So it seems some Marines think that some good can come out of massacring civilians. Testifying about the 2005 slaughter in Haditha, when U.S. troops killed dozens of unarmed people, including children, a Marine officer said yesterday in the trial of those accused that Haditha residents behaved better afterwards. Reports the NY Times:

One of the officers, First Lt. Alexander Martin, suggested that one of the consequences of the Marine unit’s killing of civilians — which followed a roadside bomb blast that killed one marine and wounded two others — was that Haditha residents became noticeably more helpful, if not quite friendly, to the Americans.

“After 19 November,” Lieutenant Martin said in videotaped testimony, referring to the day the civilians were killed in 2005, “I had people coming up to me to tell me where the I.E.D.’s were.”

Other Marines suggested that it was a helpful warning to the people of Haditha:

Lieutenant Frank said Lieutenant Mathes, the company’s executive officer, advised a Marine major assigned to a civil affairs unit that “the best way to explain this to the Iraqi people” would be to tell them, “It’s an unfortunate thing that happens when you let terrorists use your house to attack our troops.”