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Report on War Crimes (Vietnam) Atrocities and war crimes are acts of violence which exceed military necessity; examples are neglect, mistreatment and abuse of citizens and prisoners of war. Infamous examples of extreme war crimes are those which occurred in Vietnam and Cambodia from 1959 until 1975 notably by the U.S Defence Force as part of the Vietnam War. It is noted that similar atrocities were also committed by the Vietcong, the South Vietnamese force; however the focus of this report will be on the American military’s war crimes. Olive-Drab (2008) says that American military units are trained and indoctrinated to avoid inhuman treatment of enemy combatants and those soldiers who violate the norms are prosecuted. He also makes the point that this reduces the chance of war crimes but does not eliminate the problem. The worst case of an American war crime was what became known as the My Lai Massacre, on 16 March 1968. The village of My Lai was attacked in order to evacuate any of the residing Vietcong in the area. Olive-Drab (2008) states that around 400-500 civilians were killed in the process; innocent men, women, babies and children executed, sexually assaulted and tortured. Journalist for the New York Times, Henry Kann (19) reported that the area had been largely under Vietcong control; however the villagers had engaged in no hostile action against the Americans and bore no arms. He interviewed villager Do Hoai, whose mother, brother and brother’s three children had been killed by the Americans. Hoai, a rice farmer said that those who escaped the slaughter, as he and his wife did, hid under the bodies of victims until the Americans left. According to Hammer (2008), it was only until series of letters by a former soldier to government officials appeared which forced the army to take action. The war crimes committed in My Lai aroused widespread controversy and contributed to growing disillusionment in the United States with the Vietnam War.

Bibliography

Tertiary Hammer, R 2008, My Lai Incident, Columbia Encyclopaedia Sixth Edition, accessed 27/07/2009, http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/My_Lai_incident.aspx

Primary Kann, H 1968, ‘Vietnamese Say G.I.'s Slew 567 in Town’, New York Times, 16 November, pg 1

Secondary Olive-Drab 2008, Vietnam War Atrocities, accessed 27/07/2009, http://www.olivedrab.com/od_history_vietnam_atrocities.php