My Lai Massacre: The Causes And Morals

My Lai:The Causes and Morals
Zak Brustman

The My Lai massacre was a result of a long and grueling war that conditioned the American soldiers to see the vietnamese not as the people they were sent to protect, but as potential threats. The Vietnam war cultivated a culture of fear within the American troops, leading to rash behavior in the field. Racism, fear, ignorance, ambiguous orders, and a lack of training all contributed to the My Lai massacre, and the following cover up. The nature of the Vietnam war caused the dehumanization of the Vietnamese people. Due to the language and culture differences, the American troops already had difficulties connecting with Vietnamese civilians, but this problem was intensified by the way that the Vietcong functioned in the war. The Vietnamese strategy was to remain hidden and only engage the americans when they knew that they had the advantage. They used ambushes, traps, filled the jungle with bunkers and tunnels, dug trenches, and infiltrated US bases. This strategy of guerilla warfare instilled a deep sense of fear and nervousness in the American troops. …show more content…
The day before the massacre took place and only a few hours before the troops were briefed about the mission at Son lai, they held a ceremony to honor their fallen comrades. When the officers called the troops to the briefing the night before the Son Lai operation began, it was obvious that everyone wanted payback for their fallen comrades. Different reports say different things about what went down that night, some say that Charlie company was informed that My Lai was going to be completely evacuated, save for Viet cong supporters, while other reports say that the company was ordered to go into the town and kill soldiers and civilians