Winter Soldier Investigation

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Template:Totallydisputed The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event intended to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, while attempting to connect them to the American administration and its policies. This 3-day gathering of American Vietnam War veterans, civilians and media took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31-February 2, 1971, and was organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). 109 Vietnam veterans and 16 civilians gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963-1970. Journalists and film crews recorded the event, and a transcript was later read into the Congressional Record at the request of Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon.

Organizers described the event as "anti-war," not in the sense of opposing all wars (compare pacifisim) or as a statement that North and South Vietnam should not have been fighting each other, but as strictly in the sense of opposing America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The event was not without its critics, claiming that it was aimed more at forcing a US withdrawal from Vietnam, rather than any ethical reforms in the conduct of the war and that it ignored similar allegations of war crimes committed by the North Vietnmese.

A documentary film of the event, "Winter Soldier," was first released in 1972. Although the film received little distribution in the United States, it had widespread distribution in Europe. In September, 2005, it was re-released across the U.S. in small art house theatres. Many media reviews have regarded the film highly, as a "powerful" and "emotional" record of the era.

Background

The investigation was launched by the VVAW based on the reports of the Russell Tribunal, National Veterans Inquiry, among others, which also investigated American actions in Vietnam. At the time, the My Lai Massacre and the CIA's Phoenix Program were being known to the public, and VVAW leaders sought to use the momentum these events created to reinforce to the public that these were not isolated cases and were being perpetrated time and time again.

Organizers

The groundwork for what would become the Winter Soldier Investigation was laid by Jeremy Rifkin, Tod Ensign, Michael Uhl and Bob Johnson of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI). In search of first hand information on war crimes, they contacted the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and gained the support of VVAW co-founder Jan Crumb. During the summer of 1970, the CCI were approached by Al Hubbard who had become a full-time organizer with VVAW. Hubbard suggested that CCI combine their efforts with Jane Fonda, Rev. Dick Fernandez of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV), Mark Lane and Donald Duncan (who had previously testified at the Russell Tribunal in Denmark). An initial steering committee formed of Duncan, Ensign, Fonda, Lane, Hubbard, Rifkin, and Fernandez continued to organize the WSI through September, 1970.

Among the growing collective of organizers, differences of opinion and direction arose concerning the planned public event. VVAW leaders felt it should be an all-veteran event, to maintain its credibility. Less than three months into planning for the Winter Soldier Investigation, most of the Vietnam veteran organizers and Jeremy Rifkin had become adamant that WSI disassociate itself from Mark Lane. Lane had recently published a book, Conversations with Americans, in which Lane relied on unverified interviews with veterans, some of which were later exposed as frauds by Neil Sheehan of the New York Times . Lane was removed from the project, and a new six-member steering committee for WSI was composed of three national office leaders (Al Hubbard, Craig Scott Moore, and Mike Oliver) and three members of the growing list of chapters (Art Flesch, Tim Butz, and William F. Crandell).

The organizers of the national hearings separated into two groups, each developing their own events. The CCI advanced its plans for a December event in Washington, DC, while the WSI's new organizers continued with the original plan to hold its hearings in Detroit. The Washington, DC, event would be called The National Veterans Inquiry. The Detroit event would be called the Winter Soldier Investigation. Seven of the 142 total participants would provide testimony at both events.

The support of antiwar celebrities was considered crucial to generate both money and publicity. A series of benefit productions, "Acting in Concert for Peace," were created and featured performances by Jane Fonda, Dick Gregory, Donald Sutherland, and Barbara Dane. Two concerts by Crosby, Stills and Nash, as well as folk singer Phil Ochs, also raised funds.

The WSI also relied on considerable support from the Detroit community. Dean Robb and Ernie Goodman solicited donations from their fellow local attorneys, and several clergymen arranged housing for the witnesses. In the words of the Director of Missions for the Detroit Metropolitan Council of Churches, Dr. John B Forsyth, "It is important that the public realize that American atrocities in Vietnam are an every day occurrence." The Secretary-Treasurer for the United Auto Workers, Emil Mazey and Michigan Secretary of State Richard Austin also helped raise funds for the event.

Purpose

The purpose of the Winter Soldier Investigation was to argue that American policies in Vietnam lead to war crimes. The name "Winter Soldier Investigation" was derived from Thomas Paine's first Crisis paper written in December 1776, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

Future Senator John Kerry, then a decorated Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve (Inactive), while later speaking before a Senate Committee, further explained "We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could hold our silence; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of what threatens this country, the fact that the crimes threaten it, not reds, and not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out."

Planning

The collecting of testimony from veterans had during the Citizens Commission of Inquiry the previous year, and it took almost two months of on-site planning in Detroit to organize the conference. Detroit was proposed by Fonda because of its central location in the American heartland, and the "blue-collar" makeup of the community. The steering committee set up a collective in a house on the industrial east side of Detroit with the help of Catholic antiwar activists; and five clergymen of different denominations, including the director of missions for the Detroit Metropolitan Council of Churches, offered housing for the witnesses.

The program consisted primarily of testimony, with 109 Vietnam veterans to appear on panels arranged by unit so they could corroborate each other's reports. Grouping these veterans by unit would also help to establish that events and practices to which they testified were unit-wide policy, and not just random and rare occurrences. Several civilians, some who had been to Vietnam, were also to speak during this event. Arrangements had been made to include the testimony of several expatriated Vietnamese students residing in Canada, but they were denied visas to the United States by the Canadian government.

Organizers also investigated the legal implications of veterans publicly admitting to criminal acts which they had allegedly witnessed or participated in. With legal advice from the Center for Constitutional Rights the organizers were assured that the armed forces could not charge or try veterans for alleged crimes committed while they were on active duty. The veterans giving testimony were also instructed not to reveal the specific names of others involved in the alleged war crimes. The goal of these hearings was not to indict individual soldiers, but instead to expose the frequency of criminal behavior and its relationship to U.S. war policy.

Verification of participants' credibility

The organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation took several steps to verify the status of participants. Each veteran's authenticity was checked before the hearings by the investigation event organizers giving specific details about their units and the locations where the alleged events had occurred. Those who wanted to testify were carefully screened by the officers of VVAW, and care was taken to verify their service records. After the severe criticism of the accuracy of Mark Lane's book a month before the event, the organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation made the credibility of the participants a top priority. All veterans participating in Winter Soldier were required to bring their discharge papers (DD-214's) and IDs.

Although military documentation was provided, some media organizations such as the Detroit News made further inquiries into the hearings by questioning the authenticity of the testifying veterans. The Detroit Free Press reported daily of participants whose names had been confirmed by the Pentagon as veterans.

NBC News later reported that VVAW executive and Winter Soldier co-organizer Al Hubbard had lied about being an officer and could not substantiate the claim that he had been wounded in Vietnam or ever served there. William Overend states he had met Hubbard and he had been introduced as being a former Air Force captain. Overend later learned Hubbard was only an E-5 Staff Sergeant. Hubbard did not testify at Winter Soldier.

Seven years after the hearings, historian Guenter Lewy wrote in his book, America in Vietnam, that a Naval Criminal Investigative Service report looked into the allegations made in Detroit. According to Lewy, the NIS could compel few witnesses to speak with investigators, even after assurance that they would not be asked about their own actions. The NIS concluded that many of those interviewed had no combat service record and that some of the most gruesome claims came from men who were imposters using the names and documentation of real Vietnam veterans. One particular Marine who had been in combat eventually told investigators that a member of the Nation of Islam helped prepare his statement, and admitted that he had never witnessed any of the atrocities he had testified to in Detroit. According to the sworn statements of several veterans, corroborated by witnesses, that they had in fact not attended the hearing in Detroit. One of them had never been to Detroit in all his life. He did not know, he stated, who might have used his name. Government officials today cannot verify the report's existence, and no other historian has seen it.. Lewy later said that he could not recall if he had actually seen the report or been told of its contents although he believes the information to be accurate.

Lewy also notes that, "The refusal of to give substantiating factual information . . . created a situation in which the accusers continued to reap generous publicity for their sensational charges while the Army in most cases could neither investigate nor refute them." Lewy concluded that there was another reason to be wary of such allegations: They were retrospective reports and therefore subject to distortion, "created by the veterans' perception of the interviewers and organizers of the hearings, by their attitudes toward the military and by their difficulties in adjusting to civilian life after discharge.".

According to Nicholas Turse of the Village Voice, the Army found the allegations made by 46 veterans at the hearings to merit further inquiry, and were able to identify 43 of the complainants. The Army's CID investigators attempted to contact 41 of the people who testified; of the 36 they were able to locate, 31 submitted to interviews.

Winter Soldier panels

See Opening statement excerpt in wikiquote

The three days of testimony was presented by unit:

Sunday, January 31st, there were speakers from the 1st Marine Division, 3rd Marine Division, and 1st Air Cavalry Division
Monday, February 1st, from the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces
Tuesday, February 2nd, from the 25th Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 9th Infantry Division, and Lieutenant Calley's Americal Division

In addition to the testimony panels, the veterans also held open discussions on related subjects such as "What We Are Doing to Vietnam," "What We Are Doing to Ourselves," violations of international law, Prisoners of War, racism in the military, and also press censorship. Dr. Bert Pfeiffer of the University of Montana presented the first public testimony about the potential toxicity and health effects of the chemical Agent Orange. A special panel of psychiatrists was convened, many of whom had served in Vietnam, to discuss the impact of the war on American society. Midway through the hearings, the organizers insisted that no one make statements on behalf of the Vietnam veterans except for vets. It was presumed by reporters that this was to separate the participation of veterans from that of people like Mark Lane.

Testimony from veterans

Testimony given during the three day event covered both broad policy concerns, such as the use of chemical agents, indiscriminate bombing, and free-fire zones as well as more specific and unusual war crime incidents, including rape, torture and desecration of the dead. The testifying veterans were usually grouped by branch of military service, and geographic location of service. Before launching into their testimony, each gave a brief statement of personal information including rank, division, unit, length of service and a summary of what their testimony would cover. Excerpts from the testimony transcripts:

Stephen Craig: "...My testimony covers the maltreatment of prisoners, the suspects actually, and a convoy running down an old woman with no reason at all..."

Rusty Sachs: "...my testimony concerns the leveling of villages for no valid reason, throwing Viet Cong suspects from the aircraft after binding them and gagging them with copper wire..."

Scott Camil: "...My testimony involves burning of villages with civilians in them, the cutting off of ears, cutting off of heads, torturing of prisoners, calling in of artillery on villages for games, corpsmen killing wounded prisoners..."

Kenneth Campbell: "...My testimony will consist of eyewitnessing and participating in the calling in of artillery on undefended villages, mutilation of bodies, killing of civilians, mistreatment of civilians..."

Fred Nienke: "...My testimony includes killing of non-combatants, destruction of Vietnamese property and livestock, use of chemical agents and the use of torture in interpreting prisoners..."

After giving their brief initial statements, a moderator had each of them elaborate upon their testimony, and then the press and observers were given time to ask questions of the veterans.

Although not originally planning to testify at the WSI, 20 year old veteran Steve Pitkin says he came to Detroit support his fellow veterans and listen to live music. On the second day of the event Pitkin says he was asked by event leaders to speak. When Pitkin began talking to the panel he criticized the press for misrepresenting what GIs really did in Vietnam. Believing he was about to be cut off, Pitkin began detailing atrocious and military racism he claimed to have witnessed while in Vietnam . Several weeks later Pitkin says was contacted by a reporter for Life Magazine who asked about war crimes and atrocities. "I didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear," said Pitkin. “Nothing he said was included in the final story.” On September 15, 2004, Pitkin signed an affidavit stating that he had lied during his testimony at the WSI and that he had been pressure to do so by organizers.

Dewey Canyon Operation revealed

The previously secret U.S. invasion of Laos in February, 1969, code-named Operation Dewey Canyon I, became a controversial subject at this event since the Pentagon had denied that any American troops had crossed the Laotian border and carried out military operations. Almost immediately, five veterans from the Third Marines who had returned from the war refuted the claims of the Pentagon. They described their operations in Laos where it was also revealed that they were given specific orders to hide the fact that they were American including the removal of identification and switching to Russian arms that were used by the NVA. They were also ordered them to deny all involvement of American troops in Laos. However, the Marine Corp then issued a statement saying "that no platoons or any large number of Marines ever crossed the border." This quickly prompted investigations by American media such as the "Detroit Free Press," "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" and the "Boston Globe" which were successful in turning up testimonies from other veterans that they had crossed into Laos throughout a 16 month period. It also revealed that the operation extended beyond the Marines as helicopter pilots from the 101st Airborne admitted participation in the American co-ordinated secret operation called Prairie Fire.

Winter Soldier results

See the full text of Senator Hatfield urges Congress, State Department and Defense Department to act in wikiquote

Senator Hatfield's Address to Congress

On Monday, April 5, 1971, Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon made the following address on the Senate Floor urging Congress, the State Department and Defense Department to act. Hatfield commented on the recurrent theme in the WSI testimony of institutionalized racist attitudes of the military in their training, as well as the allegations made at WSI that war crimes were the result of military policy. Hatfield noted that some of these allegations would place the United States in Violation of the Geneva Convention and international laws of war.

Senator Hatfield made several recommendations. He asked that a transcript of the Winter Soldier Investigation be read into the Congressional record and made available to the public. Hatfield also asked congress to hold hearings discussing the use of military force in Vietnam and their relation to international agreements our country has ratified. He urged the appropriate committees of the Congress to conduct hearings on the policies governing the use of military force in Indochina and their relation to international agreements our country has ratified. He transmitted the testimony to the Department of Defense, the Department of State and the Marine Commandant, Leonard F. Chapman, Jr., in particular and urged that the evidence and allegations it contains be fully investigated. He also recommend consideration be given to forming a special commission that would investigate in full these matters and would provide a forum to assess the moral consequences of our involvement in Indochina to us as a Nation and a people.

Media coverage

Mainstream media all but ignored the Winter Soldier Investigation. The East Coast papers refused to cover the hearings, other than a "New York Times" story a week later. The local field reporter for the "New York Times," Jerry M. Flint, commented with disinterest, "this stuff happens in all wars." In a February 7, 1971 article he wrote that "much of what they said had been reported or televised before, even from Vietnam. What was different here was the number of veterans present." Several of the VVAW representatives speculated that there was an "official censorship blackout," and they would express this theory later in their newsletter. A few articles that were sympathetic to the veterans appeared in lesser-known publications, and Pacifica Radio, known for its left-wing perspective, gave the event considerable coverage. The CBS television crew that showed up were impressed, but Only three minutes made it to the nightly news on the first night -- three minutes that were "mostly irrelevant to the subject," according to VVAW.

The Detroit Free Press printed several stories about the event, including comments from the military. This included confirmation by the Pentagon that WSI participants investigated by reporters were indeed Vietnam veterans.

In addition, film footage of the event, as well as some pre-event and post-event footage, and commentary can be found in Winter Soldier: A film / Winterfilm Collective in association with Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Winterfilm, Inc., 1972.

Film version: 1972, B&W, 16mm, 93min.
Videotape: 1992, B&W with some color, 110 or 130 minutes
The Winterfilm Collective consisted of: Fred Aranow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Koppel, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay Rubenstein, Michael Weil.

Winter Soldier controversy

See wikiquote for a recollection of the testimony of one of the Winter Soldiers

The U.S. participation in the Vietnam conflict was the source of much deeply divided sentiment among Americans. The Winter Soldier Investigation produced a conglomerate of testimony resulting in the implication and indictment of American leadership in criminal conduct, and thereby further drove a wedge between proponents and opponents of the war. Many people viewed the Winter Soldier proceedings with a critical eye, and questions have been raised about the testimony given at the Winter Soldier Investigation. Details in the testimonies have been questioned, as have the identities of participants, since the event took place. It has been claimed that participants were frauds; that they were told to not cooperate with later investigators; that their testimonies were inaccurate or just plain fabricated.

Aftermath

Despite significant fund raising efforts by supporters of the VVAW, the cost of the Winter Soldier Investigation event financially bankrupted the organization. Organizers of the event hoped to recoup some of their expenditures through the above mentioned book, film and recording deals. Orders were taken at the event for copies of the film footage, which was to be made available for $300.

In 2005, a website wintersoldierfilm.com was established to spread information about this documentary and to spread information about further showings of the film (in the United States).

Footnotes

From John Kerry and VVAW
Column Sixty-Eight; February 1, 2002 (Article with exerpts from the book); . ISBN 0812991036. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |Author= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |Year= ignored (|year= suggested) (help)
Template:Journal reference "Government officials today cannot verify that Naval Investigative Service report's existence. "We have not been able to confirm the existence of this report, but it's also possible that such records could have been destroyed or misplaced," said Naval Criminal Investigative Service public affairs specialist Paul O'Donnell. "I don't think Lewy is interested in presenting any of as truthful," said University of Richmond history professor Ernest Bolt. "He has an angle on the war as a whole." Bolt said it is impossible to tell whether Lewy fairly characterized the naval investigative report because no other historian had seen it. "He's using the points of their investigation that fit his purposes," Bolt said.";
Template:Journal reference "Lewy said he does not recall if he saw a copy of the naval investigative report or was briefed on its contents. "I'm quite confident the information is authentic," he said."

External links

Winter Soldier Investigation Testimony Partial Congressional Record of Testimony online
World On Fire Columnist Rick Freedman on Winter Soldier
VVAW Archives Winter Soldier Viewpoints
Baltimore Sun Article "Vietnam Vets Stand by Kerry Today"
Wintersoldierfilm.com Re-released documentary of the event
Pitkin's latest 2004 statement Second affidavit by Steve Pitkin

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