It feels repulsive to give this a star rating - this is so much more than that. Consider it required reading. 

I think I said this on Instagram as I was reading through but I truly believe that the US involves itself in war after war, in unending conflict after unending conflict, purely to prevent all of the horrific war crimes that we’ve been responsible for to never get the public outcry they so desperately deserve. 

Were there Vietnam war protests - of course. I’m not brand new. But I truly doubt the anti-war protestors were truly privy to the utter depravity we sent our military off to commit. 

Immediately in the introduction, I was introduced (hah) to the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group - a task force set up as a response to the American-perpetuated My Lai massacre (a war crime).  Essentially this task force was supposed to be the net that would prevent America from being caught “unaware” of charges of war crimes were to be levied. (Will we never learn: looks at Palestine.)

Some specific takeaways that stole my breath:

“It would wage a war of overkill […] Overkill was supposed to solve all American problems.”

“Anti war critics were afraid Vietnam would end up the most bombed country in the history of the world.”

32 tons of bombs per hour were dropped on North Vietnam. (1965-68)

American troops would rain leaflets down on country villages, telling them to evacuate and as the villagers fled, would gun them down. This was largely due to the “body count” rule - if your number (of kills) wasn’t high enough, you would be shamed and, at times, punished. 

If I ever meet a Baumgartner, I’m asking if they’re related to the Vietnam vet bc that man is a MONSTER and I want zero degrees between us.