... Western Europe, p. 2 Asia, p. 10 North Vietnam, p. 12

VIETNAM: KISSINGER TALKS IN PARIS

Media in several countries have given prominent to top news placement to the extension of Henry Kissinger's talks in Paris with North Vietnamese representatives.

British papers avoided speculating on possible progress at the private meetings, but reported a "mood of expectancy" in Washington and Paris.

Media in France, West Germany and Italy headlined a possible French role in the negotiations. Paris television asserted, "It is likely that Kissinger has asked the French Government to play an active role in this sensitive phase of the negotiations, perhaps that of an intermediary."

Some comment linked the extended talks to the U.S. election season.

--The London *Financial Times* reported that "well-informed circles" in Paris believed that Mr. Kissinger was "thrashing out with Le Duc Tho a 'charter' for peace which could be announced shortly after the U.S. Presidential election."

--West German television said last night that President Nixon's recent efforts toward settlement were explained by a desire "to win a decisive victory for the Republicans, not only in this election, but for the years to come.... The negotiations in Paris are supposed to demonstrate that McGovern is not the more trustworthy man in the race."

Senator McGovern's broadcast speech of last evening did not produce substantive first-day comment.

Agence France-Presse today reported that the PRG delegation chief at Paris, Ly Van Sau, declined "to make any comment whatsoever on the secret talks in Paris between U. S. Presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese delegation leaders." AFP interviewed him on the reported bombing of the building occupied by the French representative in Hanoi.

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London Reports Mood in Paris and Washington

British media, which have avoided speculating on the Kissinger talks in Paris, today reported an atmosphere of expectation in Paris and Washington.

A Paris correspondent of the independent *Financial Times* of London today remarked on the "unprecedented effort to reach a settlement as the U.S. prepares for the American Presidential election." It said Mr. Kissinger was thought by "well-informed circles here to be thrashing out with Le Duc Tho a 'charter for peace' which could be announced shortly after the U.S. Presidential elections.... Speculation was rife today on a possible early breakthrough."

On the other hand, the paper noted that "President Thieu has kept relatively quiet since General Haig's secret talks in Saigon last week," and suggested that "one explanation for his silence could be that he has been given a firm guarantee by the U.S. that he will not be sacrificed to the Communists. If this is in fact the case, the Vietnam negotiations may not be quite as near to a final solution as is generally claimed."

"Expectancy in Washington"

Yesterday the paper reported a heightening in Washington of "the mood of expectancy generated by the intensification of the private negotiations" in Paris.

In an editorial on Monday the paper declared, "It is now fairly clear, despite the rumors current in London last week, that there has not been a major breakthrough in the Vietnam peace negotiations."

"Both Washington and Hanoi have poured cold water on the rumors, and last week's remarks by President Nixon, which helped to set them going, can be seen in retrospect to mean relatively little..."

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The paper said it was obvious that "the U.S. has not yet taken the crucial decision which seems necessary to win agreement from Hanoi--that of explicitly withdrawing its support from President Thieu." It cited Mr. Nixon's statements on the bombing and commented:

"If President Nixon is prepared to go this far in provoking the liberal critics of his Vietnam policy, it seems unlikely that those critics will be able to do anything between now and the election to throw him off balance. The only remaining possibility is that North Vietnam will succeed in escalating the war itself to a pitch which would intrude on the American domestic political scene."

"<u>Peace Formula Near...</u>?"

The conservative *Daily Mail* today front-paged a Paris correspondent's assertion that "the Vietnam war may be over well before Christmas. Dr. Kissinger is believed to have thrashed out with the North Vietnamese what is described as a 'charter for peace.'"

Yesterday the paper said that "a peace formula... may be no more than a few details away.... The two sides are believed to have agreed to the general conditions for total U.S. troop withdrawals on the understanding that an independent coalition government takes over in Saigon."

"...<u>More Comings and Goings</u>"

On the other hand, a Washington correspondent of the conservative *Daily Telegraph* reported today that "the expectation is that there will be considerably more comings and goings between Washington, Saigon and Paris before a settlement is finalized."

On Monday the paper reported from Washington "a recurring rumor...that America may have yielded to Communist demands and agreed to seek the resignation of President Thieu."

"<u>Speculation in Paris</u>"

The conservative *Daily Express* said today that in Paris "speculation is rife on an early breakthrough."

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Yesterday the paper carried an article in which it observed:

> "One man and two words now stand between war and peace in Vietnam. The man is President Thieu of South Vietnam. The words are: 'I resign.'... For months Kissinger and Tho have gone over familiar ground, each compromising on the questions of a cease-fire, handing over prisoners of war, an end to the bombing, troop withdrawals, and a political settlement. Each time they come up against an immovable problem--President Thieu's immediate future."

The independent *Times* of London yesterday reported speculation in Washington "that some substantial progress was being made" in the secret Paris talks. It added that Senator McGovern "runs the considerable risk of having his suggestions quickly eclipsed by some sudden development in Paris." Referring to the reported 1968 Nixon "pledge" to end the war in four years, the paper remarked that "today is the fourth anniversary of Mr. Nixon's campaign declaration. It is a pledge that Mr. McGovern has frequently recalled during the past week... but there are few signs that its non-fulfillment has seriously disturbed the American public."

## "Rumors Become Accepted Truths"

The paper reported from Paris on Monday that "wherever news about Vietnam peace moves come from, it is not official sources here... Rumors, when they have been around long enough, take on the form of accepted truths, and it is therefore widely agreed that Dr. Kissinger is going to discuss a variant of the American proposal put forward at the beginning of the year...."

> "If there has been any agreement for a cease-fire based upon this sort of arrangement, then the Paris peace conference might possibly spring back to life. So far, it has been totally irrelevant, serving at best as a smoke screen protecting the real negotiations--and even the smoke screen has blown away."

## "Nixon Taking Over McGovern Campaign Claim"

The liberal *Guardian* of Manchester and London yesterday remarked that the mere fact that the talks were extended, "can in itself be taken as evidence of their importance."

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On Monday the paper ran a Washington dispatch reporting that "there are two main schools of thought" on Mr. Kissinger's current Paris session. It said these were the following:

"One is that President Nixon is indeed close to achieving some form of face-saving settlement under which President Thieu would resign as part of an overall agreement...

"The second rather more cynical view is that this latest 'peace spurt' has been deliberately timed by the Nixon Administration to coincide with the approach of the election to give at least the appearance of movement. Whatever the justice to this view, it is undoubtedly true that Mr. Nixon has succeeded to a remarkable degree in not just defusing but actually taking over Senator McGovern's major campaign claim that he alone can bring peace to Vietnam."

## Paris: A Role for France?

French media, which had been generally skeptical over any breakthrough in the Vietnam negotiations, today gave major play to the extension of the Kissinger talks into a fourth day and underscored a possible association of France with the secret talks. Moderate Figaro of Paris today headlined, "Vietnam--A New Hope?"

Late morning radio newscasts today reported that the building occupied by the French representative in Hanoi was destroyed by American bombing.

## TV: "Perhaps As Intermediary"

A commentator on state-run French television's second network said last night:

"At least one person knows what is happening: Mr. Schumann. It is likely that Kissinger has asked the French Government to play an active role in this sensitive phase of the negotiations, perhaps that of an intermediary."

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"France Knows Vietnam Best"

Correspondent Adalbert de Segonzac reported from Washington in the early edition of today's mass-circulation *France-Soir* that "France, which the U. S. until recently kept at arm's length from what it was doing in Vietnam, now appears to be associated much more closely with the developing situation... France, which maintains relations with all the parties involved, and even has some influence with many politicians in South Vietnam, might quite well be called on to facilitate a settlement, in its technical aspects at least....

"France can certainly give advice, for example concerning the makeup of the tripartite government which would include neutralists, many of whom are living in Paris.

"France, which knows Vietnam better than anyone, might also be called on to play a role if guarantees concerning the neutrality of that government were needed."

Yesterday he reported that the U. S. and the North Vietnamese "seem to have agreed on installation of a tripartite interim government in Saigon, cease-fire, withdrawal of American troops and release of the prisoners."

Independent-left *Combat* of Paris asserted today that an "agreement" had been "made possible by a U. S. concession concerning the installation of a coalition government in Saigon." It added:

"If Mr. Nixon, in the last resort, agreed to make the only concession he had still ruled out a few days ago, it is because he wants to give his electoral lead overwhelming proportions....

"He has so often reiterated that he would not conclude a 'shameful' peace that the voters will not realize that he has now become resigned to it--and, anyway, McGovern is not proposing anything else."

Foreign editor Michel Tatu, wrote yesterday in liberal *Le Monde* that "the will to reach... a mutually acceptable settlement now appears to prevail on both sides....

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"The agreement, if it comes about, will bring all sides to accept what they solemnly proclaimed to be unacceptable only a short while back."

## West German Speculation

West German papers today carried stories speculating on a "mediation" role for France (Die Welt of Hamburg) and big-power accord to guarantee peace in Indochina (Duesseldorf's Neue Rhein Zeitung and others).

## "Mere Continuation No Guarantee"

Independent-right Frankfurter Allgemeine yesterday cautioned that mere continuation of the Paris talks was "of itself no guarantee of success" of the negotiations. The paper supposed that "the future of President Thieu" was among the main agenda items and said the Americans approached this subject with the memory of having "sacrificed President Diem with the result that the war became even more hopeless--a lesson that continues to dominate U.S. policy.

"President Nixon has lived up to his promise to bring home the American ground troops. However, it remains to be seen how he plans to attain his goals of complete U.S. disengagement and peace, not only in Vietnam but in all of Indochina."

A correspondent for the West German TV's second network reported that political observers in Paris saw "two factors impeding early success for Kissinger's negotiations:

"The U.S. still has to find a way to drop Thieu without making it too obvious that he has been dropped, and Hanoi wants to avoid giving the impression that it is helping Nixon to get re-elected.

"It is expected here that, even after his re-election, Nixon will be more interested than Hanoi in peace in Vietnam. In short, the door is unlocked but it may take some time before it is opened."

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# "Electoral Reasons for Recent Efforts"

A studio commentator stated last night that President Nixon's recent efforts to obtain a Vietnam peace settlement were explained by a desire "to win a decisive victory for the Republicans, not only in this election, but for the years to come." Asserting that Mr. Nixon's credibility was diminished because the war continued despite his "pledge" of 1968, the commentator declared that "if Nixon wants to win by a landslide, then he must take the credibility issue very seriously...."

"The negotiations in Paris are supposed to demonstrate that McGovern is not the more trustworthy man in the race. So far, McGovern has made it easy for Nixon because he has done much to irritate his friends and supporters."

## Rome TV: "We Believe Understanding Reached"

The Vietnam negotiations in Paris led foreign news coverage in Italian media.

State-run television's foreign affairs analyst said last night:

"Three days running of secret talks are not only unpre- cedented in two years and more of negotiations between Kissinger and Le Duc Tho.... They also lead us to believe, despite all denials, that a broad understanding has been reached by Americans and North Vietnamese on the first of the two sectors on which a military and political settle- ment must be built..."

# "McGovern Plan Comes at Wrong Moment"

A TV correspondent in New York said that "the White House is still warning against drawing hasty conclusions... There is an atmosphere of expectation and optimism... Undoubtedly McGovern's peace plan comes at the wrong moment--when prospects for a solution in Vietnam appear more real than ever."

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A Paris correspondent reported:

> "The general feeling in Paris is that the time has come. At least the signs are there... Perhaps final agreement has not yet been reached... but the end of the journey is very near."

> "McGovern Position Too Close to Hanoi's?"

State-run Italian radio this morning carried a New York correspondent's report that "the White House's refusal to explain what is going on gives rise to many rumors..."

He added: "Some people feel that McGovern's position is too similar to Hanoi's ideas..."

Independent-conservative *Corriere della Sera* of Milan wrote today: "It is already taken for granted that the two sides exchanged important concessions in order that the conflict may end with a solution... satisfactory to North and South Vietnamese and to the Americans."

> "Possible French Mediation"

Influential left-of-center *La Stampa* of Turin today headed a piece by its Paris correspondent: "Possible French Mediation for Vietnam."

Independent *Il Messaggero* of Rome today asserted that Mr. Kissinger "is asking the French for a guarantee on Vietnam" and that "secret talks seem to have reached the conclusive stage."

Pro-Communist *Paese Sera* of Rome last night maintained that "the situation today is at a more favorable point than ever before... The possible withdrawal of Van Thieu is a positive element..."

> Vienna: "U.S. Not Prepared to Sacrifice Thieu"

The Washington correspondent of Vienna's independent *Die Presse* reported today that the Paris talks "apparently center on the person of President Thieu..."

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"No one in Washington is prepared to sacrifice Thieu.... Not only is U.S. trustworthiness as an ally involved, but its honor and prestige are also tied to Thieu... A compromise formula in the form of an interim commission should be completely possible, either when Thieu resigns voluntarily or in such a manner as to leave Nixon's honor unsullied, or when Hanoi is convinced that the war is lost militarily and therefore an early cease-fire and toleration of Thieu is better than further waiting....

"Brezhnev's state visit to Washington next spring is an indication that the Soviets, too, think the Vietnam war will be over by then."

### Sweden: "Nixon Policies Make This War an Anachronism"

Sweden's liberal _Gotesborgs Handelstidning_ today expressed the opinion that the time may be ripe for settlement of the Vietnam conflict. It reasoned that "Nixon's new policies in relation to China and the Soviet Union have made the war an anachronism. The current policies of these two powers indicate that they expect Nixon to be re-elected. This fact will no doubt give rise to pessimism among those who are responsible for the political decisions in North Vietnam and the NLF. Nothing should be taken for granted, but strong political and military reasons suggest that a cease-fire this time might be in the offing."

### Seoul: "U.S. Can Lose Trust of Asians"

South Korean headlines today included "French Daily Reports U.S. and Hanoi Nearly Reach Agreement on Total Ceasefire and Resignation of President Thieu," and "U.S. -Russia-China Reportedly Agree on Neutralization of Vietnam."

Independent _Hankuk Ilbo_, Seoul's second most influential daily, said this morning:

"There are indications that the U.S. and Hanoi are using the fate of President Thieu as a bargaining issue in their peace negotiations, This cannot by justified by any means... The

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Communists appear to be eager to remove with U.S. help what they failed to remove by force. If the U.S. makes concessions by yielding to Hanoi, America is sure to lose the trust of Asians once and for all..."

Leading conservative Donga Ilbo said on Saturday:

"We think that agreeing to the removal of President Thieu before we can be sure that anti-Communist forces can hold on and survive in a coalition government without Thieu is an act tantamount to leaving South Vietnam to the Communists."

## Reports on McGovern Position

Several Seoul papers yesterday carried news reports stating that Senator McGovern favored withdrawal of American forces from Korea. The reports said a committee of his military advisers had concluded that the initial objective of stationing U.S. military in Korea to help improve combat capability was satisfied long ago and that nothing justified their continued stationing in the country, particularly in the light of improving north-south relations.

### Wellington: "Thieu an Embarrassment"

New Zealand's nationally circulated Dominion of Wellington said yesterday that "President Thieu's future may be the key to settlement" in Vietnam since "he has become an embarrassment to some American backers." It added:

"The art for Mr. Nixon's negotiators in Paris, if they want to remove him, may be to avoid his departure appearing as an American defeat or, in the context of U.S. political life, a McGovern victory."

### New Delhi: "Thieu the Stumbling Block"

The independent Hindustan Times of New Delhi yesterday front-paged a story calling the future of President Thieu "the main stumbling block in the way of a Vietnam settlement."

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Hanoi on Damaged French Installation

Hanoi domestic radio today reported that U. S. bombs had hit the building
occupied by the French representative in Hanoi.

Ly Van Sau, chief of the PRG delegation to the Paris talks, told Agence
France-Presse that the bombing was "a serious development and a deliberate
act by the U. S." and linked it to "extermination raids" on North Vietnamese
population centers. AFP reported further:

"Mr. Ly Van Sau added, 'The Americans cannot claim this is an error, for
they know the city...

"The PRG spokesman declined to make any comment whatsoever on the secret
talks in Paris between U. S. Presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and North
Vietnamese delegation leaders."

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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Wed., Oct. 11, 1972

CITY COUNCIL UNIT VOTES UNSAFE-TOY BAN

By Harry Golden Jr.

A City Council committee Tuesday approved an ordinance to outlaw unsafe toys and Ald. Paul T. Wigoda (49th), the sponsor, predicted passage by the full Council next week.

Toy manufacturers, who had protested when Wigoda first introduced his bill during the 1971 Christmas shopping season, did not attend Tuesday's hearing. Wigoda, who had invited them, concluded, "Either they think any opposition would be futile or they have decided they can live with my ordinance."

The 1,200-word law bans the sale of toys with toxic point, hazardous substances, sharp corners, parts small enough to swallow, or heat or electrical hazards. Sale of each dangerous toy would be punishable by a fine of $50 to $500.

The ordinance does not prohibit specific brand-name toys but, rather, defines those toy features which would be considered dangerous. The machinery for enforcement has not been decided on, Wigoda said, but he has under consideration both the Board of Health and the Department of Consumer Sales.

Wigoda presided as chairman over the unanimous vote of the Committee on Traffic and Public Safety to recommend the bill to the full Council Monday.

He said in an interview, "Certainly, there are innumerable unsafe toys on the market in Chicago at this moment."

"But I believe in a new philosophy. The philosophy of 'caveat emptor' (let the buyer beware) is outdated. Now, let the seller beware!

"We will not only respond to complaints.

We hope eventually to have inspectors looking for these toys that maim and poison."

Wigoda said that good effects have already come from the year-old introduction of the measure, delayed partly because of an asserted hardship on retailers who had already stocked for the peak of the 1971 season and partly for legal studies.

"The retail outlets all say they are heartily for safety," Wigoda said. "And some of them have been outstanding in their co-operation.

"They all say they will police the matter voluntarily. Well, this ordinance will insure that. The most important objective of my ordinance is to force the retailers themselves to look closely at the toys."

New York lawyers for the Toy Manufacturers Assn. of the United States testified at a hearing last Nov. 9 that they would prefer a

single federal code to many varying local ordinances.

Marvin Glass, a Chacigo toy designer, testified then that the ordinance was so strict as to outlaw 90 per cent of the toys on the market. He asserted, "Only God can make a safe toy."

Under the ordinance, edges of sheet metal, wood or plastic must be protected. Any toy intended to bear the weight of a child must be balanced so that it won't tip on an incline of 15 degrees. Hinges and chains must be designed so that fingers can't be trapped.

No toy may be coated with paint containing more than one-half of 1 per cent of lead, arsenic, soluble antimony, mercury or other dangerous chemicans. Nor may toys have a point "capable of inflicting a puncture wound."

Supreme Court
ruling may save
Singer from jail

By Morton Kondracke

Sun-Times Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Chicago insurgents who unseated Mayor Daley's delegation at the Democratic National Convention was given a chance to stay out of jail Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court sent an appeal by Daley's organization back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which last summer had ruled against the organization, prohibiting it from taking action against the insurgents.

Wayne W. Whalen, attorney for Ald. William S. Singer (43d) and the rest of the challenge slate, said of Supreme Court decision: "I can't imagine anything better from the court."

Victory for people

But Jerome H. Torshen, attorney for the Daley organization, also saw the decision as a "great victory for us and the people" who elected the ousted delegates

Before the Democratic convention, the Daley organization had obtained an injunction in Cook County Circuit Court barring Singer's group from sitting at the convention, but the insurgents took their seats anyway.

Since the convention, the organization has sought to have the Singer delegation held in contempt, and Cook County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Covelli has all but said he would so hold.

If Covelli does find the insurgents in contempt, he could send them to jail.

However, Whalen said he believes that the Supreme Court decision — subject to clarification by the Court of Appeals — means that the Daley organization could be held in contempt by the federal court in Washington if it tried to act against Singer in Circuit Court in Chicago.

Torshen confident

The high court ruling, by sending the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals here, places the fate of Singer and his group in the hands of judges who previously had favored them.

Torshen called Whalen's statement "absolute silliness on anyone's part to think that

the Daley organization will be held in contempt." He added that he does not believe the Supreme Court decision will affect contempt proceedings in Chicago. "You can't violate an injunction," he said.

Contacted in Philadelphia, where he is representing hockey star Bobby Hull in an interleague dispute. Torshen said he has not yet read the decision, but from what he knew he considered it a victory.

He explained that the ruling might now permit the courts to consider the validity of the party's new reform rules, even though the insurgents wanted the case quashed,

Ruling vacated

The Supreme Court's actual order in the case consisted of a grant of certiorari to Daley, vacation of the high court's July 7 judgment and remand of the case to the appel-

Flood waters won't go away

More than six weeks have passed since the Aug. 25 downpour flooded her properly in Palatine Twp., but the waters won't recede. Dorothy Camphouse wades waist deep on roadway next to her home at 110 Arlington Rd. Her basement has four feet of water. She says township officials have been unable to help. (Sun-Times Photo by Larry Graff)

Turn to Page 14

Pepitone lounge records are subpenaed

By Art Petaque
and Dennis D. Fisher

Employment records of the Chicago night-club owned by baseball player Joe Pepitone

have been subpenaed by a federal task force that is investigating the sale of hard drugs, it was disclosed Tuesday.

The records of Joe Pepitone's Thing, 12 E. Division, are to be turned over to a federal grand jury as part of an investigation into the sales of drugs in a number of taverns and other establishments in the Chi-

JOE PEPITONE

cago area.

A government source emphasized that Pepitone, first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, has not been subpenaed to appear personally.

It was learned that a subpena for the employment records was served in September on the club's manager, Dominick Morello. When he failed to appear with the records, the Justice Department initiated a contempt of court action against Morello.

However, the contempt action was withdrawn Tuesday when Pepitone's brother, Walter (Billy) Pepitone, produced the wanted records.

Joe Pepitone wasn't available for comment. However, Morello said, "I've never heard of anyone selling narcotics in this place. If I ever heard of such a thing, I'd break their heads."

"I have a 17-year-old daughter and I come from an old-fashioned family; so you know how I feel about drug selling. As far as Joe is concerned, his lawyer told him not to com-

ment. But he's a great sportsman and a great athlete. If he ever found anything like that (drug selling) he'd turn into an animal. You could be sure he'd be breaking heads, too."

The investigation is being carried out by the Chicago unit of a special anti-drug task force created by President Nixon. The agency, the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, is headed locally by J. Michael Fitzsimmons Jr.

Fitzsimmons declined to comment on the matter.

However, another source indicated the subpena for the employment records was sought after the government obtained information that hard drugs had been sold at the Pepitone lounge.

The anti-drug task force, which gets investigative help from other government agencies, has been seeking to dry up the drug traffic by starting at the pusher level.

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

SUMMARIES ARE
NOT TO BE QUOTED

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1973 (BROADCASTS OF OCT 10)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

SUMMARY OF NETWORK NEWS IN THIS ISSUE

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: The controversy over unauthorized American bombing raids against NVN last year is still in the news today. The New York Times quoted five Navy pilots as saying their attack squadrons flew such raids. Two of those pilots talked about it today in Fresno Calif. DAVID PINKHAM and JAMES HYBERG are interviewed. Pinkham said the question was: what was reported to the public and what was actually done. The reconnaissance flights seemed to him to be bombing raids rather than reconnaissance flights. Hyberg thought the intent of the mission was absolutely right but the fact that they had to use a cover-up, a guise for it was not right.

WALTER CRONKITE, CBS: Henry Kissinger met with top NVNese officials for a third straight day today. But instead of then flying home as he was scheduled to do, he remained in Paris for another meeting with Hanoi's Le Duc Tho tomorrow. JOHN HART, CBS: A NVNese who speaks with authority said in a conversation last week that it would be all right for President Thieu to lead one of the three factions in any future coalition government. He said the most recent public proposals by the guerrillas in the South mean that the Saigon regime can still exist, still supported by the US but not in war. There must be a total military disengagement from the US side, he said.

HARRY REASONER, ABC: In Cambodia, communist troops overran six government outposts within 50 miles of Phnom Penh. ARNOLD COLLINS, ABC: Within 30 miles of the capital fighting for the highways continues. Cambodian battles are fought on the periphery of the VN War. But Cambodians feel they are in a war of their own with Hanoi. The NVNese reserve special malice for them after centuries of enmity. They attack Cambodian pagodas, deliberately blasted by demolition squads before the NVNese withdraw.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: The US Command reported 300 strikes across NVN by fighter bombers. In addition, B-52s pounded the Fort of Dong Hoi.

REASONER, ABC: Government troops drove communist forces from one village 17 miles from Saigon, but the communists were reported holding 13 small hamlets within 25 miles of the capital.

NELSON BENTON, CBS: Bruce Dunning has a report from near Da Nang on the aftermath of a communist terror attack. BRUCE DUNNING, CBS: Along this curving beach an American Protestant missionary group, United World Missions, has built a hospital and homes for about 250 victims of leprosy, and nearby an orphanage for 120 children. During the night VC terrorists slipped into the unguarded colony, probably by boat, and first blew up the electric generator, plunging the little camp into darkness. Then systematically, the terrorists ran through the camp, blowing up five dormitory buildings, a hospital ward and the dispensary. A woman patient was killed when an explosive charge toppled the walls and roof of the hospital ward. Twenty patients were injured.

PUBLISHED BY THE AIR FORCE(SAF-AA)AS EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR THE DOD TO BRING TO THE ATTENTION OF KEY DEFENSE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL MATTERS WITHIN THEIR OFFICIAL RESPONSIBILITIES. NO OTHER USE OF THIS PUBLICATION IS AUTHORIZED

FOR INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PUBLICATION CALL MR. HARRY ZUBKOFF, OX 52884

## NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

### Kissinger Stays On In Paris

**JOHN CHANCELLOR:** Late today the White House announced that presidential advisor Henry Kissinger is staying on in Paris for more peace talks.

This follows an unprecedented third straight day of talks between Kissinger and NVNese representatives Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy. They'll meet again tomorrow.

Kissinger also conferred today with the French Foreign Minister Maurice Shuman and Shuman later reported to French President George Pompidou on his meeting with Kissinger.

The White House refused to characterize all of this activity, but in Saigon the SVNese Foreign Minister Tran Van Lam said the Paris talks are at an extremely delicate stage.

### US Bombers Make 300 Strikes Over NVN

**CHANCELLOR:** In the air war today the US Command reported 300 strikes across NVN by fighter bombers.

In addition B-52s pounded the Fort of Dong Hoi, 45 miles north of the DMZ.

### Navy Pilots Say They Flew

### Unauthorized Raids Over NVN

**CHANCELLOR:** The controversy over unauthorized American bombing raids against NVN last year is still in the news today.

The New York Times quoted five Navy pilots as saying their attack squadrons flew such raids. Two of those pilots talked about it today in Fresno, Calif.

**JAMES HYBERG:** The point in question is the retaliatory nature of these raids on the photo-reconnaissance aircraft, and the point also being, was the photo-reconnaissance aircraft fired at. And, I can't speak on all the missions, but in some instances the plane was not fired at and the bombs were still dropped.

**JAMES HYBERG:** I didn't feel any great wrong in doing it because I thought we were doing something we should be. It was just we were

having to use a cover-up, a guise for it, I suppose. The intent of the mission, I think, was absolutely right.

**DAVID PINKHAM:** The question seems to be what was reported to the public and what did we actually do. Those two things were different.

**REPORTER:** Did you think that was wrong?

**PINKHAM:** I definitely thought that was wrong.

When you read the newspapers, you get an idea, sort of, how negotiations are supposed to be progressing.

I had the impression that President Johnson had negotiated a bombing halt in return for certain concessions, and had also negotiated the fact that we could make reconnaissance flights over NVN, so that we wouldn't jeopardize our military position in the South.

Well when I was over there flying these reconnaissance flights seemed to me to be bombing raids rather than reconnaissance flights.

### SVNese Forces Recapture Hamlet

**CHANCELLOR:** In the ground war, today, government forces recaptured from the NVNese a third hamlet close to Saigon. But enemy units still control 13 other towns near the capital.

All these towns are within 25 miles from Saigon, which is one day's march.

## CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7 PM

### Kissinger Remains In Paris

**WALTER CRONKITE:** Henry Kissinger met with top NVNese officials for a third straight day today. But instead of then flying home as he was scheduled to do, he remained in Paris for another meeting with Hanoi's Le Duc Tho tomorrow.

The decision to carry the talks over to a fourth day was completely unexpected.

Earlier today the White House had said Kissinger would be flying home tonight. And neither Washington nor Paris is saying why Kissinger chose to stay over, but tonight, of course, more than ever now, there's specula-

2 Wednesday, October 11, 1972

tion that the two sides may have with
in their grasp the formula for a
settlement for the VN War.

It's been generally believed
that the stumbling block to any peace
agreement is SVNese President Thieu.
The communists have been adamant that
he must go. Washington has insisted
he'll not be dumped.

Today my colleague John Hart is
just back from Hanoi, and it may be
that he has a clue to a settlement of
that key impasse.

JOHN HART: Walter, a NVNese who
speaks with authority, said in a con-
versation last week that it would be
all right for President Thieu to lead
one of the three factions in any
future coalition government.

He said Thieu has eliminated him-
self by coming out against a coali-
tion. But then he said again, if
you make the fantastic supposition
that Mr. Thieu is for a coalition
and for neutrality, he is acceptable.

Did that mean that we must take
away all the weapons that we've given
the SVNese? That, he said, must be
negotiated.

Publicly the officials are very
carefully correct in not talking
about the secrets in the current
talks, but privately they offer op-
timism.

One high-ranking NVNese used a
word three times in a row. He
stressed he was not speaking official-
ly, but, he said, "We are optimistic.
The situation inspires optimism.
The prospects are very optimistic." And he used a mountain climber's image to say, "We are near the peak, and when we approach the peak we are enthusiastic."

Of course, we cannot know when
we're told these things, whether
we're being led or mislead.

ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7 PM

Kissinger Extends Stay In Paris

HARRY REASONER: Henry Kissinger
had been due to fly back to Washing-

ton tonight after an unprecedented
three days of talks with Hanoi of-
ficials in Paris, but at the last
minute the White House announced
that the talks had been extended
into a fourth day.

Officials in both Washington and
Saigon had said earlier that the
peace moves have entered a sensitive
phase.

Government Troops Drive

Enemy From Village Near Saigon

REASONER: In today's battle
action in SVN, government troops
drove communist forces from one
village 17 miles from Saigon, but
the communists were reported holding
13 small hamlets within 25 miles
of the capital.

A SVNese spokesman said no effort
was being made to retake some of
these hamlets because the aim is to
isolate communist units and keep
them from moving elsewhere.

Enemy Overruns Cambodian Outposts

REASONER: In Cambodia, communist
troops overran six government out-
posts within 50 miles of Phnom Penh.

Cambodian spokesmen said four
other Cambodian strongholds within
20 miles of the city came under
heavy shelling and they had to be
evacuated.

Last Saturday's guerrilla attack
on Phnom Penh apparently signaled
a step-up in the war in Cambodia.
Just prior to that attack, ABC's
Arnold Collins filed this report on
communist strategy in the Cambodian
fighting.

ARNOLD COLLINS: At the port of
Phnom Penh stevedores unload rice.
A month ago the city was cut off by
NVNese forces. Food prices tripled
and food riots and looting were be-
coming widespread.

Now most food is being shipped
in. For the moment the crisis has
eased.

Within 30 miles of the capital
fighting for the highways continues.
Cambodian paratroopers push south
from Phnom Penh to the town of Song
Wun Yung (?). The town is on High-
way 2.

Following a pattern repeated
again and again, the NVNese withdraw
just ahead of this large Cambodian
force. The town is retaken, but the

3 Wednesday, October 11, 1972

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

PART I

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF OCT. 8, 9)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

JOHN HART, CBS: Interviews NVNese Premier Pham Van Dong.

WALTER CRONKITE, CBS: Kissinger was back in Paris for his 19th meeting with Hanoi's Le Duc Tho. The two negotiators held a second session today and for the first time in the history of these talks, they planned to carry them over to a third day tomorrow. All this has fueled speculation that the two sides are now closer than ever to a settlement of the VN War. ROBERT PIERPOINT, CBS: It's clear that while President Nixon is most happy to continue the Paris peace talks through the November election, he does not see any current need for compromises with the communists in order to win that election. MARVIN KALB, CBS: At the State Department officials are uninformed, deliberately so, an effort to avoid leaks.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: Military sources in Phnom Penh said today that 88 Cambodian civilians were killed by mistake, 12 days ago, when American B-52 bombers levelled a group of hamlets in Northeastern Cambodia.

HARRY REASONER, ABC News heard from reliable SVNese sources that President Thieu has received an ultimatum from Hanoi to the effect that he will either have to step aside for a new government or face major new enemy attacks on Saigon.

CRONKITE, CBS: US Command in Saigon reports that two more American planes have been lost in VN, and their four crewmen are listed as missing.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: The NVNese are still holding onto positions about 15 miles to the north of Saigon, although the SVNese have recaptured some territory in that area.

REASONER, ABC: Maj. Gen. Alexander Haig won the US Senate approval for two more stars, promotion to full general, and nomination as Army Vice Chief of Staff.

PHIL BRADY, NBC: For centuries Thais ignored the mountains in the northern part of their country. They knew the land brought only disease and hardship, so they left the mountains to Nomadic tribes and the Thais ignored them, too. Now they're paying for it. These people are Maos. In the past whenever they tried to move onto the more fertile plains, the Thais always pushed them back. For a long while the Mao put up with this along with a lot of other injustices. Then about ten years ago, communist cadre from Laos, NVN and China moved in. The Mao were ripe. Angry and frustrated they listened to the communists because they seemed to be the only ones who really cared about the Maos.

PART I

CBS SUNDAY NEWS CBS-TV 11 PM OCT 8

An Interview With Pham Van Dong

DAN RATHER: CBS News correspondent John Hart has left Hanoi after spending three weeks in the NVNese capital. One of his accomplishments there was an exclusive interview with NVN's Premier Pham Van Dong.

To arrange the interview, Hart was required to submit his questions in advance. Pham Van Dong agreed to answer only some of them.

The interview took place two days ago. What follows is an edited version of it.

The translation was approved by NVNese interpreters.

JOHN HART: Mr. Prime Minister, what are the possibilities of a cease fire between now and the time of the American election?

PREMIER PHAM VAN DONG (TRANSLATED): By asking this question do you mean that you have in mind these possibilities?

And in the past until now our people are fighting to realize these possibilities.

Of course, recently there was a statement made by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of SVN on September 11, and this is an eloquent demonstration. And now the ball is on the ground of Nixon's side.

HART: Well, are there any reasons to hope for peace soon? And if so, what are the signs?

PREMIER PHAM VAN DONG: Now our people are striving to have peace along with independence and freedom. This is very clear and everybody knows it. We have striven just to get our independence, our freedom and peace. This is very obvious. And as I tell you somewhat ago, now the ball is on Nixon's ground.

I would like to add some sentences. Our VNese people want peace. And I think that the American people also want peace. So the VNese people and the American people, all of them, want to put an end to this criminal and dirty war.

So the peoples of the two countries want to replace that by establishing useful friendship ties and cooperation which will be in the interest of both of our peoples. And

this is a desirable direction.

HART: Pham Van Dong is a man of energy and wit, which he saves for private conversations. And subtlety too. He sent word later that we should not miss the VNese subtlety in one of those prepared answers.

He used to remind us of the slogan "independence, freedom and peace have been altered." To put the word "peace" first instead of last.

What did that mean? It meant, we were told, that peace is something concrete now.

Another VNese who speaks with authority said, "The conditions are good for coming to something acceptable for both sides."

John Hart, CBS News, Hanoi.

CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7 PM OCT 9

Kissinger Back In Paris

WALTER CRONKITE: It was in August, 1969, that Henry Kissinger held the first of his now celebrated secret peace talks with top VNese officials.

The road to peace in those negotiations has been long and arduous. But yesterday Kissinger was back in Paris for his 19th meeting with Hanoi's Le Duc Tho.

The two negotiators held a second session today, and for the first time in the history of these talks, they planned to carry them over to a third day tomorrow.

Our Paris correspondent Peter Kalischer reports that the news blackout surrounding the talks is total, but they are described at this point as sensitive and serious.

At the White House and the State Department Robert Pierpoint and Marvin Kalb report on the outlook at those two diplomatic centers.

ROBERT PIERPOINT: Despite that unprecedented third consecutive day of the Paris talks, some White House sources are highly skeptical of the recurrent rumors that peace is about to break out in VN.

They cite several roadblocks. First, the fact that President Thieu certainly seems in no mood to step

2 Tuesday, October 10, 1972

PART I

down. Second, the communists decline to name a replacement for Thieu that would be acceptable to them even if he did quit. Third, the communists refuse to name neutrals who could comprise the third leg of that three-legged government that they have proposed.

Finally, it's clear, that while President Nixon is most happy to continue the Paris talks through the November election, he does not see any current need for compromises with the communists in order to win that election.

Robert Pierpoint, CBS News, Washington.

MARVIN KALB: At the State Department officials are uninformed, deliberately so, an effort to avoid leaks.

But among diplomats, two revealing facts emerged today. First, dispatches from Saigon, presumably inspired by a nervous President Thieu, suggesting Kissinger may be discussing a cease fire limited only to SVN, which is what the communists have occasionally favored but what President Nixon, up to now, anyway, has rejected.

The second fact is a negative one, no less revealing, that Hanoi, over the weekend, stopped criticizing Kissinger's negotiating strategy in Paris.

Kissinger returns from his three-day bargaining session tomorrow, by coincidence, or not, just as Senator McGovern unveils his own strategy for peace in VN.

Marvin Kalb, CBS News, the State Department.

## Two More US Planes Lost In VN

CRONKITE: The US Command in Saigon reports that two more American planes have been lost in VN, and their four crewmen are listed as missing.

The planes went down last Friday.

## US B-52s Hit Hamlet In Cambodia

CRONKITE: In Cambodia military sources said that US B-52s, 12 days ago, apparently mistakenly hit a group of hamlets in a non-military zone and killed 88 civilians.

## NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30 OCT 9

### Kissinger Again At Peace Talks

JOHN CHANCELLOR: Henry Kissinger, the President's VN negotiator, has had 19 private sessions with the NVNese in Paris for the last three years.

Today he is at it again, but this time there are some differences.

For one thing he has finished two consecutive sessions, yesterday and today, and has scheduled another for tomorrow.

There have never been three straight sessions before.

For another thing, Gen. Alexander Haig is with Kissinger. He is Kissinger's deputy and has just returned from two long sessions in Saigon with President Thieu.

They are meeting with Le Duc Tho, who is the senior NVNese negotiator.

Is something happening? The answer as we see in this report from Paris, is unclear.

BERNARD KAPLAN: In all of the speculations surrounding the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks somewhere here in Paris, there is only one thing that is really sure, the talks have now reached the stage where it is both necessary and worthwhile to hold longer discussions.

In the 19th sessions so far, this has been the first time that Kissinger has been accompanied by someone else, Gen. Alexander Haig, his deputy.

This is a significant difference. Gen. Haig has just been in Saigon talking with President Thieu.

The key demand made by the NVNese is that Thieu resign immediately. They say it would open the way to a coalition government joined by the VC and other dissident elements.

Gen. Haig may have come here to tell the NVNese in person that President Thieu is ready to go. But it's just as possible he's come to explain to them that the Americans could not arrange the matter as easily and fluidly as the NVNese insist they can.

Whether or not a breakthrough in the negotiations is near may well depend on the word that Gen. Haig has brought from Saigon.

Bernard Kaplan, NBC News, Paris.

3

Tuesday, October 10, 1972

PART I

JOHN CHANCELLOR: The White House said again today that the stepped up tempo of these talks is not tied to the political campaign.

Yet it is no secret to the NVNese that the President is well ahead in the polls and that the terms he might offer after the election could be far tougher than the terms he is offering now.

And needless to say, a settlement before the election would be a political pearl of great price to Mr. Nixon.

Kissinger has met three times with the NVNese in the past 24 days. That fact in itself, well publicized as it has been, doesn't hurt the President politically.

## NVNese Hold Positions Near Saigon

CHANCELLOR: In the war, the NVNese are still holding on to positions about 15 miles to the north of Saigon, although the SVNese have recaptured some territory in that area.

It is theorized that the NVNese hope to tie up SVNese troops in this action, allowing larger enemy forces to get closer to Saigon, perhaps to shell the city and the big air base at Tan Son Nhut.

Shelling or rocket attacks on Saigon itself would have considerable propaganda value.

## Mao Tribesmen In Thailand With Enemy

CHANCELLOR: Our correspondent Phil Brady has just spent some time in Northern Thailand, having a look at the Mao tribesmen who live there.

In other parts of IC, the Mao people have fought on the American side. But as Brady had discovered, that's not true in Thailand.

PHIL BRADY: For centuries Thais ignored the mountains in the northern part of their country. They knew the land brought only disease and hardship. So they left the mountains to Nomadic tribes and the Thais ignored them too. Now they're paying for it.

These people are Maos. No one's sure where they came from, but for as long as they can remember, they have roamed the mountains and gone their own way.

For a long while the Mao put up with this along with a lot of other injustices. Then about ten years ago, communists cadre from Laos, NVN and China moved in. The Mao were ripe. Angry and frustrated, they listened to the communists because they seemed to be the only ones who really cared about the Mao. Soon pep talks led to training and training to rebellion, and every year it's getting worse.

These are some of the weapons captured from the Mao. They're American leftovers from WWII, supplied by China. But now Peking's giving the Mao newer and better weapons. And the Chinese are also supplying their famous little red book, the teachings of Mao Tse-tung. The Maos have studied it and learned its lessons well.

So far, Thai reaction to all this has been slow. The one thing they have done is to build a lot of new roads in the north. Officially, this is all part of a development plan designed to appease the Mao. But Thailand is run by generals. And to them roads are the best way for their troops to get to an enemy or in this case to the Mao.

Another way the government is fighting the rebellion is by forming what it calls village security teams. The program started five years ago, but so far only about 6,000 people have been armed and trained.

The Thais admit this isn't very many, but they said a lot more are being trained now than before.

Well this seems true, but many Thai and American officials think all this is coming a little too late.

It's a matter of momentum, said one US official, and right now the communists have it.

Recently, though, several hundred Mao turned themselves in. The government quickly claimed that this meant success. But some Thai officers disagreed. They say the Mao came in because they were starving. And one added, if heavy rains hadn't killed their crops, the Mao would still be out there fighting.

The Mao rebellion then is an infection that cannot be killed. Instead it must be cured by long overdue reforms, reforms that will give the Mao an even chance to better themselves. So far this has not

4

Tuesday, October 10, 1972

PART I

happened, and the prospects are not good that it will. So the fighting will go on and it shows every sign of spreading.

Phil Brady, NBC News, Tieng Kom (?), Northern Thailand.

## B-52s Level Hamlets In Cambodia

CHANCELLOR: Military sources in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said today that 88 Cambodian civilians were killed by mistake, 12 days ago, when American B-52 bombers levelled a group of hamlets in Northeastern Cambodia.

The hamlets were clearly marked as non-military on the map. They were hit by mistake during the period when that part of Cambodia was being struck by as many as 100 B-52 raids everyday.

## ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7 PM OCT 9

### Kissinger Again In Paris

HARRY REASONER: Henry Kissinger, the chief foreign policy advisor to President Nixon, is again holding private talks with NVNese officials in Paris.

This has served to spur rumors that something out of the ordinary is going on in efforts to end the VN War.

TOM JARRIEL: The Kissinger talks in Paris tomorrow will enter a third consecutive day because, as a White House spokesman cautiously phrased it, "they've got something to talk about."

Reliable sources say the longest private discussions ever held are centering on the key question of how to reach a political settlement.

The NVNese are demanding an iron-clad written agreement assuring them any coalition government exchanged for President Thieu would not be heavily weighed against the communist side.

Sources deny the White House has given Thieu five names and said, "Pick one for a successor." Although it's not argued that Thieu will have to go.

Even when and if the problem of political succession is resolved, sources point out there are numerous other complex issues still outstand-

ing. For example, would a cease fire cover just SVN or all of IC; would US military and economic aid continue to the coalition government; would the NVNese agree to withdraw from Laos and Cambodia.

Lengthy discussions are still ahead. I'm told there is no dramatic breakthrough and each side is keeping up the military pressure on the other, which doesn't indicate much of a spirit of compromise.

Tom Jarriel, ABC News, at the White House.

## Thieu Receives Ultimatum From NVN

REASONER: ABC News heard from reliable SVNese sources today that President Thieu has received an ultimatum from Hanoi to the effect that he will either have to step aside for a new government or face major new enemy attacks on Saigon.

This has not been confirmed by officials either in Saigon or Washington.

## SVNese Retake Hamlets Near Saigon

REASONER: In the VN War, government forces, carried by helicopter, attacked enemy troops only 12 miles north of Saigon today, and claim to have retaken most of the hamlets in that area which were overrun by the communists in the past five days.

Saigon officials are now saying that there is no longer a serious enemy threat to the SVNese capital.

## Two More US Planes Lost In IC.

REASONER: In air action, the US Coa command reported the loss of two more American planes, one over NVN with four crewmen missing.

## Haig Nominated Vice Chief of Staff

REASONER: Henry Kissinger's deputy, Maj. Gen. Alexander Haig, won the US Senate's approval today for two more stars, promotion to full general and nomination as Army Vice Chief of Staff.

Haig recently met with President Thieu on the war and is participating in the Paris talks.

5 Tuesday, October 10, 1972

President Richard M. Nixon, a wick-
ed designer of a radio speech
yesterday.

Washington Urges Caution

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 — White House officials cautioned today against drawing too many conclusions from the fact that Mr. Kissinger was meeting for a third day with North Vietnamese representatives in Paris this week.

In private discussions, these officials also forecast a "shuttle" pattern of negotiations in coming weeks with Mr. Kissinger or General Haig making repeated trips to both Paris and Saigon.

"We are in the midst of a complicated diplomatic process requiring frequent consultations with the North Vietnamese as well as with the Government in Saigon," an Administration official said.

Another official said that the current three-day session in Paris should not "lead to over-enthusiastic" conclusions.

More Saigon Talks Foreseen

A White House official said he expected that either Mr. Kissinger or General Haig, or both, would go to Saigon for further conversations with President Thieu after discussing the situation with Mr. Nixon.

The Administration, this official said, may wish to have another up-to-date assessement of the military situation in South Vietnam in the light of the stepped up enemy attacks, particularly in the Saigon area.

The White House official aslo said that Mr. Kissinger had arranged for this week's meetings with the North Vietnamese when they last met in Paris two weeks ago. He said that Mr. Kissinger had informed the Hanoi delegates then that General Haig would be going to South Vietnam during the interval.

At the Senate, the Republican leader, Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, told newsmen that while the Paris talks "are increasing in seriousness, I would not expect any quick, sudden developments."

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 6 OCTOBER 1972

North Viet envoys' view:
Kissinger flurry means little

By Louis Wiznitzer
Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Paris

* No settlement of the Vietnam war is likely before the American presidential election on Nov. 7, or indeed at any time in the near future.

* The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong see presidential adviser Henry Kissinger's secret talks with North Vietnamese Politburo member Le Duc Tho as more a part of the American election campaign than of American willingness to reach a compromise acceptable to their side.

* The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong go along with the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks to prove to Peking and Moscow North Vietnamese and Viet Cong willingness to be flexible — which is what the Chinese and the Russians have urged them to be.

* The need to prove this flexibility now may be all the greater because the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong are probably planning a new offensive.

* The sticking point in the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks is not so much the person of South Vietnamese President Thieu as the conflict between the two sides over long-term political control of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong want to irrevocably bolt the door against an American return to South Vietnam (after American withdrawal) if the Americans subsequently see things going politically the wrong way for them in South Vietnam.

* The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong believe that they can achieve their ends by playing "the democratic game," that is by insisting on their formula for a tripartite government in Saigon and on having elections held at a near date in South Vietnam under independent aus pices — but continuing to fight until they get this. They believe, further, they can continue to hold out against bombing and blockade until they do get what they want.

Private talks with the principal North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives here, Xuan Thuy and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh, have led this writer to the above conclusions — some of them admittedly by inference.

Against this background, continued deadlock at the latest round of weekly Vietnam peace talks here Thursday should be no surprise.

Discussing Dr. Kissinger's earlier secret talks here with Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives say privately Mr. Kissinger's visits to Paris are a "propaganda ploy."

Lyndon Johnson, they say, used crude methods to convey the impression that he was searching for a diplomatic solution. He used to state the number of miles that he or Dean Rusk had journeyed "in search of peace."

Mr. Nixon, they say, resorts to more sophisticated techniques: hints, understatements, and even secrecy are used to give people the impression that "something is going on in Paris."

Main issues skirted?

3-F

Most of the time, they say, Mr. Kissinger avoids discussing the main problems and tries to find areas of agreement on matters of lesser importance "in the hope that he may then announce, directly or by ways or leaks, that an area of agreement had been reached." But in fact, they say, nothing has been settled at all.

* Why then do the Communists go along with this ploy and agree to be a party to purportedly sterile discussions?

Although they will not say this and although they absolutely refuse to speculate on their military operations, the most informed guess is that they are about to launch a new military offensive in the South. Because of this they apparently are anxious to show their reluctant Soviet and Chinese suppliers that they are not intransient, that they remain willing to talk while shooting, that they are flexible and realistic and therefore not unworthy of their allies' assistance.

The rub of the matter, as far as negotiations are concerned, remains what it has always been: (1) Who will rule South Vietnam in the near future? (2) Who will run it in the distant future?

Although Xuan Thuy and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh do not say as much, it is this reporter's impression that South Vietnamese President Thieu is not really the main issue. Rather, his political future is a smokescreen behind which both sides are fencing over a bigger issue.

The Sept. 11 statement from the Viet Cong refers to President Thieu's departure less specifically than in the past, though the Viet Cong still insists privately that he must go. But the Viet Cong has always stated that policies counted, not personalities.

Thus it is conceivable that if what they call Saigon's "repressive apparatus" concentration camps, police, censorship) were dismantled, they might not object to a Saigon administration within which General Thieu was a member of a ripartite government. And, just as the Viet Cong may not be really after General Thieu's head, so President Nixon might not be irrevocably opposed to lumping him. What the U.S. Government has opposed so far is a tripartite government which it sees as a device for a Communist take-over.

The Viet Cong are confident that time is on their side and that they can afford to play "the democratic game." The chips, they feel, will fall their way, in several years.

Shortly before the Geneva agreements were signed in 1954, President Eisenhower was told by the CIA that if elections were held in South Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh would get an overwhelming majority of the votes. The Viet Cong feel that essentially the situation has not changed in this respect and that elections in the South, provided they are not controlled by President Thieu's regime, will demonstrate Viet Cong popularity.

According to the officials I interviewed, the U.S. refused to be a party to the 1954 Geneva agreement precisely because it wanted to remain free to work for the annulment of elections which

would have turned South Vietnam over to the Communists.

Ironclad pact sought

Today, they say, President Nixon would again like to find a temporary solution to the war enabling him to claim the war is over, while keeping the door open for renewed American intervention in South Vietnamese affairs through future economic, political, and even military assistance to a regime friendly to the U.S.

Thus the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong insist on reaching an ironclad settlement making any U.S. reentry on the Vietnamese scene impossible. In fact, they will not accept any political solution within the framework of the present South Vietnamese constitution which they consider as arbitrarily imposed as President Thieu is unrepresentative.

They will settle for no less than elections for a constituent assembly which will decide under what regime, presidential, parliamentary, South Vietnam will live.

When all is said, each side at the Paris talks is still offering the other side only a face-saving device to mask the other's surrender. Neither side has given up its determination to control South Vietnam in the future. So the Paris talks seem mainly an ever-more-refined exercise in propaganda, aimed at convincing the world that each side is flexible, that each shows goodwill, while neither yields on its basic position.

Both sides of course think time is on their side. This writer suggested to Xuan Thuy and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh that the Communists' latest military offensive had failed to upset the political equilibrium in the South, that the Saigon Army though at times badly mauled, had not collapsed, that President Nixon was now sure to be re-elected even without ending the war, and that this could mean four more years of bombing, and of U.S. support for President Thieu. Both vigorously refuted this analysis.

Communist viewpoint

They contend that they have never and do not now put most of their eggs in the American political basket. They bank essentially (they said) on the military and political situation in South Vietnam and their strength in the field. They say they are pleased with what is going on. Mr. Nixon's policy (the trips to Peking and Moscow, the mining and the bombing), as they see it, has essentially failed.

They think that:

1. Supplies and ammunition have continued to enter North Vietnam from Communist countries.

2. These supplies have continued to be sent by North Vietnam to South Vietnam.

3. The morale of the population in North Vietnam has not been crushed.

In South Vietnam, they say, the Viet Cong has again taken control of the Mekong Delta and reconquered ground in the coastal plain. The U.S. Air Force and Navy, they say, cannot win the war. The Saigon Army may not have collapsed, they argue, but neither can it survive without massive U.S. air support.

The American bombings have caused great material and human losses in the North, but (they maintain) the government structures are holding as they held during the Johnson bombings. In fact, they say, Hanoi can live with four more years of President Nixon and of bombing.

# Viet talks drone on amid rumors of peace

By Takashi Oka

Staff correspondent of
The Christian Science Monitor

Paris

Four autumns, with their crisp skies and
smell of burning leaves, have gone by on
staid old Avenue Kleber here since the
Vietnam peace talks began, and the dreary
routine of the talks contrasts more and more
with optimistic assessments being made
elsewhere about an imminent breakthrough.

Thursday, Xuan Thuy, leader of the Hanoi
delegation, stepped briskly out of his black
Citroen, and pausing as usual before a
battery of microphones, told waiting journal-
ists that on both military and political aspects
of a proposed settlement, his side and the
American side remained "far apart."

He was only echoing what every North
Vietnamese source seems to have been
telling journalists flatly for the past several
months, that until the United States "re-
ponds" to the Viet Cong's offer of a three-
segment government, with guarantees
against domination by one side or the other,
there will be no peace in Vietnam.

## May 8 proposal again?

Inside the conference chamber, U.S. repre-
sentative William Porter was reported to
have brought up yet once again President
Nixon's May 8 proposal for a cease-fire
about political talks. The Viet Cong Foreign
Minister, Mme. Nguyen Thi Binh, repeated
her readiness "to reach an agreement with
the U.S. Government to the effect that neither
a Communist regime nor a U.S. puppet
regime shall be imposed upon South Viet-
nam, and to accept a provisional government
of national concord that shall be dominated
by neither side."

Yet from cities as far apart as Great Falls,
Mont., and Peking, China, come reports that
intensive discussions were under way be-
tween Americans and Hanoi. U.S. Vice-
President Spiro Agnew hinted in the first city
about "something I can't relate" and a
French news agency reported from the latter
that Americans and Hanoi would be reaching
agreement on a "three-segment govern-
ment."

## Speculator fueled

Alternations of optimistic and pessimistic
reports on the progress of Vietnam peace
talks have been regular features of the
closed-door conversations that have been
going on under the shadow of the Arc de
Triomphe since May, 1968. But the frequency
of presidential adviser Henry Kissinger's
visits here for supersecret discussions with
Hanoi Politburo member Le Duc Tho, along
with the two-day visit to Saigon of Dr.
Kissinger's assistant, Maj. Gen. Alexander
M. Haig, is fueling speculation about hard
two-cornered bargaining between the rep-
resentatives of Washington, Hanoi, and Sal-
gon.

Hanoi may well be asking Washington,
since both sides are agreed that neither side
wishes to exterminate the other in South
Vietnam, to make explicit what measures it
proposes to ensure the Viet Cong's survival in
the event of a cease-fire.

## Thieu offer rejected

President Thieu's offer of internationally
supervised elections, with the Viet Cong
represented on the supervisory board, is not
satisfactory to the Communists. They claim
that throughout the pre-electoral period, and
during the elections themselves, the Saigon
government will be running the show. Who
can ensure that President Thieu would not try
to set up his own re-election, as he did in 1971,
the Communists have publicly asked.

The United States cannot reply to this

question without consulting President Thieu
who in recent months has taken a tougher and
tougher stand not only against the Commu-
nists but against all other opponents of his
regime on the ground that their opposition
plays into the hands of the Communists.

And yet, despite the evident futility of such
consultations, the bargaining process ap-
pears to continue. The very fact that secret
talks are known to be taking place obviously
helps President Nixon's re-election cam-
paign.

## Divisions caused, too

They may also be useful to Hanoi in this
sense. They weaken President Thieu's posi-
tion in Saigon by continuously feeding rumor-
that the United States may be on the verge of
dumping him. To the extent the United States
may be actually trying to obtain a softening
of the general's adamant stand, the secret
talks cause divisions between Washington
and Saigon.

Can the talks - whether the weekly ones on
Avenue Kleber or the secret ones between
Messrs. Kissinger and Tho, or the various
sideshows between Washington and Saigon,
Moscow and Hanoi, or Peking and Hanoi -
produce the settlement that not only Amer-
icans but the whole world longs for?

The best estimates available here are that
an imminent solution is unlikely. Hanoi has
not exhausted its means of military pressure
on Saigon forces. Nor is the United States
about to give up its intensive bombing of the
North.

At the same time both Hanoi and Washing-
ton are conscious of the delicate effect on
timing exercised by the approaching presi-
dential elections in the United States. At
some point one side, or both, will have to stop
feinting and asking questions and put down
some real cards on the table. The timing of
that moment remains veiled in mystery as
profound as that of the exact site of the
Kissinger-Tho encounters.

ORDNANCE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1972 (6 OCT)

## F-15 Rolled Out

The Air Force recently unveiled its
new F-15 air-superiority fighter in cere-
monies at the McDonnell Douglas plant,
St. Louis, Mo. This aircraft is expected
to outperform any other warplane built
or on the drawing boards-but its cost
is receiving as much attention as its
deadly capabilities.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin N. Bellis, F-15
Systems Program Director at the Air
Force Systems Command Aeronautical
Systems Division, Wright-Patterson AFB,
Ohio, states that, costwise, the F-15 is
coming in under target-and noted that
this would be a first in the history of
aircraft development. It is now estimated
that the production cost of the plane
will be $10.5 million per copy.

The F-15's tactical missions will be
fighter sweep, escort, and combat air
patrol. It must be able to acquire, iden-
tify, engage, and destroy enemy aircraft
in either contested or enemy airspace
and in an enemy-controlled radar envir-
onment.

The F-15 is a fixed-wing, single-place
aircraft in the 40,000-pound class. It

is 63 feet, 8 inches long, with a wingspan
of 42 feet, 8 inches. It is composed of
35.5 per cent aluminum, 26.7 per cent
titanium, and 37.8 per cent composites
and other materials.

The maneuvering performance of the
aircraft has been maximized so that the
F-15 will have a clear advantage over
potential adversaries at speeds ranging
from less than 200 knots to speeds in
excess of twice the speed of sound and
at altitudes from sea level to above
60,000 feet.

While the F-15 has a top speed in
excess of Mach 2, a high-speed, high-
altitude capability is not in itself the
most important consideration in design-
ing an air-superiority fighter. General
Bellis explained that air battles usually
do not take place at extremely high
altitudes. The high, fast aircraft normally
must descend and engage in combat at
lower altitudes to be effective. Once in
this arena of battle, the large, relatively
unmaneuverable aircraft cannot compete
with the highly maneuverable F-15.

The F-15 is armed with medium- and
short-range missiles and an internally
mounted "Gatling" gun. The primary
sensor in the avionics system is the

attack radar, manufactured by Hughes:
Aircraft Company of Culver City, Calif.
The radar permits long-range acquisition
of targets and enables the pilot to make
computations and flight maneuvers to
down enemy aircraft in adverse weather.
It also directs the launch of missiles
and provides range, steering, and firing
data for the gun.

The navigation and control director of
Bendix Corporation is developing a lead-
computing gun sight. An integrated stores
monitoring and management system is
being developed by Dynamics Controls
Corporation which is designed to keep
the pilot informed of the status of his
weapons and assist in their effective use.

Initially the F-15 will have the 20-mm
M61 Vulcan cannon. In order to increase
firepower of the F-15, development has
been under way on a new 25-mm. gun
which fires caseless ammunition. The
new gun, GAU-7A, also was a competi-
tive development program. The contract
was won by Philco-Ford, and if the gun
is successful it will be used in the F-15.
This is the phase of the F-15 program
that captures the imagination of the old
armament types.

4-F

NEW YORK NEWS 6 OCTOBER 1972

CAPITOL STUFF

By STAN CARTER

Washington, Oct. 5—There is accumulating evidence that President Nixon has offered, or is about to offer, to stop the bombing of North Vietnam in exchange for a standstill ceasefire in South Vietnam alone—far less than his publicly stated conditions to take the United States out of the war.

Probably more than a half dozen men in Washington know what has been going on in the secret talks between presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris.

## President Drops

## A Heavy Clue

## On Viet Solution

But Nixon let slip a hint at his press conference today that the issues being discussed are a ceasefire and a bombing halt.

Declarating that Hanoi was wrong if it thought it could get better peace terms because of the current election campaign in the United States, the President said: "Under no circumstances will the timing of a settlement

—for example, the possible negotiation of, or unilateral action with regard to a bombing halt— under no circumstances will such action be affected by the fact that there is going to be an election Nov. 7."

Most of the published speculation about Kissinger's recent talks

with North Vietnamese Politburo member Le Due Tho has been that they were centered on what Hanoi has called the key issue of the war, "who will retain power in Saigon?" Hanoi and the Viet Cong have demanded a three-sided coalition, which they would hope to dominate, to replace South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.

But Nixon insisted again today that "we will never agree to a settlement which would impose a Communist government directly or indirectly on the people of South Vietnam."

His seemingly off-hand reference to "possible negotiation of a ceasefire" and "possible negotiation of, or unilateral action with regard to a bombing halt" lived with the previously expressed belief of persons who are generally well-informed about Vietnam but not briefed on the Kissinger talks.

The belief is that a ceasefire in South Vietnam, with the Communists keeping the territory they now hold and Thieu's government keeping what it holds, is the principle issue being discussed by Kissinger and Tho.

Henry Kissinger Negotiates key issue

A ceasefire in exchange for a bombing halt would presumably leave South Vietnam's political future to be worked out by the Vietnamese themselves after the United States got out of the war —a proposal that Nixon has made in the past. But—especially if the ceasefire is confined to South Vietnam—it would be far short of the conditions Nixon put forward last May 8 when he ordered intensified bombing of the North and the mining of North Vietnamese harbors.

Nixon said then:

"These actions I have ordered will cease when the following conditions are met: first, all American prisoners of war must be returned. Second, there must be an internationally supervised ceasefire throughout Indochina."

"Once prisoners of war are released, once the internationally supervised ceasefire has begun, we will stop all acts of force throughout Indochina. And at that time we will proceed with a complete withdrawal of all American forces from Vietnam within four months."

## PW Issue May Have to Wait

Kissinger, in the secret negotiations as part of any ceasefire package. But it is possible that their release might be left for later negotiations.

There are stronger indications — in the form of public protests by President Thieu — that Nixon would agree to a ceasefire in South Vietnam alone. Thieu has insisted that any ceasefire must also stop the shooting in the adjoining, entangled wars in Cambodia and Laos, as Nixon demanded this last May.

### McGOVERN....
CONTINUED

together, not drives them apart; where it helps to increase opportunity, not limit it; and where it taps the deep roots of the American spirit, not stifles them in indifference to the need for America to grow and change.

I believe that we can have that America, again—a first-rate nation at home and abroad, where American greatness and commitment to international cooperation will again become a thing of wonder in the world.

As a nation, we must bring to an end our time of tragedy:

- when Americans have lost faith in what their Government tells them;

- when a bitter and needless war has divided our people, and threatened our spirit and confidence as a nation.

Few other countries have faced what we have in these past few years.

But I believe that we are now prepared to use what we have learned from our past, from success and from failure, to meet our responsibilities both at home and in the world—to the lasting benefit of the American people and all mankind.

In the final analysis, our foreign policy is no more than who and what we are. It is a reflection of our attitudes towards ourselves, towards our country, and towards the rest of mankind. We cannot separate what we do abroad from what we do at home.

How we live in the neighborhoods and communities of America will determine how we live with our international neighbors, and in the broader world community.

Today, we can aspire to a maturity in our actions abroad, and maturity as a great nation—a great people —at home.

This is a challenge appropriate to our ideals, and to all that we have dared and won in the nearly two hundred years of our independence. As Abraham Lincoln once said, in a dark hour for America:

> We shall nobly save or nearly lose the last, best hope on earth.

I have faith that we shall nobly save that "last best hope on earth."

### NEW YORK POST
5 OCT 1972

4 Mds Leave

For N. Vietnam

Four American doctors are en route to North Vietnam for a one-week factfinding tour of the country's medical facilities.

A spokesman for the group, which left from Kennedy Airport last night, said one purpose of the mission was to "alleviate the misconception in the United States that medicine practiced in North Vietnam is primitive."

Making the trip are Drs. George Roth, a University of San Francisco general practitioner; and Peter Wolf, a psychiatrist; Morris Simon, a radiologist, and Pierce Gardner, an internist, all from Harvard University.

The trip was arranged by the Committee for Liaison with Families of Serviceemen detained in North Vietnam, the organization that negotiated the recent release of three American prisoners of war.

### NEW YORK POST
5 OCT 1972

## Seaman Quits Sanctuary

## In Church, Rejoins Carrier

LA JOLLA, Cal. (AP) — Seaman Brain Post left his church sanctuay yesterday and returned to the U. S. aircraft carrier Constellation.

Post, 21, a disbursing clerk from West Milford, N. J., entered the Wuckers' Friends meeting house here Saturday night. He said later he did not want to take part in "preparing the ship for war."

### NEW YORK TIMES
6 OCT 1972

## Lunar Device Is Tested

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Reunders)—A lunar "divining rod"—three electronic sounding beams to examine the moon's crust to a depth of three-fourths of a mile—has been tested over the Grand Canyon in Arizona and in Greenland. The device will be used on the Apollo 17 moon flight in December.

Thieu has been silent since talks last weekend with Maj. Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., Kissinger's top deputy. During the Saigon mission, Haig was reported to have spent hours studying maps of South Vietnam with U.S. intelligence officers, most likely figuring which areas would be held by the Communists and which by government forces if a ceasefire was agreed upon.

## Negotiations 'Sensitive'

Nixon made clear during his press conference today that he considers the renewed bombing and the mining of North Vietnamese harbors that he ordered last spring his trump card to the current negotiations. He asserted that former President Johnson had made a big mistake when he halted the bombing of the North four years ago in exchange for vague "understandings" that the Communists would negotiate seriously and not attack South Vietnamese cities.

"If we can make the right kind of a settlement before the election, we will make it," Nixon said. "If we cannot, we are not going to make the wrong kind of a settlement before the election. We were around that track in 1968 when well-intentioned men made a very, very grave mistake in stopping the bombing without adequate agreements from the other side...

"I will only say that the negotiations are in a sensitive stage."

8-F