War
is never ‘pretty’. The history of any war is depicted differently by the two
sides in combat, so it should not come as something of a shock to find
another book on the shelves that suggests that the Americans also committed
additional atrocities during the Vietnam War as well as the My Lai
massacres.
Tiger Force (ISBN 978-0-340-75250-0, Hodder and
Stoughton, 2007) has been written by Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss, both of
whom are award-winning investigative journalists who received the Pulitzer
Prize for their work on the Tiger Force expose.
The book begins with a list of Tiger Force personnel, of
whom 10 are listed as killed in action. The list finishes with the
investigating army officers, who were given the unenviable job of trying to
find the truth almost 10 years after the events in Vietnam. People who were
damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. Truth always hurts someone.
To be selected to be one of the Tiger Force, this
included questions on willingness to kill. Psychologists could identify the
personality that this fitted, and these men were often outside ‘normal’
society. Aggressive misfits. This book describes many such men who were in
the Tiger Force.
To ready these men for battle, they were instructed on
the army’s rules for engagement and the 1949 Geneva Conventions which
prohibited the inhumane treatment of civilians and prisoners. The
instruction was all of two hours! There are, of course, people who say, “How
can war have rules?” such as those that were set forth in the Nuremberg and
Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. Man trying to justify the very act of war?
The book describes the action in the Tiger Force platoons
as they advanced towards North Vietnam, and the anxieties of some of the
platoon members. Those who were not aggressive misfits.
It is also brought out that the yardstick being used by
the senior members of the military was the “kill rate”. For many of the
soldiers, there was no difference between a villager and a member of the
North Vietnamese army. Either could be counted as a “kill”.
After appraising the reader of the atrocities (war
crimes) you are taken to the final cover-up, which involves top level army
personnel. Towards the end, the book reads like a suspense novel; however,
it is no novel, it is factual (with pages of references at the back of the
book).
If you have what I consider a morbid interest in wars and
history, then this book is probably one of the more truthful pieces of
reportage. If you are an American, then perhaps you should pass over this
book, as it shows a side of America you would not be proud of. However, I
believe this book shows a side of all our natures, and not just American.
Man is still a very war-like animal, and the items written in this book just
go to show just how aggressive man can be. A damning reflection upon us all,
I am afraid. B. 530 on the Bookazine shelves, but be prepared for a
harrowing read.
