On this day in 1969: Massacre of civilians at My Lai, South Vietnam by U.S. is 1st reported

Start:	Nov 16, '09
Location:	My Lai, Vietnam

The Vietnam War was America’s longest and most unresolved military conflict. During the war and continuing today, Americans have been conflicted in their attitudes toward U.S. participation in the war. The United States first became involved in Vietnam after World War II, when France was struggling to regain colonial control. In 1945, Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese nationalist leader, resumed guerilla war against the French to fight for liberation from colonial domination. By 1950, the United States. was supporting France’s efforts to hold onto Vietnam. At the same time, U.S. officials began to see the situation in Vietnam through the lens of Cold War diplomacy. Ho’s combination of communism and nationalism worried the West, and the United States soon found itself involved in a civil war between North and South Vietnam, one in which it sought to halt the spread of communism.

But the lines between North and South had always been permeable. There were many North Vietnamese (Vietcong) sympathizers in South Vietnam. It became increasingly difficult for American solidiers to distinguish the Vietnamese they were fighting to protect from those who were the enemy. Vietcong guerrilla warfare in the hot jungle took its toll on American soldiers, who grew increasingly frustrated and angry in a war that seemed unwinnable. Racism also played a part in distancing American soldiers from the horror of war for the Vietnamese. Vietnamese were referred to as slopes, gooks, and slant-eyes.

The My Lai massacre occurred in 1968, during the last stages of the Tet Offensive, the Vietcong’s massive invasion of South Vietnam. By this time, American troops had been in Vietnam since 1963, with victory far from sight. U.S. troops repelled the attack, but at home the Tet Offensive was a political disaster, precipitating Lyndon Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the 1968 presidential election.

On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers. A short time later the killing began.

As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire.

In 1969, news of My Lai and photographs of the massacre emerged; attempts at a cover-up drove home to Americans the tragedies of fighting in Vietnam.

Iran Says 'Bring On the Inspectors'

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-30/obamas-last-iran-option/?cid=hp:mainpromo1
At a historic six-party meeting, Iran agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency representatives to its new nuke site. Reza Aslan writes on why these negotiations are the U.S.A.'s last option.

On this day in 1994: 3000 U.S. militia lands on Haiti

Start:	Sep 19, '09
Location:	Port-au-Prince, Haiti

In mid-September 1994, with U.S. troops prepared to enter Haiti by force for Operation Uphold Democracy, President Bill Clinton dispatched a negotiating team led by former President Jimmy Carter to persuade the authorities to step aside and allow for the return of constitutional rule.

With intervening troops already airborne, top leaders agreed to step down. In October an exiled Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a charismatic Roman Catholic priest (and an on-again, off-again U.S. ally), was able to return to Haiti. Elections were held in June 1995. Aristide's coalition, the Lavalas (Waterfall) Political Organization, had a sweeping victory.

When Aristide's term ended in February 1996, René Préval, a prominent Aristide political ally, was elected President with 88% of the vote: this was Haiti's first ever transition between two democratically elected presidents.

But it's gone downhill in Haiti ever since.

On this day in 1983: U.S. House of Representatives votes, 416 to 0, in favor of a resolution condemning Russia for shooting down a Korean jetliner

Start:

Sep 14, '09

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a Korean Air Lines civilian airliner that was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983, over the Sea of Japan, just west of Sakhalin island over prohibited Soviet airspace. All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed, including Lawrence McDonald, a sitting member of the United States Congress.

Fourteen days later the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to condemn Russia's actions.

The aircraft was en route from New York City via Anchorage to Seoul when it strayed into prohibited Soviet airspace because of a navigational error.

The Soviet Union initially denied knowledge of the incident, but later admitted shooting the aircraft down, claiming that it was on a spy mission.The Politburo said it was a deliberate provocation by the United States, to test the Soviet Union's military preparedness, or even to provoke a war.

The United States accused the Soviet Union of obstructing search and rescue operations. Furthermore, the Soviet military suppressed evidence sought by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) investigation, notably the flight data recorders, which were eventually released nine years later after a change of government.



The incident was one of the most tense moments of the Cold War, and resulted in an escalation of anti-Soviet sentiment, particularly in the United States.