While My Lai was horrible, evidence collected since then such as in Nick Turse's book "Kill Anything That Moves" [1] and at the Winter Soldier hearings [2] show that Mai Lai was hardly an aberration. Horrible atrocities committed by US soldiers were widespread in Vietnam, much more so than most people digesting the Ken Burns narrative realize.

What's important to learn about My Lai isn't just that it happened - that Americans are indeed as capable of horrible atrocities as anyone - but that almost no consequences resulted. In fact, as Turse discovers, Army officials who were aware of what was happening in Vietnam later moved to take control of the Criminal Investigation Division in order to suppress investigation and prosecution of the innumerable war crimes that took place. The most significant prosecution that took place was of Lt. William Calley, who ultimately received 3 1/2 years of house arrest after being convicted of hundreds of murders. The message that this sends to the rest of the world is that we are imperialist killers of the highest order, and we are above the law.

Without looking at these atrocities in the eye, we are doomed to repeat them. And so we have.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_Investigation

One of the best books to read to get a feel for how America commits its war crimes is Kill Anything that Moves about the Vietnam war.

http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American-eboo...

It is if you're American. Atrocities were committed virtually every day in Vietnam, the scant few they were forced to charge got little more than slaps on the wrist, if they got convicted at all. One jury had convicted a service-member of premeditated murder but they withdrew the verdict after finding out there was a mandatory life sentence.

http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/0...