7. Excessive Violence in a War Without Fronts: Explaining Atrocities in South Vietnam (1965–1973)

Abstract

When Life magazine published graphic pictures of the My Lai massacre on 5 December 1969, large parts of the American society were shocked. Ronald Haeberle’s images of the butchery in the cluster of huts known to American ground troops as My Lai (4) in Quang Ngai Province were reprinted in the following days in multiple media outlets across the world. What happened in My Lai, a hamlet that had previously been raided by American troops, not only reinforced the antiwar movement but also led many GIs to come out in public and testify about atrocities committed in Southeast Asia. Countless veterans accused the military doctrine of the American armed forces in their explanations of what they did and why. Hence, after the massacre at My Lai, military sources that dealt with similar allegations and wide accounts from journalists and eyewitnesses on atrocities in Vietnam were written and compiled.