David Hackworth: "Vietnam was an atrocity from the get-go"

[Karmadillo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/national/28TIGE.html?th

Report on Brutal Vietnam Campaign Stirs Memories

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A transcript of that meeting makes for hair-raising reading. The returned troops told of the slaughter of civilians; "reconnaissance by fire," or soldiers shooting blindly; "harassment and interdiction fire," with artillery being used to shell villages; captives thrown from helicopters; severed ears drying in the sun or being swapped for beers; and "Zippo inspections" of cigarette lighters in preparation for burning villages.

There is no shortage of literature on atrocities in Vietnam. Books include Jonathan Schell's "The Military Half," which recounts the campaign in 1967 in which Tiger Force took part; Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War," a bitter memoir of his experience as a young Marine officer that is now required reading in a military history course at West Point; and Michael Herr's "Dispatches," which captured the madness from a "grunt's" point of view.

David H. Hackworth, a retired colonel and much-decorated veteran of the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam who later became a journalist and author, said that he created the Tiger Force unit in 1965 to fight guerrillas using guerrilla tactics. Mr. Hackworth was not in command of the unit during the period covered by the Blade articles because he had rotated out of Vietnam.

"Vietnam was an atrocity from the get-go," Mr. Hackworth said in a recent telephone interview. "It was that kind of war, a frontless war of great frustration. There were hundreds of My Lais. You got your card punched by the numbers of bodies you counted."

Lt. Col. Kevin Curry, an Army spokesman, said the Army had compared the Blade articles with the written record of the earlier investigation and did not intend to reopen the case.

more...

[NNN0LHI]

1. I didn't have to go, but it really was brutal

I can still remember the 1972 Christmas bombings of Hanoi that Nixon ordered. Geebuz. Think about high altitude bombing runs over our capitol Washington, D.C. for Christmas.

Don

[pocoloco]

2. Speaking of Hack,

here is an article from back in August:
"Colonel calls rumsfield an asshole" at:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0805-09.htm

Also check out his site, Hackworth.com and also http://www.sftt.org/ for info from a soldier's viewpoint.

[terryg11]

3. hven't been there in a while, has a talked about Clark yet?

When asked a few months ago what he thought of Clark running he said he would be issuing a statement or some such remark in the near future. I know he's usually been on Clark's ass but you never know what he may say about a run for president.

[pocoloco]

4. Reporting for duty

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=35&rnd=337.3911938939127

[kalian]

5. And the US never went to a wars crime tribunal....

remember: the US has nukes...and until those are gone, war crimes
will never be met.
Something to think about.