Evening star., 1953-04-08
Retreat From q Lie

Speaking through Valerian Zorin before
the United Nations Political Committee, the
post-Stalin Soviet regime has resorted to what
looks very much like a disengaging maneuver
designed to extricate 1t from one OF the most
monstrous Communist lies in recent years
This is the lie that has sought to make the
world believe th3 the United States has waged
germ warfare against the military forces and
civilian populace of North Korea and Red
China.
Concocted in the Kremlin not long after
the Communist aggreSSors struck southwark
across the 38th Parallel in June OF 1850, the
lie has been broadcast with great vehemence
not only by the propagandists of Pyongyang,
Peiping and Moscow, but by the propagandists
of every satellite regime behind the Iron Cur
tain. AS result, more than few people in
more than few parts of the world-notably in
Asia-have been fairly well convinced that the
United States has committed atrocious bac
THEOLOGICAL crimes.
That is why our Government, with the
overwhelming support of the United Nations,
has repeatedly attempted to have the Com
munist germ charges thoroughly investigated
by an impartial international body. Every such
attempt however, has been rebuffed by the
Kremlin and the North Korean and Chinese
Reds Needless to say, they have taken this
position because of realization that any
genuinely honest inquiry would trap them in
their own lie by exposing to the whole world
the vile and utterly mendacious nature OF their
hate-America propaganda.
Nevertheless despite Red refusals to CO.
operate, our Government has continued to
demand an impartial investigation, and the
issue is now before the United Nations as one
of the agenda items. But the Communists,
since Stalin's death, have had little or nothing
to say about germ warfare, and the new Malen-
kov regime-engaged as it is in surprise e-a-day
peace offensive-has strongly indicated that it
wishes the whole question could be filed away
and forgotten as one of those unpleasant things
of the past that serve merely to- discourage
doves and put blight on sprouting Russian
olive branches.
Thus, through Mr.. Zorin, the Malenkov
regime has appealed to the United States to
drop the call for an inquiry. Further the
Zorin speech, one of the shortest and weakest
of its kind in long time, has intimated that
the Soviet Union will say no more about germs
but will consider the whole business COM
pletely dead issue If only country will ratify
the rather meaningless Geneva Convention
against meteorological weapons. In any case,
though, the Russians-who have experienced
surprise tinged with regret" because of the
insistence of our American demand-cannot
agree to an investigation.
In setting forth these views, Mr.. Zorin has
not recanted the germ warfare charges, but he
has. discussed them far more softly than did any
Russian spokesman while Stain was alive.
This suggests that Premier Malenkov and his
colleagues are trying to disengage themselves
from the lie with as little loss Of face as pos
sible. However If they really want to impress
the free nations, they should retreat from the
thing all the way; they should wash their
hands of it entirely. just as in the case of the
doctors plot" they should frankly acknowledge
it for what it is-a gigantic fraud based on
false evidence gathered by thoroughly dishonest
and "impermissihle" means.