Customer Reviews

The Winter Soldier Investigation: An Inquiry into American War Crimes

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While in college, after leaving US Army Intelligence, my senior year thesis centered on war crimes committed by US soldiers and those who, in the midst of combat, refused to participate.

"The Winter Soldier Investigation" was just one of my dozens of sources. While it has been reasonably argued that some of the men quoted here were lying, it is important to emphasize that MOST participants were not. Furthermore, the statements made by participants of the Winter Soldiers Investigation can be easily confirmed or backed up by other sources.

Two of the most noteworthy biographies I can think of are "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Casualties of War." Both men (Ron Kovic and "Sven Erikson" - not his real name. He had to change it because of death threats from other soldiers) experienced, firsthand, atrocities committed in Vietnam. Erikson, in particular, is a metaphor for many who have spoken out. After going public with the story of how his fellow squad members had raped and murdered an unarmed village girl his life was threatened. Now today we have the so-called "Swift Boat Vets" who call John Kerry a liar for quoting those in this book. The true liars are the Swift Boat Vets.

If you have the chance to come across this book be forewarned. It is graphic and disturbing. But it is worth it. It is a glimpse into the hell that was Vietnam - for soldiers and civilians alike.

This is the kind of graphic, in-your-face account of real war that outraged uberpatriots (like the first reviewer) and caused no end of grief for the US publishing industry; so much so that editors and publishers are now too thoroughly intimidated by the military-rightist network to ever offer the like of it again. As with the defensive veil drawn over the WWII Wehrmacht by the German Army, American atrocities are now explained away as the rogue doings of a few undisciplined bad apples. But these accounts make clear that the doings at My Lai were conscious policy. The wilful amnesia demanded by the uberpatriot complex makes clear why the Abu Ghraib revelations took the country by such surprise. A glance at these interviews reveal 'tis but deja vu all over again.

This book is a classic. The content of its 187 pages could be summed up in one sentance by Al Hubbard from the book's forward. "Crimes are committed by people; Reflect what we have beome, Amerika." The rest of the book need not have been written.
However,if it is ever reprinted John Kerry's presidential hopes are dead.