From: Anne Marie Ellison <ellisona@umich.edu>
Subject: Colin Powell and My Lai
You remember correctly. Jules Witcover talks a bit about it in his
new book _1968: The Year the Dream Died_, somewhere in the first few
hundred pages (it seems to me around the 150s). There's only about a
paragraph about it, but I'm sure there are bibliographical/footnote
citations that can direct you to primary source materials.
-Anne Marie Ellison
ellisona@umich.edu
Bill Ehrhart wrote:
> I recall reading somewhere--*Newsweek*?--about a year or two ago that in
> his capacity as assistant operations officer of the Americal Division in
> 1969, then Major Colin Powell wrote the official division report on the
> initial investigation about what did or didn't happen at My Lai in the
> spring of 1968; the report concluded that there had been no massacre and
> that American troops had not conducted themselves inappropriately.
>
> Does anyone else remember reading this? Can anyone confirm my
> recollection--or definitively refute it? I need to know whether the
> above information is fact or merely my own faulty recollection.
____________________________
[2]
From: epm2@lehigh.edu (TED MORGAN)
Bill Ehrhart asked about the Newsweek report on Colin Powell & My Lai
--good memory, Bill. It was there! In fact, here it is (the
reference & the section dealing with My Lai):
Copyright 1995 Newsweek
Newsweek
September 11, 1995 , UNITED STATES EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL AFFAIRS; The Cover; Pg. 33
LENGTH: 1216 words
HEADLINE: The Very Model of a Political General
BYLINE: JOHN BARRY in Washington
HIGHLIGHT:
On duty with Powell, from Vietnam to the gulf
BODY:
<snip>
"Still, Powell had the bad luck to be caught up in two of the most
notorious scandals of his time -- the My Lai massacre and the
Iran-contra affair. He also was directly involved in the controversial
decision to end the gulf war just short of destroying Saddam Hussein's
elite Republican Guards. Though Powell discusses these incidents in
his autobiography, the book smooths over some hard truths."
"My Lai: Nobody suggests that Powell, who wasn't even in Vietnam on
March 16, 1968, had any responsibility for the massacre itself. But as
deputy operations officer of the Americal Division eight months later,
the then Major Powell drafted its first official response to rumors
that U.S. troops had run amok -- and his denial of the event, in which
up to 400 Vietnamese civilians died at the hands of U. S. soldiers, is
part of what investigators concluded was a cover-up."
"Powell has consistently said he knew nothing about My Lai until much
later -- in his new book, he says nearly two years later. Senior
officers who were in Vietnam at the time are quietly skeptical of his
account. They point out that word of the massacre -- which did not
become public until November 1069 -- quickly spread through the
region, and to the Americal Division's headquarters. In the fall of
'68, the top brass in Vietnam had the first blurry hint in an ominous
letter from an 111h Brigade grunt named Tom Glen. Powell got the job
of drafting the division's response. He reported the rumors were
unfounded but never talked to Glen. And though Powell says he knew
nothing of My Lai even after it became news in November "69,
Lt. William Calley was charged with multiple murders in September --
only nine months after Powell had dismissed the rumors."
"Iran-contra: As Weinberger's military assistant, Powell was in the
loop on the Reagan administration's secret plan to supply Hawk and TOW
missiles to Iran. "
<snip> I can send you the whole piece if you want it...
Ted Morgan
================================
Department of Political Science
Maginnes Hall #9
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA 18015
epm2@lehigh.edu
phone: (610) 758-3345
fax: (610) 758-6554
____________________________________
[3]
From: PNFPNF@aol.com
Subject: Re: My Lai report
Dear Bill Ehrhart,
I have a vague sense of having read something on this, though whether re a
report by Powell, or other details, I've no idea--just the sense there was
some internal whitewashing publicized at some point. Be interesting if
you're correct on this!
Paula Friedman
__________________________________
[4]
From: J_ANDREW@ACAD.FANDM.EDU (John Andrew)
Bill,
I believe that you are right, and indeed have also read this
somewhere recently - but unfortunately I cannot at the moment put my finger
or brain on just where I came across it - this was to be the point of an
article for THE NATION, if I remember correctly, if Powell had become an
active candidate in the last election - and to be written by Ron Ridenhour
- I understand that it did not appear because Powell announced he was not
going to run-
John
_________________________________
[5]
From: "Kevin Cole" <kccole@one.net>
Subject: Re: colin powell as americal's xo
Here's a listing from the ADVA's bibiography page for a bio that covers the
period and may cite the document you're trying to remember. (I don't
recall the Newsweek article you mention, sorry.) Hope this helps.
--Kevin
Means, Howard
Colin Powell: A Biography. (As a major, Powell served as XO, 3-lst Inf, 11th
LIB, and as acting G3 and G3A, HQ, Americal Division, 1968-69)
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>Dear Sixties List Folks,
>
>I recall reading somewhere--*Newsweek*?--about a year or two ago that in
>his capacity as assistant operations officer of the Americal Division in
>1969, then Major Colin Powell wrote the official division report on the
>initial investigation about what did or didn't happen at My Lai in the
>spring of 1968; the report concluded that there had been no massacre and
>that American troops had not conducted themselves inappropriately.
>
>Does anyone else remember reading this? Can anyone confirm my
>recollection--or definitively refute it? I need to know whether the
>above information is fact or merely my own faulty recollection.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bill Ehrhart
>6845 Anderson St.
>Philadelphia, PA 19119
>215-848-2068
>215-848-3631 (fax)
>wdehrhart@worldnet.att.net
>
>
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 16:55:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Paul Lyons <Plyons@stockton.edu>
To: owner-sixties-l <owner-sixties-l@jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU>
Subject: Re: - no subject (01IO6EGXWH0W935A2A) -
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SIXTIES-L@jefferson.village.virginia.edu Subject: Colin Powell & My Lai
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>>
>>Dear Sixties List Folks,
>>
>>I recall reading somewhere--*Newsweek*?--about a year or two ago that in his
capacity as assistant operations officer of the Americal Division in 1969,
then Major Colin Powell wrote the official division report on the initial
investigation about what did or didn't happen at My Lai in the spring of 1968;
the report concluded that there had been no massacre and that American troops
had not conducted themselves inappropriately.
>>
>>Does anyone else remember reading this? Can anyone confirm my
recollection--or definitively refute it? I need to know whether the above
information is fact or merely my own faulty recollection.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Bill Ehrhart 6845 Anderson St. Philadelphia, PA 19119 215-848-2068
215-848-3631 (fax) wdehrhart@worldnet.att.net
Bill--p.213 of Bilton & Sim, 4 Hrs in MyLai, "In the hdqtrs of the Am.Div. on
ChLai that Dec, a reassuring memorandum was prepared for the AdjGen by Major
Colin Luther Powell, the asst chief of staff(op)....Powell wrote what his
superiors wanted to hear...concluded even more complacently, "Although there
may be isolated cases oof mistreatment of civilians and POWs this by no means
reflects the general attitude throughout the division. In direct refutationm
of this portrayal(by Tom Glen)is the fact that relations between Am. soldiers
and the Vietnamese are excellent." (Paul--deaf and dumb)