Much More Than My Lai

Abstract

In Vietnam, it was My Lai; in Korea it was No Gun Ri. In Iraq it may be Abu Ghraib, or Haditha, or another, as yet unknown scandal or massacre. Nearly every recent American war has its associated atrocity, an ugly remembrance of horrors, violence, and injustices of war. These incidents, however, also serve as popular signifiers of military justice system itself: My Lai recalls Lt. Calley's eventual slap on wrist; Abu Ghraib brings to mind twisted sense of justice enforced on a liberated Iraq. It was that great Marxist, Groucho, who once said that military justice is to justice what military music is to music, and for some time few military and legal historians have actively disagreed. Previous studies of topic have focused largely on Vietnam and then almost exclusively on issue of war crimes, especially massacre at My Lai, and eventual court martial of Lt. William Calley. Law professor and former Marine Corps Prosecutor Gary Solis has written two important books on role of military justice in Marines during Vietnam, including definitive account of Son Trang massacre-often referred to as Marines' My Lai.' What has been missing, however, is a study of how military justice operated as a whole in Vietnam, as part of a larger military bureaucracy and war effort. William Thomas Allison's new book, Military Justice in Vietnam successfully fills this gap with additional, impressive results. Allison's work has three stated goals. First, he wishes to explain variety of military legal activities in Vietnam, evaluate them, and share human side of those activities, all in context of war itself (p. xi). Secondly, he rightly believes that studies of military justice have been underrepresented in both military and legal history and that such studies can serve as a way of connecting these fields to each other and to social history. Finally, Allison believes that the U.S. legal experience provides an unusual window to shed light on what happened in Vietnam and perhaps offer some guidance for contemporary military operations and nation-building missions (p. x). Allison