Yes you will! I very much look forward to that day.

Thank you for always sharing your work!

Dissertations re:My Lai I found useful Pauline M. Kaurin, “Agency and Character: A View of Action and Agency” (diss., Temple University, 1997) Rives M. Duncan, "What Went Right at My Lai: An Analysis of the Roles of Habitus and Character in Lawful Disobedience" (diss., Temple University, 1997),

Turse's work also shows the ways in which the historical moment in which we live influence our work as historians. He was writing at a time during which Abu Ghraib became a public scandal and in which the American Left railed against wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is one area in which Turse and I differ in approach. For him, all atrocity allegations are valid, and the goals of the claimant do not impinge on their reliability. I'm ore interested in the motivations and methods of allegations than the atrocities.

This is one of the issues with claims of atrocities as a function of policy - do we take allegations as entirely accurate and unmotivated by external concerns? Many allegations include motivations to have an effect that cannot be discounted.

While this is a damning account of the sort that Turse and those who admire his work use to claim that there was a "My Lai a Day in Vietnam," it remains unproven.

According to Lewis, snipers in the 9th Division had a bounty system that gave them leave time based on number of kills, gaining decorations and leave for high numbers. This lead to 20 civilian deaths at the hands of snipers i the 39th Infantry Brigade daily.

He claimed that helicopters hovered over Vietnamese until they ran, providing a legal rationale to them. GIs reported them as Viet Cong “taking evasive action.”

Lewis equested an investigation into the 9th Infantry Division, especially the 39th Infantry Brigade. Lewis claimed the Division’s policy to shoot anyone who fled from U.S. troops systematically led to civilian deaths.