This book made me physically ill. Sickening, but necessary.

Nick Turse doesn't hold back when detailing the horrendous war crimes committed by US soldiers during the Vietnam war. Although most people with a cursory understanding of the war will know of the My Lai massacre, Turse makes the argument that the atrocities of My Lai were only one example out of many. 

Turse highlights the systemic abuse of power shown by the US army, especially of those commanding officers which passed their horrific policies down to their (extremely young) subordinates. He fully blows away the common belief that the military is full of a few "bad apples", and that reckless violence committed during war can be excused as "kill or be killed", instead making an extremely persuasive argument that the US military itself, built on imperialism, colonialism, dehumanization, and racism is rotten to the core.

You can bet your ass that the systemic violence, racism, misogyny, classism, etc. plays a part in every US conflict to date. It's very clear that the issues laid out in this book are the modus operandi of the US military, not just a "mistake" or an "accident". It's easy to see parallels to the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the genocide in Palestine involving IDF soldiers trained directly by the US, and even as far back as the Long Walk.

Of course, the book lacks context about the war at large; why was the US involved, which events led up to massacres like My Lai, how was public reaction to certain policies, what was the president doing? But, that's not the goal of this book. Instead, Turse forces the reader to ask themselves, no matter the context, no matter the reasoning, can the careless disregard for life ever be justified? 

What we're left with is yet another entry in the long, long list of atrocities committed by the United States that continue to be whitewashed and swept under the rug, that the United States refuses to address or remedy.