Let's tear his "confession" down - line by line. You will be greatly disappointed.
I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that ......
1 ... I took part in shootings in free-fire zones.
Not a crime nor against any known rule of warefare to remove civilians from harms way and only leave the enemy to contend with.
2 ... I conducted harassment and interdiction fire.
see #1 above, harrassment means just that, you know about were the enemy should be so you drop artillery or bombs here and there at irregular time periods to "un-motivate" the enemy so they leave or give up - very humane!
Interdiction fire - when you're pretty sure where the enemy is and where they are headed - so you fire artillery or bombs to stop them. Gee! Really? So?
3 ... I used 50-caliber machine guns which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people.
he had a 45-cal pistol, rifles were available (they even fire automatically if you wanted to waste bullets) Yes there were .50 cal guns that were designed on the boats to fire on other craft and fortified shore positions - yes people were there, otherwise why bother shooting?
I believe the Geneva accords said you were only supposed to kill neatly
4 ... I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages.
Also see #1 when an area was cleared of civilians and they had been relocated to a safe area - at times the abandoned villages were destroyed to keep they enemy from using them as shelter or cover. NOT illegal even when they were burned as a result of fighting the NVA or VC
Sorry john - you confessed to nothing above except for shooting a wounded man in the back - nobody said you did (nor would they have) but you. That ould be called MURDEr - against the Geneva Convention
this story is not going away either. what villages were burned? did he make any of the appropriate reports why or why not
he is beginning to understand what a nightmare this truly is. unforunately he doesn't make it to 11/02
To say nothing of the UCMJ.