Former CIA counter-terrorism specialist David MacMichael spent two hours last night talking about U.S. war crimes to about 250 students and community members in 119 Osmond Lab.

MacMichael began his speech by explaining the history of war crimes the United States committed against the Native Americans and in the Civil War.

However, war crimes the United States committed in Vietnam were the bulk of MacMichael's speech.

One point he emphasized was the Phoenix Program, where he said U.S. forces assassinated 20,000 civilians during the Vietnam War.

He also spoke about the detrimental effects of Agent Orange, a chemical compound that U.S. forces used to burn down Vietnamese jungles to expose Vietcongs.

MacMichael said the effects of Agent Orange can still be seen in Vietnam today, with Vietnam having the most birth defects in the world and many former farmlands rendered useless.

He explained another war crime perpetuated by the United States in Vietnam: the My Lai massacre, where U.S. forces killed about 500 Vietnamese civilians and had to be stopped by another U.S. helicopter force.

MacMichael said after World War II, the United States had never been formally defeated in war and caused the super power to presume superiority over other countries and cultures.

"The U.S. believed their enemies were inferior," MacMichael said. "There was massive aerial bombardment to break the enemy nation's will. It was a violation of the letter and spirit of war."

Dispersed within his talk, MacMichael touched on how the United States ignored its own war crimes.

"The laws of war, insofar, have never been well-observed during time of war," MacMichael said. "Between defeat and following law, there is no choice."

MacMichael said the United States sets a double standard by accusing other countries of war crimes but never accepting blame for its own crimes.

He said the United States accused Iraq of breaking several United Nations (U.N.) resolutions, but then in Iraq, the United States broke international law when U.S. soldiers mistreated prisoners in the Abu Ghraib Prison.

When asked if students can have an effect on U.S. policy regarding war crimes, MacMichael said for students to get an education, do their civic duty and to "make a nuisance" of themselves.

"It does get discouraging, but you have the ability to improve communications," MacMichael said.

Pushker Kharecha, coordinator of MacMichael's talk, said MacMichael touched on many policies the United States should look to amend.

"If other countries commit war crimes, we prosecute them," Kharecha said. "When we went into Iraq, we violated the U.N. charter. We didn't get prosecuted for that."

Chris Hauff (junior-history) said more people should listen to talks critical of U.S. war policies.

"It's kind of sad that people don't know that things like that happen," he said.

Andy Lucci (junior-supply chain and information systems) said history books glorify the U.S. army.

"[MacMichael] showed a lot of what you don't learn in your average history class, like the war crimes in Vietnam and Nicaragua," he said.

Maria DiFuccia (graduate-sociology) also thought that the lecture provided a supra-classroom experience.

"As a former CIA analyst, he shed light on things the country shouldn't forget," she said. "He's not just attacking Bush, not just attacking the invasion of Iraq and not just pinpointing one agency."