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| 5/25 |
| 2004/11/18 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:34970 Activity:insanely high |
11/18 The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of:
http://www.vietnamwar.com/MyLai.htm (The Charlie Company)
http://hnn.us/articles/1802.html
http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/HNatureProposalsArticles/RapeWarfare.html
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0438/turse.php
\_ I can only assume you mean "I'm so out of touch, I've never
heard of all these Vietnam War crimes." Since I'm pretty sure
the rest of the civilized world has heard of them before. Pver
and over, in fact. |
| 5/25 |
|
| www.vietnamwar.com/MyLai.htm The Vietnam War American Flag 1965 - 1973 American Flag Vietnam War - My Lai Massacre The Vietnam War MARCH 16th 1968 MY LAI MASSACRE Vietnam War - My Lai Massacre - The villages of central Vietnam known col lectively as My Lai have been stamped by history as places of horrific a cts of war. More than 500 people, many of them women and children , were slaughtered here by American GIs on March 16, 1968. On that fateful d ay the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americ al Division entered the village of My Lai. "This is what you've been wai ting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superio r officers. When news of the atroc ities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the US political establishmen t, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American publ ic. My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily min ed area of Vietcong entrenchment. Numerous members of Charlie Company ha d been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. William Calley, entered the villag e poised for engagement with the elusive Vietcong. As the "search and de stroy" mission unfolded it soon degenerated into the massacre of over 30 0 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderl y Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and chil dren were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped, and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a gro up of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire. "Nothing needs to be said, and nothing can be said" My Lai Massacre The villages of central Vietnam known collectively as My Lai have been st amped by history as places of horrific acts of war. More than 500 people , many of them women and children , were slaughtered here by American G Is on March 16, 1968. On that fateful day the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy - - and you've got it," said their superior officers. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwav es through the US political establishment, the military's chain of comma nd, and an already divided American public. My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined ar ea of Vietcong entrenchment. Numerous members of Charlie Company had bee n maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. William Calley, entered the village poi sed for engagement with the elusive Vietcong. As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded it soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, chil dren, and the elderly. Calley ordered his men to enter the village firin g, though there had been no report of opposing fire. According to eyewit ness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, pr aying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped, and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to h ave rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire. Word of the massacre did not reach the American public until November of 1969, when journalist Seymour Hersh published a story detailing his conv ersations with ex-GI and Vietnam veteran, Ron Ridenhour. Ridenhour learn ed of the events at My Lai from members of Charlie Company who had been there. Before speaking with Hersh, he had appealed to Congress, the Whit e House, and the Pentagon to investigate the matter. The military invest igation resulted in Calley's being charged with murder in September 1969 -- a full two months before the Hersh story hit the streets. As the gruesome details of the massacre reached the American public serio us questions arose concerning the conduct of American soldiers in Vietna m A military commission investigating the My Lai massacre found widespr ead failures of leadership, discipline, and morale among the Army's figh ting units. As the war progressed, many "career" soldiers had either bee n rotated out or retired. In their place were scores of draftees whose fitness for leadership in the field of battle was que stionable at best. Military officials blamed inequities in the draft pol icy for the often slim talent pool from which they were forced to choose leaders. Many maintained that if the educated middle class ("the Harvar ds," as they were called) had joined in the fight, a man of Lt. William Calley's emotional and intellectual stature would never have been issuin g orders. William Calley - My Lai Massacre, March 16th 1968 Calle y, an unemployed college dropout, had managed to graduate from Officer's Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1967. At his trial, Calle y testified that he was ordered by Captain Ernest Medina to kill everyon e in the village of My Lai. Still, there was only enough photographic an d recorded evidence to convict Calley, alone, of murder. He was sentence d to life in prison, but was released in 1974, following many appeals. A fter being issued a dishonorable discharge, Calley entered the insurance business. William Calley is escorted to the Fort Benning stockade on March 31, 1971 to begin his lifeterm in prison for his part in the M y Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Calley's sentence was later reduc ed and he was released on parole in November 1975. William Calley is escorted to the Fort Benning stockade on March 31, 1971 to begin his lifeterm in prison for his part in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Calley's sentence was later reduced and he was released on parole in November 1975. The Medal of Honor - "THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE" - The Medal of Honor, established by joint resolution of Congress, 12 July 1862 (amended by Ac t of 9 July 1918 and Act of 25 July 1963) is awarded in the name of Cong ress to a person who, while a member of the Armed Services, distinguishe s himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action agains t any enemy of The United States; while engaged in military operations i nvolving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which The United States is not a belligerent party. The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrad es and must have involved risk of life. Incontestable proof of the perfo rmance of service is exacted and each recommendation for award of this d ecoration is considered on the standard of extraordinary merit. |
| hnn.us/articles/1802.html A Doctorate with a Differen ce designed for students to gain expertise in both conventional historic al methods and web-base technologies. GMU distinguished faculty can give you individualized attention. four-day series of investigative reports exposing a string of atroc ities by an elite, volunteer, 45-man "Tiger Force" unit of the US Army 's 101st Airborne Division over the course of seven months in 1967. The Blade goes on to state that in 1971 the Army began a four and a half yea r investigation of the alleged torture of prisoners, rapes of civilian w omen, the mutilation of bodies and killing of anywhere from nine to well over one hundred unarmed civilians, among other acts. The articles furt her report that the Army's inquiry concluded that eighteen US soldiers committed war crimes ranging from murder and assault to dereliction of duty. However, not one of the soldiers, even of those still on active du ty at the time of the investigation, was ever court martialed in connect ion with the heinous crimes. Moreover, six suspected war criminals were allowed to resign from military service during the criminal investigatio ns specifically to avoid prosecution. The Toledo Blade articles represent some of the best reporting on a Vietn am War crime by any newspaper, during or since the end of the conflict. Unfortunately, the articles tell a story that was all too common. As a h istorian writing his dissertation on US war crimes and atrocities duri ng the Vietnam War, I have been immersed in just the sort of archival ma terials the Toledo Blade used in its pieces, but not simply for one inci dent but hundreds if not thousands of analogous events. However, m uch of the mainstream historical literature dealing with Vietnam War atr ocities (and accompanying cover-ups and/or sham investigations), has bee n marginalized to a great extent -- aside from obligatory remarks concer ning the My Lai massacre, which is, itself, often treated as an isolated event. Unfortunately, the otherwise excellent reporting of the Toledo B lade draws upon and feeds off this exceptionalist argument to a certain extent. a third were substanti ated, leading to 21 convictions... according to a review of records at t he National Archives" facts of dubious value that obscure the scope an d number of war crimes perpetrated in Vietnam and feed the exceptionalis t argument. "Other Vietnam Atrocities," tends to decontextualize the "Tiger Force" incidents, treating them as fairly extraordinary events by listing only three other relatively well known atrocity incidents: former Senator, presidential candidate and Navy SEAL Bob Kerrey's raid on the hamlet of Thang Phong; the massacre at Son Tha ng -- sometimes referred to as the "Marine Corps' My Lai"; Anthony Herbert -- most famously chronicle d in his memoir Soldier. This short list, however, doesn't even hint at the scope and number of similar criminal acts. " Unfortunately, this seven month atrocity-spree is not nearly the longest on record. No r is it even the longest string of atrocities by one unit within its ser vice branch. detainees were subjected to maltreatment" by no less than twenty-three separate interrogators of the 172d Military Intellige nce (MI) Detachment. The inquiry found that, in addition to using "elect rical shock by means of a field telephone," an all too commonly used met hod of torture by Americans during the war, MI personnel also struck det ainees with their fists, sticks and boards and employed a form of water torture which impaired prisoners' ability to breath. Similar to the "Tiger Force" atrocities chronicled by the Blade, document s indicate that no disciplinary actions were taken against any of the in dividuals implicated in the long-running series of atrocities, including 172d MI personnel Norman Bowers, Franciszek Pyclik and Eberhard Gasper who were all on active duty at the time that the allegations were invest igated by Army officials. determination by commanders to take no action against thre e personnel on active duty who were suspected of committing an offense" had not been publicly acknowledged. Their crimes and identities kept a s ecret, Bowers, Pyclik and Gasper apparently escaped any prosecution, let alone punishment, for their alleged actions. Blade pays particular attention to Sam Ybarra, a "notorious suspect," who was named in seven of the thirty "Tiger Force " war crimes allegations investigated by the Army -- including the rape and fatal stabbing of a 13-year-old girl and the brutal killing of a 15- year-old boy. Yet, Ybarra's notorious reputation may well pale in compar ison to that of Sergeant Roy E "the Bummer" Bumgarner, a soldier who se rved with the 1st Cavalry Division and later the 173d Airborne Brigade. According to a former commander, "the Bummer" was rumored to have "perso nally killed over 1,500 people" during a forty-two week stretch in Vietn am. Even if the number was exaggerated, clues on how Bumgarner may have obtained high "body counts" came to light in the course of an Army crimi nal investigation of an incident that took place on February 25, 1969. A ccording to investigation documents, Bumgarner and a subordinate rounded up three civilians found working in a rice paddy, marched them to a sec luded area and murdered them. "The Bummer" then arranged the bodies on t he ground with their heads together and a grenade was exploded next to t hem in an attempt to cover-up their crime. Assorted weapons were then pl anted near the mutilated corpses to make them appear to have been enemy troops. During an Army criminal investigation of the incident, men in Bumgarner's unit told investigators that they had heard rumors of the sergeant carr ying out similar acts in the past. Said one soldier in a sworn statement to Army investigators: "I've heard of Bumgarner doing it before -- planting weapons on bodies wh en there is doubt as to their military status. I've heard quite a few ru mors about Bumgarner killing unarmed people. Only a couple weeks ago I h eard that Bumgarner had killed a Vietnamese girl and two younger kids (b oys), who didn't have any weapons." Unlike Sam Ybarra, who had been discharged from the military by the time the allegations against him came to light and then refused to cooperate with investigators, "the Bummer" was charged with premeditated murder an d tried by general court martial. He was convicted only of manslaughter and his punishment consisted merely of a demotion in rank and a fine of $97 a month for six months. Moreover, after six months, Bumgarner prompt ly re-enlisted in the Army. Military records demonstrate that the "Tiger Force" atrocities are only t he tip of a vast submerged history of atrocities in Vietnam. In fact, wh ile most atrocities were likely never chronicled or reported, the archiv al record is still rife with incidents analogous to those profiled in th e Blade articles, including the following atrocities chronicled in forme rly classified Army documents: * A November 1966 incident in which an officer in the Army's Fourth Inf antry Division, severed an ear from a Vietnamese corpse and affixed it to the radio antenna of a jeep as an ornament. The officer was given a non-judicial punishment and a letter of reprimand. The soldier was convicted only of indecent acts with a child and assault. Tried by general court martial in 1970, the sergeant pleaded guilty to, and was found guilty of, unpremeditated murder. The soldier admitted to his commanding officer and other men of his unit that he gunned down three civilians as they worked in a field. A CID investigation substantiated his confession and charges of premeditated murder were preferred against him. The soldier requested a discharge, which was granted by the commanding general of the Americal Division, in lieu of court martial proceedings. While not yielding the high-end body count estimate of the "Tiger Force" series of atrocities, the above incidents begin to demonstrate the ubiqu ity of the commission of atrocities on the part of American forces durin g the Vietnam War. Certainly, war crimes, such as murder, rape and mutil ation were not an everyday affair for American comb... |
| jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Research/HNatureProposalsArticles/RapeWarfare.html As a result of our inquiry into biological reasons for rape behavior, we have decided to concentrate on how frequently rape occurs in war. The fo rcible taking of womens sexual choice has been used as a way of attacki ng ones enemies since ancient times starting with cavemen, the Greeks a nd Romans, and medieval times leading all the way up to the American Civ il War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Presently, genocidal rape i s happening in Bosnia-Herzegovnia, Croatia, and Rwanda. Ironically, unti l recently these violations of women were more of an insult to the fathe r, husband, or other group of men that these women belonged to. We will be using our previous research on biological reasons for rape thr oughout the course of the paper. We believe that there may be connection s between animal behavior in war and human behavior in war. We have read in Jane Goodalls book, Through a Window that when chimpanzees attack r ival groups they almost always will fiercely attack the females. This be havior may be paralleled in human warfare, where women become the reward for military bravery, but unlike with chimps, infanticide is common. There are three areas which we will examine more closely. We will study t he overall history of rape in war, and then focus in on the Vietnam War as an example. The genocidal rape and other violations of women in certa in parts of the world are perhaps the most upsetting because they are oc curring at this moment. What is it about war that seems to give men perm ission to rape women? What are some steps that can be taken to prevent t his horrendous assault on human rights from occurring? By raping women, or taking away a womans control over her reproductive choice, a man may feel more control over his own life. During war, when many men feel powerless because of rank, resorting to rape is a relativ ely easy way to regain some of their lost power. The male is usually of low status, which would mean that he is reproductively disadvantaged, and rape might be his only chance at repr oduction. When asked if they would commit rape if they knew they could get away wit h it, around half of the men surveyed answered yes. During war, a peri od of confusion where anything seems possible for the group who has the upper hand, rape is prevalent. Often, the troops are specifically told t o rape women, (as it was with American troops in the Vietnam War) as a w ay of demoralizing the people who were being invaded. Other times women were taken and raped as trophies and prizes. Recently, as we have seen i n Bosnia-Herzegovnia, rape has been used as a way of ethnic cleansing. The cartoonish depiction of a caveman bonking a woman on the head and dragging her off is not too f ar off from reality. Many laws in ancient civilizations considered women as property. When a woman was raped, she was often forced into marrying her assailant. In ancient Hebrew law, many times the rapist and the rap e victim were stoned to death. Raped women were considered damaged goods , and if a woman was found to be raped, then the husband/father/brothers would be monetarily reimbursed. The ancient Greeks and Romans would rape and enslave women af ter they had conquered a city. The Bible even condones the abduction of women as war trophies. War has certainly been prevalent in the twentieth century, and so has rap e There have been documented occurrences of rape during conflict in pla ces such as Vietnam, the Philippine Islands, El Salvador and in many oth er places during the world wars. There does not seem to be a place that is free from either rape or war on the planet. Even with all the knowledge of rape warfare in the past, somehow it is st ill being allowed to occur today. In her book, Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, Beverly Allen describes and analyzes three kinds of genocidal rape practiced by the Serb forces ther e Soldiers brutally rape women in public and then return several days l ater to guarantee safe passage for the terrified villagers only if they promise never to return. In this case, rape is used as an instrument of subjugation and fear-inducement which the soldiers can use to manipulate the decisions of the community they are trying to scare away. Secondly, persons held in concentration camps are repeatedly raped and often kill ed. And perhaps the most sickening form of rape is when soldiers repeate dly rape women until they become pregnant and then continue the acts of rape until it is too late in the pregnancy for the women to receive a sa fe abortion. The women are then released, eventually to give birth to a Serb child, and be eternally rejected by their husbands and family. Many of these women return home only to be compelled to commit suicide, many times after committing infanticide. This is not only forcing the women to have sex, but forcing them to become pregnant and have the soldiers children. That an injustice against womens rights to control their own bodies is occurring so frequently without any formal recognition is perh aps the largest tragedy of our times. Genocidal or systematic rape is not an isolated or random occurrence with in a war theater. It is planned by superior officers of the conquering f action as a widespread assault against a targeted group of women. It is often performed in front of the womens community as a way to humiliate them and terrorize and intimidate other citizens into fleeing. In additi on to the loss of control and dignity that all rape victims must face, t hese women realize that they have been targeted for rape not only becaus e they are women, but because they are women of the hated ethnicity or r ace. Maybe this needs to be separated from category of war crimes and be recognized as enraging molestation of human rights. IMPORTANT: For each Research Response, make sure the title of the respons e is different than previous titles shown above! Response Title: Author: E-Mail: Optional: For Further Info on this Topic, Check out this WWW Site: Response Text: Submit Response Start Over Article complete. |
| www.villagevoice.com/issues/0438/turse.php ohn Kerry is being pilloried for his shocking Senate testimony 34 years ago that many US soldiersnot just a few "rogues"were committing atrocities against the Vietnamese. US military records that were clas sified for decades but are now available in the National Archives back K erry up and put the lie to his critics. Contrary to what those critics, including the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, have implied, Kerry was spe aking on behalf of many soldiers when he testified before the Senate For eign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, and said this: They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravag ed the countryside of South Vietnam, in addition to the normal ravage o f war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. The archives have hundreds of files of official US military investigati ons of such atrocities committed by American soldiers. I've pored over t hose recordswhich were classified for decadesfor my Columbia University dissertation and, now, this Voice article. The exact number of investiga ted allegations of atrocities is unknown, as is the number of such barba ric incidents that occurred but weren't investigated. Some war crimes, l ike the Tiger Force atrocities exposed last year by The Toledo Blade, ha ve only come to light decades later. But there are pl entiful records to back up Kerry's 1971 testimony point by point. Follow ing (with the names removed or abbreviated) are examples, directly from the archives: "They had personally raped" On August 12, 1967, Specialist S, a military intelligence interrogator, "raped . He was convicted of assault and indecent acts with a chil d He served seven months and 16 days for his crimes. "Cut off ears" On August 9, 1968, a seven-man patrol led by First Lieutenant S entered Dien Tien hamlet. "Shortly thereafter, Private First Class W was heard to shout to an unidentified person to halt. W fired his M-16 several ti mes, and the victim was killed. Staff Sergeant B told W to bring back an ear or finger if he wanted to prove himself a man. W later went back to the b ody and removed both ears and a finger." W was charged with assault and conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline; he was court-mar tialed and convicted, but he served no prison time. B was found guilty of assault and was fined $50 a month for three months. S was discharged from the army before action could be taken against him. "Cut off heads" On June 23, 1967, members of the 25th Infantry Division killed two enemy soldiers in combat in Binh Duong province. An army Criminal Investigatio n Division (CID) probe disclosed that "Staff Sergeant H then decapitate d the bodies with an axe." H was court-martialed and found guilty of co nduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline. "Taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power" On January 10, 1968, six Green Berets in Long Hai, South Vietnam, "applie d electrical torture via field telephones to the sensitive areas of the bodies of three men and one woman . " Four received reprimands and " Article 15s"a nonjudicial punishment meted out by a commanding officer o r officer in charge for minor offenses. A fifth refused to accept his Ar ticle 15, and no other action was taken against him. "Cut off limbs" A CID investigation disclosed that during late February or early March 19 68 near Thanh Duc, South Vietnam, First Lieutenant L ordered soldier K to shoot an unidentified Vietnamese civilian. shot the Vietnamese c ivilian, leaving him with wounds in the chest and stomach. Soldier B, a cting on orders from L, returned to the scene and killed the Vietnamese civilian, and an unidentified medic severed the Vietnamese civilian's l eft arm." No punishment was meted out because none of the "identified pe rpetrators" was found to be on active duty at the time of the June 1971 investigation. "Blown up bodies" On February 14, 1969, Platoon Sergeant B and Specialist R, on a reconna issance patrol in Binh Dinh province, "came upon three Vietnamese males . whom they detained and then shot at close range using M-16 automat ic fire. B then arranged the bodies on the ground so that their heads w ere close together. A fragmentation grenade was dropped next to the head s of the bodies." B was court-martialed, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to a reduction in grade and a fine of $97 per month for six m onthsafter which time he re-enlisted. "Randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of G enghis Khan" While a US "helicopter hunter-killer team . Gunship preparator y fire preceded the landing of a South Vietnamese army platoon, which ha d been diverted from another mission. A US captain accompanied the pla toon on the ground in violation of standing orders. The South Vietnamese troops, reconnoitering by fire, did not search bunkers for enemy forces , nor were enemy weapons found. Civilian casualties were estimated at eight dead, including two children, 15 wounded, and three or four st ructures destroyed. There is no evidence that the wounded were provided medical treatment by either US or South Vietnamese forces. Membe rs of the South Vietnamese platoon returned to the aircraft with large q uantities of civilian property. The incident was neither properly investigated nor reported initially." Letters of reprimand were issued t o a lieutenant colonel and a major. John Kerry made it clear when he testified more than three decades ago th at what he told the Senate was the cumulative testimony of well over 100 "honorably discharged and many very highly decorated" Vietnam vets who gathered in Detroit in early 1971. Calling their gathering the Winter So ldier Investigation, they were trying to raise awareness of the type of war they said America was waging in Southeast Asia. All these years later, neither the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) n or the media feeding their allegations about Kerry's supposedly "false ' war crimes' charges" even broaches the subject of Vietnamese suffering, let alone talk about Kerry's exposition of large-scale atrocities, such as free-fire zones and bombardment of villagesgross violations of intern ational law cannot simply be denied or explained away. Having worked for nearly five years doing research on post-traumatic stre ss disorder among Vietnam vets, I understand the intense trauma experien ced by many of them. Perhaps as many as 2 mill ion Vietnamese civilians died during the war, and who can even guess at the number woundedphysically and psychologically. On its website, the SBVT tries to debunk the Winter Soldier Investigation by using the same rhetoric that apologists for the Vietnam War have lon g employed: They paint the vets who attended the Detroit meeting as a pa rade of fake veterans offering false testimony. "None of the Winter Sold ier 'witnesses' Kerry cited in his Senate testimony less than three mont hs later were willing to sign affidavits, and their gruesome stories lac ked the names, dates, and places that would allow their claims to be tes ted," the SBVT claims. "Few were willing to cooperate with military inve stigators." While numerous authors have repeatedly advanced such assertions, US mil itary documents tell a radically different story. According to the forme rly classified army records, 46 soldiers who testified at the WSI made a llegations that, in the eyes of US Army investigators, "merited furthe r inquiry." As of March 1972, the army's CID noted that of the 46 allega tions, "only 43 complainants have been identified" by investigators. That means at least 93 percent of the veterans surveyed we re real, not fake. Moreover, according to official records, CID investig ators attempted to contact 41 people who testified at the Detroit sessio n, which occurred between January 31 and February 2, 1971. Of the ... |