Vietnam War

==War crimes==
{{Main|List of war crimes#1955–1975: Vietnam War|Vietnam War casualties}}
{{See also|List of massacres in Vietnam}}

A large number of [[war crimes]] took place during the Vietnam War. War crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict and included rape, massacres of civilians, bombings of civilian targets, [[Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure#VC/NVA use of terror|terrorism]], the widespread use of torture, and the murder of [[prisoners of war]]. Additional common crimes included theft, arson, and the destruction of property not warranted by [[military necessity]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Solis |first=Gary D. |title=The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-48711-5 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=6FKf0ocxEPAC|p=301}} 301]–303}}</ref>

===South Vietnamese, Korean and American{{Anchor|War crimes committed by US forces}}===
{{See also|United States war crimes#Vietnam War|Winter Soldier Investigation|Vietnam War Crimes Working Group|Tiger Force}}
[[File:My Lai massacre.jpg|thumb|Victims of the [[My Lai massacre]]]]

In 1968, the [[Vietnam War Crimes Working Group]] (VWCWG) was established by the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] [[task force]] set up in the wake of the My Lai Massacre, to attempt to ascertain the veracity of emerging claims of [[war crimes by U.S. armed forces]] in Vietnam, during the Vietnam War period.

Of the war crimes reported to military authorities, sworn statements by witnesses and status reports indicated that 320 incidents had a factual basis.<ref name="TurseNelson">{{Cite web |last1=Nick Turse |last2=Deborah Nelson |date=6 August 2006 |title=Civilian Killings Went Unpunished |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-vietnam6aug06,0,7018171,full.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215021044/http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-vietnam6aug06,0,7018171,full.story |archive-date=15 December 2012 |access-date=14 September 2013 |website=[[Los Angeles Times|latimes.com]]}}</ref> The substantiated cases included 7 massacres between 1967 and 1971 in which at least 137 civilians were killed; seventy eight further attacks targeting non-combatants resulting in at least 57 deaths, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted; and 141 cases of U.S. soldiers torturing civilian detainees or prisoners of war with fists, sticks, bats, water or electric shock. [[Journalism]] in the ensuing years has documented other overlooked and uninvestigated war crimes involving every army division that was active in Vietnam,<ref name=TurseNelson/> including the atrocities committed by [[Tiger Force]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sallah |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/tigerforcetruest00sall |title=Tiger Force: a true story of men and war |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-316-15997-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tigerforcetruest00sall/page/306 306] |url-access=registration}}</ref> Rummel estimated that American forces committed around 5,500 [[Democide|democidal]] killings between 1960 and 1972, from a range of between 4,000 and 10,000 killed.<ref name=Rummel/>{{Rp|}}

U.S. forces established numerous [[free-fire zone]]s as a tactic to prevent Viet Cong fighters from sheltering in South Vietnamese villages.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Free Fire Zone – The Vietnam War |language=en-US |work=The Vietnam War |url=https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/ |access-date=20 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205052554/https://thevietnamwar.info/free-fire-zone/|archive-date=February 5, 2023}}</ref> Such practice, which involved the assumption that any individual appearing in the designated zones was an enemy combatant that could be freely targeted by weapons, is regarded by journalist Lewis M. Simons as "a severe violation of the laws of war".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis M. Simons |title=Free Fire Zones |url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/free-fire-zones/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019162449/http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/free-fire-zones/ |archive-date=19 October 2016 |access-date=5 October 2016 |publisher=Crimes of War}}</ref> [[Nick Turse]], in his 2013 book, ''Kill Anything that Moves'', argues that a relentless drive toward higher [[body count]]s, a widespread use of free-fire zones, rules of engagement where civilians who ran from soldiers or helicopters could be viewed as Viet Cong and a widespread disdain for Vietnamese civilians led to massive civilian casualties and endemic war crimes inflicted by U.S. troops.<ref name="Turse">{{Cite book |last=Turse |first=Nick |title=Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam |publisher=Metropolitan Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8050-8691-1}}</ref>{{Rp|251}} One example cited by Turse is [[Operation Speedy Express]], an operation by the 9th Infantry Division, which was described by [[John Paul Vann]] as, in effect, "many Mỹ Lais".<ref name=Turse/>{{Rp|251}} A report by ''Newsweek'' magazine suggested that at least 5,000 civilians may have been killed during six months of the operation, and there were approximately 748 recovered weapons and an official US military body count of 10,889 enemy combatants killed.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kevin Buckley |date=19 June 1972 |title=Pacification's Deadly Price |url=http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/buckley.html |magazine=Newsweek |pages=42–43}}</ref>
[[File:The_Terror_of_War.jpg|thumb|"The Terror of War" by [[Nick Ut]], which won the 1973 [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography]], showing [[Phan Thi Kim Phuc|a nine-year-old girl]] running down a road after being severely burned by napalm.]]
R.J. Rummel estimated that 39,000 were killed by South Vietnam during the Diem-era in democide from a range of between 16,000 and 167,000 people; for 1964 to 1975, Rummel estimated 50,000 people were killed in democide, from a range of between 42,000 and 128,000. Thus, the total for 1954 to 1975 is 81,000, from a range of between 57,000 and 284,000 deaths caused by South Vietnam.<ref name="Rummel" />{{Rp|}} [[Benjamin Valentino]] estimates 110,000–310,000 deaths as a "possible case" of "counter-guerrilla mass killings" by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces during the war.<ref name="Valentino">{{Cite book |last=Valentino |first=Benjamin |title=Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8014-7273-2 |page=84}}</ref> The Phoenix Program, coordinated by the CIA and involving US and South Vietnamese security forces, was aimed at destroying the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong. The program killed 26,369 to 41,000 people, with an unknown number being innocent civilians.<ref name="Ward" />{{Rp|341–343}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Otterman |first=Michael |title=American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond |publisher=[[Melbourne University Publishing]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-522-85333-9 |page=[{{GBurl|id=wiVqrgS68NoC|p=62}} 62]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |author-link=Seymour Hersh |date=15 December 2003 |title=Moving Targets |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/15/031215fa_fact?currentPage=all |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCoy |first=Alfred |title=A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror |publisher=Macmillan |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8050-8041-4 |page=[{{GBurl|id=FVwUYSBwtKcC|p=68}} 68]}}</ref>

Torture and ill-treatment were frequently applied by the South Vietnamese to POWs as well as civilian prisoners.<ref name="Greiner">{{Cite book |last=Greiner |first=Bernd |title=War Without Fronts: The USA in Vietnam |publisher=Vintage Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-09-953259-0}}</ref>{{Rp|77}} During their visit to the [[Con Dao Prison|Con Son Prison]] in 1970, U.S. congressmen [[Augustus F. Hawkins]] and [[William Anderson (naval officer)|William R. Anderson]] witnessed detainees either confined in minute "tiger cages" or chained to their cells, and provided with poor-quality food. A group of American doctors inspecting the prison in the same year found many inmates suffering symptoms resulting from forced immobility and torture.<ref name=Greiner/>{{Rp|77}} During their visits to transit detention facilities under American administration in 1968 and 1969, the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|International Red Cross]] recorded many cases of torture and inhumane treatment before the captives were handed over to South Vietnamese authorities.<ref name=Greiner/>{{Rp|78}} Torture was conducted by the South Vietnamese government in collusion with the CIA.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 December 2014 |title=Torture: What the Vietcong Learned and the CIA Didn't |language=en |work=Newsweek |url=http://www.newsweek.com/cia-torture-report-vietcong-vietnam-war-292041 |access-date=20 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409031604/https://www.newsweek.com/cia-torture-report-vietcong-vietnam-war-292041|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Man in the Snow White Cell |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no1/article06.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613112835/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no1/article06.html |archive-date=13 June 2007 |access-date=20 June 2018 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref>

South Korean forces were also accused of war crimes. One documented event was the [[Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre]] where the [[2nd Marine Division (South Korea)|2nd Marine Brigade]] reportedly killed between 69 and 79 civilians on 12 February 1968 in Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất village, [[Điện Bàn District]], [[Quảng Nam Province]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Go Gyeong-tae |date=15 November 2000 |script-title=ko:잠자던 진실, 30년만에 깨어나다 "한국군은 베트남에서 무엇을 했는가"{{Nbsp}}... 미국 국립문서보관소 비밀해제 보고서·사진 최초공개 |language=ko |work=[[Hankyoreh]] |url=http://h21.hani.co.kr/section-021003000/2000/021003000200011150334040.html |access-date=8 September 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407205452/https://h21.hani.co.kr/section-021003000/2000/021003000200011150334040.html|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref> South Korean forces are also accused of perpetrating other massacres, namely: [[Bình Hòa massacre]], [[Binh Tai Massacre]] and [[Hà My massacre]].

===North Vietnamese and Viet Cong===
{{Main|Viet Cong and People's Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War}}
{{See also|Cambodian Civil War#War Crimes}}
[[File:Hue Massacre Interment.jpg|thumb|Interment of victims of the [[Huế Massacre]]]]

Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century", based on the definition of terrorists as a non-state actor, and examining targeted killings and civilian deaths which are estimated at over 18,000 from 1966 to 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pedahzur |first=Ami |title=Root Causes of Suicide Terrorism: The Globalization of Martyrdom |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-77029-3 |page=116|url={{GBurl|id=LIGTAgAAQBAJ}}}}</ref> The US Department of Defense estimates the VC/PAVN had conducted 36,000 murders and almost 58,000 kidnappings from 1967 to 1972, {{Circa|1973}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lanning |first1=Michael |title=Inside the VC and the NVA: The Real Story of North Vietnam's Armed Forces |last2=Cragg |first2=Dan |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60344-059-2 |pages=186–188|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/2746}}</ref> Benjamin Valentino attributes 45,000–80,000 "terrorist mass killings" to the Viet Cong during the war.<ref name=Valentino/> Statistics for 1968–1972 suggest that "about 80 percent of the terrorist victims were ordinary civilians and only about 20 percent were government officials, policemen, members of the self-defence forces or pacification cadres."<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|273}} Viet Cong tactics included the frequent mortaring of civilians in refugee camps, and the placing of mines on highways frequented by villagers taking their goods to urban markets. Some mines were set only to go off after heavy vehicle passage, causing extensive slaughter aboard packed civilian buses.<ref name=Lewy/>{{Rp|270–279}}

Notable Viet Cong atrocities include the massacre of over 3,000 unarmed civilians at Huế<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kiernan |first=Ben |title=Viet Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-062730-0 |page=444 |author-link=Ben Kiernan}}</ref> during the Tet Offensive and the killing of 252 civilians during the [[Đắk Sơn massacre]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pike |first=Douglas |url=https://archive.org/details/pavnpeoplesarmyo00pike |title=PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam |publisher=Presidio Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-89141-243-4 |url-access=registration}}</ref> 155,000 refugees fleeing the final North Vietnamese Spring Offensive were reported to have been killed or abducted on the road to [[Tuy Hòa]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiesner |first=Louis |title=Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Viet-Nam, 1954–1975 |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-313-26306-4 |pages=318–319}}</ref> According to Rummel, PAVN and Viet Cong troops killed 164,000 civilians in democide between 1954 and 1975 in South Vietnam, from a range of between 106,000 and 227,000 (50,000 of which were reportedly killed by shelling and mortar on ARVN forces during the retreat to Tuy Hoa).<ref name=Rummel/>{{Rp|}} North Vietnam was also known for its abusive treatment of American POWs, most notably in [[Hỏa Lò Prison]] (aka the ''Hanoi Hilton''), where [[Forced confession|torture was employed to extract confessions]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|655}}