General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother 'traitor' - 35 years ago
Or was he?
...
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."[6]
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 (commanding officer of the 1st Platoon, C Company) then came up, and the two had the following conversation:[7]
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!
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:[8] "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:[8]
...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr.#Military_career
FreeBC
(403 posts)He was a hero who risked his life to stop a war crime and blew the whistle on a specific event.
Manning was a guy who dumped a bunch of classified documents without knowing their contents. That's not heroism, it's treason.
You can't claim to be a whistle blower when someone else is blowing the whistle. Manning dumped documents. Someone else found the illegal behavior and blew the whistle.
Why Syzygy
(18,928 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2013, 04:07 PM - Edit history (1)
They both did exactly the same thing .. report killing of civilians. Do you think Thompson could get away with this today? Even then, the military attempted to court martial him. Manning had to know the contents. That's why she leaked them.
4bucksagallon
(975 posts)With the same lame story. Manning=Thompson........................ One was a combat vet and the other was a paper pusher, who did not even know "if" what he was releasing would harm American soldiers. Yeah Thompson>Manning....... Opppps had it backwards on edit you got no attention here so you replied to the other thread same difference, still lame.
Why Syzygy
(18,928 posts)Where's the other one? This is the only OP I have.
Why Syzygy
(18,928 posts)you are not the arbiter of 'lame'. This story got attention at facebook.
I RARELY come to DU anymore. And that's because of critters like you.