Army Misfire

Americans booby trapped their own Korean policy last week, thanks to the blunder of an Eighth Army colonel. Charges by Colonel James Hanley that the Communists had murdered 5500 American soldiers prompted a series of fiery speeches by public figures from the President down. But subsequent statements from the Pentagon and General Ridgway revealed Hanley's figure as the composite of largely-exaggerated rumours, released at the worst possible time.

Since there is conclusive proof of only 365 cases of murder by the Reds, Colonel Hanley's larger figure is open to suspicion of being "atrocity propaganda." The Allies carefully avoided such propaganda during World War II for an excellent reason--if backfires. Inaccurate charges of enemy brutality actually spur the enemy to further violations, and prompt our own troops to commit similar acts in revenge. Atrocity charges also stimulate the home-front hotheads (several senators called for "immediate atomic retaliation" Last week), and stiffen the enemy's will to resist. Colonel Hanley's inaccurate statement not only countered our attempts to arrange a speedy truce in Korea; it also bloated the facts about Communist atrocities into unpalatable exaggeration.