Culpability and War Crimes

While review my My Lai materials for the first chapter of my dissertation, I came across Brigadier General Howard H. Cooksey's response to Tom Glen, who served in the 4/3rd Infantry, 11th Brigade, Americal Division.  Glen had written MACV Commander Creighton Abrams as he left Vietnam for home about abuses of Vietnamese by American soldiers.  Cooksey's comments get to the core of my dissertation since I'm writing more about witnesses to atrocities than the alleged perpetrators:

It is the duty of every American soldier to ensure that [the Geneva Conventions] are upheld, and the responsibility of violations rests in a certain measure upon those who do not report violations they have witnessed.  You imply that this goes on at other than the individual level; yet, there is always a higher headquarters to which violations can be referred and channels exist to which these reports can be made.  You ask: "Does his presence in a combat zone and his possession of a rifle absolve a soldier from moral responsibility?" The answer to that is, of course, No.  But neither is a person who keeps silent when he witnesses a war crimes absolved of responsibility for that crime because he did not actively participate in it.*

This is certainly the correct legal, moral, and ethical response, but when considered in relation to My Lai, seems a bit naive.  Hugh Thompson and Chaplain CPT Creswell both reported the massacre to higher authority, and radio intercepts of the conversations among the helicopter pilots were made, but the officers of Task Force Barker were successful in their cover-up of what happened at My Lai.  Only letters to Congress and media coverage brought any action.  The dozens of other men who witnessed the massacre, including those who refused to take part, did nothing to report the massacre to the authorities, and themselves took part in hushing things up when COL Oran K. Henderson and LTC Frank Barker conducted their sham of an investigation of their own units.  What I'm trying to get at is how those guys rationalized their noninvolvement and lack of intervention when they witnessed what were clearly war crimes.

Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim, Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Viking, 1992.

Online Collection of Soviet War Posters at the University of Nottingham

Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham (in collaboration with Web Technologies and the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies), have created a website for the display of its collection of Soviet war posters, curated by Cynthia Marsh, Emeritus Professor of Russian Drama and Literature: http://windowsonwar.nottingham.ac.uk/


The online exhibition examines the creation, intentions and use of the posters in great detail. Each poster is placed within ‘stories’ to provide context and simple routes through the site in a horizontal layout echoing the experience when visiting a real exhibition. They are featured full screen with hotspots and side panels providing information on the war context, design, artists and writers involved in their creation, giving a broad historical commentary. Audio (readings of the verse featured on some of the posters) and video (interviews with various members of the team) are also being added.

Eleonora Nicchiarelli
Digital Development Officer
Manuscripts and Special Collections
University of Nottingham
King's Meadow Campus
Lenton Lane
Nottingham
NG7 2NR
Tel: 0115 84 68649

Email: eleonora.nicchiarelli@nottingham.ac.uk

Jane White: Rich Colleges, Poor Professors

This is a future I rather dread is a possibility.  From the article:

Melissa Bruninga-Matteau is a single mother who relies on food stamps and Medicaid to survive. Her take-home pay is $900 a month, of which $750 goes to rent and $40 goes to gas. Where does she work? If you're thinking a fast food chain, think again. She's a PhD who teaches humanities courses at a state college in Arizona.

"I find it horrifying that someone who stands in front of college classes and teaches is on welfare," she told the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012. The only thing worse than being an underpaid professional is shouldering an even higher debt load than your average college graduate. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the total tab for a typical doctoral program will range from $242,000-$300,000.

Part of Bruninga-Mattaeu's dilemma is driven by shrinking state budgets. But it isn't just the public sector that's squeezing academic pay. Elite private schools have saved money by increasing the number of adjunct professors, who because their jobs aren't permanent or full-time their teaching load is below the minimum required to qualify for health care coverage, retirement benefits or unemployment benefits. Incredibly, the majority of professors in the U.S. are benefit-deprived. According to the American Association of University Professors, 70 percent of college faculty work outside the tenure track. So they likely wind up working at multiple employers but still getting no benefits.

Jane White: Rich Colleges, Poor Professors

This Week's Reading

Most of this is review and note-taking, not new reading, but I have to get through it FAST!

Books at USF (Go Bulls!)

Anderson, David L. 1998. Facing My Lai: moving beyond the massacre. Lawrence, Kan: University Press of Kansas.

French, Peter A. 1972. Individual and collective responsibility: massacre at My Lai. Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman Pub. Co.

Hersh, Seymour M. 1970. My lai 4: a report on the massacre and its aftermath. New York: Random House.

Hersh, Seymour M. 1972. Cover-up: [the Army's secret investigation of the massacre at My lai 4. New York: Random House.

Oliver, Kendrick. 2006. The My Lai massacre in American history and memory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Peers, William R. 1979. The My Lai inquiry. New York: Norton.

United States, William R. Peers, Joseph Goldstein, Burke Marshall, and Jack Schwartz. 1976. The My Lai Massacre and its cover-up: beyond the reach of law? : The Peers Commission report. New York: Free Press.

My Books

Trent Angers, The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story. Lafayette, LA: Acadian House, 1999.

Michal R. Belknap, The Vietnam War on Trial: The My Lai Massacre and the Court-Martial of Lieutenant Calley. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.

Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim, Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Viking, 1992.

James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, My Lai: A Brief History with Documents (previously planned title was Dark Mirror: A Documentary History of the My Lai Massacre). Boston: Bedford Books, 1998.

ILL Books

Louise K. Barnett, Atrocity and American Military Justice in Southeast Asia: Trial by Army. New York: Routledge, 2010.

Journal Articles

Mark D. Carson, "F. Edward Hebert and the Congressional Investigation of the My Lai Massacre," Louisiana History 37:1 (Winter 1996), pp. 61-79.

Claude Cookman, "An American Atrocity: The My Lai Massacre Concretized in a Victim's Face." Journal of American History 94 (June 2007), pp. 154-62.

Jesse Frank Frosch, "Anatomy of a Massacre," Playboy, July 1970, pp. 139-39, 184-92.

Seymour Hersh, "The Story Everyone Ignored." Columbia Journalism Review, VIII:4 (Winter 1969-70), pp. 55-58.

Captain Jordan J. Paust, "My Lai and Vietnam: Norms, Myths and Leader Responsibility." Military Law Review, Vol. 57 (Summer 1972), pp. 99-187.

Hugh Thompson and Ron Ridenhour, "Vietnam Testimony: Two Veterans Recount Their Roles at My Lai." Louisiana Cultural Vistas (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities), Winter 1995-96, pp. 22-29.

Col. William V. Wilson, "I Had Prayed to God that this thing was Fiction", American Heritage, February 1990, pp. 44-52.

Dissertations

John H. Daily, "Dimensions of Political Attitudes: A Q-Technique Study of Public Reactions to the Calley Verdict." Ph.D. dissertation, Political Science(?), Kent State, 1973. 234 pp. 74-07303.

Rives M. Duncan, "What went Right at My Lai: An Analysis of the Roles of "Habitus" and Character in Lawful Disobedience". Ph.D. dissertation, Religion, Temple University, 1997. 185 pp. DA 9813493.

Documents

Report of the Department of the Army Review of the Preliminary Investigations into the My Lai Incident.

"Autobiography of Charles E. Hutto."

Testimony of SGT (E-5) Lawrence Charles La Croix. Sergeant La Croix was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 2 May 1969, at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Testimony of SP 4 William F. Doherty. Doherty was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 5 May 1969, at Fort Hood, Texas.

Testimony of SGT E-5 Michael A. Bernhardt. Sergeant Bernhardt was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 8 May 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of CPT Robert L. Hauck. Captain Hauck was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 12 May 1969, at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Testimony of Captain Ernest L. Medina. Captain Medina was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 13 May 1969, at Fort Benning.

Testimony of SSG Manuel Lopez. Sergeant Lopez was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 13 May 1969, at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Testimony of Major Charles C. Calhoun. Major Calhoun, who had been XO/S3 of Task Force Barker, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 19 May 1969, in Washington, D.C

Testimony of SSG (E-6) L. G. Bacon. Sergeant Bacon, who had been squad leader of 2d Squad, 1st Platoon, C Company, 1/20 Infantry, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 22 May 1969, at Fort Jackson. South Carolina.

Testimony of SFC Isaiah Cowan. Sergeant Cowan was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 23 May 1969, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Testimony of COL Oran K. Henderson. Col. Henderson was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 26 May 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of SSG David Mitchell. Sergeant Mitchell was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 26 May 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of 1LT William L. Calley, Jr. Lt. Calley was questioned by Col. Norman T. Stanfield, 9 June 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of John H. Paul. Mr. Paul, who had been a radio operator assigned to C Company, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 16 June 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of CW2 Dan R. Millians. Millians, who had been a UH-1B pilot in B Company, 123d Aviation Battalion, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 18 June 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of PFC Lawrence M. Colburn. PFC Colburn was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 19 June 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of CPT Stephen J. Gamble. Captain Gamble, who had commanded D Battery, 6/11 Artillery, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 23 June 1969, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony of Andress Delgado. Delgado, who had been a grenadier in 3d Squad, 2d Platoon, C Company, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 10 July 1969, in Uvalde, Texas.

Testimony of Frederick Joseph Widmer. Mr. Widmer, who had been Captain Medina's radio operator, was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 15 July 1969, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania.

Testimony of Paul D. Meadlo. Mr. Meadlo was questioned by Col. William V. Wilson, 16 July 1969, in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Dissertation Ruminations

With just over six months left to write before I time out of the program next May, I've finally settled on what looks like a solid outline for the nine chapters (including the Introduction and Conclusion), in three sections.  The first section of two chapters, which focuses on the extreme reactions to war crimes on Vietnam, is due to my committee by the end of June.  That's a fast, but workable time frame for around sixty pages of text - I'll definitely have to stay on schedule to have any chance of getting it done, so it's a good thing I've only got two online courses to deal with over the summer.

I'm looking at the reactions of soldiers to alleged war crimes that they witnesses in Vietnam, which means that while the events are important, what I'm most interested in is how the soldiers reacted to what they saw or heard.  Of necessity, that means I'm mostly focused on company grade officers and enlisted men; there will be few officers above the rank of Major in my analysis unless I'm discussing things they experienced while younger.  William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams will be unlikely to make a significant appearance in my dissertation.

For my first section that means that I'm going to be dealing with the elephants in the room: My Lai, the Winter Soldier Investigation, and the Citizens Commissions of Inquiry into United States War Crimes in Indochina. The My Lai Massacre hangs over the entire conversation of American atrocities in Vietnam due to its scope, the attempted cover-up in the 11th Brigade, the actions of Hugh Thompson's helicopter crew to end the violence, and then the protracted investigations and trials afterward.  Reactions of the soldiers present range from Calley's assertion that he was just following orders, to Hugh Thompson ordering his crew to open fire on American troops if they continued to fire on the villagers, to Paul Meadlo telling Calley that God was punishing him for his role at My Lai after he lost a foot to a mine.

Winter Soldier and CCI represent another type of extreme reaction to alleged war crimes in Vietnam - concerted political and propaganda efforts to use reports of atrocities by American troops to end end the war, but while protecting individual soldiers from potential prosecution.  While some of the events soldiers claimed they saw or heard about appear to have been invented, the majority of the allegations were investigated by the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division.  In the case of the Winter Soldier/Vietnam Veterans Against the War claims, most could not be confirmed because the soldiers who testified at the Winter Soldier hearings refused to cooperate with investigators.  These soldiers gave two primary reasons for their noncooperation: their attorneys advised them not to to avoid self-incrimination, or because they blamed political and military leaders.  Several indicated that they would only provide details to the Secretary of Defense, or the President himself.  What that means is that we'll likely never know whether the majority of the events described in the Winter Soldier investigation occurred, but the reason is not as simple as critics argue (that they didn't happen).

So the first part in my dissertation will look at the varying reactions to war crimes in Vietnam, and in the motives for action and inaction that we see in these three events.  The second and third parts of my dissertation are trickier, as I try to describe and analyze "normative" reactions to witnessing atrocities (part II) , and other efforts to report alleged war crimes to Congress, the media, and the Executive branch for other purposes (Part III).

Obviously, my reading and organizing this week are going to focus on My Lai.  More on that as I work on the topic.  The first step is reading the Peers Commission reports, followed by a trip to the library at my alma mater later in the week to pick up some key references (the alumni association membership is handy after all).

Camouflaging the Chimera

Camouflaging the Chimera

By Yusef Komunyakaa

We tied branches to our helmets.

We painted our faces & rifles

with mud from a riverbank,

blades of grass hung from the pockets

of our tiger suits. We wove

ourselves into the terrain,

content to be a hummingbird’s target.

We hugged bamboo & leaned

against a breeze off the river,

slow-dragging with ghosts

from Saigon to Bangkok,

with women left in doorways

reaching in from America.

We aimed at dark-hearted songbirds.

In our way station of shadows

rock apes tried to blow our cover,

throwing stones at the sunset. Chameleons

crawled our spines, changing from day

to night: green to gold,

gold to black. But we waited

till the moon touched metal,

till something almost broke

inside us. VC struggled

with the hillside, like black silk

wrestling iron through grass.

We weren’t there. The river ran

through our bones. Small animals took refuge

against our bodies; we held our breath,

ready to spring the L-shaped

ambush, as a world revolved

under each man’s eyelid.

Final Message from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon

This is the final message from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon on April 29th, 1975. President Gerald Ford ordered the evacuation of American and Vietnamese embassy staff on April 28th, starting a 16-hour helicopter airlift from the roof of the embassy. LTC John Guilmartin, now a Professor of History at the Ohio State University, reportedly flew the last helicopter out.

http://ourpresidents.tumblr.com/post/49258657013/president-ford-ordered-the-final-evacuation-of?utm_source=feedly