A 1976 edition of the New York Times quoted Howard Callaway 's comments on the My Lai Massacre .
Howard Callaway , Secretary of the Army , was quoted in The New York Times as stating that Calley 's sentence was reduced because Calley honestly believed that what he did was a part of his orders—a rationale that contradicts the standards set at Nuremberg and Tokyo , where following orders was not a defense for committing war crimes .
My Lai Massacre