Running
head: THE STRATEGIC EFFECT OF THE MY
LAI MASSACRE AND THE HADITHA MASSACRE
Introduction
           The massacre at My Lai
was exactly that; a senseless rampage of US troops armed to the teeth,
unleashed on innocent Vietnamese villagers on the pretext that they were
engaging the enemy. By the end of the day over 500 civilians had lost their
lives. One US
troop was wounded by shooting his foot by mistake. No enemy fire was
encountered. Haditha was a different story. A Marine
troop convoy on patrol was blown up by a detonator. In the immediate aftermath,
the troops fired indiscriminately, purportedly targeting the perpetrators. 24
Iraqi civilians had perished by the time the smoke cleared. That is where the
similarities end. In My Lai the massacre was
premeditated while in Haditha it was as a result of a
spontaneous reaction to a hostile act.
