war crimes and the American conscience

xiv, [2], 208, pages. Appendix. List and Notes of Contributers. From Preface - Traditionally, each nation denounces the "war crimes" of its enemies, while justifying its own conduct in time of war, no matter how flagrantly that conduct may violate established standards of law and morality. But the diastrous continuation of the war in Southeast Asia and the disclosure of the massacre at My Lai have raised many Americans to a new level of consciousness--and conscience--about the policies pursued by their Government and the actions that flow from those policies. In response, many members of congress convened the Congressional Conference on War and National responsibility in 1970 and invited a group of leading American scholars, jurists, and public figures assembled at the Capitol for two days of intensive deliberation. This book consists of an edited transcript of the Conference proceedings and supplementary material contributed by the particpants. Some basic documents of international and national war crimes law appear in the Appendix. Erwin Knoll (1931 November 2, 1994) was an American journalist who was editor of The Progressive from 1973 to 1994. He later came to New York City as a refugee. He became a U.S. citizen in 1946. Knoll began his journalistic career working with The Washington Post, and from 1968. He remained editor for 21 years, until his death. Judith Nies [formerly McFadden] is the award-winning author of four nonfiction books. What individual responsibility does the soldier, the military commander, the government bureaucrat, the elected political leader, and the ordinary citizen bear for illegal and immoral policies and actions undertaken by his nation? The editors note: "It would have been inconceivable only a few years ago that a serious and searching discussion of war crimes - including American war crimes - could be conducted under Congressional auspices at the Capitol of the United States. Traditionally, each nation denounces the "war crimes" of its enemies, while justifying its own conduct in time of war, no matter how flagrantly that conduct may violate established standards of law and morality. But the disastrous continuation of the war in Southeast Asia and the disclosure of the massacre at My Lai have raised many Americans to a new level of consciousness - and conscience- about the policies pursued by their Government, and the actions that flow from these policies". The My Lai massacre was a United States war crime committed on 16 March 1968, involving the mass murder of unarmed civilians in S n M village, Qu ng Ngãi province, South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children, and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. Army soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade and B Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Division (organized as part of Task Force Barker). Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12. The incident was the largest massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century. On the morning of the massacre, C Company, commanded by Captain Ernest Medina, was sent into one of the village's hamlets (marked on maps as My Lai 4) expecting to engage the Viet Cong's Local Force 48th Battalion, which was not present. The killing began while the troops were searching the village for guerillas, and continued after they realized that no guerillas seemed to be present. Villagers were gathered together, held in the open, then murdered with automatic weapons, bayonets, and hand grenades; one large group of villagers was shot in an irrigation ditch. Soldiers also burned down homes and killed livestock. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. and his helicopter crew are credited with attempting to stop the massacre. Nearby, B Company killed 60 to 155 of the massacre's victims in the hamlet of My Khe 4.…