The Rabbinical Alliance of America said Friday it had sent a letter to Army Secretary Howard Callaway protesting his reduction from 20 to 10 years in the sentence imposed on Lt. William Calley for the murder of 22 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai during the Vietnam War. Rabbi David B. Hollander, president, said in his letter:
“In this period of history, when human lives in countless numbers were and are being destroyed, when innocent men, women and children are being taken hostage and often killed in the name of just grievances and noble causes, we find it most disturbing that the United States authorities whose concern for human life had been well established from the day of its inception should by this action in the My Lai case convey the impression, however unintentional, that the future taking of human life under similar circumstances and the penalties that would follow such an act, need not be taken seriously.”
Rabbi Hollander added that “the position of the Rabbinical Alliance is obviously not aimed at any particular convicted defendant but rather at all who have taken upon themselves the horrendous burden of deciding who shall live and who shall die.”
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