[Newspoetry] Regrettable loss of life

[Peter Miller]

Pressed to say whether he doubts that U.S. soldiers killed civilians 
at No Gun Ri, 
[Army Secretary Louis] Caldera said, 

``No. I think 
there was loss of life 
there 
and that was very
regrettable.''

Caldera also disputed the South Koreans' claim that the shootings were intentional.

     ``Reaching that conclusion 
     is very different 
     from the allegation that was made that this was a massacre
in the classic sense 
     that we lined up innocent people 
     and gunned them down.''

Get it?

The AP report published in September 1999 quoted a dozen ex-GIs as well as Korean survivors as saying U.S. troops opened fire on refugees beneath a railroad bridge, killing a large number of civilians, many of them women and children. The report quoted 30 Korean survivors and their relatives saying the attack was unprovoked and lasted three days.

[December 15, 2000]
    An Army investigation into allegations  
        that GIs killed South Korean refugees 
            at No Gun Ri early in the Korean War 
failed 
      to establish that U.S. troops there 
were acting on orders from superiors 

Former Rep. Pete McCloskey, R-Calif.,
said 
``There is no question that there were orders,''

The Army previously 
had insisted 
there was no evidence 
of U.S. military involvement in the killings.

###

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20001215/wl/army_no_gun_ri_4.html