I'm not sure why Lt. Calley of My Lai infamy selected now to say he's sorry for the massacre that left several hundred dead, but that's what happened during, of all things, a meeting of the local Columbus, Georgia Kiwanis Club, according to the story in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer website.
f course I'm also not sure why the late Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara never served time for his acknowledged continuance of the war when he knew if could not be won, essentially sending Americans to their deaths for no purpose whatsoever.
I'm certain there comes a time in every man's life when, faced with the prospects of his own mortality, he senses that some mea culpa is in order.
ReplyDeleteOne simply cannot go through life without apologizing for anything... and sometimes, we apologize for things over which we have no control, simply because.
I perceive this may be Mr. Calley's situation.
In the "fog of war" innocents get killed. It's a horrible fact of war. Though maligned, the term "collateral damage" does seem apropos.
Try as we may, innocent deaths will never be stopped, either in war or in every-day life. Their death is as horrible as any others' death - and yet we ask, are soldiers justified in shooting children... when they're suicide bombers? It happens. It's happening now.
How does one prosecute chief executives for doing what they hoped against hope would change?
I agree, I sense, with you Tim, that there is more honor in being honest about defeat, than there is in continuing ill-fated, and non-productive efforts.
Things change.
Life goes on.
Like it or not, war is a horrible part of life.
And, true to life, better late, than never, eh?