Disgusting distortion of history. Bad things always happen in wars, but this report is classic propaganda. Some American soldiers indeed committed atrocities, but My Lai was absolutely an exception. It was the only incident of its type and scale. Also not mentioned is that the massacre was stopped by a brave American helicopter pilot who landed between the rogue US troops and civilians they were about to execute.
Most importantly, US policy was strongly against atrocity - legally and practically. US soldiers were prosecuted for atrocities and convicted. On the other side, it was North Vietnam's policy for its troops and its armed front - the Viet Cong - to commit atrocities in order to control the civilian populace.
The "bombing of Hanoi" was actually attacks on military targets, not the city. No North Vietnamese city was targeted - only military assets. The US had the ability, at the outset, to end the war quickly by bombing the dikes in North VIetnam, but never did, because that would have been an atrocity.
During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the Viet Cong plus NVA captured one major city: Hue. They promptly rounded up over 2,000 civilians from a prepared list, and massacred and buried them. After the VC were driven out, the population of the south turned strongly against the North and their VC puppets, because they saw what would happen if the communists won. Even though the South Vietnamese government was autocratic and corrupt, it was not nearly as bad as the totalitarian and corrupt government of North Vietnam, and the people learned that over time (many already knew, having fled south when the communists took over the North).
There were many groups in the US and abroad working at the time to collect unreliable reports of massacres by US soldiers and turn them into history. John Kerry was actively involved in this effort. Kerry, for example, lied that the use of 50 calibre machine guns against personnel was a violation of the Geneva Convetion. He lied that "free fire zones" were places where American troops could slaughter civilians at will - when in fact, they were areas known to have no friendly forces and no civilians.
The left wing, anti-American Guardian is happy to use the work of these propagandists in its own propaganda.
As a Vietnam Veteran, I am saddened at how the effort, which cost the lives of 58,000 brothers and maimed many more, is routinely treated as if we were Nazis or worse. It is disgusting and shockingly ignorant.
