Week 5

Karen Nguyen

ASA 002 A02

April 30, 2016

            “Imperial University,” is a term that I have never heard until I took this class. However, it makes sense as the university receives the majority of its funds from the government through grants, aid, and more. Furthermore, ROTC programs are present at many, if not all, of the universities and colleges that receive money from the government. Not only that, however, the military offers very enticing incentives to the students attending this schools. For example, for any of the students that decide to join and do service afterwards, the military would pay for the student’s entire tuition. An incentive that is extremely appealing as tuition keeps on rising and students keeps on accumulating more and more debt. However, what is not said to these students is that being a part of the military can place you in truly horrific situations. In “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence” by Darrell Y. Hamamoto, being a part of the military can force a person into situations where war crimes are a daily thing and can be conceived as normal. As a result, their values can change drastically from the values they once had at home. The time in war and the enemies they fought may never leave them and could potentially influence them to continue killing their “enemies” at home or influence others around them to go and kill the “enemies.” For example, that is exactly what happened when the U.S. was at war with multiple Asian countries. When Bland was on trial for the murder of Pheobe Ho, he said that he was influenced by extensive readings of the war crimes committed against a Vietnamese village. Furthermore, it said that “the night stalker’s” violent murders were most likely shaped by his cousin who was in the military and participated in war crimes. However, no matter what, there is no justification for murder. The fact that wars can greatly influence the amount of serial killings and mass murderers should be taken seriously. Something needs to be done.  

Question

Why are only a few U.S. soldiers persecuted for war crimes when the numbers of war crimes committed by the U.S. are numerous?

References

Boggs, Carl Ed. 2003. Masters of War: Militarism and Blowback in the Era of American Empire. New York, New York: Routledge.

(2012, June 04). The Forgotten Atrocities of My Lai [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mylaiwarcrimes.blogspot.com/