Winter Soldier Investigation

Status:     unlocked The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a public relations event put on by opponents of American military policy in the Vietnam which condemned the US intervention, chiefly on human rights grounds.

The event took the form of a public forum, which the organizers used to accuse the American goverment of deliberately violating the laws of war by tolerating, encouraging and often even ordering its soldiers to commit war crimes and atrocities.

Several dozen Vietnam Veterans came to the microphone and told stories of witnessing or personally committing these war crimes and atrocities, and they and the event organizers linked these bad thing to American administration and war policies.

The event took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31-February 2, 1971, and was organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It included American Vietnam War veterans, civilians and media.

Organizers described the event as "anti-war", not in the sense of opposing all wars (compare pacifisim) or as a statement that North and South Vietnam should not have been fighting each other, but as strictly in the sense of opposing America's involvement in the Vietnam War.