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US Urged to Investigate Alleged War Crimes in Vietnam
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should launch an independent investigation into allegations of possible war crimes by US troops during the Vietnam War, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
The inquiry should examine whether certain US military policies, orders and practices during the war, particularly those regulating special operations and unconventional warfare, constituted or led directly to the commission of war crimes by US forces, according to a press release issued by the human rights organization.
In a letter to Rumsfeld, Human Rights Watch said recent disclosure by former Senator Bob Kerrey concerning his service as a junior officer in a Navy Seal team in 1969 suggested that certain military units then operated under standing orders or employed methods that directly violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, resulting in "grave breaches" of that Convention, or war crimes.
"The Kerrey disclosures have reopened bitter debates about the Vietnam War," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But that doesn't mean the U.S. can shirk its responsibility to find the truth and pursue justice. As a party to the Geneva Conventions since 1955, the U.S. had, and still has, a clear legal obligation to investigate possible war crimes by its forces in Vietnam."
The press release said that the allegation that members of the team killed unarmed persons in their custody warrants specific investigation by the U.S. government. If proved, such acts would clearly constitute war crimes, for which there is no statute of limitations and should result in prosecutions.
In its letter, Human Rights Watch said that an inquiry should also examine whether all necessary measures are now in place to ensure that U.S. troops can never be issued with orders or trained in practices that would violate the Geneva Conventions.
Human Rights Watch urged that U.S. troops, whether they are deployed in international humanitarian intervention programs in Kosovo, or to assist other governments' forces to combat rebel groups as in Colombia, should be fully trained in the requirements of international humanitarian law, and held accountable for any violations.
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