Description
Book SynopsisThe United States, Southeast Asia, and Historical Memory sheds crucial new light on the epochal US interventions in Southeast Asia after World War II. The United States came out of the Indochina wars with a tarnished reputation, as evidence of their behaviours came to light. Now - as U.S. war crimes in other countries like Afghanistan and Iraq continue to blight the country - Mark Pavlick and a group of scholars provide insight into some of the first and the worst war crimes perpetrated by the American military. Includes essays from Noam Chomsky.
Trade Review"The text Pavlick and Luft have put together is both history and forewarning. By the very nature of its subject matter, it can not be light reading. It barely touches the catalog of horrors that the US war on the people of Southeast Asia was. At the same time, it is a useful and potent introduction to a history too few US residents truly know and one that most US leaders would like to hide. There is no respite from the true nature of the war on Southeast Asia in these pages. Indeed, the only relief can be found in the knowledge that all proceeds from the book’s sale will go to humanitarian assistance in Indochina." —CounterPunch “Extremely important and pertinent…. The importance of the historical events and arguments made in this book cannot be overstated; the government of the United States waged war against the three countries of Indochina for years, even though none had harmed the United States or were vital to American security or geopolitical interests. In the course of those wars, massive atrocities were committed, undoubtedly war crimes. The United States has never taken responsibility for those actions nor has it punished the criminals who committed these acts… Moreover, the extent of these atrocities have been kept from the American public and the lack of historical awareness of these events prevents Americans from learning important lessons about how their government acts in their names and precludes learning important lessons to prevent any other occurrences such as these.” —Critical Asian Studies "A well-researched and powerfully presented overview...." —David Swanson “The content of this book is unavoidably grim, and it can be tempting to turn away. Yet the individual essays, clear and carefully researched, are especially useful for classroom purposes.” —Peace & Change “Within the academic disciplines of international relations and diplomatic history, there still exists the perception that the U.S military engagement in Southeast Asia was an honorable but ill-advised adventure. Moral outrage is often absent among historians and political scientists. Mark Pavlick’s edited volume illuminates these American wars as a denial of democracy, and a crime against humanity. The United States, Southeast Asia, and Historical Memory has educated me, and it should educate my colleagues.” —Lubna Qureshi, author of Nixon, Kissinger, and Allende: U.S. Involvement in the 1973 Coup in Chile
Table of ContentsCONTENTS Contributors XX Acknowledgments and Permissions XX Message XX Introduction XX Richard Falk 1 War Crimes in Indochina and Our Troubled National Soul XX Fred Branfman 2 Excerpts from Voices from the Plain of Jars XX Collected by Fred Branfman 3 Legacies of War: Cluster Bombs in Laos XX Channapha Khamvongsa and Elaine Russell 4 Agent Orange in Vietnam XX Tuan V. Nguyen 5 Iraq, Another Vietnam? Consider Cambodia XX Ben Kiernan and Taylor Owen 6 Who Was Responsible for My Lai? The Peers Commission and the American Way of War Crimes XX Gareth Porter 7 Thailand in the Era of the Cold War and Rama IX XX Jim Glassman 8 Concealing War Crimes XX Nick Turse 9 Bloodbaths in Indochina: Constructive, Nefarious, and Mythical XX Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman 10 From Mad Jack to Mad Henry: The United States in Vietnam XX Noam Chomsky 11 After “Mad Henry”: U.S. Policy Toward Indochina Since 1975 XX Ngo Vinh Long 12 My Experiences with Laos and the Indochina Wars: Interview with Fred Branfman XX 13 Interview with Noam Chomsky XX Glossary of Selected Terms XX Further Action XX Recommended Reading XX Notes XX Index XX
