(Hopefully this picture comes out animated). We've all seen the still picture as one of the horrors of the Vietnam war but I personally never saw the film (or animated gif) of it. What's really grotesque, besides the obvious, is the following:
"Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyen and his family for the irreparable damage it did to Loan's honor while he was alive. When Nguyen died, Adams praised him as a "hero" of a "just cause"."
To be grotesque is to apologize for the truth.
Well I think it's more that he feels bad for ruining General Loan's reputation. The image had the affect of condemning his actions and, in a way, glorifying the Viet Cong assassin. General Loan was just responding to the murders of his men. The man shot was not a prisoner of war. He was an enemy combatant who was being punished for his crimes. If General Loan had shot him in the head as the man fled, it would have been justified. So too is it here. I think that Adams just wanted to apologize because it had so much impact, which he had never intended. He was simply a photographer, and he knew that the whole story never accompanied the photo.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, there are much more graphic videos of the same event. If anyone is interested, here is a link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2390091327094425662#
I don't think justified is the right word and in general pow's aren't executed at least according to geneva conventions.
ReplyDeleteBut very little was done right in the Vietnam War. I'd doubt very much if many of the POWs were treated correctly. I'm not saying it was justified, I'm just saying that there is a backstory that is seldom told and that helps clarify it. In any case, when is the murder of a human being justified?
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