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Ideologies of Forgetting: Rape in the Vietnam War
First book to study rape and sexual abuse of Vietnamese women by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Rape has long been a part of war, and recent conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur demonstrate that it may be becoming an even more integral strategy of modern warfare. In contrast to the media attention to sexual violence against women in these recent conflicts, however, the incidence and consequences of rape in the Vietnam War have been largely overlooked. Using testimony, oral accounts, literature, and film, Ideologies of Forgetting focuses on the rape and sexual abuse of Vietnamese women by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, and argues that the erasure and elision of these practices of sexual violence in the U.S. popular imagination perpetuate the violent masculinity central to contemporary U.S. military culture. Gina Marie Weaver claims that recognition of this violence is important not just for an accurate historical record, but also to truly understand the Vietnam veteran’s trauma, which often stems from his aggression rather than his victimization.
“This is exactly the moment to take a new hard hook at the incidents of rape in the U.S. war in Vietnam—and its extended consequences for both the victims and the perpetrators of those rapes.” — Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Feminists Make the Link
“At a time when the phrase ‘support our troops’ has become a national mantra, recognition of how that support was enabled and narrativized becomes even more important.” — Susan Jeffords, author of The Remasculinization of Gender and the Vietnam War
Rape has long been a part of war, and recent conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur demonstrate that it may be becoming an even more integral strategy of modern warfare. In contrast to the media attention to sexual violence against women in these recent conflicts, however, the incidence and consequences of rape in the Vietnam War have been largely overlooked. Using testimony, oral accounts, literature, and film, Ideologies of Forgetting focuses on the rape and sexual abuse of Vietnamese women by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, and argues that the erasure and elision of these practices of sexual violence in the U.S. popular imagination perpetuate the violent masculinity central to contemporary U.S. military culture. Gina Marie Weaver claims that recognition of this violence is important not just for an accurate historical record, but also to truly understand the Vietnam veteran’s trauma, which often stems from his aggression rather than his victimization.
“This is exactly the moment to take a new hard hook at the incidents of rape in the U.S. war in Vietnam—and its extended consequences for both the victims and the perpetrators of those rapes.” — Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Feminists Make the Link
“At a time when the phrase ‘support our troops’ has become a national mantra, recognition of how that support was enabled and narrativized becomes even more important.” — Susan Jeffords, author of The Remasculinization of Gender and the Vietnam War
216 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
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January 5, 2023
In her book, Gina Marie Weaver addresses a topic that has been generally overlooked by scholars of the Vietnam conflict: rape. As Weaver points out, America's refusal to accept that its military men were capable of sexually abusing women and the public's ignorance of American soldiers' raping women in Vietnam has allowed sexual aggression to continue to happen a lot in other wars and toward women soldiers.
According to the author, as good as it would be to believe otherwise, rape was common during the Vietnam conflict just like during any other total war. Allegations of crimes against women emerged at American bases time after time. Rape was a way to assert dominance and to force women captives to reveal information during interrogations in the field. Most crimes against women took place in the countryside, in the villages where women and children lived. Since the villagers were usually considered to be Viet Cong supporters, American soldiers used this as an excuse for raping the women.
The instances were countless, and reports of sexual assault demonstrated that units all over the country were involved. On December 27, 1969, three soldiers drove a nineteen-year-old girl who was hitchhiking a ride after work to a secluded spot, gang-raped her, and dropped her on the side of the road. On March 19, 1970, in Quang Tin Province, Private First Class Ernest Stepp hit a woman who was rejecting his sexual advances and then raped her with the help of another soldier. One member of the Americal Division remembered seeing fellow soldiers choosing a girl to rape. This experience taught him to recognize the sounds of rape from afar, and in the next two months, he heard those sounds once every three days.
Aside from being raped, the women were seriously hurt or killed in many cases. Since the Americans were physically bigger than the people of Vietnam in general and the women in particular, their sexual aggression caused serious injuries. They also killed women out of anger or to hide the crime.
Gang rapes were shockingly widespread. One army report presented the allegations of a woman who said that she was detained and raped by ten soldiers. Another girl was assaulted by eleven soldiers. In a third case, an American soldier remembered seeing a woman almost not being able to walk after she was raped by thirteen soldiers, and an army criminal investigation from December 1969 revealed that four warrant officers in a helicopter had kidnapped a woman from a rice paddy and sexually abused her.
Nevertheless, some commanders, such as an army colonel who investigated allegations of rape in an infantry battalion, tried to make it seem like the women were willing participants. For instance, he wrote that in the densely populated coastal regions, “the number of young women far exceeds the number of military age males," so the women were happy with the attention the American soldiers were giving them because it satisfied their needs. Deciding that all women were eager to have sex with armed, violent foreigners, who invaded their villages, he announced: “The circumstances are such that rape in contacts between soldiers . . . and village women is unlikely.”
How wrong his conclusion is demonstrated by the excessive brutality of some of those sexual assaults. The specific stories are not suitable for sharing here, but generally, women were raped with objects, from bottles to shovels, to rifles, too. Furthermore, as the record of the Vietnam conflict shows, children were also targeted. In June 1968, two teenage girls who were thought to be Viet Cong nurses were severely beaten and raped by American infantrymen. One of them was seventeen. The other was fourteen.
The stories are endless, and, as the author underscores, they are not limited to the Vietnam conflict. Women soldiers were raped in Iraq, and the fact that they experienced being sexually assaulted by their colleagues, on whom they relied, made them even less likely to look for and receive help.
IDEOLOGIES OF FORGETTING is an important work, which shines light on an issue that has been disregarded. Weaver's narrative is well-written and informative. This book should be widely read and discussed.
According to the author, as good as it would be to believe otherwise, rape was common during the Vietnam conflict just like during any other total war. Allegations of crimes against women emerged at American bases time after time. Rape was a way to assert dominance and to force women captives to reveal information during interrogations in the field. Most crimes against women took place in the countryside, in the villages where women and children lived. Since the villagers were usually considered to be Viet Cong supporters, American soldiers used this as an excuse for raping the women.
The instances were countless, and reports of sexual assault demonstrated that units all over the country were involved. On December 27, 1969, three soldiers drove a nineteen-year-old girl who was hitchhiking a ride after work to a secluded spot, gang-raped her, and dropped her on the side of the road. On March 19, 1970, in Quang Tin Province, Private First Class Ernest Stepp hit a woman who was rejecting his sexual advances and then raped her with the help of another soldier. One member of the Americal Division remembered seeing fellow soldiers choosing a girl to rape. This experience taught him to recognize the sounds of rape from afar, and in the next two months, he heard those sounds once every three days.
Aside from being raped, the women were seriously hurt or killed in many cases. Since the Americans were physically bigger than the people of Vietnam in general and the women in particular, their sexual aggression caused serious injuries. They also killed women out of anger or to hide the crime.
Gang rapes were shockingly widespread. One army report presented the allegations of a woman who said that she was detained and raped by ten soldiers. Another girl was assaulted by eleven soldiers. In a third case, an American soldier remembered seeing a woman almost not being able to walk after she was raped by thirteen soldiers, and an army criminal investigation from December 1969 revealed that four warrant officers in a helicopter had kidnapped a woman from a rice paddy and sexually abused her.
Nevertheless, some commanders, such as an army colonel who investigated allegations of rape in an infantry battalion, tried to make it seem like the women were willing participants. For instance, he wrote that in the densely populated coastal regions, “the number of young women far exceeds the number of military age males," so the women were happy with the attention the American soldiers were giving them because it satisfied their needs. Deciding that all women were eager to have sex with armed, violent foreigners, who invaded their villages, he announced: “The circumstances are such that rape in contacts between soldiers . . . and village women is unlikely.”
How wrong his conclusion is demonstrated by the excessive brutality of some of those sexual assaults. The specific stories are not suitable for sharing here, but generally, women were raped with objects, from bottles to shovels, to rifles, too. Furthermore, as the record of the Vietnam conflict shows, children were also targeted. In June 1968, two teenage girls who were thought to be Viet Cong nurses were severely beaten and raped by American infantrymen. One of them was seventeen. The other was fourteen.
The stories are endless, and, as the author underscores, they are not limited to the Vietnam conflict. Women soldiers were raped in Iraq, and the fact that they experienced being sexually assaulted by their colleagues, on whom they relied, made them even less likely to look for and receive help.
IDEOLOGIES OF FORGETTING is an important work, which shines light on an issue that has been disregarded. Weaver's narrative is well-written and informative. This book should be widely read and discussed.
June 26, 2024
(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)
Пожалуй, это самая тяжёлая книга за всё то время что я читаю нехудожественную литературу. Изначально книга меня заинтересовала в связи с российско-украинским конфликтом и фактом оккупации части украинских территорий. Мне было интересно попытаться провести параллели. Однако после прочтения книги, я всё больше задаюсь вопросом, насколько корректно сравнивать американскую военную кампанию во Вьетнаме (и Ираке) и военную кампанию России в Украине. Конечно, скорее всего, случаи насилия над женщинами в подконтрольной российским властям территории Украины, возможно, происходят, но насколько такие случаи многочисленны и насколько они жестоки в сравнении с тем, что американские солдаты творили над женщинами во Вьетнаме? Этот вопрос для меня является ключевым.
Изнасилования происходят не только на войне, но и в период мирной жизни и вовсе необязательно солдатами противоборствующей стороны. Несмотря на то, что сегодня украинская сторона сообщает о многочисленных случаях сексуального насилия над её жителями со стороны российской армии, трудно уверенно сказать насколько такая практика повсеместна (серьёзно рассматривать этот вопрос мы можем только после того как военный конфликт закончится, ибо во время горячей фазы подобные новости могут восприниматься и/или использоваться в качестве ИПСО). И ещё. Если вы прочтёте эту книгу и увидите, как американские солдаты обращались с женщинами во Вьетнаме, вы поймете, почему США проиграли войну во Вьетнаме (цитаты из книги стоит читать, если у вас крепкие нервы).
Much of the torture was sexual in nature. Van recalled being tormented by a man who “stripped her, tied her arms, and thrust his hand into her vagina until blood came and she cried out in pain.” She also informed Manes that her sister too, bore “scars all over her body, including her genitals, from many tortures.” Further, Van testified that “her niece died after a broken bottle was inserted into her vagina.”
<…>
Instead it seems many field soldiers raped village women simply because they wanted sexual gratification and felt, as one veteran expressed it, “like I was a god. I could take a life, I could screw a woman.” He specifically asserted, “You had the power to rape a woman and nobody could say nothing to you. That godlike feeling you had was in the fi eld.”35 Another soldier callously explained to Baker why rape became so ubiquitous in the Vietnam War, “Let’s face it. Nature is nature. There are women available. Those women are of another culture, another color, another society. You don’t want a prostitute. You’ve got an M-16. What do you need to pay for a lady for? You go down to the village and you take what you want” (p. 206).
Америка проиграла именно потому что была занята изнасилованием женщин, а не ведением боевых действие, т.е. вместо того чтобы переманивать на свою сторону вьетнамское общество, США, руками своих солдат, этими массовыми изнасилованиями сделала ровно противоположное – превратила всех жителей Вьетнама в своих заклятых врагов. Читая описания того что делали американские солдаты с вьетнамскими женщинами у вас не останется никаких сомнений почему быть «за американцев» в этой войне было просто аморально.
The rape and murder of Vietnamese women was so common that American soldiers had a special term for the soldiers who committed the acts in conjunction: a double veteran (Baker, p. 321).
Да, возможно противоположная сторона делала то же самое, но мне кажется, что в данном случаи в дополнение к ненависти к врагу, была добавлена большая порция расизма и высокомерия по отношению ко всем азиатам как таковым (со стороны американцев). Другими словами американские солдаты видели во всех гражданах Вьетнама полулюдей, которых можно убивать и насиловать (или, как показывает книга, сначала насиловать, а потом убивать). И вот тут я и увидел серьёзное отличие Вьетнамской войны от войны в Украине. Российские войска всё же не видят в украинских граждан людей второго сорта хотя бы потому, что нынешняя Россия вышла из Киева. Во-вторых, в России проживает огромное количество, как этнических украинцев, так и граждан Украины. В третьих, и украинцы и русские являются славянами, к тому же самыми близкими славянскими народами. И в четвёртых, российская армия, которая намного слабее американской, удаётся уже десять лет удерживать Донбасс и Луганск. Против американцев и в Ираке и во Вьетнаме вели партизанскую войну именно потому, что общество видело в американцах врагов и именно потому, что американцы сами видели во всех жителях, как Ирака, так и Вьетнама не равных себе людей, а полуобезьян, чуть ли не рабов. Мне трудно сказать каковы порядки и каково отношения к украинским гражданам на территории Донбасса и Луганска (я даже не знаю, кто там всем управляет, ибо см. историю кадыровской Чечни), но предположу, что там к людям относятся всё же лучше, чем американцы относились к гражданам Вьетнама. И именно поэтому так трудно сковырнуть российскую оборону на этой территории. Если бы россияне вели бы себя точно также как американцы во Вьетнаме, я думаю, партизанская война на Донбассе настолько бы ослабила бы Россию, что вся её оборона бы посыпалась. Но этого не произошло и не происходит, значит, Россия ведёт другую политику, нежели тут что вели американцы во Вьетнаме. Но как же быть тогда с таким известным фактом как изнасилование немок в Берлине в 1945 году? Я могу лишь предположить, что это происходило хоть и массово, но кратковременно, плюс к этому Германия была полностью оккупирована и сопротивляться, т.е. вести партизанскую войну было просто некому (к тому же изнасилования происходили и на территории Италии и западной части Германии, хотя и не носили такого массового характера как это было на востоке). Короче, эта книга ясно показала не только самую отвратительную сторону любой войны, но и то, почему Америка проиграла в войне с Вьетнамом, а также, почему так важно переманивать часть общества той страны, с которой ты ведёшь войну, на свою сторону. Если обращаться с людьми так, как это делали американцы во Вьетнаме, то ничего кроме партизанской войны – в краткосрочном периоде и поражения – в долгосрочном, ждать не придётся. Ну, и пара цитат из книги чтобы вы понимали, о чём идёт речь и почему эта книга подобно вратам в Ад.
Joe Galbally, who was with the Americal Division from October 1967 to April 1968, reported soldiers regularly using their power to rape Vietnamese girls. He noted that “[the Vietnamese civilians] are aware of what American soldiers do to them so naturally they tried to hide the young girls.” But, of course, they were not always successful. During one particular patrol, Galbally’s squad “found [a Vietnamese girl] hiding in a bomb shelter . . . She was taken out, raped by six or seven people in front of her family in front of us, and the villagers. This wasn’t just one incident; this was just the first one I can remember. I know of 10 or 15 of such incidents at least.”
<…>
While rapes committed against village women during routine searches appear frequently to have ended as “mere” rapes—the soldiers satisfied by humiliating the women and sexually gratifying themselves—when the soldiers were particularly fearful or thirsty for revenge, rape could give way to murder, as was the case in the rapes that took place during the My Lai massacre.
<…>
When Sgt. Camil spoke of the demise of an enemy woman shot by an American sniper, he narrated one of the most perversely violent accounts of the investigation. “When we got up to her she was asking for water. And the Lt. said to kill her. So he ripped off her clothes, they stabbed her in both breasts, they spread-eagled her and shoved an E-tool up her vagina, an entrenching tool, and she was still asking for water. And then they took that out and they used a tree limb and then she was shot.”
<…>
When asked whether he thought rape was a widespread practice in Vietnam, Michael Bernhardt, one of the soldiers from the company responsible for the massacre, said, “I thought it was . . . It was predictable. In other words, if I saw a woman, I’d say, ‘Well, it won’t be too long.’ That’s how widespread it was.”
Может, я наивен, но я всё же не думаю, что на востоке Украины происходит вот такое. Конечно, многие украинцы могут мне возразить, что я пытаюсь скрыть преступления российской армии. Дело в том, что каждое подобное событие должно быть задокументировано, чтобы все подобные случаи были фактами, а не событиями основанных на слухах и домыслах (и только после окончания горячей фазы войны). И только после этого такие события могут быть преданы огласке, но не с целью показать какие русские звери, а чтобы выбраться как Украине, так и России из этого психологического ада. Потому что как правильно замечает автор,
This refusal to recognize abuse by American GIs is important because the longer Americans do not acknowledge this history, the greater the potential grows for such abuses to recur and the longer veterans will remain unhealed from unexplored sources of traumatization.
<…>
Hayslip suggests, however, that readers can break this circle of vengeance by listening to and actively working to help victims of war. She ends her book with a call specifically to veterans to return to Vietnam for a humanitarian “tour of duty” to help rebuild Vietnam and finally provides a list of charitable organizations active in Vietnam for those readers who “would like to help.” Thus, Hayslip and these other women ask not for pity for themselves as victims, but the formation of a public that will actively seek to resolve the continuing plight of sufferers.
Как можно понять из цитат, подобные действия не проходят незамеченными не только для тех, кого истязали, но и для тех, кто истязал. Другими словами, не сойти с ума после такого, как мне кажется, просто невозможно. Именно поэтому даже на войне нужно оставаться людьми.
---
This is probably the hardest book to read. I was initially interested in the book because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the fact of occupation of part of the Ukrainian territories. I was interested in trying to draw parallels. However, after reading the book, I'm increasingly questioning how valid it is to compare the American military campaign in Vietnam (and Iraq) and Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. Of course, cases of violence against women in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine may likely be occurring, but how numerous are such cases, and how brutal are they compared to what U.S. soldiers did to women in Vietnam? This is a key question for me.
Rape occurs not only in war but also in peacetime and not necessarily by soldiers of the opposing side. Although today, the Ukrainian side reports numerous cases of sexual violence against its residents by the Russian army, it is difficult to say with certainty to what extent this practice is widespread (we can seriously consider this issue only after the military conflict is over, because during the hot phase such news may be perceived and/or used as PSYOPS). Also. If you read this book and see how American soldiers treated women in Vietnam, you will understand why the U.S. lost the Vietnam War (quotes from the book are worth reading if you have strong nerves).
Much of the torture was sexual in nature. Van recalled being tormented by a man who “stripped her, tied her arms, and thrust his hand into her vagina until blood came and she cried out in pain.” She also informed Manes that her sister too, bore “scars all over her body, including her genitals, from many tortures.” Further, Van testified that “her niece died after a broken bottle was inserted into her vagina.”
<…>
Instead it seems many field soldiers raped village women simply because they wanted sexual gratification and felt, as one veteran expressed it, “like I was a god. I could take a life, I could screw a woman.” He specifically asserted, “You had the power to rape a woman and nobody could say nothing to you. That godlike feeling you had was in the fi eld.”35 Another soldier callously explained to Baker why rape became so ubiquitous in the Vietnam War, “Let’s face it. Nature is nature. There are women available. Those women are of another culture, another color, another society. You don’t want a prostitute. You’ve got an M-16. What do you need to pay for a lady for? You go down to the village and you take what you want” (p. 206).
America lost (the war) precisely because it was busy raping women instead of fighting, i.e., instead of getting the Vietnamese society on its side, the USA, by the hands of its soldiers, by these mass rapes did exactly the opposite - turned all the inhabitants of Vietnam into its sworn enemies. Reading descriptions of what American soldiers did to Vietnamese women will leave you in no doubt as to why being "pro-American" in this war was simply immoral.
The rape and murder of Vietnamese women was so common that American soldiers had a special term for the soldiers who committed the acts in conjunction: a double veteran (Baker, p. 321).
Yes, the other side may have been doing the same thing, but it seems to me that in this case, in addition to the hatred of the enemy, a large portion of racism and arrogance towards all Asians as such (on the part of Americans) was added. In other words, American soldiers saw all Vietnamese citizens as half-humans who could be killed and raped (or, as the book shows, first raped and then killed). And this is where I saw a serious difference between the Vietnam War and the war in Ukraine. Russian forces do not see Ukrainian citizens as second-class citizens, at least because current Russia has come out of Kiev. Secondly, Russia has a huge number of both ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian citizens. Thirdly, both Ukrainians and Russians are Slavs, moreover, the closest Slavic peoples. And fourth, the Russian army, which is much weaker than the American army, has managed to hold Donbass and Lugansk for ten years. Guerrilla warfare was waged against the Americans in Iraq and Vietnam precisely because society saw the Americans as enemies and precisely because the Americans themselves saw all the inhabitants of both Iraq and Vietnam not as equal human beings but as half-monkeys, almost as slaves. It is difficult for me to say what the order and attitude toward Ukrainian citizens are in Donbass and Lugansk (I don't even know who manages everything there, for see the history of Kadyrov's Chechnya), but I assume that people there are treated better than Americans treated citizens of Vietnam. And that's why it's so hard to throw off Russian defenses on that territory. If the Russians were behaving just like the Americans did in Vietnam, I think a guerrilla war in Donbass would weaken Russia so much that its entire defense would fall apart. But it didn't happen, and it's not happening, so Russia is pursuing a different policy than what the Americans did in Vietnam. But what about such a well-known fact as the rape of Germans in Berlin in 1945? I can only assume that it happened, though massively, but for a short period of time, plus Germany was fully occupied and there was simply no one to resist, i.e., to wage guerrilla warfare (besides, rapes took place in Italy and the western part of Germany, although they were not of such a mass character as it was in the east). In short, this book clearly showed not only the ugliest side of any war but also why America lost the Vietnam War and why it is so important to win over a part of the society of the country you are at war with to your side. If you treat people the way the Americans did in Vietnam, nothing but guerrilla warfare in the short term and defeat in the long term will be expected. Well, and, a couple of quotes from the book to give you an idea of what we are talking about and why this book is like a gateway to Hell.
Joe Galbally, who was with the Americal Division from October 1967 to April 1968, reported soldiers regularly using their power to rape Vietnamese girls. He noted that “[the Vietnamese civilians] are aware of what American soldiers do to them so naturally they tried to hide the young girls.” But, of course, they were not always successful. During one particular patrol, Galbally’s squad “found [a Vietnamese girl] hiding in a bomb shelter . . . She was taken out, raped by six or seven people in front of her family in front of us, and the villagers. This wasn’t just one incident; this was just the first one I can remember. I know of 10 or 15 of such incidents at least.”
<…>
While rapes committed against village women during routine searches appear frequently to have ended as “mere” rapes—the soldiers satisfied by humiliating the women and sexually gratifying themselves—when the soldiers were particularly fearful or thirsty for revenge, rape could give way to murder, as was the case in the rapes that took place during the My Lai massacre.
<…>
When Sgt. Camil spoke of the demise of an enemy woman shot by an American sniper, he narrated one of the most perversely violent accounts of the investigation. “When we got up to her she was asking for water. And the Lt. said to kill her. So he ripped off her clothes, they stabbed her in both breasts, they spread-eagled her and shoved an E-tool up her vagina, an entrenching tool, and she was still asking for water. And then they took that out and they used a tree limb and then she was shot.”
<…>
When asked whether he thought rape was a widespread practice in Vietnam, Michael Bernhardt, one of the soldiers from the company responsible for the massacre, said, “I thought it was . . . It was predictable. In other words, if I saw a woman, I’d say, ‘Well, it won’t be too long.’ That’s how widespread it was.”
Maybe I am naive, but I still don't think that this is what is happening in eastern Ukraine. Of course, many Ukrainians may argue that I am trying to cover up the crimes of the Russian army. The point is that every such event should be documented so that all such cases would be facts and not events based on rumor and speculation (and only after the hot phase of the war is over). Only after that such events can be publicized, but not with the purpose of showing what Russian beasts are, but to get both Ukraine and Russia out of this psychological hell. Because as the author correctly notes,
(see the last quote from the book in the Russian version of the review)
As can be understood from the quotes, such actions do not go unnoticed not only for those who were tortured but also for those who were tortured. In other words, it seems to me that it is simply impossible not to go mad after something like this. That is why even in war, one must remain human.
Пожалуй, это самая тяжёлая книга за всё то время что я читаю нехудожественную литературу. Изначально книга меня заинтересовала в связи с российско-украинским конфликтом и фактом оккупации части украинских территорий. Мне было интересно попытаться провести параллели. Однако после прочтения книги, я всё больше задаюсь вопросом, насколько корректно сравнивать американскую военную кампанию во Вьетнаме (и Ираке) и военную кампанию России в Украине. Конечно, скорее всего, случаи насилия над женщинами в подконтрольной российским властям территории Украины, возможно, происходят, но насколько такие случаи многочисленны и насколько они жестоки в сравнении с тем, что американские солдаты творили над женщинами во Вьетнаме? Этот вопрос для меня является ключевым.
Изнасилования происходят не только на войне, но и в период мирной жизни и вовсе необязательно солдатами противоборствующей стороны. Несмотря на то, что сегодня украинская сторона сообщает о многочисленных случаях сексуального насилия над её жителями со стороны российской армии, трудно уверенно сказать насколько такая практика повсеместна (серьёзно рассматривать этот вопрос мы можем только после того как военный конфликт закончится, ибо во время горячей фазы подобные новости могут восприниматься и/или использоваться в качестве ИПСО). И ещё. Если вы прочтёте эту книгу и увидите, как американские солдаты обращались с женщинами во Вьетнаме, вы поймете, почему США проиграли войну во Вьетнаме (цитаты из книги стоит читать, если у вас крепкие нервы).
Much of the torture was sexual in nature. Van recalled being tormented by a man who “stripped her, tied her arms, and thrust his hand into her vagina until blood came and she cried out in pain.” She also informed Manes that her sister too, bore “scars all over her body, including her genitals, from many tortures.” Further, Van testified that “her niece died after a broken bottle was inserted into her vagina.”
<…>
Instead it seems many field soldiers raped village women simply because they wanted sexual gratification and felt, as one veteran expressed it, “like I was a god. I could take a life, I could screw a woman.” He specifically asserted, “You had the power to rape a woman and nobody could say nothing to you. That godlike feeling you had was in the fi eld.”35 Another soldier callously explained to Baker why rape became so ubiquitous in the Vietnam War, “Let’s face it. Nature is nature. There are women available. Those women are of another culture, another color, another society. You don’t want a prostitute. You’ve got an M-16. What do you need to pay for a lady for? You go down to the village and you take what you want” (p. 206).
Америка проиграла именно потому что была занята изнасилованием женщин, а не ведением боевых действие, т.е. вместо того чтобы переманивать на свою сторону вьетнамское общество, США, руками своих солдат, этими массовыми изнасилованиями сделала ровно противоположное – превратила всех жителей Вьетнама в своих заклятых врагов. Читая описания того что делали американские солдаты с вьетнамскими женщинами у вас не останется никаких сомнений почему быть «за американцев» в этой войне было просто аморально.
The rape and murder of Vietnamese women was so common that American soldiers had a special term for the soldiers who committed the acts in conjunction: a double veteran (Baker, p. 321).
Да, возможно противоположная сторона делала то же самое, но мне кажется, что в данном случаи в дополнение к ненависти к врагу, была добавлена большая порция расизма и высокомерия по отношению ко всем азиатам как таковым (со стороны американцев). Другими словами американские солдаты видели во всех гражданах Вьетнама полулюдей, которых можно убивать и насиловать (или, как показывает книга, сначала насиловать, а потом убивать). И вот тут я и увидел серьёзное отличие Вьетнамской войны от войны в Украине. Российские войска всё же не видят в украинских граждан людей второго сорта хотя бы потому, что нынешняя Россия вышла из Киева. Во-вторых, в России проживает огромное количество, как этнических украинцев, так и граждан Украины. В третьих, и украинцы и русские являются славянами, к тому же самыми близкими славянскими народами. И в четвёртых, российская армия, которая намного слабее американской, удаётся уже десять лет удерживать Донбасс и Луганск. Против американцев и в Ираке и во Вьетнаме вели партизанскую войну именно потому, что общество видело в американцах врагов и именно потому, что американцы сами видели во всех жителях, как Ирака, так и Вьетнама не равных себе людей, а полуобезьян, чуть ли не рабов. Мне трудно сказать каковы порядки и каково отношения к украинским гражданам на территории Донбасса и Луганска (я даже не знаю, кто там всем управляет, ибо см. историю кадыровской Чечни), но предположу, что там к людям относятся всё же лучше, чем американцы относились к гражданам Вьетнама. И именно поэтому так трудно сковырнуть российскую оборону на этой территории. Если бы россияне вели бы себя точно также как американцы во Вьетнаме, я думаю, партизанская война на Донбассе настолько бы ослабила бы Россию, что вся её оборона бы посыпалась. Но этого не произошло и не происходит, значит, Россия ведёт другую политику, нежели тут что вели американцы во Вьетнаме. Но как же быть тогда с таким известным фактом как изнасилование немок в Берлине в 1945 году? Я могу лишь предположить, что это происходило хоть и массово, но кратковременно, плюс к этому Германия была полностью оккупирована и сопротивляться, т.е. вести партизанскую войну было просто некому (к тому же изнасилования происходили и на территории Италии и западной части Германии, хотя и не носили такого массового характера как это было на востоке). Короче, эта книга ясно показала не только самую отвратительную сторону любой войны, но и то, почему Америка проиграла в войне с Вьетнамом, а также, почему так важно переманивать часть общества той страны, с которой ты ведёшь войну, на свою сторону. Если обращаться с людьми так, как это делали американцы во Вьетнаме, то ничего кроме партизанской войны – в краткосрочном периоде и поражения – в долгосрочном, ждать не придётся. Ну, и пара цитат из книги чтобы вы понимали, о чём идёт речь и почему эта книга подобно вратам в Ад.
Joe Galbally, who was with the Americal Division from October 1967 to April 1968, reported soldiers regularly using their power to rape Vietnamese girls. He noted that “[the Vietnamese civilians] are aware of what American soldiers do to them so naturally they tried to hide the young girls.” But, of course, they were not always successful. During one particular patrol, Galbally’s squad “found [a Vietnamese girl] hiding in a bomb shelter . . . She was taken out, raped by six or seven people in front of her family in front of us, and the villagers. This wasn’t just one incident; this was just the first one I can remember. I know of 10 or 15 of such incidents at least.”
<…>
While rapes committed against village women during routine searches appear frequently to have ended as “mere” rapes—the soldiers satisfied by humiliating the women and sexually gratifying themselves—when the soldiers were particularly fearful or thirsty for revenge, rape could give way to murder, as was the case in the rapes that took place during the My Lai massacre.
<…>
When Sgt. Camil spoke of the demise of an enemy woman shot by an American sniper, he narrated one of the most perversely violent accounts of the investigation. “When we got up to her she was asking for water. And the Lt. said to kill her. So he ripped off her clothes, they stabbed her in both breasts, they spread-eagled her and shoved an E-tool up her vagina, an entrenching tool, and she was still asking for water. And then they took that out and they used a tree limb and then she was shot.”
<…>
When asked whether he thought rape was a widespread practice in Vietnam, Michael Bernhardt, one of the soldiers from the company responsible for the massacre, said, “I thought it was . . . It was predictable. In other words, if I saw a woman, I’d say, ‘Well, it won’t be too long.’ That’s how widespread it was.”
Может, я наивен, но я всё же не думаю, что на востоке Украины происходит вот такое. Конечно, многие украинцы могут мне возразить, что я пытаюсь скрыть преступления российской армии. Дело в том, что каждое подобное событие должно быть задокументировано, чтобы все подобные случаи были фактами, а не событиями основанных на слухах и домыслах (и только после окончания горячей фазы войны). И только после этого такие события могут быть преданы огласке, но не с целью показать какие русские звери, а чтобы выбраться как Украине, так и России из этого психологического ада. Потому что как правильно замечает автор,
This refusal to recognize abuse by American GIs is important because the longer Americans do not acknowledge this history, the greater the potential grows for such abuses to recur and the longer veterans will remain unhealed from unexplored sources of traumatization.
<…>
Hayslip suggests, however, that readers can break this circle of vengeance by listening to and actively working to help victims of war. She ends her book with a call specifically to veterans to return to Vietnam for a humanitarian “tour of duty” to help rebuild Vietnam and finally provides a list of charitable organizations active in Vietnam for those readers who “would like to help.” Thus, Hayslip and these other women ask not for pity for themselves as victims, but the formation of a public that will actively seek to resolve the continuing plight of sufferers.
Как можно понять из цитат, подобные действия не проходят незамеченными не только для тех, кого истязали, но и для тех, кто истязал. Другими словами, не сойти с ума после такого, как мне кажется, просто невозможно. Именно поэтому даже на войне нужно оставаться людьми.
---
This is probably the hardest book to read. I was initially interested in the book because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the fact of occupation of part of the Ukrainian territories. I was interested in trying to draw parallels. However, after reading the book, I'm increasingly questioning how valid it is to compare the American military campaign in Vietnam (and Iraq) and Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. Of course, cases of violence against women in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine may likely be occurring, but how numerous are such cases, and how brutal are they compared to what U.S. soldiers did to women in Vietnam? This is a key question for me.
Rape occurs not only in war but also in peacetime and not necessarily by soldiers of the opposing side. Although today, the Ukrainian side reports numerous cases of sexual violence against its residents by the Russian army, it is difficult to say with certainty to what extent this practice is widespread (we can seriously consider this issue only after the military conflict is over, because during the hot phase such news may be perceived and/or used as PSYOPS). Also. If you read this book and see how American soldiers treated women in Vietnam, you will understand why the U.S. lost the Vietnam War (quotes from the book are worth reading if you have strong nerves).
Much of the torture was sexual in nature. Van recalled being tormented by a man who “stripped her, tied her arms, and thrust his hand into her vagina until blood came and she cried out in pain.” She also informed Manes that her sister too, bore “scars all over her body, including her genitals, from many tortures.” Further, Van testified that “her niece died after a broken bottle was inserted into her vagina.”
<…>
Instead it seems many field soldiers raped village women simply because they wanted sexual gratification and felt, as one veteran expressed it, “like I was a god. I could take a life, I could screw a woman.” He specifically asserted, “You had the power to rape a woman and nobody could say nothing to you. That godlike feeling you had was in the fi eld.”35 Another soldier callously explained to Baker why rape became so ubiquitous in the Vietnam War, “Let’s face it. Nature is nature. There are women available. Those women are of another culture, another color, another society. You don’t want a prostitute. You’ve got an M-16. What do you need to pay for a lady for? You go down to the village and you take what you want” (p. 206).
America lost (the war) precisely because it was busy raping women instead of fighting, i.e., instead of getting the Vietnamese society on its side, the USA, by the hands of its soldiers, by these mass rapes did exactly the opposite - turned all the inhabitants of Vietnam into its sworn enemies. Reading descriptions of what American soldiers did to Vietnamese women will leave you in no doubt as to why being "pro-American" in this war was simply immoral.
The rape and murder of Vietnamese women was so common that American soldiers had a special term for the soldiers who committed the acts in conjunction: a double veteran (Baker, p. 321).
Yes, the other side may have been doing the same thing, but it seems to me that in this case, in addition to the hatred of the enemy, a large portion of racism and arrogance towards all Asians as such (on the part of Americans) was added. In other words, American soldiers saw all Vietnamese citizens as half-humans who could be killed and raped (or, as the book shows, first raped and then killed). And this is where I saw a serious difference between the Vietnam War and the war in Ukraine. Russian forces do not see Ukrainian citizens as second-class citizens, at least because current Russia has come out of Kiev. Secondly, Russia has a huge number of both ethnic Ukrainians and Ukrainian citizens. Thirdly, both Ukrainians and Russians are Slavs, moreover, the closest Slavic peoples. And fourth, the Russian army, which is much weaker than the American army, has managed to hold Donbass and Lugansk for ten years. Guerrilla warfare was waged against the Americans in Iraq and Vietnam precisely because society saw the Americans as enemies and precisely because the Americans themselves saw all the inhabitants of both Iraq and Vietnam not as equal human beings but as half-monkeys, almost as slaves. It is difficult for me to say what the order and attitude toward Ukrainian citizens are in Donbass and Lugansk (I don't even know who manages everything there, for see the history of Kadyrov's Chechnya), but I assume that people there are treated better than Americans treated citizens of Vietnam. And that's why it's so hard to throw off Russian defenses on that territory. If the Russians were behaving just like the Americans did in Vietnam, I think a guerrilla war in Donbass would weaken Russia so much that its entire defense would fall apart. But it didn't happen, and it's not happening, so Russia is pursuing a different policy than what the Americans did in Vietnam. But what about such a well-known fact as the rape of Germans in Berlin in 1945? I can only assume that it happened, though massively, but for a short period of time, plus Germany was fully occupied and there was simply no one to resist, i.e., to wage guerrilla warfare (besides, rapes took place in Italy and the western part of Germany, although they were not of such a mass character as it was in the east). In short, this book clearly showed not only the ugliest side of any war but also why America lost the Vietnam War and why it is so important to win over a part of the society of the country you are at war with to your side. If you treat people the way the Americans did in Vietnam, nothing but guerrilla warfare in the short term and defeat in the long term will be expected. Well, and, a couple of quotes from the book to give you an idea of what we are talking about and why this book is like a gateway to Hell.
Joe Galbally, who was with the Americal Division from October 1967 to April 1968, reported soldiers regularly using their power to rape Vietnamese girls. He noted that “[the Vietnamese civilians] are aware of what American soldiers do to them so naturally they tried to hide the young girls.” But, of course, they were not always successful. During one particular patrol, Galbally’s squad “found [a Vietnamese girl] hiding in a bomb shelter . . . She was taken out, raped by six or seven people in front of her family in front of us, and the villagers. This wasn’t just one incident; this was just the first one I can remember. I know of 10 or 15 of such incidents at least.”
<…>
While rapes committed against village women during routine searches appear frequently to have ended as “mere” rapes—the soldiers satisfied by humiliating the women and sexually gratifying themselves—when the soldiers were particularly fearful or thirsty for revenge, rape could give way to murder, as was the case in the rapes that took place during the My Lai massacre.
<…>
When Sgt. Camil spoke of the demise of an enemy woman shot by an American sniper, he narrated one of the most perversely violent accounts of the investigation. “When we got up to her she was asking for water. And the Lt. said to kill her. So he ripped off her clothes, they stabbed her in both breasts, they spread-eagled her and shoved an E-tool up her vagina, an entrenching tool, and she was still asking for water. And then they took that out and they used a tree limb and then she was shot.”
<…>
When asked whether he thought rape was a widespread practice in Vietnam, Michael Bernhardt, one of the soldiers from the company responsible for the massacre, said, “I thought it was . . . It was predictable. In other words, if I saw a woman, I’d say, ‘Well, it won’t be too long.’ That’s how widespread it was.”
Maybe I am naive, but I still don't think that this is what is happening in eastern Ukraine. Of course, many Ukrainians may argue that I am trying to cover up the crimes of the Russian army. The point is that every such event should be documented so that all such cases would be facts and not events based on rumor and speculation (and only after the hot phase of the war is over). Only after that such events can be publicized, but not with the purpose of showing what Russian beasts are, but to get both Ukraine and Russia out of this psychological hell. Because as the author correctly notes,
(see the last quote from the book in the Russian version of the review)
As can be understood from the quotes, such actions do not go unnoticed not only for those who were tortured but also for those who were tortured. In other words, it seems to me that it is simply impossible not to go mad after something like this. That is why even in war, one must remain human.
July 7, 2019
"During the investigation, veterans did not merely recount horrifying stories. Instead, they struggled to explain how they - typical, young American men - were capable of such brutality."
Clearly a lot of research and thought went into this, and I learned many horrifying facts about the Vietnam War. At times the book was a bit dry and hard to get through. Still, it was an overall insightful read so I would recommend this to anyone curious about the Vietnam War.
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