coming into a true period of cold
peace.

Cold war meant that the big
nations talked as if they were at
war but never actually went to war.
Cold peace would mean that they
would talk as if they were at peace
with each other even if they don't
formally declare peace.

And that would be a great step
in such a dangerous world.

Two things seem to be happening
with big countries, including this
one, Russia, China, Britain, Ger-
many.

They are turning more of their
energies to their severe domestic
problems and their inescapable pre-
occupation with each other shows
symptoms of shifting to a new level
beyond the level of pure power and
military considerations.

Toward the level of trade,
investments, economic growth, new
international financial machinery.

The problems at this level are
immensely complex but by any com-
parison, these are happy problems.
They constitute what ought to be
the world's normal business.

It is still a power world, but
economic power is becoming as vital
as military power because military
power, save amongst small nations
is virtually stymied.

There exists no real signs to
date that any big power who wants
to cross another's borders, that
anyone of them will take any serious
risk of confrontation, any signs
that all of them will resist ser-
ious entanglement in small power
regional quarrels.

As east-west confrontation dims
away, what can arise is what has
been called the north-south con-
frontations.

That is the industrialized
northern hemisphere confronting the
economic needs and demands of the
far poorer southern hemisphere.

The question now seems to be
whether this will take place on a
universal basis or a regional basis.
Europe working with Africa, Japan
with South Asia, the US with Latin
America.

Better for the long run, no
doubt, that it - if it is universal
- but either way this will be a lot
happier and more creative confron-
tation then the one we have lived
with for a generation.

Wednesday, November 22, 1972

RADIO - TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

RADIO TV REPORTS INC. WASH., D.C., SUMMARIES NOT TO BE QUOTED.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF NOV 20)

SUMMARY OF NETWORK NEWS IN THIS ISSUE

ROGER MUDD, CBS: Henry Kissinger and NVN's Le Duc Tho met today near Paris, presumably to finish writing an end to the war in VN. PETER KALISCHER, CBS: The first day's talks have ended, and if smiles have any meaning, things can't be going too badly.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: There was fighting on the ground again near Quang Tri City. For nine days NVNese troops have been shelling SVNese positions there. And today again American B-52s were out bombing enemy positions in the area.

HARRY REASONER, ABC: A House Armed Services Subcommittee began hearings on a recent series of racial incidents aboard US Naval vessels.

MUDD, CBS: The Navy's problems with her aircraft carriers continues. The Navy today confirmed two dozen acts of sabotage aboard the attack carrier Ranger between early June and mid-October. HAROLD DOW, CBS: Radarsman Lonny Brown says tensions had gotten so high on the ship that white crewmen locked him out of his work area. HAL WALKER, CBS: The roots of the problems onboard the Constellation and the Kitty Hawk can be traced here to Annapolis, home of the US Naval Academy, called by its superintendent the mother lode of the Navy's officer corps.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: Remember the little VNese girl who was bombed, burned by napalm. ARTHUR LORD, NBC: Kim Fuk is a happy child. To look at her face you'd never know what she's been through.

ERIC SEVAREID, CBS: What looks like the showdown peace negotiation has opened in Paris after four long years of an extraordinary phenomenon, continuous talk along with continuous killing. The wording of the agreement is designed to save governmental face in Hanoi, Washington and if possible, Saigon. Nobody involved can make any realistic claim of victory. The word honor will be used by all sides, but it means face.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: Tomorrow in Geneva the second round of the Soviet-American talks to limit strategic nuclear weapons, the SALT Talks, gets underway.
JACK PAXTON, NBC: SALT II aimes at limiting all strategic weapons. That will take three to five years, if it happens at all.

MUDD, CBS: When word first broke last month that a VN cease fire might be near both sides began rushing war materials into the country. The US pumped in about 10,000 tons of equipment -- fighter planes, helicopters, artillery and armor.

MUDD: A continuing investigation of the marijuana use at the Naval Academy has resulted in the dismissal of seven freshmen. This brings to 57 the number of midshipmen expelled for smoking pot since 1967.

JOHN HART, CBS: In the war in Cambodia communist guerrillas nearly wiped out a convoy of 50 trucks, 35 miles north of Phnom Penh, trucks carrying Cambodian soldiers and their families.

HART: In VN some southern soldiers were about to get into helicopters for a mission near An Loc when one of their hand grenades went off, killed five SVNese and hurt 60.

PREPARED BY THE AIR FORCE (SAFA) AS EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO BRING TO THE ATTENTION OF KEY DOD PERSONNEL MATTERS WITHIN THEIR OFFICIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
FOR INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PUBLICATION CALL MR. HARRY ZUBKOFF, OX 52884

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

## Peace Talks Underway In Paris

**JOHN CHANCELLOR:** In Paris today the most important talks of the VN War got underway.

Henry Kissinger and his NVNese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, sat down to negotiate the final arrangements for a cease fire.

Kissinger and Tho met for five and a-half hours in a house on the outskirts of town. The session included lunch which both sides apparently ate together, but no one is saying what they talked about today.

They will meet again tomorrow afternoon, presumably after conferring with their respective allies. Only the US and NVN are in these talks.

And on the day Kissinger began talking in Paris, the US said that the crash program to build up SVN's military inventory is just about over. Ten thousand tons of equipment went there including about 600 airplanes.

## Fighting Near Quang Tri City

**CHANCELLOR:** There was fighting on the ground again today near Quang Tri City in SVN.

## Kim Fuk Is A Happy Child

**CHANCELLOR:** Remember Kim Fuk, the little VNese girl who was bombed, burned by napalm. This picture of her became a sort of symbol of the war.

We've got a report tonight from Arthur Lord on Kim Fuk and what's happened to her and to her family since she was burned.

**ARTHUR LORD:** Kim Fuk is a happy child. To look at her face you'd never know what she's been through. But if you look where the burning napalm stuck to her body, you get a better idea.

More than six months have passed since that day in June when a SVNese Skyraider mistakenly dropped two napalm bombs on Kim Fuk and her little

friends. The pain which lasted for more than a month is gone now and her injuries are being treated by an American-run burn clinic in Saigon. But the scars are there, and she still has difficulty moving her left arm.

Her father, Fan Tan Tung (?), says she is too young to be bitter about what happened, and besides, misfortune is no stranger to their family.

A three-year-old nephew was killed by the same napalm that injured Kim Fuk and in a subsequent air raid, while Kim Fuk was in the hospital, their house was destroyed by a cluster bomb.

So now they live in a shell of their once proud home. Tung, like his daughter, isn't bitter either. It's nobody's fault, he says, it's just a war.

If peace ever comes to VN, villages like Trang Bang will have to be reconstructed. It will take time and money but it can be done. As for the reconstruction of damaged bodies and ruined lives, that won't be so easy.

Arthur Lord, NBC News, Trang Bang, SVN.

## SALT Talks Get Underway Tomorrow

**CHANCELLOR:** Tomorrow in Geneva the second round of the Soviet-American talks to limit strategic nuclear weapons, the SALT Talks gets underway.

**JACK PAXTON:** Mr. Semunov (?), the Russian delegate, doesn't like to fly. He arrived in Geneva this morning by train. It took him several days from Moscow.

Semunov said he had instructions to do everything in his power to make the new round of talks successful.

Gerard Smith, the chief American negotiator. Six months ago, he and Mr. Semunov successfully ended SALT I. It took them more than two years to agree on limiting missiles.

All of SALT II will be in Geneva, as opposed to the first SALT Talks which alternated between Helsinki and Vienna.

The first SALT meeting will be tomorrow, here at the Soviet mission.

2 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

The second meeting will be here at the American mission. Sessions will alternate between the two buildings which are only a mile apart.

When SALT I was signed last spring, some Americans objected, saying the agreement left Russia stronger. That argument was used to get more money to plan two new American weapons: a faster bomber and a longer range submarine.

That in turn got Russians calling for more weapons of their own, and the arms race was on again.

Some observers feel that the Americans insist on having their new bombers and submarines. SALT II may have trouble ending the race.

Jack Paxton, NBC News, Geneva, Switzerland.

ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7 PM

Peace Talks Resume In Paris

HARRY REASONER: The US and NVN resumed what is hoped will be the final phase of the IC peace talks today with a five-and-a-half-hour secret meeting in the Paris area. There will be more talks tomorrow.

The man doing the negotiating for the US, presidential advisor Henry Kissinger, gave White House officials a briefing on today's session in a report by telephone.

Both sides have agreed not to say anything publicly about the content of the talks.

The other two participants in the war, the VC and SVN, are excluded from the meetings, but they will be consulted on a regular basis.

Both came out with hard line statements today on the terms of a settlement.

The VC said it will oppose any substantive changes in the draft peace treaty worked out between Kissinger and the NVNese in October.

The Saigon Government renewed its demand that any accord require a total withdrawal of all NVNese troops from SVN, Laos and Cambodia, and a guarantee against the imposition of a coalition government in the South.

In spite of these conflicting positions, Washington is optimistic that a settlement is in the works even if only temporary in nature.

ABC's State Department correspondent Ted Koppel reports.

TED KOPPEL: There no longer seems to be any serious doubt among US officials that a VN agreement will be signed in the near future. But as one State Department expert on VN told me today, "I don't think there's anyone in this town or in Saigon or in NVN who expects a cease fire to last much more than six months after the agreement is signed."

"The three-part council for national reconciliation and concord, is," my source points out, "unworkable, since it can only act by unanimous decision."

The agreement to hold elections after a cease fire is irrelevant, since the two VNese sides are unable to agree on what form of government would be elected. And the temptation to resolve the political stalemate by military means will be almost irresistible, since both sides are still being armed to the teeth while their forces remain temporarily in place throughout SVN.

What makes even that kind of settlement agreeable to Washington though is that first of all it will permit American troops and POWs to return home, and secondly, if the war continues in six months or so, it will do so on a localized basis.

The danger of a major power confrontation between the US and China, for example, has been defused, and Washington is now satisfied that both Peking and Moscow are as willing to let the two VNs settle their differences alone as this government is.

This is Ted Koppel, ABC News, at the State Department.

B-52s Drop 1400 Tons of Explosives
In Quang Tri Province

REASONER: In the war, American B-52 bombers have dropped more than 1400 tons of explosives in strikes against enemy concentrations in Quang Tri Province below the DMZ.

SVNese troops, trying to recapture enemy-held territory there over the weekend, encountered heavy artillery and mortar fire and failed to make more progress.

3 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

## House Committee Begins Hearings
On Racism Aboard Naval Vessels

REASONER: A House Armed Services subcommittee today began hearings on a recent series of racial incidents aboard US Naval vessels.

The sessions with the Navy hierarchy are being held behind closed doors.

The Chairman, Democrat Floyd Hicks of Washington, said the primary purpose of the investigation is to determine whether the racial problems reflect a breakdown of Navy discipline.

One of today's witnesses, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the Chief of Naval Operations, said he told the Congressmen, when asked about a possible pattern of permissiveness, there is absolutely none.

## CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7 PM

### Kissinger and Tho Meet Near Paris

ROGER MUDD: Henry Kissinger and NVN's Le Duc Tho met today near Paris, presumably to finish writing an end to the war in VN.

Kissinger has said he needs only one more session to iron out several areas of disagreement. He indicated then such a session would last several days.

Hanoi said subsequently it needn't take that long, that the US should go ahead and sign immediately which they demanded again today.

Peter Kalischer was nearby during today's session.

PETER KALISCHER: Behind this wall and in the villa with the red tiled roof and the green shutters, the secret negotiations between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho that may end the war in VN, are now going on.

This is Henry's latest hideaway. The house in the village, Yves Survivet (?), 15 miles southwest of Paris, belonged to the late French artist, Fenol Lejet (?), and is now leased by the French Communist Party for important meetings.

Today it was the scene for five and a-half hours of hard bargaining and occasional turns in the garden for reflection.

Here is Le Duc Tho pacing back and forth with Hanoi's Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Ko Tak (?). They must ponder new concessions Kissinger is asking for the US and by proxy for Saigon.

Clarifications or modifications of the October peace draft Tho and Kissinger hammered out and which Hanoi wants to stick to. Such questions as withdrawing at least some NVNese troops from below the 17th parallel; a cease fire embracing all IC, not just VN; the re-establishment of a DMZ, and a definition of the powers of the proposed national council of reconciliation.

The meeting broke up just before 4 pm Paris time. The Americans came out first. Dr. Kissinger, followed by Gen. Alexander Haig, another aide and a secretary.

To a shouted question, how things were going, from this correspondent perched on a wall across the street, Kissinger merely smiled and waved. He was soon joined by others in his delegation, including white-haired William Sullivan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, whose first secret session with the NVNese in Paris this is.

For Kissinger it was the 21st, since August 1969, and one he hopes will be the last before a cease fire.

After a cordial handshake with the NVNese, he got into his white Mercedes for the drive back to Paris.

Le Duc Tho was just as jovial, for the camera when he came out. His position is that just by meeting with Kissinger Hanoi is demonstrating its good will. His job is to yield as little as he can, but he too is pressed by the urgency if not for peace at least for an armistice.

Peter Kalischer, CBS News, Yves Survet, outside Paris.

### Both Sides Build Up War Materials

MUDD: When word first broke last month that a VN cease fire might be near, both sides began rushing war materials into the country. In the intervening weeks the NVNese pushed supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and across the DMZ into Northern SVN.

4 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

The US, meanwhile, pumped in about 10,000 tons of equipment -- fighter planes, helicopters, artillery and armor.

Today the Pentagon said the crash armament program is virtually over.

## Navy Confirms Sabotage On Carrier

**MUDD:** The Navy's problems with her aircraft carriers continues.

The most serious incident involved the dropping of a paint scraper and two 12" bolts into an engine's gears, causing $800,000 damage and disabling the ship's return to duty for four months.

In the VN war zone the Navy today ruled out sabotage in a fire below the flight deck of the carrier America.

Air strike activities were curtailed briefly, but there were no injuries.

In Washington racial disturbances aboard the carriers Constellation and Kitty Hawk came under the scrutiny of a special three-man House investigating subcommittee. Chairman Floyd Hicks says the purpose of the closed door hearings is to determine if the incidents reflect a breakdown in Navy discipline, due to what he called permissiveness. Hick says his group will also look into charges by black sailors of discrimination, the stated reason for the recent refusal of crewman of the Constellation to return to the ship.

CBS News reporter Harold Dow has more on that aspect of the story.

**HAROLD DOW:** It took nearly a week to complete disciplinary actions for each of the 120 protesters. Two dissidents, selected by the Navy, were interviewed. They claimed discrimination in medical care, liberty and leave.

**RADARSMAN LONNY BROWN:** Being denied access to my work space is not simply saying that one white guy slammed the door in a black man's face, because on my sleeve I

have a crow and an emblem of a radarsman. And once a man receives one such as I have, you know, he's kind of proud of it. And when a man denies you respectability of that crow, and when a man tells you all those hours you spent studying and all those schools you went to and all those hours you spent sitting on console tracking aircraft, find your aircraft, taking insults which normally you would rebel against, but you know that any job working under pressure, insults like that come everyday.

When a man is told that all of this that he's endured over three years and better than eight months, was just to help, you know, somebody else look good and keep their ball rolling where you really didn't concern and if you hadn't of been there you wouldn't have been missed. Boy that strikes kind of deep. It hurts.

And to me it's an insult to the Navy, not just to me.

**DOW:** Electrician Michael Dawson insisted that uneven punishment aboard this ship did exist.

**ELECTRICIAN MICHAEL DAWSON:** Each day after they have a captors mast (?), they print it in the plan of the day. So you could look down the list and see who received what for what crime or what, you know, charge. And you see a black man's name that you recognize and you see a white fellow's name that you recognize. It was quite apparent that the white man received less than his black counterpart for the same charge.

**DOW:** The sailors also claimed unequal treatment in job assignments. At their individual request, seven protesters have been discharged from the Navy, and the remaining 113 dissidents have been charged and punished for six hours of unauthorized leave from the ship.

All 113 will be reassigned to other duties in the Navy.

Harold Dow, CBS News, San Diego.

## A Report On Navy Traditions

**MUDD:** The Navy's current racial troubles are due in part to its past history and traditions.

Here is a report from Annapolis by Hal Walker.

**HAL WALKER:** The roots of the problems onboard the Constellation

5 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

The Navy is the most tradition-bound of the services and until a few years ago it was traditional that blacks would aspire to little more than chief steward onboard ship.

Little wonder then that few blacks sought navy careers and that today just 131 black midshipmen can be found among the Academy's 4,400 students.

On the faculty side, Professor Wilfred Griffin is one of four blacks on a teaching staff of 600.

PROFESSOR WILFRED GRIFFIN: Emasculation is a corollary to the theme of white brutality.

WALKER: He teaches an all-white class about black literature, part of a black studies program instituted two years ago as the Navy first began to be aware that a problem might exist.

WILLIAM KIRKENS: We're confronted with mostly conservative type people for the most part, and I don't think a lot of us have been involved racially. You'll check our backgrounds, a lot of small towns, a lot of white, not necessarily rural, but suburban districts. And I don't think we have had the experience of the urban, the inner city type high school education. And I think if anyone would need a course like this it would be the midshipmen of the US Naval Academy.

RICHARD FENLON: For I'm really appalled at the way things are going today between the races, and I think something really has to be done about it in the Navy, to help quell the racial feeling.

WALKER: Vice Admiral William Mack inherited the problems along with the superintendency of the Academy last June.

He hired a black social director and stepped up recruitment of black plebes.

VICE ADMIRAL WILLIAM MACK: The Navy's percentage of blacks in the total Navy has been climbing slowly and we have now in the Navy gained a point where the percentage is high enough so these problems are coming out and becoming active. And we in the Navy have got to do all we can as Admiral Zumwalt has told us, to get

down to the low level, right to where these problems begin.

WALKER: For most of the middies color consciousness ends with fierce dislike for Army grey, but their curriculum now includes 18 hours of instruction in human relations and a black studies committee insures the inclusion of materials by and about blacks in all courses.

While recognizing black grievances, almost all middies question the idea of rebellion.

WAYNE KENNARD: That's a question that runs around a fine line.

The fact is we're trained that it's the duty is what you make, you have to follow duty to the end. And I feel as a new officer, I feel I've taken a pledge. I figure my pledge is my own word and I have to follow it to the end.

Maybe other people don't feel that way, but that's only my own expressed feeling.

WALKER: If the racial fires in the Navy are going to be put out, the firemen will be graduates of this institution, but not tomorrow or the next day.

The influence of these graduating midshipmen with their new exposure to human relations and minority problems, will eventually be felt in the service at large, but the immediate problems, those are going to have to be solved by graduates of the old system.

Hal Walker, CBS News, Annapolis, Md.

## Seven Freshmen Dismissed At Naval Academy For Smoking Marijuana

The penalty for illegal use of drugs at Annapolis is automatic expulsion.

## Commentary On Ending of VN War

MUDD: Though it appears the war in VN may finally be drawing to a close there are still problems to be worked out.

Here is Eric Sevareid's analysis.

ERIC SEVAREID: What looks like

6 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

the showdown peace negotiation has
opened in Paris after four long
years of an extraordinary phenomenon,
continuous talk along with continu-
ous killing.

At this point the US seems closer
to its Hanoi enemy in terms of de-
sire to end it than we are to our
ally Saigon.

There are serious substantive
issues to be resolved even now, but
the Hanoi people have taken part in
a deliberate publicity stage setting
for these talks, and that would in-
dicate a mutual American-NVNese
purpose to put pressure on Gen.
Thieu in Saigon.

With the whole world expecting
peace at anytime, Saigon's holdout
position becomes extremely hard to
maintain.

The Saigon Ambassador here as
well as their Foreign Minister have
gone to Paris. Though they will not
be directly involved in the talks,
this is the highest level represen-
tation they have sent, indication
itself of their concern.

The meat of the matter remains
as it was revealed several weeks ago.
The US wants out of VN. Hanoi want
us out. Hanoi also wants to main-
tain a position in the South from
which to build for another attempt,
military or political or both, to
take over the South at some future
date.

The wording of the agreement is
designed to save governmental face
in Hanoi, Washington and if possible
Saigon.

Nobody involved can make any re-
alistic claim of victory. The word
honor will be used by all sides,
but it means face.

The chief difference between this
kind of armistice now and roughly
the same kind several years ago,
or say last winter, is in the pace
at which the North will work to take
over the South.

This kind of armistice sometime
ago would have meant a rapid take-
over, pretty surely accompanied by
harsh and wholesale reprisals.

This kind of armistice now, after
the smashing of Hanoi's spring in-
vasion by American air power, means
a slow takeover, possibly stretch-
ing out over several years. But
in that period, thousands of little
arrangements can be made, thousands

of lives protected.

The great gain for Americans is
a negative one -- we shall be out
of there, but still a great gain
since we never belonged there.

TEN O'CLOCK NEWS WTTG-TV 10 PM

NOV 19

A $12 Million Mistake

LARRY BRYANT: There are some
other funny things going on in the
military -- at least that's the
view of Metromedia commentator Jack
Anderson. His comment tonight on
a $12 million mistake.

JACK ANDERSON: The Pentagon has
a habit of sweeping its mistakes
under the "security" label. Well,
I've just uncovered a $12 million
boondoggle classified as secret.

The project, code named "Mallard",
was an international effort on the
part of the US, Great Britain,
Canada, and Australia to develop a
communications system for the 1980s.

What the allies wanted to do,
apparently, was to establish a sys-
tem that would rely totally on data
transmission as opposed to voice
communication.

The idea was eventually dropped
by the Pentagon because it was con-
sidered too revolutionary. In
other words, it would have forced
the brass hats to revamp their en-
tire inventory of communications
equipment, which was designed for
voice transmission.

Well, before Mallard was dropped,
however, it cost the American tax-
payers $12 million.

The story of Project Mallard was
disclosed in a report prepared by
an investigative team for the House
Appropriations Committee, It's
stamped "Secret -- No Foreign Dis-
semination."

Well, Project Mallard, the secret
study revealed, was formally initi-
ated in 1966 and was completely
Army oriented. The study states,
and I quote, In the early days of
Mallard, the AF, Navy and Marine
Corps were not even officially aware
of the project.

When the project was dropped,
furthermore, our allies were so
upset that our relations with them

7 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

were actually jeopardized. Says the report, "Great Britain was especially miffed with the termination of Mallard." In other words, we not only lost $12 million, we almost lost some friends as well.

This is Jack Anderson in Washington.

## CBS MORNING NEWS CBS-TV 7 AM

### Communists Nearly Wipe Out 50 Trucks

JOHN HART: In the war in Cambodia communist guerrillas nearly wiped out a convoy of 50 trucks, 35 miles north of Phnom Penh, trucks carrying Cambodian soldiers and their families

### Five VNese Killed By Own Hand Grenade

HART: In Vn some southern soldiers were about to get into helicopters for a mission near An Loc when one of their hand grenades went off, killed five VNese and hurt 60.

8 Tuesday, November 21, 1972

RADIO - TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1972

(BROADCASTS OF NOVEMBER 17)

PART
II

RICHARD VALERIANI, NBC-TV, Bill GILL, ABC-TV, and Robert PIERPOINT, CBS-TV, all report on the session Dr. KISSINGER had with President NIXON at Camp David to talk about the peace negotiations that are to resume in Paris on Monday. KISSINGER spent two hours with the President going over some of the ground they had discussed by phone daily. KISSINGER is scheduled to depart for Paris on Sunday morning and the talks are scheduled to begin Monday. Marvin KALB, CBS-TV, reviews some of the key issues Dr. KISSINGER will have to discuss with the NVNese and VC. They include the remaining NVNese troops throughout SVN, the cease fire with the internationally supervised force to see it is carried out, and also the fear of Saigon over the establishment of a three part coalition. There are dozens of smaller issues, but KISSINGER remains convinced that they are all manageable and a cease fire probably will come by mid-December.

LLOYD DOBYNS, NBC-TV, John ROLFSON, ABC-TV, and Peter KALISCHER, CBS-TV, all report on the arrival of THO in Paris for the next round of secret peace talks with the US. THO's statement upon arrival via Peking and Moscow, was flexible and did not contain some of the earlier requirements Hanoi has insisted upon, principally that the US would have to sign the agreement reached in October between Hanoi and the US.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC-TV, and Harry REASONER, ABC-TV, both report US air raids over NVN were sharply curtailed due to weather. Also, some planes were diverted to provide close infantry support missions near Quang Tri City, SVN.

DAVID SHOEMACHER, ABC-TV, reports on the adoption of a SVNese girl by an American couple. They are interviewed at Dullas Airport while waiting for their baby to arrive.

FRED BRIGGS, NBC-TV, reports on the Today Show that Defense Secretary LAIRD made the strongest statement yet about his resigning as Secretary of Defense. LAIRD said four years in that position is long enough for one individual. There is no indication of what he will do afterwards except take about three months off and spend some time with his family.

PREPARED BY THE AIR FORCE (SAFAA) AS EXECUTIVE AGENT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO BRING TO THE ATTENTION OF KEY DOD PERSONNEL MATTERS WITHIN THEIR OFFICIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
FOR INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PUBLICATION CALL MR. HARRY ZUBKOFF, OX 52884

PART II

## NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30 PM
NOV 17

### Next Peace Talks Begin Monday

JOHN CHANCELLOR: The White House announced today that the next and possibly the final round of the VN private peace talks will begin next Monday in Paris.

The NVNese negotiator, THO, arrived in Paris from Moscow today. Talking significantly about further negotiations.

That's regarded as a good sign.

Henry KISSINGER was getting his final instructions from President NIXON.

RICHARD VALERIANI: KISSINGER flew to Camp David by helicopter this morning and spent about forty-five minutes with the President.

A spokesman said they will continue conferring by telephone up until the time KISSINGER leaves for Paris Sunday morning.

When KISSINGER first mentioned the need for another private session with THO, he said he was confident that the peace agreement could be nailed within three or four days.

But today, news secretary Ron ZIEGLER said the private talks are now expected to last for several days and perhaps more.

SVN will not sit in on the discussions between KISSINGER and THO. But, when this round is completed, there will be further consultations in Saigon.

And ZIEGLER repeated that perhaps even Hanoi will have to be consulted again as well.

Despite the expanded timetable, the White House maintains its optimistic outlook. Saying that if the other side continues to show the same spirit of good will, it has shown since the negotiating breakthrough came on October 8, then a successful outcome is expected.

There were positive signs about the outcome of the negotiations in Paris as THO arrived.

### Positive Signs On Peace From Paris

LLOYD DOBYNS: NVN and the VC senior negotiators and the Chinese and Soviet Ambassadors were at LaBorgier (?) Airport to meet THO.

He returned after a month in Hanoi and took a noticeably softer position then has been used by the NVNese for the past three weeks.

With Xuan THUY of NVN and Madame BINH of the VC at his side, THO said in part, I am coming to Paris to hold once again, negotiations with the US side in order to rapidly settle the conclusion of the agreement.

Although there had been hints, most of them made in private, THO's statement today was the first that publicly showed Hanoi's willingness to negotiate rather than just meet.

The six paragraph statement used the word negotiation three times.

Nowhere did it mention Hanoi's position up to this time that if there was another private meeting, it would only be to arrange for the signing.

There may be a price tag on this new series of talks. THO said if the US really wanted to negotiate a peace agreement, it would stop the massive arms lift to Saigon and end the renewed heavy bombing attacks on NVN.

THO would not answer questions. He, THUY and Madame BINH left presumably to spend the weekend at NVN delegation headquarters at (unintelligible) getting ready for the Monday meeting with Dr. KISSINGER.

That meeting would be the first in the final series of private talks on peace in VN.

### Sharp Drop In Raids In VN

CHANCELLOR: In the war itself, there has been a sharp drop in the number of American air attacks over NVN.

Some of those planes have been diverted to close infantry support missions near Quang Tri, SVN, where there has been some serious fighting on the ground.

## ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7:00 PM
NOV 17

### Stage Set For More Peace Talks

HOWARD SMITH: The stage was set today for the next round in the

2

Monday, November 20, 1972

PART II

crucial VN peace talks. What many
hope will be the last round in which
a settlement is received.

The opening date officially an-
nounced today is this coming Monday.

With Henry KISSINGER due to de-
part from Washington on Sunday
morning.

Hanoi's chief negotiator, THO,
is already in Paris. He arrived
this morning on the last leg of his
journey from Hanoi.

BILL GILL: Dr. Henry KISSINGER went to the president's retreat at Camp David, Maryland, today for an hour and a half meeting.

He was given his final instruc-
tions for the Paris peace talks
which start up again Monday in Paris

While KISSINGER was conferring
with Mr. NIXON, White House news
secretary, Ronald ZIEGLER, pro-
claimed the US to be entering the
final round of the Paris talks with
hopes for harmony and swift agree-
ment.

RONALD ZIEGLER: We are entering
into these negotiations with con-
structive attitude.

And if the other side enters in-
to these negotiations with the same
spirit of good will that has char-
acterized the sessions since Octo-
ber the eighth, we would expect a
successful outcome.

GILL: A top White House offi-
cial tells ABC News that Monday's
meetings were agreed upon by Wash-
ington and Hanoi several weeks ago,
well before the Presidential elec-
tion.

But both sides had agreed to
withhold public announcement until
today.

This same official advised us
that the Paris talks are expected to
go on for about one week and then
consultations with Hanoi and Sai-
gon will require another two weeks.

This, of course, indicating that
any final accord is now at least
three weeks away.

The White House says that Dr.
Henry KISSINGER, himself, definitely
will not sign or initial any final
agreement.

Other informed White House
sources say that the President may
chose to sign himself, in person,
and possibly in Paris.

Tho Returns To Hanoi

JOHN ROLFSON: THO has come
back from Hanoi after stops and
talks in Peking and Moscow.

He arrived here at the Paris
airport in a Soviet plane. The
Soviet and Chinese ambassadors were
among those on hand to welcome him
and demonstrate their support.

Whatever their support or pres-
sure, THO's words did seem a little
more flexible.

He told us he came back to hold
negotiations once more. The NVNese
had been avoiding that word, nego-
tiations, insisting the US sign
the draft agreement without changes
in substance.

But THO confused his meaning by
adding, he is determined to stick
to the provisions already agreed
upon. He insisted the US do the
same and also stop its bombing and
its massive military reinforcements
of the Saigon regime if it wants
the negotiations to be successful
this time.

He said he came here to Paris
to rapidly settle the conclusion
of the agreement.

But whether it will happen soon,
what arrangements are already made
between the two governments, there
was no clue in his words or in his
face.

Rapidly switching, as always,
from grimness to delighted smiles.

Shortly after, both sides an-
nounced THO will meet Henry KISS-\INGER Monday.

The first time they have ever
told the date in advance. Lifting
the secrecy that little bit.

Bad Weather Curtails Air Raids

HARRY REASONER: In the war,
bad weather in parts of VN have
sharply curtailed the number of
American air strikes against enemy
supply bases in the lower half of
NVN.

Some, But Few, VNese Children
Adopted By Americans

REASONER: A few days back, we
had a film report on the many child-
ren who have been left orphans by
the VN war.

A similar report two years ago
prompted a young Washington area
couple to try to adopt a VNese
baby of their own.

3

Monday, November 20, 1972

PART II

Today, the red tape and the delays ended with the arrival of an infant girl.

DAVID SHOEMACHER: It was just
before sunrise this morning that the
long months of waiting finally ended.

Or should have ended.

But Alice and Richard TENIES (?)
were to face one more delay. The
jet liner bringing little Su Ti Dow
(?) from Saigon was late.

Alice TENIES was nervous and
excited.

ALICE TENIES: To me it is more
the problems of raising a baby, not
because I haven't had any children,
so this is all new to me.

But I do think that once she gets
older and we're over the initial
problems and all, you know, that
people can be very open minded about
who their children go to school with
or who their children play with but
when you start getting down to dat-
ing and marrying, that is when they
are not so open minded any more.

SHOEMACHER: The TENIES have been
married six years. They decided
some time ago not to have children
of their own.

RICHARD TENIES: There are too
many people, you know, and I don't
feel like adding to the problem by
having, you know, some of our own
to.

I did feel more excited and more
earnest about adopting a VNese child
then, say a Korean child, because of
the war.

ALICE TENIES: My parents were
for it right from the very start.
They were very excited about it and
I went home to visit in January -
this last January - talked to them
about it some more and that was when
they brought up the question, well,
why don't you have some of your own
and adopt also.

And so I tried to explain it to
them, but they are from another gen-
eration and they can't understand
why you don't have some of your own,
you know.

I am excited and I am also a lit-
tle nervous, but I guess, I'm wond-
ering, you know, if she cries, what
should I do, because I don't know
that much about children.

But I guess it will all work out.

SHOEMACHER: Dullas Airport does
not make it easy for a young couple
waiting. The planes park a long way

off and perhaps the last few min-
utes after their plane and their
baby were safely on the ground,
was the hardest wait of all.

CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7:00 PM
NOV 20

Final Session Of Peace Talks

ROGER MUDD: Three weeks ago
Henry KISSINGER said peace was at
hand. That he needed only one more
private bargaining session with the
NVNese to work out final details.

Today, the White House said that
final session will begin within
seventy-two hours.

ROBERT PIERPOINT: By the time
Henry KISSINGER arrived at Camp
David this morning for his final
instructions from the President,
the only question was, just which
day those so-called private peace
talks would reopen in Paris.

KISSINGER spent two hours with
Mr. NIXON, going over some of the
ground they had discussed by phone
daily since the President secluded
himself at Camp David last Monday.

Then, at mid-morning, president-
ial press secretary Ronald ZIEGLER
announced, that on Sunday, KISSING-
ER, and a sizeable contingent of
aides will fly to Paris.

Where on Monday, the US side
will resume its talks with NVN's
THO and Xuan THUY.

ZIEGLER seemed determined to
accent the positive.

ZIEGLER: We're entering these
talks in a constructive attitude.
And also feel that if the other
side enters into these negotiations
in the same spirit of good will
that has characterized them since
October the eighth, we would ex-
pect a successful outcome.

PIERPOINT: Despite this studied
optimism, however, ZIEGLER made a
couple of cautionary points.

He said the Paris talks are ex-
pected to last several days and
added significantly, and perhaps
more.

ZIEGLER also reminded reporters
that he had earlier predicted that
after KISSINGER and the NVNese
conclude their Paris talks, further
consultations may be necessary with

4

Monday, November 20, 1972

PART II

Saigon and perhaps even with Hanoi.

In fact, it now appears that KISSINGER's preelection prediction that peace can be achieved after one more round of only three or four days, may have been overly optimistic.

Some White House officials warn against speculating that the American prisoners will be home from Hanoi by Christmas.

Though that is clearly the hope held here.

### Tho Also Has Optimistic Statement

PETER KALISCHER: Hanoi's key negotiator, THO, accompanied by a NVNese deputy foreign minister, arrived today for his rendezvous with Henry KISSINGER.

THO's prepared statement was relatively mild. He denounced the US for not having signed the draft agreement he and KISSINGER hammered out last month and vowed to abide by its provisions.

He demanded a halt to the ferocious bombing, as he put it, of NVN and Americans arms reinforcements to Saigon.

But he did not attack the THIEU government and left the door open for some modifications of the peace draft.

A few hours later, both Washington and Hanoi announced for the first time in advance, that KISSINGER and THO would resume the negotiations on Monday.

The White House announcement disclosed that KISSINGER will be accompanied by a deputy assistant secretary of State and three members of the national security staff.

More surprising, the announcement gave out for the benefit of newsmen, the exact time, 10:30 pm of the elusive Dr. KISSINGER's arrival at Orley Airport on Sunday.

The unprecedented advance publicity and the number of high ranking officials accompanying Dr. KISSINGER and Mr. THO, are indications that this time - this time, the no-so-secret negotiations will be decisive and successful.

### NVNese Troops In South Will Be Kissinger's Number One Problem

MARVIN KALB: For KISSINGER, problem number one will be the pre-

ence of NVNese troops in the south. About one hundred and forty-five thousand of them.

KISSINGER is seeking a tacit understanding with THO that about thirty thousand of these troops will be withdrawn from the northern part of SVN.

The rest, so far as he is concerned, can remain in roughly three areas: The north, the tri-state border area, and in the southern delta.

The Administration does not agree with President THIEU's demand that they all withdraw. Officials noting it is unrealistic for Saigon to demand their withdrawal when Saigon, even with full American air support, could not force their withdrawal.

A second major problem focuses on the cease fire in SVN.

Pulling together an international force of about five thousand troops from Hungary, Poland, Indonesia and Canada, and positioning them in strategic spots before a cease fire is announced.

Then, to win Hanoi's approval for a quick follow-up cease fires in Laos and Cambodia, so that the President's pledge for an Indo-China-wide cease fire can be fulfilled.

A third problem relates to Saigon's fear that the national counsel set up to run the post-war election, might turn into a coalition government.

KISSINGER has THO's promise that, for the time being anyway, that is not Hanoi's aim.

There are dozens of smaller problems but KISSINGER remains convinced that they are all manageable and a cease fire probably by mid-December.

### THE TODAY SHOW NBC-TV 7:00 AM
NOV 17

Laird About To Resign Pentagon Post

FRANK BLAIR: Melvin LAIRD has made it official. He is about to resign as Secretary of Defense.

LAIRD spoke at an Associated Press managing editor's meeting in Kansas City.

FRED BRIGGS: It was no secret that Secretary of Defense, Melvin

5

Monday, November 20, 1972

PART II

LAIRD planned to resign. He said this often over the past four years but never quite as publicly as he did yesterday in Kansas City.

It was in a sense, a kind of a valedictory.

SECRETARY LAIRD: ...because of my conviction and because of my discussions over the years with Secretary MCNAMARA and now he agrees with me that four years is long enough for anyone to serve in this particular position.

So I will be leaving, but I want everyone to understand it has been deeply satisfying to help in designing and carrying out the policies that have turned our nation away from war and toward peace.

BRIGGS: Secretary LAIRD gave no hint of what his plans would be except to say he would take about three months off and spend some time with his family.

6

Monday, November 20, 1972

KISSINGER ARRIVES IN PARIS FOR TALKS. CONT.

he added, "we feel that, now we have come so far, both sides have an obligation to remove the remaining obstacles."

Waxing uncharacteristically lyrical, President Nixon's envoy said he intended to devote himself to fulfilling the aspirations of mankind by "bringing peace to the heroic people of Indochina who, on both sides of the conflict, have endured so much."

Most of Dr. Kissinger's remarks seemed aimed directly to Saigon. Dr. Kissinger said: "While I am here, I will be in close daily contact with allied countries and with the representatives of the Republic of Vietnam."

Specifically, he said, he would "consult frequently" with Pham Dang Lam, chief of Saigon's delegation to the official peace conference.

## Politburo member

According to an announcement made simultaneously Friday by the White House and the North Vietnamese delegation here, Dr. Kissinger will begin meeting this morning with Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese Politburo member who has guided his country's negotiating strategy since the peace talks began 4½ years ago.

Also sitting in on the talks on the North Vietnamese side will be Xuan Thuy, chief of the North Vietnamese delegation to the official, semi-public Paris peace conference.

Today's meeting will climax three weeks of drama, rhetoric and hopes for peace that began October 26, when Radio Hanoi broadcast a shortened version of a draft peace treaty worked out in previous secret meetings between Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Tho.

Hanoi said the treaty was "finished" and that the United States had agreed to sign it October 31.

## "Peace is at hand"

In Washington that same day, Dr. Kissinger agreed that the Radio Hanoi version of the treaty was largely accurate and said that "peace is at hand."

But he added that Hanoi was mistaken in believing the United States had agreed to sign the document on a set date and called for one more meeting of about three or four days' duration to clear up several questions of detail.

Hanoi and the Viet Cong immediately denounced Dr. Kissinger's version of events, and did their best to give the impression that they would not counteract any further negotiating sessions.

The agreement had been completed and should be signed on schedule, they insisted.

At the same time, however, it was clear that the United States faced heavy opposition on the treaty from President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam, who felt that—despite some important Communist concessions—the draft accord was not acceptable.

Mr. Thieu's central objections were directed at two points:

1. The draft treaty does not include an explicit provision for the withdrawal of North Vietnamese troops from the South. He wanted a promise that they would all withdraw at the time of a cease-fire, or at least that some 35,000 of the 140,000 North Vietnamese in the South would withdraw while the rest "regrouped" in specified areas.

2. Cloudy language in the draft treaty leaves open the possibility that the proposed National Council on Reconciliation and National Concord could develop into a super-government for South Vietnam, not simply a device for organizing elections.

While the American government sought to persuade Mr. Thieu that the draft treaty provided him and his government a "real chance" to survive and threatened to apply serious pressure if he did not go along, Washington communicated directly with Hanoi about the possibility of a new meeting.

Publicly, the North Vietnamese ridiculed the idea that Mr. Thieu, a " creature of the United States" in their view, could hold up the treaty signing. They also complained bitterly about the flood of new military aid that Washington hurried to Saigon as negotiations remained stalled.

Little by little, however, the sting went out of Hanoi's pronouncements.

After the American elections, it became clear that it was only a matter of time before Mr. Tho would return to Paris.

When the announcement came last week, it was accompanying.

贯了 by the characteristic proviso that the only subject up for discussion would be "when and how" to sign the already agreed-upon treaty.

A North Vietnamese spokesman in Paris said the whole affair could be wrapped up in "less than an hour," despite semi-official statements from Washington to the effect that several more meetings, plus consultations between Washington and Saigon, are still needed.

Observers here incline to the view that peace is not likely to break out this week.

They feel that the Commu-

AIR ATTACKS...CONT'D

to repair at least one major railway linking Hanoi with China.

B-82 bombers, flying above the weather, mounted four raids against supply depots in the Dong Hoi area of North Vietnam overnight and today. The B-62s also struck targets in eastern Cambodia.

The South Vietnamese command reported 58 enemy initiated actions during the past 24 hours, the fewest since Sept. 28th, when the Communists mounted 48. All but 14 of the latest incidents consisted of shellings.

The heaviest bombardments were directed against South Vietnamese marines and paratroopers attempting to expand government holdings in Quang Tri Province before a possible ceasefire. Red gunners fired 965 rockets and mortar rounds on South Vietnamese units, inflicting light casualties.

Red gunners also fired two 122-mm rockets in the provincial capital of Quang Ngai city, killing one civilian and a soldier and wounding 17 others, including 15 civilians.

In the highlands, the Communists snelled and assaulted infantrymen west of Thanh An, a district town in Pleiku Province, but were repulsed. Six South Vietnamese were wounded. Elsewhere in Pleiku, a base camp was shielded, causing light casualties. Along the central coast, a militia truck was shattered in Binh Dinh Province by an enemy mine. Seven persons, including two military dependents, were killed, and three others, one a dependent, wounded.

nist side is deeply interested in getting a treaty signed soon that will give them a chance to shift their efforts in South Vietnam from the military to the political and will take the enormous war burden off North Vietnam.

On the other hand, they do not foresee that Mr. Tho and Mr. Thuy will retreat from the principles enunciated in the draft treaty.

What is possible is that "explanations" and "clarifications" designed to ease President Thieu's opposition may be forthcoming.

It is thought particularly likely that conversations will center on a demand by Dr. Kissinger for an unwritten but still formal promise on the subject of North Vietnamese troop withdrawals, or for the strengthening of a promise already made.

It is also thought probable that, in return, the Communists will press Dr. Kissinger for an even firmer commitment than he has already given to guarantee that the tens of thousands of political prisoners now held in Saigon's jails will be released.

The negotiators enjoy one slight advantage in the fact that only an abbreviated version of the draft treaty has been made public, so that minor changes of detail could be inserted without causing either side to lose face.

2

ARMS REPORTED. CONT.

South Vietnam alone.

Between 1955 and 1971, officials said, Moscow provided North Vietnam with about $1.5 billion in military assistance. China repeatedly gave Hanoi $85-million in military aid in 1970 and $75-million in 1971. One-third of Soviet military aid last year, about $350-million, went to Egypt during the build-up program there beginning in 1970.

## Iraq 2d Largest '71 Recipient

Iraq was the second largest recipient of Soviet military aid in 1971, followed by India, which fought her victorious war against Pakistan late last year, and by Afghanistan and Algeria.

While Soviet deliveries to Syria rose considerably in 1972, she had received relatively small arms deliveries in 1971, well below Algeria.

The State Department study said that between 1955 and 1971, total Soviet military assistance to 30 underdeveloped countries amounted to nearly $8-billion.

Of this total, the study said, Egypt received $2.5-billion, India $1.1-billion and Iraq $1-billion.

Indonesia was listed as receiving $1.1-billion, most of it prior to President Sukarno's ouster in 1966. Africa reported only $700-million during this period, with nearly one-half going to Algeria.

The report showed that Soviet military aid to the less developed countries was $830-million in 1961—this presumably including Cuba—and $875-million in 1964. The level of this Soviet aid then reportedly dropped to $260-million in 1965 and $330-million in 1969.

In 1970, this effort rose abruptly to $1.06-billion, most likely as a result of massive deliveries to Egypt, Iraq and India.

Until July, 1972, the report said, the Soviet Union maintained 16,480 military personnel, mostly advisers. In more than 12 countries. the largest group—12,500—was stationed in Egypt, but possibly as many as 10,000 Soviet military personnel left in July, after the oster order issued by President Anwar el-Sadat.

There were reportedly 1,000 Soviet military personnel in Algeria, 800 in Syria and 400 in Iraq.

In addition, the department's study said, about 2,500 military trainees from 13 countries were in the Soviet Union in 1971. Intelligence officials said most of them were air force personnel.

On the other hand, the main issues that Dr. Kissinger will be raising on Saigon's behalf go to the central problems of the long Vietnamese war. There can be no question of resolving them easily or very quickly.

What will count, when the two top diplomats get together today probably in a small, obscure suburban villa provided by the French Foreign Office—is just how strongly driven the two men are to reach peace at long last.

New Yorker, November 4, 1972

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

PEACE is at hand, and one can only be grateful. Yet there's a hidden sting in it. There never was anything for the United States to gain in Vietnam; nor was there any chance of our attaining even the mistaken aims we did set ourselves. And, indeed, as we appear about to leave the war, we have gained nothing, attained nothing, save the peace itself. Any agreement to end the war is joyful, but the plain truth is that the agreement we are heading toward now is the outcome that has been in the cards from the start. It's the outcome that has been painted on signs at countless demonstrations. It's the one that President Nixon should have accepted four years ago, when he was elected (as the Democrats point out), and it's the one that President Johnson should have accepted eight years ago when he was elected (as the Democrats do not point out). And it's the one we will have to accept at some future time if by some chance we do not accept it now. What it is, when all is, said and done, is a unilaterally determined and, in effect, unconditional American withdrawal from Vietnam. All parties to the agreement certainly know this to be so. But the language of the agreement makes it seem otherwise. The fighting stops. Within two months, we withdraw our forces and get our prisoners back. That is the straightforward part. That is the real basis for our rejoicing. But what then? Well, the Vietnamese themselves will work that out—the same Vietnamese who have been slaughtering each other for the last several decades. But now, according to the terms of the agreement, they will stop slaughtering each other, and a virtual utopia will bloom at their conference tables. In this section of the agreement, the framers have allowed their descriptive powers full scope. Democratic liberties, free elections, reunification, full international cooperation: it's all there in impressive detail, along with an assurance that the agreement will be "strictly" adhered to—under the supervision of an international control body. In his famous recent press briefing, Henry Kissinger remarked, with some amusement, that the arrangements were so intricate that only one person in the United States government really understood them, and he noted that graduate students of the future would no doubt enjoy studying their complexities. The graduate students had better get to work quickly, for it seems likely that not one of the contracting parties expects much of this to actually come to pass. In fact, of all those concerned, it may well be only the American public that is supposed, for a short time, to take it all seriously. For the temporary conviction that these things may come to pass is the "honor"

for us in the phrase "peace with honor," which we have heard so often of late. Except in deference to us, neither of the Vietnamese parties probably counts these provisions for much. They know that what really matters is that, after we leave, the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong together will be, by all accounts—including American accounts—incomparably the most powerful force in Indo-China, and that sooner or later, one way or another, they will do what they have been trying to do for more than a quarter century, international control bodies notwithstanding. Both sides frankly acknowledge this. Thieu has said of the North Vietnamese willingness to sign an agreement, "Their cunning scheme is to beg— for a cease-fire now in order to keep their troops in the South to prepare for another offensive in the future." And the North Vietnamese, in their statement

announcing the agreement, went on to say, bluntly, "Our people are determined to fight shoulder to shoulder with the fraternal peoples of Laos and Cambodia and inflict a total defeat on the U.S. imperialist aggressors and their lackeys," and they added, for extra emphasis, "We will win!" Mr. Kissinger calls these declarations "rhetoric," but it may well be this rhetoric that spells out the long-term fate of Indo-China. Peace is at hand. But it is not more than peace. It is not "peace with honor," however the word "honor" may be construed. It is not victory. It is not "peace for a generation." It's just peace. There's gladness enough in this, without supplementary claims. We entered the war deceived and fought it for a decade under a series of delusions. We should at least enter the peace with our eyes open.

The Economist, November 18, 1972

Once more into the breach,
dear enemies

FROM OUR SAIGON CORRESPONDENT

The Vietnam peace negotiators are assembling again in Paris, for what may or may not be the one last session Henry Kissinger was talking about three weeks ago; but it is still impossible to tell whether the gap that remains to be bridged is a yard wide or a mile. Le Duc Tho, North Vietnam's chief negotiator, left Hanoi for Paris on Tuesday, with stop-offs in Peking and Moscow for consultations on the way. His equivalent from South Vietnam, Pham Dang Lam, was due in Paris on Thursday, without knowing whether he could join in the private Kissinger-Le Duc Tho talks. Mr Kissinger himself, who has to provide most of the ingenuity needed to span the gap, was expected to take off from Washington at any time.

From Saigon it now seems clear that Mr Kissinger was uncommonly lacking in prescience when he failed to foresee the South Vietnamese government's reactions to the draft peace agreement. General Haig's visit to Saigon at the weekend appears to have done little to soften President Thieu's objections to it. No reliable information has been released on the substance of the two men's talks, but the president's public relations machine continues to utter the same dire warnings as before.

On the face of it, Mr Thieu is still demanding what amounts to a fundamental revision of the agreement. The point he is concentrating on is that North and South Vietnam are two entirely separate countries, and that this should be reflected in the agreement. Of course, lawyers could spend a long time arguing whether this is

what the 1954 Geneva agreements really intended, as Mr Thieu insists they did; but the Americans are not well placed to disagree with him, since they have long used similar arguments to justify their Vietnam policy. The consequence, for Mr Thieu, is that there can therefore be no justification for northern troops to stay in the south. Mr Thieu wants North Vietnam's men either to leave directly after a ceasefire, or to regroup in areas where they can come under international supervision, and then pull back to the north later. North Vietnam is resisting this—indeed, any change in the draft text, Mr Xuan Thuy said on Thursday.

But Mr Thieu could be playing a very skilful hand of diplomatic poker. He has suggested as much by asserting that there are 300,000 North Vietnamese in South Vietnam, whereas the Americans—from whom the South Vietnamese get much of their information on such matters—say there are only half as many. It is the sort of tactic you might use if you were planning to bargain about numbers. There may also be more bargaining room in the geographical aspects of the ceasefire agreement than most accounts of it suggest. To begin with, it would indeed be of the “leopard-spot” sort. But North Vietnam and the Vietcong seem to accept that a certain amount of regrouping must then take place. What they are shooting for is a viable piece of territory that the Provisional Revolutionary Government can call its own. This would have to lie mainly

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

7-F

1%00
AFP-204

URGENT ₮'''''
NEGOCIATIONS VIETNAM
WASHINGTON - AJOURNEMENT ...... DEUX

M. HENRY KISSINGER, QUITTERA PARIS SAMEDI A 19H00 LOCALES POUR REGAGNER LES ETATS UNIS, OU SON ARRIVEE A NEW YORK EST PREVUE POUR 22 HEURES LOCALES, A ANNONCE D'AUTRE PART M. ZIEGLER.

DES SON ARRIVEE, LE CONSEILLER PRESIDENTIEL SE RENDRA A L'HOTEL WALDORF ASTORIA OU M. NIXON PASSE SON WEEK END NEW YROKAIS POUR LUI RENDRE COMPTE DE SES ENTRETIENS DE GIF-SUR YVETTE ET DE CHOISY LE ROI.

LE PORTE PAROLE A REVELE ENFIN QUE LE PRESIDENT NIXON AVAIT ACCEPTE DE RECEVOIR A WASHINGTON, AU DEBUT DE LA SEMAINE PROCHAINE, UN ADJOINT SPECIAL DU PRESIDENT NGUYEN VAN THIEU DU SUD VIETNAM, M. NGUYEN PHU DUC.

M. ZIEGLER A MIS LES JOURNALISTES EN GARDE CONTRE TOUTE SPECULATION SUR LA SIGNIFICATION DE L'AJOURNEMENT DES POURPARLERS SECRETS APRES QU'ON LUI EUT DEMANDE SI LES NEGOCIATEURS AVAIENT BUTE SUR QUELQUE OBSTACLE MAJEUR.

''NOUS AVONS TOUJOURS DIT, A-T-IL AJOUTE, QUE NOUS NE SIGNERIONS PAS L'ACCORD DE PAIX AVANT QU'IL SOIT JUGE SATISFAISANT''. LES DEUX COTES, A-T-IL SOULIGNE, ONT NEGOCIE ''SERIEUSEMENT''.

M. KISSINGER ET SON INTERLOCUTEUR NORD VIETNAMIEN ON CONFERE DEPUIS LUNDI DERNIER PENDANT 22 HEURES AU TOTAL, SE REUNISSANT TOUS LES JOURS.

AFP ALE%22 1

6