In class on Friday, we talked about how american soldiers are often viewed by other Americans as the "good" soldiers, who play by the rules and only fight for what is right. However, in reality, American Soldiers are responsible for many atrocities during war time. The Vietnam War group talked about the massacre of civilians in Vietnam by American Soldiers, but that was not the only Atrocity committed by American Soldiers. In 2005, a group of US marines killed twenty-four unarmed Iraqis, many of whom were women and children. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich admitted to telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later."
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| Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich |
In this
CBS News article, they reported that Wuterich and his men were all found not guilty in January 2012. Their manslaughter charges were all dropped. I thought it was very interesting that a man who admittedly murdered unarmed civilians was let go completely free. It seems to go against everything America stands for. Why should we hold a double standard? If we had found out that Iraqi soldiers had massacred 24 American civilians, there would be mass outrage. Do we value American lives over all others? Why do Americans have this idea that American Soldiers can do no wrong?
This is a very interesting post Rachel. This is especially shocking because of the little coverage this received on American news stations. I had no idea about this atrocity until now. It does seem like American soldiers have more room for error in war because they are rarely punished for their actions. This double-standard is shocking, and might come from the fact that Americans value American lives more. Although, there are likely many more factors. Overall, this is one of the issues our government has and it needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteI, like Tom, didn't know about this either. I think the reason it wasn't publicized much was because America wants to keep its image of being a superior, powerful, and maybe even innocent country that is always in the right and is trying to do things for the greater good. If something like this were all over the news, people in other countries would look down on us especially since it's happened a couple times, in 2005 and in Vietnam. Who knows? It could have happened many more times, but been hidden from the general public for the reasons above.
ReplyDeleteAs for the corrupt soldiers, I think letting them go was an attempt at hiding the bad things America can do by avoiding the arrest of our own troops. In my opinion, owning up to our mistakes will make us a more trusted country, and punishing the bad guys will show that we don't value certain people over others, and that here in America, everyone is equal.