I am not a military man but I'd like to salute Owen here. He was a private who became a colonel, and perhaps we should have no colonels who weren't privates. He did the decent thing by releasing civilian casualty figures and damn few British soldiers can claim that level of decency anymore.

Owen had an even braver predecessor who is largely ignored, but these are the same issues in a different army from an identical war.I think every soldier should know that it was a US soldier who put an end to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

"Y'all cover me! If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!"

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson,_Jr.#The_massacre


Hugh Thomson was a pilot, just like many more
Fighting for Old Glory on a far-off, foreign shore
He was on a lethal mission, only one of many
Following his orders to kill the enemy, to kill the enemy

He flew low above the village, searching for the foe
When he saw a wounded child on the path below
He thought this to be a sure sign that the enemy was near
So he radioed for back-up and more choppers did appear...

"Help the wounded," he cried out, "and beware of an attack"
And then the child died by a bullet through her back
And when he looked around for the culprits of the scene
It was a company of men in U.S. military green...

The dead were in the hundreds, strewn all around
In this place called My Lai, which once had been a town
There was a hut of huddled children, soldiers had them in their sights
Hugh decided at that moment to fight for what was right...

"Train your weapons on the G.I.'s," and his 'copter crews obeyed
And stood among the children, tattered and afraid
The whole town had been murdered, but for some kids and widowed wives
And Hugh Thomson made sure that those remaining would survive...

It was a fifteen-minute stand-off in a knee-deep sea of red
Amidst the moaning of the dying and the silence of the dead
Hugh Thomson was a soldier and he served his country well
On the day he saved the lives of a dozen kids in hell...

D Rovics

PS Indymedia, you might be needing an 'Afghanistan' tab soon. Unless you think this is ending anytime soon.