Tiger Force Update

[Mad Max]

Now they are looking to charge a couple of the soldiers with murder...Once again, I know they are army, but they still deserve our support on this one... Here is the story "our great media-representatives"published recently....I'll bet nobody who works for that newspaper ever served for his/her country...A bunch of liberal ********Here is the story>

Tuesday, 10/28/03
U.S. Army platoon under investigation in Vietnam

By MICHAEL D. SALLAH
and MITCH WEISS
Toledo Blade

Officials probing atrocities 36 years after war

Thirty-six years after a U.S. Army platoon from the 101st Airborne Division swept through the heart of Vietnam torturing and killing civilians, a Vietnamese military official is investigating the atrocities to determine how many people died in the rampage.

Provincial officials say they want to trace the movements of Tiger Force during the unit's seven-month campaign in the Central Highlands by interviewing villagers and searching local archives.

Col. Nguyen Thai is leading the investigation sparked by The Blade's series, ''Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths,'' his spokesman in Vietnam said.

The Toledo, Ohio, newspaper's findings, reported by television and newspapers in Vietnam, may answer questions about the fate of hundreds of civilians in Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces who disappeared in 1967.

''He has a lot of questions about what happened to the people and about Tiger Force,'' said spokes- man Nguyen Minh Nguyet.

The Blade's eight-month investigation shows at least 81 civilians and prisoners were fatally shot or stabbed between May and November 1967, according to classified U.S. Army records.

But based on more than 100 Blade interviews with former Tiger Force soldiers and civilians, the platoon is estimated to have killed hundreds of unarmed villagers in the longest series of atrocities by a U.S. fighting unit in the war. Among the findings:

• Women and children were blown up in underground bunkers, and prisoners were tortured and executed, their ears and scalps severed for souvenirs.

• Commanders knew about the platoon's atrocities in 1967 and, in some cases, encouraged the soldiers to continue the violence.

Four years after the atrocities, the Army began investigating war-crime allegations against Tiger Force. Investigators found that 18 soldiers committed crimes including murder and assault. But no one was ever charged.

The case reached the Pentagon and White House, but the investigation was closed in 1975, with the records buried in the military's archives for the past three decades, the newspaper found.

The 45-man platoon was created in 1965 as a special force to spy on the enemy in the jungles.

Col. Nguyen will travel to tiny hamlets scattered in the two Vietnamese provinces to talk to villagers and look into the war crimes from 36 years ago, said spokesman Nguyen.

Col. Nguyen was appointed to carry out the investigation by officials in Quang Nam province as part of a local effort to help account for thousands of people missing since the war.

The colonel explained that an inquiry was crucial to the Vietnamese people to find out what happened to their family members.

''We want to know more about this platoon and what they did. Why did they operate this way. We have never heard of this before,'' he said.

Although the Vietnamese colonel has started an inquiry, the government officially said it will not press for criminal charges against the former Tiger Force soldiers who killed unarmed civilians.

After reading The Blade's series, Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung issued a statement saying the war caused ''much suffering and losses to the Vietnamese people.'' But he said relations between his country and the United States would be better served by ''strengthening mutual understanding through cooperation.''

[Apache]

I can appreciate the Colnel's opinion and investigation,however,Please explain American POW/MIA s same seniero?

[Mad Max]

My THOUGHTS EXACTLY>> MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD TELL THAT NEWSPAPER REPORTER TO INTERVIEW A FEW FORMER P.O.W.'S

[NEWB]

Why doesn't the investagator dig into why whole villages were wiped out by the VC as "EXAMPLES" for other villages not to support our side.

[Frank]

You can read the whole d@mn thing at www.toledoblade.com. Wanna take bets whether any of the clowns at this newspaper ever served?

[jfreas]

Marines , you are asking the impossible. It doesn't matter what our enemies do to us. If we step out of line even for good reasons we're wrong. I consider reporters to be about as low as some lawyers. Reporters want "The Big Story" and they don't always print the truth. They don't care anything but the credit for the story. They have no idea what if anything they have dug up. As has been already stated what about "Our POW's and MIA's". Viet Nam isn't being pressured about them, and they never will.

[Mad Max]

Please keep all of us updated on the situation, Marines. I'll do the same as soon as I hear more.. Thanks for all the replys! Semper Fi, and good luck to the soldiers who are being crucified over this situation>>>Mad Max

[Doc Crow]

It has always amazed me you have war that objective is to kiil more of the bad guys then they do you. Then we make all kinds of rules not just basic rules but rules that mostly JAG and other non combat fools like to interpret. Rules of engagement BS if I see the bad guy why the hell would I let him shoot first

[Apache]

It's a shame that a group of "old farts" would find it very expensive to organize and re-visit.Betcha we could get some BIG press.hee hee