WASHINGTON - General Peter Pace, the new chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, today announced the findings of a special probe into the Haditha massacre that killed 24 civilians last November. General Pace explained: "A kind word and a smile would have gone a long way toward alleviating negative feelings about the U.S. military when the exigencies of warfare made it necessary for Marines to shoot innocent civilians at Haditha."
Pace put this current incident in historical perspective: "Discourteous treatment of civilians is precisely the cause of the public relations furor associated with the My Lai massacre in 1968. One can only wonder how that incident would have been perceived if Lt. William Calley had addressed the victims with courtesy and respect when he shot them, instead of yelling at them and treating them as if they were the enemy."
"Our Marines must remember that we are guests of the Iraqi people," General Pace explained. "Courtesy toward Iraqis is expected of us at all times, even when we must kill them."
