Evening star., 1952-06-28
Nh. Acheson,s Apology

Some members of Congress, perhaps because
OF hot-weather tempers, have been quick to react
angrily to Secretary Acheson's so-caled apology"
to the British Judging from the news reports up
to now however, it is hard to see why anybody
should be particularly agtated by what he has
said. Actually if Washington were enjoying sweet
spring zephyrs or the brisk air of beautiful
fall or the fine invigoration of clear winter days.
the chances are that there would be no fuss
about the matter. Anyhow, leaving aside our
present summer scourge, there seems to be little
reason for a. real fuss.
After all, what is it that Mr.. Acheson has
done? According to the reports, he has spoken
to an informal gathering of members of Parlia-
ment in an of ff-the-record answer to Laborite
criticism of the heavy air attacks on the North
Korean power plants near the Manchurian border
The criticism, distinguished more for its emo
tionaliSm than its common sense has taken the
United States to task for having failed to notify
the British in advance of the attacks and it
has virtually accused General Clark-the supreme
United Nations commander-of having recklessly
exceeded his powers in way that might lead
to grave enlargement of the war.
In reply, Mr.. Acheson has told the members
of Parliament-including the Laborites-that
"snafu" accounts for the fact that the British
government was not informed of the attacks be-
suited from a misunderstanding between the
State Department and the Pentagon as to who
was to do the notifying and he has expressed
American regrets for the unintentional mix-up.
AS far as it goes, this may be described as an
apology" of Sorts but it is limited solely to
the relatively minor question of diplomatic
courtesy between Alies-a courtesy that would
have been extended to Britain had the mix-up
not occurred.
However, if Mr.. Acheson has been apologetic
about the notification "Snafu" he certainly has
not been that way about the attacks themselves.
On the contrary, he has been at pains to en-
phasize to the members of Parliament that the
United Nations command, in carrying out the
attacks, has acted we'll within its authority and
that the bombing of the plants has been fully
justified as a strictly military measure against
an enemy whose vast build-up of air and land
power constitutes very real threat to our
allied U. N. forces. He has emphasized, too, that
the targets involved are on Korean soil we'll out
side the privileged sanctuary" OF Manchuria and
that striking at them does not in fact, extend the
war area beyond what it has been since the Com
munists cut loose with their aggression two years
ago.
In sum, with the Churchill government
supporting him, Mr.. AcheSon has in no sense
apologized for the continuing aerial strikes
against the hydroelectric complex on the Korean
side of the Yalu River. Instead, although voic-
ing regret for the failure to notify Britain he has
in effect told the Laborites that their criticism
is without justification in terms of either exist
ing U. N. agreements or the hard realities of the
situation and he has plainly implied that the
enemy will be hit with whatever is necessary for
the security of our American and Allied forces.
In the circumstances, his remarks do not seem
to merit congressional lambasting.