Nick Turse. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2013. 370 S. $30.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8050-8691-1.

Reviewed by Heather M. Stur

Published on H-War (August, 2013)

Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University)

Among the objectives of the national Vietnam membered as an anomaly. Turse argues that My War fftieth anniversaries commemoration series Lai was one of many civilian massacres that is to highlight advancements in military technolo‐ American troops committed during the war--“an gy that developed from the American war efort operation, not an aberration,” to quote Ron Riden‐ in Vietnam.[1] Drones may very well be the legacy hour, the Vietnam veteran who helped expose My of Vietnam-era technological development, and Lai. Combining research in the reports of errant missiles that miss their targets Crimes Working Group fles, which are held at the remind us of war’s impact on civilians. National Archives, with interviews and a wide va‐ has written a book that places the killing of Viet‐ riety of published books and articles, Turse ofers namese civilians at the center of the Vietnam War a disturbing blow-by-blow account of senseless story and argues that atrocities committed by U.S. murders of women, children, and elderly men. In troops against noncombatants were not isolated Turse’s portrayal, the killing was methodical, and incidents; they were fundamental to the Ameri‐ combat stress was not necessarily to blame. Turse can way of war in Vietnam. It was not that ran‐ notes that “rear-echelon guards operating under dom servicemen occasionally snapped and un‐ confusing orders or nonexistent rules of engage‐ loaded on a village; killing civilians was a routine ment” were those primarily responsible for the order that came from on high, Turse contends. By slaughter of children who sifted through garbage writing this book, he hopes to compel readers to dumps near U.S. bases looking for food or things come to grips with the centrality of civilian sufer‐ they could sell (p. 159). An anecdote that demon‐ ing to the Vietnam War experience. strates the absurdity of the killing particularly When Americans think about atrocities and well describes how a helicopter pilot lunged to‐ the Vietnam War, what typically comes to mind is ward some Vietnamese women on bicycles and the My Lai massacre, which Americans have re‐ killed them with the skids for no apparent reason H-Net Reviews

(p. 160). Although air power and technology al‐ scribed the dehumanizing experience of basic lowed some servicemen a sense of detachment training on Vietnam War combat troops twenty from the carnage, the brutality was usually up years ago, and James Gibson explored the de‐ close and personal, and Turse includes more than tached nature of technological warfare more than one story of American men beating Vietnamese a decade ago. Susan Brownmiller, I, and others civilians to death with their bare hands. The have examined the links between military points that Turse tries to get across are that atroci‐ machismo and sexual assault by U.S. troops ties were widespread during the Vietnam War, against Vietnamese--and American--women. and not only were they known by military author‐ Turse cites some of these authors in his endnotes, ities, but they were also sanctioned by a strategy so it is curious that he describes his fndings as that relied on body counts as one of the measures new when he relies heavily on published work. of success. The second overarching problem with the In some ways, Turse has done us an impor‐ book is that Turse provides no context or analysis tant service. If there ever was a time in which we of the broader implications of the atrocities he de‐ need a reminder of the destruction the United tails. What does the violence tell us about the States caused in Vietnam, it is now. Until recently, American ways of war and diplomacy, American the Vietnam War has served as a painful re‐ identity, and America’s place in the world? Turse minder of what happens when misguided policy bludgeons readers with shocking stories but of‐ decisions, lack of a clear goal, and racist contempt fers no take-home message, which limits the for both ally and enemy defne a military engage‐ book’s impact. It is a missed opportunity to guide ment, but time seems to be causing that memory readers in a frank conversation about what U.S. to fade. The fftieth commemorations seek to por‐ troops have done abroad. This is unfortunate in a tray U.S. intervention in Vietnam as noble and time when the continues to engage American military eforts as worthy of apprecia‐ in unending wars and develop military technolo‐ tion. Turse’s book forces us to acknowledge the re‐ gy that makes civilian casualties less visible to volting truth about what some American troops those doing the killing. did to civilians in Vietnam. The book’s endnotes Note are thick with citations for the violence Turse de‐ [1]. The United States of America Vietnam scribes, although a bibliography would have pro‐ War Commemoration, http:// vided a helpful overview of the research that www.vietnamwar50th.com/about/ (accessed July went into the project. 2, 2013). There are two signifcant problems, however, with this book. First, what Turse is presenting as 50th “hidden history” has been public since before the war ended. From the Winter Soldier Investigation most  of 1972 to all of the published sources Turse uses s to make his case, atrocities have been part of the public record on Vietnam for decades. There is is something dishonest about Turse’s work because ying he positions it as groundbreaking even though it . ofers very little that is new. Even his discussion . of why American servicemen slaughtered Viet‐ namese civilians is old news; Christian Appy de‐ Vietnam War 

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50th myself

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Citation: Heather M. Stur. Review of Turse, Nick. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam. H-War, H-Net Reviews. August, 2013.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38908

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