietnam?

     # 1961-1973 - Vietnam War - Black Americans who served in Vietnam
     numbered 275,000 (10.6% of all forces). Hostile deaths were 5,711
     (12.1% of the total) and non-hostile deaths came to 1,530.

   So those 203 soldiers accused of harming Vietnamese civilians and
   prisoners represent less than 1/1000^th of ONLY the black Americans
   that served and 1/10,000^th of the total men and women that served in
   Vietnam. To put it another way, those accused of atrocities represent
   less than 0.01% of the total men and women that served in Vietnam. In
   other words, more than 99.99% of the men and women who served in
   Vietnam did so honorably, obeying the ROE, serving without incident
   and can be justifiably proud of their service.
   Yet the Times wants to forward the execrable idea that abuses were
   common among all divisions. This is nothing more than defamation, and
   the left refuses to give it up, even in the face of the very evidence
   they are using to "prove" the commonality of the abuse.
   Is their report factual? Yes. Is it honest? No. It seeks to paint all
   troops with the same brush that should applied to a miniscule few.
   Would it have killed the Times to note that the abuses were committed
   by less than 0.01% of the troops?
   The left wants to paint all of us, even those, like me, who served
   during the war but never in theatre, with the same broad brush. To do
   so, they will seize any opportunity to make all of us look bad by
   pointing out the tiny number of people who were abusive.
   My answer? Screw you! We refuse any longer to accept your label of
   baby killers and murderers and animals. Put your lies where the sun
   don't shine. Not only that, but we will actively oppose any attempts
   to defame us by pointint out the facts that you so conveniently
   ignore.
   I challenge the Times to prove that it's own employees are more than
   99.99% free of any law-breaking. I'll bet money they can't do it. And
   by God, if the defamation continues, some of us are just stubborn
   enough to start investigating every damn one of your employees and
   publishing what we find.

References

   1. http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002950995&imw=Y
   2. http://abc.eznettools.net/buffalosoldiermuseum/Buffalo_Military_History.html