A History Of Violence Against Civilians

Newly declassified files list US atrocities in Vietnam :

Among the substantiated cases in the archive are:

- Seven massacres from 1967 to 1971 in which 137 civilians died.

- Seventy-eight other attacks on non-combatants in which at least 57 were killed, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted.

- One hundred and forty-one incidents in which soldiers tortured civilians or prisoners with fists, sticks, water or electric shock.

Of 203 soldiers accused of harming Vietnamese civilians or prisoners who received formal charges, 57 were court martialled and just 23 convicted; 14 received prison sentences, but most won significant reductions on appeal.