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Show Sunday, September 26, 2004 DAILY HERALD A6 MY LAI MASSACRE GOES TO COURT it "The kill-or-be-kill- nature of combat tends to dull fine perceptions of right and wrong. ed Colin Powell, My Lai as written in his memoir, 'My American Journey CD Continued from Al the attack, the company had conducted a funeral service for a popular sergeant, killed by a booby trap earlier that day. The men of Charlie Company were angry; frustrated and eager to meet the enemy. The attack opened with an artillery barrage and aerial sweeps by helicopter gunships. Charlie Company hit the ground about 7:30 a.m. By noon, a holocaust of machine guns, grenades and 6 rifle fire had swallowed more than 500 civilians. By the time the GIs landed, however, the Viet Cong they had expected to meet had melted into the jungle. The pattern was all too familiar. American soldiers killed old men, ' women, childrervinfants and livestock setting fire to thatched huts and blowing up brick houses, reducing the village to smoldering ruins. Its residents were all dead, except for a handful who had managed to escape or hide. Not a single shot was fired at the Americans, according to reports of the event. i ft c!a ar M-1- Echoes of 4. V4 abuse The aftermath of that day still reverberates. Its echoes can be heard ' in the 2004 presidential campaign and within the walls of an Iraqi ' prison. Orem attorney Austin Johnson 5 seeks compensation for the victims bloodbath that has of the come to be known as the My Lai Massacre. So far it has been a fruitless quest, and he has only one card left to play. On Monday, justices of the Supreme Court are scheduled to consider whether they will take up the case. The suit names several participants at My Lai, including Orem resident Michael Terry, who was a private in the third platoon of Charlie Company. Terry told the Daily Herald that he thought the lawsuit was ridiculous, but he declined to elaborate. "I think this is all water under the bridge," he said. Johnson's lawsuit has been rejected three times by courts who say the time to file expired more than 20 years ago. But the massacre continues to live in America's collective memory, a ghostly predecessor of abuses of prisoners in Iraq and Cuba. My Lai and the more recent incidents, raise sobering questions about the brutality of war, which can transform a regular person into a beast capable of unspeakable violence. John KerIn April 1971, now-Sery, a decorated Vietnam veteran dressed in combat fatigues, related to Congress stories of soldiers who had committed rape, mutilated bodies, cut off ears, cirt off heads, cut off limbs, taped wires to human genitals and turned up the power, blown up bodies, randomly shot civilians and razed villages. Secretary of State Colin Powell has likened the incidents of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad to the My Lai Massacre in recent news reports. Both were inexcusable, said Powell, who served as a staff officer in the Americal Division headquarters at Chu Lai, Vietnam, in 1968, arriving about four months after the massacre. The Vietnam war put ordinary soldiers most of them draftees into situawithout much training tions that challenged what they i knew to be right. Body counts had become the measure of military success. It was difficult to distinguish Viet Cong guerrillas from civilians. The casualties wore down military leaders in the field, Powell wrote in his 1995 memoir, "My American Journey." That led to breakdowns in morale, discipline and judgment as soldiers "became numb to what appeared to be endless and mindless slaughter." "My Lai was an appalling example of much that had gone wrong in Vietnam," Powell wrote. He describes a brutal but common prac- .At 1 0SA . This Now. 16, 1969, photo shows the remains of the My Lai village in Vietnam, after simply to make money. But Barrett says that's not true, though he would get a portion of any award to cover fees and expenses in financing the lawsuit. The effort arose more from a sense of outrage that the government would treat people like that and then turn its back, he said. Johnson said the motive, for him, wasn't money either. Asking $5 million per wrongful death is not unreasonable, and 500 deaths add up to $2.5 billion in compensatory damages, he said. Adding punitive damages raised the total to $25 billioaThey have since dropped the amount and are content to let a court decide the amount of any compensa-tio- a n. tice: killing suspicious looking "militamale" peasants that may ry-age have been only frightened civilians. "The nature of combat tends to dull fine perceptions of right and wrong," he wrote. The war had its origins in Vietnam's 1945 declaration of indepen- - ' That is, if they get the chance. Case dismissed RONALD dence from French colonialism. After Vietnamese communists fighting for independence defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, an international conference set a tempoline at the 17th paralrary cease-fir- e lel until elections could be held. The U.S., however, supported a separate noncommunist state in the south. Civil war between the north and south escalated with direct U.S. military support for the southern Saigon-base- d' regime in the early 1960s. No elections were held. The war escalated during the next decade but eventually lost support at home as it appeared America had entered an endless quagmire of death with no reasonable outcome. The U.S. withdrew in 1975. In the end, more than 58,000 American military personnel were dead or missing, and the communists took over South Vietnam. It is a conflict that pains America still. Presidential campaign politics in 2004 have included forged memos from former military officers, dis 1802 I Country united and This sparks Vietnam's war of independence named Vietnam 1950 1858 I France controls I nam 1945 I ' Vietnamese leader declares independence 1946 I French forces attack the Viet Minh, VieHo Chi Minn tnamese guerrillas who fought the Japanese Democratic Republic of Vietnam is recognized by China and the USSR 1954 I The Viet Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu. Peace accord sets cease-fir- e fine at 17th parallel, calls for popular elections by 1956 1956 L HAEBERLELife Magazine Victims lie in the road leading from the village of My Lai, Vietnam, following the massacre of civilians March 16, 1968. I a leader Ngo Dinh Diem, based in Saigon, begins a campaign against north Vietnamese forces. Elections are canceled 1959 I Weapons and men from the north begin moving south 1962 Number of U.S. military advisors in South Vietnam jumps to 12,000 half, seeking $25 billion in punitive and compensatory damages for 500 carded military medals, allegations of shirked duty and attacks by Vietnam veterans on both John Kerry and President George Bush relating service. to their war-er- a Compensation Dwight Barrett of Salt Lake City was only 14 years old the year of the My Lai massacre. But the war did not intrude on him until 1998, when he saw a television report on the 30th anniversary of the 1968 bloodbath. He was shocked the U.S. Army would do something like that, he said. He felt like he should do something to help the victims. "I believe they deserve some compensation," he said. Barrett's company, the Utah-base-d International Advocate, works to help people get compensation for human rights violations and atrocities similar to My Lai. He hired attorney Austin Johnson and went to Vietnam to meet with villagers to get their consent to file a lawsuit on their be Vietnam history at a glimpse Viet- RLEAssociated Press U.S. troops killed residents and destroyed the village. 1963 1968 I I wrongful deaths. "I think we should have an opportunity to claim compensation for these individuals,'' Johnson said. ' So far, however, their case, first filed five years ago, has been repeatedly rejected. The Army has tried to hide behind the statute of limitations, Barrett said. But the government ought to recognize the wrong and pay up. He's not aware of any effort to compensate the My Lai victims. "They've got to give those people something," Barrett said. Pfc. Terry, now an Orem resident, had been part of the third platoon of Charlie Company, the last group to enter the aggrieved village. The suit accuses him of participating in atrocities committed at My Lai, though Johnson's case never progressed far enough to present evidence to sup--. port the charge. Terry's lawyer, Drew Briney of Spanish Fork, accused Johnson and Barrett of cooking up the lawsuit tion-- Aug. 7, Gulf of TonWh Resolution gives president broad military powers Jan, 30, Vietnamese launch Tet Offensive, Viet Minh capture and hold U.S. embassy in Saigon for less than a day I March 16, U.S. assault on My Lai village 1965 1969 I I March 29, Nov. 1, Ngo Dinh Diem is killed 1964 Feb. 5, U.S. begins strategic bombing north of the 17th parallel I March 8, U.S. marines go ashore at Da Nang Sept. 4, let- ex-GI-'s de- - Lai inc- ident Aug. 4, Army's Criminal Investigation Division begins investiga re-fil- See tenses related to Lt. William Calley charged with murder I Nov. 13, first story of My Lai published Nov. 14, eyewitness accounts, photos pub- r) lished 1970 I March 10, Capt ' , , ter to Congress scribes the My I -- Johnson and Barrett filed their original lawsuit in 1999, under 1971 federal case law and the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act, which gives federal courts jurisdiction to hear alien claims of violations of international laws or treaties with the United States. But the U.S. government claimed sovereign immunity and the suit was ' dismissed. After additional rejections from the US. Army and the international war crimes tribunal Johnson the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Utah in October 2000. This time the suit named several officers as agents of the government, including Charlie Company commander Capt. Ernest Medina, platoon leader Lt . William Calley, and Pfc. Terry. Because he couldn't sue the government directly, Johnson was looking for a judgment that would hold the government liable for the actions of its agents. At that point, compensation for the victims would have beenset.' Terry was added so the suit could be filed ih Utah, Johnson said. But the case against him is weak, his lawyer, Briney, said. He didnt see the rapes. He didn't see the mass shootings." Johnson said his original intent with Terry was to negotiate a judgment under which Terry would agree to some culpability in Ernest Medina charged ; with murder March 14, LL Gen. Peers report released March 17, 14 other officers charged with of-- y . My Lai 1971 I February and March, charges against other cropped March, Calley convicted, sentenced to life in prison Aug. 17, trial against Medina com- mences I Aug. 20, Calley's sentence reduced to 20 years I Sept. 23, Medina ' acquitted 1973 I Jan. 27, United e MY LAI, A7 .States, Vietnam sign a cease-fir- e agreement March 29, last U.S. ground troops leave Vietnam Dec. 21, Military Court of Appeals upholds Calley's conviction 1974 I April 16, Calley's sentence reduced to : 10 years j, Nov. 9, Calley re- - ;v leased ; April 30, Saigon falls and the war ends 1 |