Kill 'em All

Watching the documentary, Kill ‘em All, evokes a mix of emotions, but it’s also a reminder that war is about intelligence and the management of information, both during and after the war. The film claims that there are a recorded 61 instances of American attacks against civilians during the Korean War, but only one of those has been recognized by the U.S. government. Even then, acknowledgement of the No Gun Ri massacre didn’t come until 2001, more than 50 years after it happened, and in the form of a report that conveniently sidesteps all responsibility by claiming it was not deliberate, but a tragic, unintended symptom of war violence.

The suspicious circumstances surrounding the creation of the report was frustrating to hear about, like the fact that the communication log for the 7^th cavalry was missing, making it impossible to officially confirm whether or not there were orders to kill civilians. At best, this is unacceptable negligence; at worst, it’s foul play, an attempt by the Pentagon to mask premeditated violence against civilians and, thus, a war crime (though I think it’s pretty clear that the convenient disappearance of a vital document means the Pentagon was trying to hide the facts and protect the U.S. from being exposed).

These issues raise questions about the control of information and the reinforcement of specific versions of war and history. The lack of accountability on the government’s behalf is telling because it means that they are protecting their own war narrative and preventing any deviance from it, this at the cost of those who were targeted in the attack. The truth (and trauma) of war atrocities is left to its survivors and witnesses, whose voices do not have the same authority and access to a wider reception. So the government's lack of accountability for its mistakes, war crimes, and outright cruel acts of violence is part of its management of information as a technology of war. Preventing the U.S. from looking like the aggressors, rather than the protectors of Korean civilians, is a useful strategy even years after the Korean War. I think the documentary, then, highlights how big of a role information and its disbursement (or containment) plays in war and power, and the injustice of this information being lost to the past and left to survivors to deal with.