American antiwar organization
The National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. war crimes in Vietnam was founded in New York by Ralph Schoenman in November 1969 to document American atrocities throughout Indochina. The formation of the organization was prompted by the disclosure of the My Lai Massacre on November 12, 1969, by Seymour Hersh, writing for the "New York Times". The group was the first to bring to public attention the testimony of American Vietnam War veterans who had witnessed or participated in atrocities.
Origins.
Schoenman had previously worked on the International War Crimes Tribunal founded by Bertrand Russell.
The Commission of Inquiry had a policy‐making board which included Noam Chomsky, Schoenman, Dick Gregory, Melvin L. Wulf, director of the Legal Department, American Civil Liberties Union, Eric Seitz, executive secretary, National Lawyers Guild and Andy Stapp.
Schoenman left the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam in the hands of two New Left anti-war activists, Tod Ensign and Jeremy Rifkin. They were joined in early 1970 by several Vietnam War veterans, including Robert Bowie Johnson, a West Point graduate and former infantry captain, and Michael Uhl, a retired 1st lieutenant in military intelligence.
American Vietnam War veterans and GIs offer personal witness to war crimes.
Overview.
The National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam's first press conference was in Toronto, Canada, March 4, 1970. Ensign and Rifkin convened three more press conferences in the following two months: Springfield, Massachusetts (April 6, 1970); New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California (April 14); and Boston, Massachusetts (May 7, 1970). Uhl then traveled to Sweden and Australia to brief reporters that American Vietnam war veterans had first-hand evidence of atrocities they had either witnessed or committed themselves. National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam continued to mount press conferences in other cities, culminating in a three-day National Veterans Inquiry, held in Washington, D.C., on December 1, 2 and 3.
The testimony offered by veterans at these events provided documentation that American atrocities in Vietnam were not uncommon. This evidence was a counterpoint to the U.S. Army command's assertion that the My Lai massacre was an exception. National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam leaders asserted that atrocities committed by American soldiers were a result of military field policies like "search-and-destroy", "free-fire zones" and "forced urbanization", the saturation bombing of villages believed to be controlled by enemy forces.
Impact and legacy.
Telford Taylor, former chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials stated on the Dick Cavett Show that General William Westmoreland might be convicted as a war criminal if Nuremberg principles from World War II were applied to the Vietnam War. Taylor, himself a retired brigadier general in the Army Reserve, explained that the U.S. Army applied this standard of justice in the trial of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita was convicted of war crimes and hanged for atrocities committed by his troops in the Philippines. Taylor attributed his opinion to the evidence of atrocities and war crimes offered by veterans and active-duty soldiers, who were testifying under the auspices of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry.
The Concerned Officers Movement (COM) held two press conferences under the auspices of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry on January 12, 1971 in Washington, D.C., and January 20, 1971, in Los Angeles calling for an investigation into the "responsibility for war crimes of key military figures", including Generals William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams, and Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. The Washington, D.C., COM members involved were CAPT Robert Master, USA and CAPT Grier Merwin, USA, both doctors; Capt. Edward G. Fox, a zoologist in the Army Medical Service Corps; First Lieutenant Louis Font, a West Point graduate; and LTJG Peter Dunkelberger, USN, a management systems analyst stationed at the Pentagon. In Los Angeles were LT Norman Banks, USAF, LTJG Ted Shallcross, USN, LT James Skelly, USN, and LTJG John Kent, USN, an Annapolis graduate, all-American wrestler and jet fighter pilot.
The Winter Soldier Investigation, which ran from January 31, 1971, to February 2, 1971, followed in the paths of both the Citizens Commission of Inquiry and the Russell Tribunal. This event was organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and some of its leaders have credited the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam with establishing the credibility of veterans' voices of dissent. Internal divisions between the two groups led each to work independently of the other.
The Citizens Commission of Inquiry disbanded in December 1971.
References.
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