Hofstra Law & Policy Symposium Volume 3 Article 18 1-1-1997 An Absence of Accountability for the My Lai Massacre Jeannine Davanzo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlps Part of the Military, War, and Peace Commons Recommended Citation Davanzo, Jeannine (1997) "An Absence of Accountability for the My Lai Massacre," Hofstra Law & Policy Symposium: Vol. 3 , Article 18. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlps/vol3/iss1/18 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law & Policy Symposium by an authorized editor of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NOTE AN ABSENCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE MY LAI MASSACRE I. INTRODUCTION The legacy of My Lai leaves behind many unanswered ques- tions concerning accountability. For instance: Why in the aftermath of the massacre was there a failure to charge all those soldiers and high-ranking officials responsible for the carnage? Why was there a failure to convict those charged? Why were the sentences of the convicted not sustained? This article will discuss the breaking of the silence surrounding the massacre, the formal investigation led by Lieutenant General William R. Peers, the actual events that have become known as the "My Lai Massacre," the disposition of charges, the convictions, the apparent lack of United States accountability, the United States cover-up, as well as the United States government's disregard for the Nuremberg Principles. II. THE BEGINNING In the fall of 1969, war-weary America received a shock from the distant land of Vietnam.' On November 13, newspapers across the country printed accounts of a gruesome massacre that occurred eighteen months earlier in the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai by the United States infantry unit known as "Charlie Company." The Charlie Company was a unit of the American Division's 11th Infan- try Brigade.