The "Mere Gook Rule" (MGR) was a controversial name that U.S. soldiers in the Vietnam War had for what they claim was an unofficial policy under which soldiers would be prosecuted very leniently, if at all, for harming or killing "gooks" – a commonly-used derogatory slang term for Vietnamese civilians – even if the victims turned out to have no connection to the Viet Cong or to the North Vietnamese Army.