This is what a war hero looks like: Hugh C. Thompson, Jr.

[Duer 157099]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr.

In the early morning hours of March 16, 1968, Thompson's OH-23 encountered no enemy fire over My Lai 4. Spotting two possible Viet Cong suspects, he forced the Vietnamese men to surrender and flew them off for a tactical interrogation. Thompson also marked the location of several wounded Vietnamese with green smoke, a signal that they needed help.

Returning to the My Lai area at around 0900 after refueling, he noticed that the people he had marked were now dead. Out in a paddy field beside a dike 200 meters south of the village, he marked the location of a wounded young Vietnamese woman. Thompson and his crew watched from a low hover as Captain Ernest Medina (CO, C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment) came up to the woman, prodded her with his foot, and then shot and killed her.

Thompson then flew over an irrigation ditch filled with dozens of bodies. Shocked at the sight, he radioed his accompanying gunships, knowing his transmission would be monitored by many on the radio net: "It looks to me like there's an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there. Something ain't right about this. There's bodies everywhere. There's a ditch full of bodies that we saw. There's something wrong here."<2>

Movement from the ditch indicated to Thompson that there were still people alive in there. Thompson landed his helicopter and dismounted. David Mitchell, a sergeant and squad leader in 1st Platoon, C Company, walked over to him. When asked by Thompson whether any help could be provided to the people in the ditch, the sergeant replied that the only way to help them was to put them out of their misery. Second Lieutenant William Calley (CO, 1st Platoon, C Company) then came up, and the two had the following conversation:<3>

Thompson: What's going on here, Lieutenant?
Calley: This is my business.
Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?
Calley: Just following orders.
Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?
Calley: Just following...
Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.
Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I'm in charge here. It ain't your concern.
Thompson: Yeah, great job.
Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.
Thompson: You ain't heard the last of this!

(more at link above)

[DemoTex]

1. Hugh Thompson was the first person I thought of when I saw the video yesterday.

I would have thought that the whole story of Hugh Thompson and My Lai-4 would be so inculcated into the pschye of all Army helicopter pilots that this kind of massacre could never happen.


Hugh Thompson: Above the Best

[walldude]

2. Somewhere out there a guy just like Thompson

leaked the video.

[DemoTex]

5. Indeed. Now we need a Seymour Hersch to run with the ball.

We need someone to keep the likes of Colin Powell and the MSM from sweeping this back under the rug.

I wonder what the real Seymour Hersh is doing nowadays? Mr. Hersh, are you busy? Would you mind? Just once more?

[tavalon]

13. Seymour Hersh has been doing everything humanly possible to

get the information about what happened in Iraq out to a public mostly unwilling to hear him.

[G_j]

3. K&R

Thank you for posting

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. K&R for Thompson and whoever provided the video to WikiLeaks.

[rug]

6. This paragraph bears repeating.

Thompson took off again, and Andreotta reported that Mitchell was now executing the people in the ditch. Furious, Thompson flew over the northeast corner of the village and spotted a group of about ten civilians, including children, running toward a homemade bomb shelter. Pursuing them were soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company. Realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese, Thompson landed his aircraft between them and the villagers. Thompson turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them that if the Americans began shooting at the villagers or him, they should fire their M60 machine guns at the Americans:<4> "Y'all cover me! If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!" He then dismounted to confront the 2nd Platoon's leader, Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker:<4>

[DemoTex]

8. If you haven't read it, read "Four Hours in My Lai."

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MM-HjPFaL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[rug]

9. I haven't. I will.

Thanks.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. It is good to know that there are men..and women with heart and conscience..even in the worst

situations. People of courage.

[Duer 157099]

10. Link about 1998 60 Minutes story

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/06/60minutes/main615997.shtml

And a link to a pdf file, transcript from a 2003 lecture about Thompson:

http://www.usna.edu/Ethics/Publications/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf

[Duer 157099]

11. "I saved the people because I wasn't taught to murder and kill"

This is what Thompson told an old woman, a survivor of My Lai, who was asking what the difference was between Thompson and the other Americans who so ruthlessly butchered hundreds of innocent civilians that day.

"I saved the people because I wasn't taught to murder and kill." That's what Thompson said.

So, it would seem that the corollary is that the 2007 Baghdad incident was perpetrated by soldiers who "were taught to murder and kill."

I assume Thompson was referring to his military training, as he was a pilot.

[Poll_Blind]

12. k&r!

PB