|
The cruelty does seem harsh and it's sad that some of the soldiers became so bloodthirsty as to knock out gold fillings and scalp or cut off ears.
I am not surprised that they killed innocents. At that time the Viet Cong would sometimes use villagers, children, or old men to plant grenades or cause other problems for the soldiers. Every vietnamese that the soldiers left alive, whether they appeared innocent or not, was potentially a life or lives of soldiers that were risked.
They began to think like their enemy to catch their enemy. The problem was they became like the enemy in their attitude toward all civilians. The enemy treated the civilians like weapons and so our soliders treated them cruelly.
I truely feel sorry for our soldiers and for those civilians who were truely innocent and got caught in the middle. The Vietnam War has been one of the harshestly criticised wars that this country has engaged in. To be honest I am not surprised at what this article says. I also think it is terribly biased in that it does not tell why our soldiers began to suspect the most insignificant civilian.
__________________
"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma. 
|