[TCY]⇒ Download Kill Anything That Moves The Real American War in Vietnam American Empire Project Nick Turse 9781250045065 Books

Kill Anything That Moves The Real American War in Vietnam American Empire Project Nick Turse 9781250045065 Books

Download As PDF : Kill Anything That Moves The Real American War in Vietnam American Empire Project Nick Turse 9781250045065 Books

Kill Anything That Moves The Real American War in Vietnam American Empire Project Nick Turse 9781250045065 Books

I was in the Army infantry in Vietnam, 1966-67, and briefly in 1968 after Tet, but what I am saying applies to the barracks and training in the states as well as the base camps and field operations in Vietnam. A mindset of fear, hatred, cruelty and violence was developed and encouraged in combat training in order to overcome the normal mind's reluctance to kill and to put up with things normal people would recoil against, especially since most of us had just gotten out of high school or were of that age. I was generally more afraid of my "band of brothers" than I was the enemy. The blacks hated me because I was white. Some of the people I was with were borderline criminal types who had been given a choice of the army or prison. I never had any close friends really because I was always moving around. Assault in the barracks was common. In Vietnam, the base camps were more dangerous than the field. You had to watch your ass. My sergeants were sometimes okay, trying to be professional, but more often not. I remember two I really liked though, both black by the way. I remember their names after all of these years. One time I pulled two Vietnamese out of a hole or cave. They had no papers or weapons and had no military clothing or gear. I turned them over to the platoon sergeant. The platoon leader, a West Pointer, asked the platoon sergeant what to do and he gave the thumbs down signal. Then he had the point man and his slack man buddy murder them. I saw and heard of a number of things like that. I did some bad things too, but I did not do murder or hurt a helpless person. I used to think that if I was in an outfit with better discipline and better personnel that things would have been different. Today I do not think that. I was told that I was a good soldier, but I was never happy about it. I was never proud of any of it.


Tags : Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (American Empire Project) [Nick Turse] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Based on classified documents and first-person interviews, a startling history of the American war on Vietnamese civilians</b> <b></b> <b>The American Empire Project</b> <b>Winner of the Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction</b> <b></b> <b></b>Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War,Nick Turse,Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam (American Empire Project),Picador,1250045061,Military - Vietnam War,Massacres - Vietnam - History - 20th century,Massacres;Vietnam;History;20th century.,Racism - Vietnam - History - 20th century,United States - Military policy,Vietnam War, 1961-1975 - Atrocities,Vietnam War, 1961-1975 - United States,Vietnam War, 1961-1975;Atrocities.,Vietnam War, 1961-1975;United States.,War crimes - Vietnam - History - 20th century,138003 Pic Metro TPC,20th century,Atrocities,GENERAL,General Adult,HISTORY Military Vietnam War,History,History - Military War,HistoryMilitary - United States,Massacres,Military,Military - United States,Military history,Non-Fiction,United States,Vietnam,Vietnam War, 1961-1975,vietnam war; vietnam war books; history of the vietnam war; vietnam vets; american military history; us army; united states army; veterans; vietnam veteran books; viet nam books; war crimes; atrocities; american foreign policy; us foreign policy; political history; american political history; cold war books; the cold war; vietnam conflict; american military; vietnam history; vietnamese people,HistoryMilitary - United States,Military - United States,History - Military War,20th century,Atrocities,Massacres,United States,Vietnam,Vietnam War, 1961-1975,History,Military,Military history

Kill Anything That Moves The Real American War in Vietnam American Empire Project Nick Turse 9781250045065 Books Reviews

The horrifying reality is that My Lai was NOT an isolated instance of violence and killing of Vietnamese civilians by American forces during the Vietnam War. This book details the work and archives of a stunning example of the "banality of evil" where a Pentagon office was formed to investigate mass murders of civilians, not to expose the events or discipline those involved but simply to keep senior military officials aware of the attacks so that they would not be caught by surprise as they were with My Lai. Sadly, it shows that the pressures of a terrible war terribly directed by US civilian officials resulted in a distortion of military doctrine and the leadership of troops in the field.

To me, these events are not an indictment of the draftees in the field but of the empty and evil leadership of President Nixon and his staff. The result was largely repeated by the Bush Administration in Iraq War 2 where the only crime (as in Abu Ghraib) seemed to be taking pictures and trying to get superiors to admit to ordering the criminal behavior.

The takeaway lesson is, as always, that military discipline condemns the killing of civilians and the torture of prisoners for very good reasons 1. They aren't effective in terms of winning a conflict and 2) the psychic damage to the individual American soldier is widespread and extreme.
Meticulously researched and documented, Kill Anything that Moves strips away the Patriotic whitewash of the Vietnam war. Exposing long hidden military records of combat realities where dead civilians became the enemy in a war measured by inflated body counts and wanton destruction. It is not pleasant to read, but truth is often the first victim of battles.

We never lost a major military battle against the NLF, he Viet Cong, or the NVA but in many ways our own combat strategies did more to alienate the very people we were trying to defend than any Communist atrocity. One might argue our conduct of the war, and subsequent abandonment of the South Vietnamese, resulted in the tragedy that befell the south when the NVA tanks rolled into Saigon as we fled from the rooftop of our Embassy
I have always been fascinated by the Vietnam War as my father served from 1967 through 1969 as a Naval intelligence liaison to the Marines on the ground. He rarely ever spoke of the war except in very general terms even when asked by members of our family. However, on a few late evenings, he did tell of some gut wrenching incidents which clearly still haunted him decades later. It seems to me that one of the reasons the war remains such an open wound on the American conscience is because we have failed to fully acknowledge our conduct.

This book does an incredible job of meticulously sourcing instances of war crimes though the government’s own records and also detailing direct efforts by the government to block investigations which would have disgraced the military and further eroded support for the war. Many will dismiss the events detailed in this book by claiming the North Vietnamese also engaged in such behavior. The record simply doesn’t support that view given the American’s huge artillary and aerial assault capabilities which enabled mass destruction on a historic scale. Turse further supports this through horrific statistics on civilian deaths and mass executions which were more the rule than the exception. This behavior is shown to be the result of the military’s overtly racist policies of reducing the Vietnamese population to body counts and using free fire zones as an excuse to decimate villages filled with women and children.

We cannot claim to be the beacon of freedom in the world unless we hold ourselves to the highest standards. Sadly, this book reveals we held ourselves to almost the lowest, most cynical standards possible and government leadership was never held accountable. This book should be required reading for anyone in the government in positions of power. It is a clear example of our government failing its citizens, soldiers, the Vietnamese people, and the very principles we claim to represent. After reading this book years after my father has passed away, his silence when asked about the war makes painful sense.
I was in the Army infantry in Vietnam, 1966-67, and briefly in 1968 after Tet, but what I am saying applies to the barracks and training in the states as well as the base camps and field operations in Vietnam. A mindset of fear, hatred, cruelty and violence was developed and encouraged in combat training in order to overcome the normal mind's reluctance to kill and to put up with things normal people would recoil against, especially since most of us had just gotten out of high school or were of that age. I was generally more afraid of my "band of brothers" than I was the enemy. The blacks hated me because I was white. Some of the people I was with were borderline criminal types who had been given a choice of the army or prison. I never had any close friends really because I was always moving around. Assault in the barracks was common. In Vietnam, the base camps were more dangerous than the field. You had to watch your ass. My sergeants were sometimes okay, trying to be professional, but more often not. I remember two I really liked though, both black by the way. I remember their names after all of these years. One time I pulled two Vietnamese out of a hole or cave. They had no papers or weapons and had no military clothing or gear. I turned them over to the platoon sergeant. The platoon leader, a West Pointer, asked the platoon sergeant what to do and he gave the thumbs down signal. Then he had the point man and his slack man buddy murder them. I saw and heard of a number of things like that. I did some bad things too, but I did not do murder or hurt a helpless person. I used to think that if I was in an outfit with better discipline and better personnel that things would have been different. Today I do not think that. I was told that I was a good soldier, but I was never happy about it. I was never proud of any of it.