“Villagers had to be killed”

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32541, 26 February 1971, Page 10

“Villagers had to be killed”

tN.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) FORT BENNING (Georgia), February 25. The South Vietnamese villagers who died at My Lai had to be killed, according to a United States Army lieutenant, William Calley, aged 27. As captives, they were slowing down his men, who were trying to sweep through the village as quickly as possible, Calley said at his trial by court-martial yesterday.

Calley, who is accused ofa murdering 102 villagers at j My Lai, was ending three j

days of testimony before a jury of six officers. He said he regarded the civilians as the enemy because that was how his commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, had described them when he ordered the annihiliation of all My Lai inhabitants. Calley described Captain Medina as “a tough disciplinarian who expected all orders to be obeyed, particularly during combat.” The captain, Calley said, was distressed because the troops were being slowed down by holding the civilians

as prisoners, accused him of disobeying orders, and insisted he “get rid” of the civilians.

Calley admitted that he shot six or eight times into a ditch in which at least 70 persons were alleged to have been killed; he said he was helped by four or five other soldiers. The defence rested its case after Calley’s evidence, and the prosecution's first rebuttal witnesses are due to be heard today—the three Army psychiatrists who examined Calley and found that he was sane when he led his platoon into My Lai. The prosecutor (Captain Aubrey Daniel) is expected to take up to two weeks presentingrebuttal evidence.