List of Atrocities committed by the United States of America

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A group of American soldiers digging a mass grave for the Lakota victims after the Wounded Knee Massacre.

“	The accusation made by the Department of State against Dora María Téllez ... amounts to the political persecution of those who have committed to overthrowing the atrocious dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua ... This regime was almost universally considered criminal and inhumane, and even so it was financially and militarily supported by the United States... In reference to dictatorships, just as the State Department cannot claim that Nelson Mandela's activities against the appalling apartheid dictatorship in South Africa were terrorist activities, neither can it be claimed that Dora María's activities against the atrocious Somoza dictatorship were terrorists.	„
	~ 122 members of the academic community from Harvard and 15 other US universities criticizing their own government

The United States of America has committed a long list of atrocities in its nearly lifetime, as well as even before it became a country, whether they would be against an ethnic group or a foreign nation. The US Government has apologized for most of the crimes listed on this page. This list include war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Gnadenhutten Massacre

During the American Revolutionary War, an American militia under the command of David Williamson rounded up 96 Lenape and Mohican tribesmen wrongly suspected of sympathizing with the British and sentenced them to death after a mock trial. The militia led the condemned, who included women and children, to "killing houses", where the women were gang-raped before all 96 were beaten, scalped and hacked to death while singing hymns and praying for mercy. The militia planned to do the same to another nearby settlement but it was evacuated before they arrived.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Passed by President John Adams in 1798, the Alien Friends Act and the Sedition Act criminalized criticism of the American government, the Alien Friends Act in particular making criticism of the government by naturalized citizens punishable by deportation. Both of these laws were allowed to expire in 1801 under the following president, Thomas Jefferson.

Amerindian Genocide

American Indian Wars

The United States, in its infancy, relocated Native Americans to certain reserves in order to make space for farming, most infamous of which was the Trail of Tears. Sometimes, the government even waged war against them, including leading a massive campaign of extermination in California between 1846 and 1873. The Wounded Knee Massacre and the Sand Creek Massacre are two notorious massacres perpetrated by U.S. Army troops during this time period.

Many of these events occurred during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Benjamin Harrison. The United States also has had a history of violating peace treaties with various Native American nations. In addition, U.S. settlers conveyed the false notion that Native Americans lacked any concept of property rights and land use to justify the acquisition of their lands under the vacuum domicilium doctrine.

Removal and forced assimilation

When the US government found out that Native American populations were increasing and still resisted against US policies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs came up with a new solution by forcibly removing thousands of children from their families to assimilate them into western culture, based on Colonel Richard Pratt's ideologies to "kill the Indian and save the man". Under the Dawes Act of 1887, Indigenous children who were forced to assimilate into white society (by being sent to boarding schools such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School) were forbidden to speak their native language or practice their own religion. Many of the children would get beaten up or locked in asylums for speaking their language and many parents of the removed children were also incarcerated when they refused to turn their children over. Eventually, when boarding schools began to shut down, the government began to use another tactic to assimilate children by having them adopted by white families. The vast majority of the children weren't orphans and were ripped away from families who wanted to keep them.

Indian termination policy

"Indian termination" is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Cultural assimilation of Native Americans was not new; the belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considers "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. What was new, however, was the sense of urgency that, with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans." To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.

In practical terms, the policy ended the federal government's recognition of sovereignty of tribes, trusteeship over Indian reservations, and the exclusion of state law's applicability to Native persons. From the government's perspective, Native Americans were to become taxpaying citizens subject to state and federal taxes as well as laws from which they had previously been exempt.

The policy for termination of tribes collided with the Native American peoples' own desires to preserve Native identity. The termination policy was changed in the 1960s and rising activism resulted in the ensuing decades of restoration of tribal governments and increased Native American self-determination.

Forced sterilization

During the 1960's to 1970's, the Indian Health Service applied thousands of forced sterilizations on Native American women between the ages of 15 and 44, with 3,406 women being sterilized between 1973 and 1976. In 1976, the U.S. General Accounting Office admitted that this took place in at least four of the 12 Indian Health Service regions.

Mistreatment of African-Americans

Chattel slavery

A period of time lasting centuries where the US brought over people from Africa, just to enslave them. This was considered as an okay thing to do, but quickly turned into a controversial subject. The act reached its climax when various Southern states seceded from the union to form the Confederate States of America (lead by President Jefferson Davis), which in turn lead to the in the American Civil War. Following the end of the Civil War, slavery was banned. 

Jim Crow laws

Despite the end of the American Civil War, it continued to have a lasting influence on America well into the 1960's as institutionalized discrimination and racism against blacks remained in place, as well as the influence of the Ku Klux Klan on American politics, particularly in the South. Following a rise in hate crimes such as lynchings all while law enforcement looked the other way (if they didn't outright perpetrate said acts), the Civil Rights Movement began in the 50's and 60's, eventually leading to better treatment of blacks in America

Colonization of Liberia

Back when slavery was still common, the US government established the American Colonization Society to ship thousands of African-Americans to a small area in West Africa, where they established a colony in complete disregard for the indigenous inhabitants already living there, who resisted and were forced by the ACS to sell their lands. After the foundation of Liberia as a sovereign republic, the Americo-Liberians began oppressing the indigenous peoples in a similar manner as to how white Americans oppressed their ancestors and systematically segregated them, while the US government supported the regime until the death of president William Tolbert in 1980.

Mexican-American War

From late 1845 to 1846, American president James Polk orchestrated the start of the Mexican-American War by ordering American troops to line up along the Mexican border, provoking Mexico into attacking and providing an excuse for the US to invade and conquer Mexico, thus achieving Polk's goal to expand US territory.

Banning of Chinese Americans

See Asiaphobia
Chinese Americans were considered as illegal in the late 19th and early 20th century. This ban lasted for a couple of years, until the act was pulled out.

Overthrow and Annexation of Hawaii

On January 17th, 1893, the Committee of Safety orchestrated a coup against Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii, effectively overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy and turning the kingdom into a republic under the administration of Sanford B. Dole, despite opposition from president Grover Cleveland. On July 7th, 1898, president William McKinley passed the Newlands Resolution, which annexed Hawaii and incorporated it into a territory. Eventually, Hawaii became a US state in 1959.

Invasion of the Philippines

In 1899, president William McKinley ordered the invasion of the Philippines in order to extend the USA's "manifest destiny" to become a leading player on the world stage. During the occupation, US troops slaughtered 200,000 Filipino civilians, and McKinley subsequently ordered the destruction of crops and the establishment of concentration camps in order to "educate the populace about Christianity" after they resisted.

Ludlow Massacre

On 20 April 1914, the Colorado National Guard opened fire on a tent colony of approximately 1,200 striking coal miners and their families with machine guns, then burned the camp in order to kill those hiding beneath. Camp leader Louis Tikas and two others were captured alive and executed by Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt. Approximately 21 people were killed, including miner's wives and children.

Occupation of Haiti

In 1915, US President Woodrow Wilson ordered the military occupation of Haiti by US Marines to control Haiti's politics and trade. During the 19 years that the occupation of Haiti lasted, the US Marines committed multiple human rights violations against the Haitian population, including torture, forced labor, racial segregation, political and religious persecution, creation of concentration camps and mass murder. Perhaps the best example of this was the Les Cayes massacre.

Anti-German sentiment

When the United States entered World War I, it was widely believed that German immigrants couldn't fully assimilate into American society and many people feared that anyone of German descent could be a spy or saboteur for the Kaiser. The US government banned the German language and many German Americans were placed in internment camps, while others were lynched by mobs, including a man named Robert Prager.

Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States, the Tulsa race riot (also known as the Greenwood Massacre) was a massacre as a result of a white mob consisting of civilians, policeman, and National Guardsmen attacked residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Buck v Bell

In 1927 the supreme court ruled the sterilization of "unfit" people such as epileptics, drunks and criminals to be constitutional under US law after Virginia ordered the sterilization of Carrie Buck. Although this was initially outlawed in 1942 the sterilization of mental patients continued until the 1970s.

Mexican Repatriation

From 1920 to 1939, the US Bureau of Immigration conducted many illegal raids on the Mexican-American community and deported a large number of Mexican workers with the intention of creating free jobs for American-born citizens during the Great Depression. The methods employed by the Bureau of Immigration during this time were later found to be unconstitutional by the Wickersham Commission.

Prohibition Chemist's War

During prohibition, the US government killed 10,000 of their own citizens with poisoned industrial alcohol to deter people from drinking it.

Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

In 1932, the United States Public Health Service and the Centre for Disease Control conducted a study of syphilis during which 600 African-American men infected with the disease were tricked into participating under the promise of free healthcare, deliberately left untreated and encouraged to continue to have sex with the uninfected in the hopes of proving that African-Americans were more likely to contract and spread syphilis. The experiment resulted in numerous participants dying due to lack of treatment and 19 children being born with congenital syphilis until it was finally discontinued 40 years later.

Río Piedras Massacre

Four supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and one bystander were killed on October 24, 1935, when the American colonial police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration. The gunfire also accidentally wounded one of the officers.

Ponce Massacre

When members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party gathered in the city of Ponce to hold a peaceful demonstration to commemorate the abolition of slavery, Governor Blanton Winship ordered the colonial police to shoot the protesters, resulting in the death of 19 civilians (including children) and 2 policemen killed by other policemen.

Complicity in the Holocaust

During the Voyage of the Damned, during which 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany were ferried round the world looking for somewhere that would take them, the anti-semitic Secretary of State Cordell Hull ordered the US Navy to block them from docking in America, leading to 254 of the passengers being killed during the Holocaust after returning to Germany. Hull also banned American Jews from funding efforts to stop the Holocaust, and ordered all Jewish citizens be deported after being accused of discrimination despite being aware that they would be killed if sent to Europe.

Martial Law in Hawaii

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japan during World War II, the National Guard took over Hawaii and declared martial law. The American government distrusted the Hawaiian people and systematically stripped away many of their rights, forcing them to carry ID cards, censoring their media and using many of the people essentially as slave labor to dig bomb shelters until 1944 when martial law ended.

Executive Order 9066

During WW2, the US moved all Japanese Americans living in the west to concentration camps, meant to keep them from society out of fear that any of them could be a spy or saboteur, per an executive order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This is considered an act of ethnic cleansing. Fewer citizens of German and Italian descent were also incarcerated in internment camps. These ended once WW2 ended.

Nuclear experimentation at Bikini Atoll

From 1946 to 1948, the United States military conducted 23 nuclear tests on the Pacific island of Bikini Atoll, contaminating the water and rendering the island virtually uninhabitable. The nuclear fallout poisoned several nearby Japanese fishermen, one of whom died, and the US government later resettled three families to Bikini Atoll without first testing whether or not it was safe, leading to them being poisoned.

Guatemala syphilis experiments

From 1946 to 1948, the United States conducted human experiments in Guatemala in which Guatemalan civilians were infected without consent with syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. These experiments resulted in the death of at least 83 people.

McCarthyism

During the late 1940s and 1950s, a large number of allegations were made in the United States of people being supposedly communists, most of which were not valid arguments. During the time that Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator, many people lost their jobs or were jailed for allegedly being "communists."

Edgewood Arsenal human experiments

From 1948 to 1975, the US Army Chemical Corps engaged in experiments on about 7, 000 human test subjects in order to test the effects of nerve agents on humans. The experiments involved exposing the test subjects to chemical weapons such as sarin and mustard gas, as well as psychoactive drugs such as LSD and PCP. It was ultimately halted in 1975 following a government investigation.

Operation Ajax

The US government initiated "Operation Ajax" in 1953, with the help of the British government and a group of Iranian insurgents. This was a plan to overthrow prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in order to increase the power of exiled ruler Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, thus resulting in Pahlavi giving a monopoly on Iranian oil to the two countries.

Project MK-Ultra

Possibly one of the most infamous examples of the United States committing atrocities against its own citizens, Project MK-Ultra was a series of illegal mind-control experiments performed on American and Canadian citizens by the CIA from 1953 to 1973. The techniques used included use of psychoactive drugs, electroshock therapy, isolation and even sexual abuse in an attempt to manipulate the subject's mental state.

Operation PBSuccess

The so-called "Operation PBSuccess" was a covert CIA operation to overthrow the democratically elected government of Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala. The reason for the operation was that the government of Jacobo Árbenz enacted an agrarian reform that affected the interests of the United Fruit Company, for which the United States government saw it as a communist threat. In the first instance, the US government began to finance Carlos Castillo Armas and his rebels, which became known as "Operation PBFortune", so that they later invaded the country from the border with Honduras and El Salvador. After the invasion, Árbenz is overthrown, and in Guatemala a series of military dictatorships backed by the United States are implemented, thus beginning four decades of civil war and genocidal violence in Guatemala.

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO (Counter-Intelligence Program) was a series of covert projects started in 1956 and carried out by the FBI under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover and William C. Sullivan to discredit and disrupt "subversive political organisations", such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party and the feminist movement. COINTELPRO utilised tactics such as blackmail, false imprisonment and even outright murder to silence prominent members of the groups, until it was eventually discontinued in 1971.

Operation Gladio

Operation Gladio was a clandestine network of paramilitary organizations that operated in the capitalist countries of Europe under the leadership of NATO and the CIA during the Cold War. Originally they were created to confront a possible invasion of the Soviet Union into Europe, but since that never happened, they dedicated themselves to committing terrorist attacks in Europe and then blaming communist organizations for these acts. Finally, in 1990, and with the end of the Cold War, this clandestine network of paramilitary organizations was discovered and exposed.

Project 112

Started in 1962, Project 112 was a biological experimentation program implemented by the Department of Defence during which humans were exposed to chemical weapons such as sarin, and various bacterial toxins such as staphylococcus. Most dangerously, DoD agents released several anthrax strains in Washington DC, which is now known to have almost caused a city-wide anthrax epidemic.

Panama Riots of 1964

During the violent riots that occurred in Panama in 1964 due to the US occupation of the Panama Canal Zone, the US police harshly repressed protesters, killing some Panamanians who were not committing acts of violence.

Complicity in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66

When the dictator Suharto was doing his great purge against the communists in Indonesia, the United States assisted in multiple ways in the massacres, such as the sale of weapons, training of the military, handing out lists with names of members of the Communist Party of Indonesia, and encouraging the violence.

1967 Detroit riots

The 1967 Detroit riots took place in Detroit, Michigan from July 23 to 28. Precipitated by a police raid on an unlicensed bar, it exploded into one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in American history, lasting five days and surpassing the scale of Detroit's 1943 race riot 24 years earlier, with widespread looting and arson attacks being commonplace. The chaos in Detroit got so out of control that President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in U.S. Army and National Guard troops to try and restore order. The result was 43 dead, 1,189 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 400 buildings destroyed.

Operation Condor

Operation Condor was a campaign of state terror perpetrated by various right-wing military dictatorships in South America and heavily supported by the CIA during the Cold War, in an attempt to combat Communism and Soviet influence in South America. The campaign was overseen by the Nixon administration and supported by Henry Kissinger. Notable South American dictators who were involved included Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, Hugo Banzer of Bolivia, and Jorge Rafael Videla of Argentina.

Expulsion of the Chagossians

In 1968, the USA used an agreement signed two years previously to demand that the UK depopulate the Chagos Archipelago to make room for military installations. This resulted in the British colonial government of Chagos under the command of Bruce Greatbatch blockading fishing and killing dogs in order to force the Chagossians to leave, before eventually removing them by force and banning them from returning.

Cambodia bombing campaign

Operation Menu and Operation Freedom Deal were both apart of a secret bombing campaign carried out on Cambodia by the Nixon administration (and directed by Henry Kissinger) resulted in heavy civilian casualties in Cambodia as well as portions of Laos and Vietnam. Though the target was the North Vietnamese leadership, there were considerably more civilian casualties than North Vietnamese casualties. The campaign also indirectly lead to the rise of Pol Pot and allowed the Khmer Rouge to take power in the country in 1975.

Kent State shootings

On May 4th 1970, a student protest against the Vietnam War at Kent State University, Ohio, was fired on by the National Guard, killing four students and injuring nine, some of whom were simply watching the protest or walking nearby.

Complicity in the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide

During the genocide in Bangladesh by the Yahya Khan-lead Pakistani government, the Nixon administration attempted to suppress reports of the genocide in order to maintain an alliance with Pakistan, and supplied the Pakistani government with weapons despite being aware that the genocide was taking place, and Congress voting against continuing to supply weapons to Pakistan.

Activities in Liberia

The United States was suspected of financing the death of William Tolbert, these had a good relationship with the dictator Samuel Doe, who received financial and military support.

Activities in Chad

The United States, alongside France, were instrumental in bringing dictator Hissène Habré to power in Chad and supported him against Muammar Gaddafi during Chad's war with Libya. Under President Ronald Reagan, the United States gave covert CIA paramilitary support to help Habré take power and remained one of Habré's strongest allies throughout his rule, providing his regime with massive amounts of military aid. The United States also used a clandestine base in Chad to train captured Libyan soldiers whom it was organizing into an anti-Gaddafi force.

Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe

In 1978, the supreme court ruled that tribal governments on reservations could not legally prosecute non-native criminals due to lacking jurisdictions over non-native people after an incident in which a non-native man named Mark David Oliphant was charged with assaulting a tribal police officer and resisting arrest. As a result, crimes against Native Americans residing on reservations exceeded significantly higher than the national average.

Operation Cyclone

In 1979, the CIA launched Operation Cyclone, a secret operation to arm and finance the mujahideen in order to force the Soviet Union to withdraw aid from Afghanistan and decrease the influence of Communism in the area. The operation was halted in 1989 following Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, but funding to militant groups continued until the Gulf War.

Complicity in the Guatemalan Genocide

During the most intense stage of the Guatemalan Genocide under the presidency of Efraín Ríos Montt, Ronald Reagan's administration assisted and trained Guatemalan soldiers in carrying out massacres against Mayan civilians.

Iran-Contra affair

In 1986, it was discovered that senior officials of Ronald Reagan were selling arms to Ruhollah Khomeini's Iran, and with the money obtained they financed the Nicaraguan Contras in their conflict against the Sandinista National Liberation Front.

Complicity in the Rwandan Genocide

According to declassified government documents, the US was aware in 1994 that the Rwandan Genocide was about to take place but refused to take action, even lobbying for United Nations peacekeepers to be removed from the country. The government also refused to jam the extremist radio broadcasts inciting the genocide because of concerns over cost and international law.

Somalia bombings

Since the Clinton administration, the United States has bombed Somalia multiple times during its civil war, either to confront warlords or terrorist groups. During many of these bombings, many Somali civilians who had nothing to do with the conflict have died.

Yugoslavia NATO Bombing

In 1999 during the Kosovo War in the context of the Yugoslav Wars, the United States and other NATO countries launched a series of bombings on Yugoslavia in response to the ethnic cleansing that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was carrying out in Kosovo. These bombings ended with the destruction of the infrastructure and economy of Yugoslavia and caused a considerable number of casualties, most of them civilians.

Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Despite its human rights agenda, America has used the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba to indefinitely detain suspected terrorists without trial, a clear violation of the right to due process. Many detainees have allegedly been tortured in the prison, with investigations by Amnesty International and the US Senate finding that unlawful interrogation techniques, including waterboarding and forcible feeding from the rectum, have been used in Guantanamo. Several detainees have died inside Guantanamo, including Gul Rahman, an innocent man who was a victim of mistaken identity. Despite this Guantanamo remains open, with an executive order by President Donald Trump ordering that it remain open indefinitely.

United States embargo against Cuba

After the fall of the multi-party Batista regime, the United States imposed a blockade on Castro's Cuba, which prevails today, this has generated significant poverty towards Cubans combined with the inefficiency of the government to self-sufficiency.

Dakota Access Pipeline

During construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, as members of the Lakota Sioux tribe at the Standing Rock Reservation tried to protest against the construction, militarized police forces used excessive force against the mostly peaceful protesters by using concussion grenades, teargas canisters, rubber bullets, pepper spray, attack dogs, and water cannons (which, while common in much of the rest of the world, are rarely used against crowds in North America) in freezing temperatures. Many of the protesters were severely injured and others were unlawfully arrested and placed in jail after being strip-searched. Other protesters were also blasted with sound cannons and placed in dog kennels after being stripped. Although the cops were defending private property, they were defending lands that are illegally privately owned, as those lands legally belong to the Lakota Sioux tribe in accordance with the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty.

Family Separation Policy

In 2018, a law by President Donald Trump came into effect to separate the children of illegal immigrants from their parents, leaving them in detention centers on the border with Mexico. Although it has been a measure supported by many, it has been shown that within the centers children live in poor conditions, with poor health, with some children locked in cages and several accusations of abuse towards children, apart from not allowing them seeing his parents, which has been condemned by many humanitarian and human rights organizations.

War Crimes

World War II

• On 12 September 1942, the British naval vessel the RMS Laconia was sunk by a German U-Boat, the crew of which then began a rescue attempt. However, a US air force plane flying overhead encountered the U-Boat. The pilot, James D. Harden, proceeded to strafe the U-Boat despite the fact that a Red Cross flag was clearly visible and a British officer radioed that rescue attempts were underway. 100 British crew, 30 U-Boat crew and 1, 400 POWs who had been on the Laconia were killed. German Admiral Karl Dönitz retaliated by issuing the Laconia Order forbidding U-Boat crew from rescuing Allied crew.
• On 26 January 1943, the submarine the USS Wahoo, under the command of Dudley Morton, fired on several lifeboats from the Japanese transport ship the Buyo Maru. The majority of those in the lifeboats were not even Japanese soldiers, but Indian prisoners of war. The US military claimed that the lifeboat crew had fired first, but this is doubted by historians and contradicted by eyewitnessess.
  • The US Navy also attacked Japanese rescue vessels and lifeboats during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in order to eliminate the Japanese seamen before they could return to duty.
• The Canicattì Massacre took place during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, when the United States army shot and killed eight Italian civilians in the village of Canicattì.
• On 14 July 1943, the Biscari Massacre occurred. This was in fact two separate incidents during which Sergeant Horace West and Captain John Compton both extrajudicially executed groups of POWs during the occupation of Sicily.
• 30 German prisoners were shot by American paratroopers near the village of Audouville-la-Hubert.
• After the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, American soldiers, disgusted by what they saw, rounded up the guards and shot and killed 35-50 of them in what is known as the Dachau Massacre.
• Operation Teardrop was a torture program implemented by the US Navy in April and May 1945, wherein German personnel captured after the destruction of the German U-Boat U-546 were abusively interrogated by US officers for information about alleged planned missile attacks, resulting in one committing suicide.
• During the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, US Marines rounded up all of the civilians of a village in the Motobu Peninsula. After failing to find any Japanese soldiers, they proceeded to rape several women, and were testified to have returned several times over a period of multiple weeks to take the women to the hills and gang-rape them.
  • It has also been estimated that a total of 14, 000 women in England, France and Germany were raped by American servicemen during World War II.

• In August of the same year, the United States dropped two atomic bombs in Japan, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, with the aim of making Japan surrender. Although many have supported this decision because it led to the surrender of Japan, the truth is that between 129,000 and 246,000 people died during the bombings, the vast majority of them civilians.

Korea

• From 26 - 29 July 1950, around 400 South Korean civilians fleeing from North Korean troops in Yongdong were killed by the United States military in the No Gun Ri Massacre. This began on the 26th, when the US Air Force bombed the refugees, and the 2nd Battalion and 7th US Cavalry Regiment subsequently slaughtered more of them until they were eventually saved by the arrival of the North Korean army.
• The Sinchon Massacre occurred between 17 October and 7 December 1950, when the American and South Korean military forces brutally murdered around 35, 380 North Korean civilians in the town of Sinchon during their advance into North Korea.

Vietnam

• A Vietnamese woman named Phan thi Mao was abducted and held captive by American servicemen David Gervase, Steven Thomas and Cipriano and Joseph Garcia, who raped her repeatedly before Thomas murdered her the following day to prevent the crime from being discovered.
• The best known example of American war crimes during the Vietnam War is the My Lai Massacre, perpetrated by soldiers of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968. Men, women, and children were gang-raped, mutilated, and murdered, with children as young as 12 being among the victims.
• It has been estimated that around 5,500 attacks against civilians were committed by US forces from 1960 to 1972, with at least 4000 people killed.

Afghanistan

• CIA contractor David Passaro beat an Afghan man named Abdul Wali to death on June 21, 2003.
• From January to May 2010 a group of five American soldiers known as the Kill Team murdered at least three Afghan civilians (including one teenager) in faked combat situations and took photos of the bodies.
• An alleged bomb-maker named Rasoul was shot dead while unarmed by American soldier Mathew L. Golsteyn in February 2010.
• On July 3, 2010, 39 civilians were killed in the 2010 Sangin airstrike, when the village of Sangin was bombed by US forces. The US and NATO initially denied that it had taken place.
• Sergeant Derrick Miller shot dead a prisoner named Atta Mohammed in September 2010 after he failed to adequately answer questions about his involvement with the Taliban.
• US Army soldier Robert Bales massacred 16 civilians in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai in Afghanistan on March 11, 2012, including 9 children.
• During operations in Zhari District in June and July 2012, Platoon Leader Clint Lorance repeatedly threatened and ordered his soldiers to fire on Afghan civilians, culminating in an incident on July 2 when he ordered his men to fire on three unarmed Afghan motorcyclists, killing two.

Iraq

• In August 2003 the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division detained an Iraqi police officer named Yahya Jhodri Hamoodi who was suspected of plotting an ambush against US forces. Hamoodi was beaten by soldiers before Lieutenant Colonel Allen West fired his gun next to his head, after which Hamoodi provided West with the names of other suspects. It was later found that no such plot existed and Hamoodi had given the information to make the beating stop.
• Illegal weapons such as white phosphorus and MK-77 incendiary bombs were used against Iraqi insurgents by USAF forces during the First Battle of Fallujah. No-one was charged.
  • Also during the First Battle of Fallujah, Duncan Hunter's US Marine Corps unit deliberately targeted and killed civilians, and fired on ambulances carrying wounded Iraqi soldiers.
• The Abu Ghraib torture scandal broke after it was revealed that US army and CIA personnel such as Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick had abused innocent detainees physically, mentally and sexually under the orders of Ricardo Sánchez. Eleven soldiers were convicted over the allegations and two others faced non-judicial punishment after their role came to light.
• In November 2005, the Haditha Massacre occurred when soldiers of the 1st United States Marine Division rounded up and shot at least 24 Iraqi civilians after a soldier was killed and two others injured by an improvised explosive device.
• A fourteen-year-old girl was gang-raped and murdered and her family shot to death on March 12, 2006 by members of the 502nd Infantry Regiment led by Steven Dale Green, who celebrated the massacre with chicken wings and alcohol.
• In March or April 2006, four suspected insurgents were shot execution-style and thrown in a canal in Baghdad by Sergeants John E. Hatley, Joseph P. Mayo and Michael Leahy.
• Ali Mansur Mohamed, a prisoner accused of being a member of Al-Qaeda, was executed without trial by Lieutenant Michael Behenna in May 2008 after Behenna was ordered to release him. His body was then disfigured with a hand grenade.
• Islamic State fighter Khaled Jamal Abdullah was killed in US custody in 2017. Witness accounts indicated that he was stabbed to death by Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, but medic Corey Scott later confessed that he had smothered Abdullah to death as he lay on the ground after being stabbed by Gallagher. Gallagher photographed himself posing with the corpse afterwards.

Yemen

• The United States military carried out a raid on Yakla, Yemen, in January 2017. The target was terrorist leader Qasim al-Raymi, who was not present. In the botched raid, overzealous American soldiers killed 10 - 30 civilians, including at least seven children, and caused severe damage to local civilian infrastructure.