Excerpts from Lt. Calley's court-martial

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-3/1084518247170050.xml

The Associated Press
5/14/2004, 2:59 a.m. ET

(AP) — Excerpts from the examination of Army Lt. William Calley Jr.
during his 1971 court-martial, which ended with conviction for his role in the massacre of Vietnam villagers at My Lai. He is questioned here by George Latimer.

<snip>

A: "Well, I fired into the ditch also sir."

<snip>

Q: "Well, did he — was somebody there with him to order him in or push him in?"

A: "They had been ordered in — to go to the ditch, sir."

Q: "Do you know who gave them that information?"

A: "Well, indirectly, I did, sir."

...more...

Mods: This story is dated today - and I find it timely in light of what is occurring in Iraq at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Remember that....

IIRC.... CP got involved later, but helped cover it up.

http://www.usvetdsp.com/story13.htm

excerpt:

As an Army officer, Powell's superiors considered him a consummate "team player." They could count on Powell to haul their water despite any contradictory feelings he may have had. Powell's blind loyalty was demonstrated during a second tour in Vietnam (1968-1969), where as deputy assistant chief of staff for operations G-3 at Americal Division headquarters in Chu Lai, he was asked to handle a potentially embarrassing letter a young soldier had written to Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam.

The soldier had written about rumors of a massacre that Americal Division soldiers had committed in the hamlet of My Lai 4 in South Vietnam. Although he did not mention My Lai in the letter, the soldier complained that Americal soldiers were indiscriminately killing Vietnamese civilians. Such acts, the young soldier warned, "are carried on at entire unit levels and thereby acquire the aspect of sanctioned policy."

Several days after he received a copy of the letter, Powell sent a memo to his superior, the adjutant general, making the outrageous claim that the young soldier had not given enough specifics upon which to base an inquiry. The purposely blind Powell said the soldier's charges were false except for "isolated instances." He wrote that "relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese are excellent." Powell's damage control efforts soon proved fruitless and the My Lai massacre burst onto the world stage like an atomic explosion, severely damaging the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. On the orders of Lt. William Calley, soldiers from the U.S. Army Americal Division had indeed indiscriminantly gunned down an entire village of men, women and children.

and

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/My-Lai-Massacre

Cover-up

Initial investigations of My Lai were undertaken by the 11th Brigade's CO, Col Oran Henderson, under orders from Americal's Ass't CO, BG Young.

Six months later a young soldier of the 11th Light Infantry (The Butcher's Brigade) named Tom Glen, wrote a letter accusing the Americal division (and other entire units of the US military, not just individuals) of routine brutality against Vietnamese civilians; the letter was detailed, its allegations horrifying, and its contents echoed complaints received from other soldiers. Colin Powell, then a young US Army Major, was charged with investigating the massacre. Powell wrote: "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Later, Powell's refutation would be called an act of "white-washing" the news of the Massacre, and questions would continue to remain undisclosed to the public.

Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the My Lai story on November 12, 1969 and on November 20 The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) published explicit photographs of dead villagers killed at My Lai. The carnage at My Lai would have gone unknown in history if not for another soldier who, independent of Glen, sent a letter to his Congressman.

(edited becuz I kant spull)

Calley's superior in a direct chain-of-command sense.

I didn't say that Powell was Calley's CO - I merely supplied the links that showed Powell's part in the cover-up.

But I thought I remembered Powell being involved int eh case.

see my post #4

Powell was assigned as a staff officer to the Americal Division HQ, and had no direct contact with Lt Calley. He was assigned to investigate the initial allegations of one of the soldiers that was at My Lai, but Powell only talked to the soldiers superiors and was
told that the man was a malcontent. He closed the investigation.

It wasn't until either the same soldier or another had returned to the states and filed the charge again, that the US Army investigated the allegations.

Part of the investigation included Powell having to answer questions about his involvement in the initial investigation. This might have been the reason that Powell was passed over for his first star. But his former Division commander is thought to have had some impact on Powell's name being on the list the next time promotions were made.

like being a little bit pregnant?