Buried Secrets, Brutal Truts__Vietnam War Crimes: Dozens of Civilians killed by "Tiger Force"__Elite US Force.

[preslove]

The Washington Monthly lists this as theirMonthly Journalism Award recipient.

They have interviews from members of the unit. This is all substantiated by the Army. The Toledo Blade is a well established paper. The authors spent over a year researching and interviewing.

I heard about this series from NOW, With Bill Moyers, and it seems to be getting little mainstream attention. You would think that if we really had a savagely liberal media stuff like this would get mentioned by the big media players.

Here is a gruesome tidbid:

Women and children were intentionally blown up in underground bunkers. Elderly farmers were shot as they toiled in the fields. Prisoners were tortured and executed - their ears and scalps severed for souvenirs. One soldier kicked out the teeth of executed civilians for their gold fillings.

Two soldiers tried to stop the killings, but their pleas were ignored by commanders. The Army launched an investigation in 1971 that lasted 41/2 years - the longest-known war-crime investigation of the Vietnam conflict.

The case reached the highest levels of the Pentagon and the Nixon White House.

Investigators concluded that 18 soldiers committed war crimes ranging from murder and assault to dereliction of duty. But no one was charged.

Since the war ended, the American public has been fed a dose of movies fictionalizing the excesses of U.S. units in Vietnam, such as Apocalypse Now and Platoon. But in reality, most war-crime cases focused on a single event, like the My Lai massacre.

The Tiger Force case is different. The atrocities took place over seven months, leaving an untold number dead - possibly several hundred civilians, former soldiers and villagers now say.

One medic said he counted 120 unarmed villagers killed in one month.

Do people actually believe we should use the military to save people from themselves? They are trained to kill, and sadly, they, as all militaries have done since the rise of organized societies, sometimes kill the people that we apparently want the to "save."

By the time Tiger Force soldiers stopped firing their weapons, six people were dead, including two children.

They weren't carrying weapons, or dressed in enemy uniforms, but it didn't matter: They were living in a free-fire zone.

For Vietnamese civilians, it was a dangerous decision.

It meant they were in an area where the U.S. military could strike without warning.

No approval was necessary for soldiers to open fire or order air strikes on a specific region - or village - as long as two conditions were met: Troops had to be attacked, and their targets had to be military.

 

[preslove]

Here's another little tidbit that shows our glorious military's resolve when it comes to prosecuting its own soldiers for heinous acts. No wonder the U.S. has resisted the creation of the International Criminal Court. U.S. officials know just how grisly our past is.
text

DAY 2: Inquiry ended without justice
Army substantiated numerous charges - then dropped case of Vietnam war crimes

By MICHAEL D. SALLAH and MITCH WEISS
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
c THE BLADE, 2003

Seven years after leaving Vietnam, James Barnett broke down.

Haunted by the killing of civilians, the former Tiger Force sergeant invited Army investigators to his home to offer a surprise confession.

He admitted to shooting a young, unarmed mother. He admitted to his platoon's cruel treatment of villagers.

He asked for immunity from prosecution, but in the end, he never needed the legal protection.

No one would.

Though the Army substantiated 20 war crimes by 18 Tiger Force soldiers committed in 1967 - with numerous eyewitnesses - no charges were filed.

An investigation that should have brought justice to the longest series of atrocities by a U.S. fighting unit in Vietnam reached the Pentagon and White House but never a court of law - or the American public.

Instead, the case was hidden in the Army's archives, and key suspects were allowed to continue their military careers.

By the time the investigation was over, a justice system that promised to prosecute war criminals ended up protecting them.

At every turn, the system failed.

 

[miguel]

I don't think the liberal media wants to air stuff like this pre-election because they don't want to seem anti-military. IMHO.

 

[GrGr]

What liberal media?

Last year Germany prosecuted and sentenced a 93 year old former SS soldier for war crimes. The Pentagon and White House Tiger Force cover up stinks, but it is not too late for justice.

 

[Czar]

the ICC cant do nothing about the past, only what has happened from now and onwards

 

[Frdm51472]

I wasnt there, therefore I cant pass judgement. From everything I understand about VietNam you didnt know who your enemy was. Ground war is hell people, do not presume that you know the first thing about the situation these people were in on either side.

 

[preslove]

Read the articles, the estimate by the soldiers that commited these crimes estimated the total # of dead civilians in the hundreds. Here are some accounts. These men no what they did was wrong, and seem repentant. Repentance doesn't bring back old men. These villagers didn't want to leave the villages of their fathers, mothers, grandmothers, and grandfathers. They fought back, as all villagers put in the same situation would do, and they were murdered.

The elderly man praying on his knees. The officer pointing a rifle at the man's head.

The shot.

That piercing shot.

Before it's over, the old man drops to the ground - his body twitching in the blood-soaked grass.

Over and over, Mr. Bowman relives the execution of the Vietnamese villager known as Dao Hue.

Despite years of therapy, the former Tiger Force soldier is still deeply troubled by the brutal shooting he witnessed as a young medic in the Song Ve Valley..................................................................
..............


..............................Rion Causey, a former Tiger Force medic, says he participated in group conseling a decade after seeing the killing of villagers in Vietnam. 'I didn't condemn what was going on at the time. I was 19 years old, but I knew what they were doing was wrong.' ....................................................................



.............................Mr. Teeters said he struggles with his own acts - the executions of captured soldiers - and the actions of former platoon members in the deaths of villagers.

"The killing haunts me every minute of my life,'' he said in a recent interview. "To survive, you had to say, `The killing don't mean nothing.' That's how you got through it, man. But eventually, it all catches up with you.''

Former Sgt. Ernest Moreland refuses to talk about his role in the stabbing death of a detainee near Duc Pho, saying he fears he could be charged. But he said he still tries to rationalize the killing.

"The things you did. You think back and say, `I can't believe I did that.' At the time, it seemed right," he said. "But now, you know what you did was wrong. The killing gets to you. The nightmares get to you. You just can't escape it. You can't escape the past."

"I drank too much. I got into a lot of fights," said Mr. Moreland, who now lives in Florida.

It wasn't until four years ago that he sought help. "I came very close to committing suicide,'' he said.

I guess hell is knowing that you are doing the devil's work.


peace... please?