It is well known how we pursued the criminals of the Third Reich, having them tried and sentenced at Nuermburg, and many subsequently executed. Latter, the Weissenthal Foundation continues pursuing them and bringing them to trial.

Also, we pursue the accused criminals of Iraq under Saddam’s regime, not to mention the more recent war criminals of eastern Europe.

When it comes to our own servicemen that did the same, our own western Government’s fall into denial, cover-ups and propaganda claims.

Some examples…..

During World Wars one and two, it is referred to in numerous repeated anecdotes about some Australian soldiers executing prisoners. Two former Aussie soldiers who served in New Guinea during World War two openly said they executed Japanese prisoners as a matter of course. No Australian was ever charged or stood trial for these allegations.

There are anecdotes and historical references (including film footage) showing French citizens after the Germans retreated out of Paris, systematically rounding up other French citizens who had collaborated with the Germans and gunning them down and/or beating them to death without a trial.

There is an unproven, but widely reported claim that UN peace keepers in Somalia machine gunned refugees (who were unarmed), when they refused to move back from an aid station during food distribution.

In Afghanistan, and exposed in a French made documentary (banned from distribution in the US), of a US lead escort of Afghan prisoners being carried in shipping containers. The US official version is they containers were machine gunned, for the purpose of creating air holes to transport the prisoners. However, the witnesses say the prisoners were put in the containers, transported to a remote location and the containers were machine gunned with the prisoners inside. The documentary showed the mass grave (showing the gunned down bodies) which was pointed out to them by the witnesses who saw this event occur.

http://vodpod.com/watch/2702864-us-war-crimes-in-mazar-afghanistan-

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n27.shtml

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/dec2001/pows-d13.shtml

Consider also the war in Vietnam….
The My Lai perhaps being the only well known war crime by US personnel in Vietnam, but there were apparently many others…

http://www.hnn.us/articles/1802.html

QUOTE – “The articles further report that the Army’s inquiry concluded that eighteen U.S. soldiers committed war crimes ranging from murder and assault to dereliction of duty. However, not one of the soldiers, even of those still on active duty at the time of the investigation, was ever court martialed in connection with the heinous crimes. Moreover, six suspected war criminals were allowed to resign from military service during the criminal investigations specifically to avoid prosecution.

According to formerly classified Army documents, an investigation disclosed that from at least March 1968 through October 1969, “Vietnamese [civilian] detainees were subjected to maltreatment” by no less than twenty-three separate interrogators of the 172d Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment. ”

And these allegations….
* A November 1966 incident in which an officer in the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division, severed an ear from a Vietnamese corpse and affixed it to the radio antenna of a jeep as an ornament. The officer was given a non-judicial punishment and a letter of reprimand.

* An August 1967 atrocity in which a 13-year-old Vietnamese child was ***** by American MI interrogator of the Army’s 196th Infantry Brigade. The soldier was convicted only of indecent acts with a child and assault. He served seven months and sixteen days for his crime.

* A September 1967 incident in which an American sergeant killed two Vietnamese children — executing one at point blank range with a bullet to the head. Tried by general court martial in 1970, the sergeant pleaded guilty to, and was found guilty of, unpremeditated murder. He was, however, sentenced to no punishment.

* An atrocity that took place on February 4, 1968, just over a month before the My Lai massacre, in the same province by a man from the same division (Americal). The soldier admitted to his commanding officer and other men of his unit that he gunned down three civilians as they worked in a field. A CID investigation substantiated his confession and charges of premeditated murder were preferred against him. The soldier requested a discharge, which was granted by the commanding general of the American Division, in lieu of court martial proceedings.

* A series of atrocities similar to, and occurring the same year as, the “Tiger Force” war crimes in which one unit allegedly engaged in an **** of murder, **** and mutilation, over the course of several months.

Why is it that we pursue with such passion the war criminals of other countries, but not our own??
Are we hypocrites ?
If it was not obvious in what I posted, I wish to emphasize that the allegations against our own people committing war crimes, is alleged against an extreme minority. The vast majority of our servicemen served with honor and distinguish.

Asked by:Oz M