At least 13 civilians and possibly more were killed. The seventh SEAL and one Vietnamese survivor insist that women and children were executed on Lt. The intentional killing of civilians would have been grounds for military trial and criminal conviction under rules then in force. And yet the rules were routinely ignored in Vietnam. Focusing just on that night in the Mekong is both too easy and senseless.
Memories change with time, particularly horrible memories.
Kerrey, who soon afterward lost his leg in battle, returned to become an open opponent of the war. Taking one atrocity in isolation, from the vantage point of more than 30 years later, is senseless because it ignores the context of the real Vietnam tragedy. Many people died needlessly in Vietnam, including some of the 2 million Vietnamese casualties and 58,000 American soldiers. Those directly responsible included Presidents Johnson and Nixon, who deceived and violated the trust of the American people. They included congressional leaders who knowingly abdicated their constitutional responsibility by passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and who lacked the courage to say no when Johnson escalated the war.