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Some antiwar partisans in the U.S. seized on the event to support their theme. Senator George McGovern suggested that the massacre was the result of "the futility and uselessness of this war." But Americans and others have committed brutal acts in other wars as well, wars with a deeper outline and purpose. Some critics abroad glibly started making comparisons with Nazi atrocities. Such comparisons are obviously spurious, if only because Lidice and Babi Yar were caused by a deliberate national policy of terror, not by the aberrations of soldiers under stress. Still, it will not be easy for Americans to come to terms with Pinkville. It sears the generous and humane image, more often deserved than not, of the U.S. as a people. Whatever else may come to light about Pinkville in the weeks ahead, the tragedy shows that the American soldier carries no immunity against the cruelty and inhumanity of prolonged combat.
* Some of his pictures of the massacre appeared in Cleveland's Plain Dealer last week, others not so far published appear here (see page 17) and will also be seen in a forth coming issue of LIFE.