The Meli Massacre Was Not a One Off Event

The meli massacre, as it came to be known, was not a one off event. The scandal plunged a red hot spike of doubt into the national psyche. As ran ridenhauer bitterly observed years after sending his letter, the butchery of venemi civilians by american troops was not an aberration, it was an operation. To paraphrase journalist nick terse, the only aberration about mili was the fact that had been investigated at all. This massacre was just a single note and a long, heart breaking melody of misery. In the forty five years since it ended, the united s has been soul searching in an attempt to grapple with what happened and what it meant.