It is about a week that I wait to hear this week BBC Wednesday’s commentary: The My Lai Tapes.
The commentary is about the My Lai (a village in Vietnam) massacre. I was shocked when I read articles about this event. An event that had took place about 16 years before I was born. I am so sorry for human, V.C’s and developed society. This post is a memorial of those innocent kids and innocent lovable and perhaps beautiful ladies that never see their parents, their husbands; the girls that never feel touch of a tender hand on their sensitive skin and never had the experiment of a love kiss. This post is a memorial of the books that never read, the air which never breath in and the babies that never born.
My first time connection with Vietnam takes back to about two years ago by reading the book: "life, war and nothing else" by famous writer Oriana Fallaci. The book was translated by Leili Golestan and it was so nice and fluent text.
this book and this documentary on BBCWorldService site, are my suggestion for you in this week.
This is the manuscript of this documentary from BBCWORLDSERVICE SITE:
My Lai Tapes
On March 16th 1968, five hundred and four innocent Vietnamese villagers were killed by US soldiers at My Lai in Vietnam.
Women and children were raped, cattle were slaughtered, houses burned and crops destroyed.
It became known as the 'My Lai massacre' and its significance still resonates today.
Only one solider, Lt William Calley was prosecuted for what happened on that day.
The My Lai Tapes - Part One
In the first episode of this two part series, Robert Hordierne, an American military journalist pieces together the horror and barbarism that swept through the village of My Lai 40 years ago.
He reconstructs the events that led up to that day with exclusive archive recordings from the US Army's own investigation into the massacre.
He also speaks to surviving victims and to some of the perpetrators of that historic day.
Massacre at 'Pinkville'
The Vietnam war was America's attempt to stop communists from toppling one country after another in South East Asia.
The US fought there from the early 1960s until 1975. It became America's longest war.
By 1968 there were nearly half a million US troops in Vietnam and more were being hurriedly drafted in to fight.
Most of the men sent into battle in My Lai were very inexperienced and very few of them had seen combat.
It was an unconventional war where the enemy wasn't clear - everybody and everything that moved was considered a target.
My Lai was a search and destroy mission - everything from housing and food to people was to be wiped out.
The operation lasted four hours and in that time, US troops had sustained one death and eight injuries.
In contrast 504 villagers were murdered and, in some cases, raped and mutilated.
The operation was touted as a success by the US military and the truth of what really happened remained a secret for a whole year.
The real truth
As misgivings about the Vietnam war grew, news of what happened at My Lai gradually began to surface.
The US Army then ordered its own investigation into the massacre, it was called 'The Peers Inquiry'.
In the second part of the My Lai Tapes, you can hear, for the first time, the recordings of the US Army's internal inquiry into the massacre.
The tapes lay forgotten for nearly 40 years until they were tracked down by the British journalist Celina Dunlop, who spent 2 years trawling through the national archive near Washington.
The Peers Inquiry proved that US soldiers raped and killed hundreds of civilians.
It showed just how badly trained and ignorant many of the young men were about the proper treatment of civilians during war.
The conclusions of the inquiry went on to make important and lasting recommendations about how soldiers should be trained in the laws of war.
First broadcast 23rd April 2008.”
a of police lead of Sigon execute a vietcong who had just killed...
i read about this in Fallaci's book but i was really shocked watching it .
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment