Nick Turse

The visceral horror of what happened at My Lai is undeniable. On
the evening of March 15, 1968, members of the Americal Division’s
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, were briefed by their
commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, on a planned operation
the next day in an area they knew as “Pinkville.” As unit member
Harry Stanley recalled, Medina “ordered us to ‘kill everything in the
village.’ ” Infantryman Salvatore LaMartina remembered Medina’s
words only slightly differently: they were to “kill everything that
breathed.” What stuck in artillery forward observer James Flynn’s
mind was a question one of the other soldiers asked: “Are we supposed to kill women and children?” And Medina’s reply: “Kill everything that moves.

“

—	“Kill Anything That Moves” Military Doctrine Began in Vietnam

$Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water. But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”$

Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water.

But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”

$nickturse: Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water. But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”$

nickturse:

Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water.

But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”

$Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water. But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”$

Forty-five years ago today, March 16th, roughly 100 U.S. troops were flown by helicopter to the outskirts of a small Vietnamese hamlet called My Lai in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Over a period of four hours, the Americans methodically slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. Along the way, they also raped women and young girls, mutilated the dead, systematically burned homes, and fouled the area’s drinking water.

But that’s only a fraction of the story. For more on the unknown atrocities of Vietnam and beyond, please take a look at my new op-ed for The Daily Beast: “My Lai 45 Years Later—And the Unknown Atrocities of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan”

Photographs from the My Lai massacre, March 16, 1968.

For anyone who studies war crimes in Vietnam, there’s one person who stands above all others: Seymour Hersh. One of the greatest investigative reporters of our time, he blew the lid off the My Lai massacre and changed the way we understand the Vietnam War. You can imagine how I felt when he offered this blurb for for my next book, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. What an honor.

“Nick Turse reminds us again, in this painful and important book, why war should always be a last resort, and especially wars that have little to do with American national security. We failed, as Turse makes clear, to deal after the Vietnam War with the murders that took place, and today—four decades later—the lessons have yet to be learned. We still prefer kicking down doors to talking.” —Seymour Hersh, staff writer, The New Yorker

Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh tells how - with financial support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism - he learned about the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, how he tracked down Lt. William Calley and, in so doing, changed the world’s perception of the American War in Southeast Asia.

The 2011 Ridenhour Prizes were presented at the National Press Club on April 13th. Click here for some highlights of the event or find them at: The Ridenhour Prizes - Fostering the spirit of courage and truth

How FIJ Helped to Uncover the My Lai Massacre – The Fund for Investigative Journalism

Listen to veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh explain how he exposed the My Lai massacre.

Nick Turse: Mortal Sins of Omission - Book Review - Truthdig

My latest review essay for TruthDig.com which looks at two American generals, David Petraeus in Afghanistan today and Ira Hunt, in Vietnam during the American War (as the Vietnamese call it) and draws some parallels. I also take on Hunt’s latest book, The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam and offer an analysis of the sordid history Hunt left out. Click the title above or the link here to take a look:

http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/mortal_sins_of_omission_20110312/