“If people can convince themselves that we were restrained gentlemen during the war, it is easier to ignore the saturation bombing of civilian areas, counter-terrorism programs that included political assassination, routine killings of civilians, the 11.2 million gallons of Agent Orange to destroy crops and ground cover, the 6.5 million tons of bombs, and the 400,000 tons of napalm dropped in Southeast Asia. All part of the U.S. terror war in not only Vietnam but Laos and Cambodia as well. All those are clear violations of international law – that is, war crimes.”
I read this and I was wondering if it was accurate. What exactly was the crime commited?
I think you need a definition of a war crime. Most of what is listed in the OP is just plain war. Violent and brutal but part and parcel of war nonetheless. I mean, exactly what nice and pleasantly acceptable ways do people suggest you go about killing other people?
A war crime would be torture of prisoners. Killing non-combatants with reckless abandon (i.e. some innocents are going to get caught in carpet bombing from a B-52 and that’s probably just tough luck but targeting a village with no known military value is probably considered a no-no).
Napalm is a tool of war and I guarantee if you’re a grunt sitting in a ditch facing 100 yards of open field before a treeline filled with the enemy you are going to be VERY happy to see napalm going off in that treeline.
I’m not sure if our government really knew the long-term effects of agent orange. My guess is they didn’t really care and never bothered to find out. The important issue is I don’t believe we set out to practice chemical warfear on Vietnamese but rather just wanted to get rig of lots of jungle they were hiding in. Remember, many americans were slogging through agent orange as well.
Political assanination I’m unsure of. It seems to me that political leaders are primary targets in any war. If you destabilize the government of your enemy so much the better for you. That said politicians wanting to cover their own asses may have written some prohibition to this sort of thing in the Geneva Convention. I’d have to look it up.
6.5 million tons of bombs a war crime? Puhleeze…bombing has been around practically since the invention of the airplane and does not constitue a war crime in and of itself (what you bomb might however as mentioned above).
Laos and Cambodia? Well…going in their was technically wrong but in my book the friend of my enemy is my enemy. If some neighboring nation, not part of the war, is giving succor to my enemy then they have just become part of the war in my book. If they don’t want in the war then make certain both sides stay out of your country (ala Switzerland in WWII). To expect one side to allow the other side to freely stage troops and whatnot meant to kill your own people just because they are in a ‘neutral’ country is just dumb.
I am taking no position on any particular incidents of that war but I would point out:
(1) While I am sure war crimes were committed by the US side, they pale in comparison with what the other side did.
(2) It was an American officer who stopped the killing in Mi Lai and the incident was later investigated by the US. America does NOT condone war crimes. Unlike the communists who made it part of their everyday methods
(3) Hi Opal (hey! my first!)
(4) The communists brought much of this upon themselves by using civilians as combatants. When women and children, who appear to be peacefully going about their way, sudenly turn on Americans with a grenade or bomb, then they are giving up their right to be treated as civilians.
(5) it was a messy war. should the US apologize and compensate for any war crimes? I would have no opposition to this if the other side did the same thing, and they have much more to apologize for.
As a factual matter, I’d like to point out that Agent Orange is not believed to have any deleterious effects on any animal life. However, there’s many by-products of its manufacture (primarily dioxins) which are quite dangerous to humans, and which show up as impurities in the finished product. If we had intended to use it as an anti-personnel weapon, then we would have just made the impurities, and not bothered with the herbicide.