Vietnam revisited: Derrick Jackson-Kicking Jr All The Way Back To My Lai

DERRICK Z. JACKSON
Vietnam revisited
By Derrick Z. Jackson | June 3, 2006

IN 1991, after US troops drove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait, the senior President Bush boasted, ``By God, we've kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all."

The syndrome is kicking Junior all the way back to My Lai.

..............

A huge part of the problem is that America never did learn its lessons from My Lai. Even though the mere utterance of My Lai stiffens the back of anyone who remembers it, there was, in the end, virtually no punishment for the killings. The only soldier convicted, Lieutenant William Calley, had his sentence reduced to relative insignificance by President Nixon, and was released after three years of house arrest. He went on to sell jewelry in Georgia.

The same pattern has emerged in Iraq. The abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib has resulted in sentences almost exclusively for the grunts, with commanding officers escaping subpoenas and trials. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says over and over how he takes responsibility, without showing any sign of how he has. Bush has handed out medals to top officials of the occupation. The president should indeed be troubled. He should be troubled that the Vietnam syndrome is kicking Iraqi civilians in the teeth and his legacy down the staircase of infamy.

more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/06/03/vietnam_revisited/

Yes, that's a good summary