Rotterdam: "U.S. Must Reduce Thieu's Importance"

Independent liberal NRC Handelsblad said yesterday that "the fact that Kissinger has gone to Saigon does not mean much in itself, for it is natural that President Nixon is doing his best to create the impression that everything possible is being done to get peace in Vietnam. However, the fact that North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho has also suddenly gone to Vietnam looks hopeful..." Expressing hope that "the end of the Vietnamese tragedy is in sight," the paper declared that "to achieve this, Washington will at last have to reduce President Thieu to his true minimal importance."

Helsinki: "Last Chance For Peace?"

Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet of Helsinki observed yesterday that "Hanoi is naturally conscious of the fact that Nixon will hardly manifest a greater willingness to negotiate than he is doing now. Therefore, Hanoi is trying to entice him to make as many concessions as possible. Were Nixon re-elected without peace in Vietnam, the war would be continued with a military settlement as the goal.

"In 1968, Nixon promised to end the war if elected President. We can only hope that he will not miss the last chance he may have."

A Canadian View

Canadian newspapers have thus far been moderate on the question of American bombing in Vietnam. In contrast, Le Devoir of Montreal, considered French Canada's most prestigious daily, said yesterday:

"One can understand why the White House is denying the bombing of Vietnamese dikes by Americans planes. Among the Nazi war criminals the U.S. condemned to death by hanging at Nuremberg was Seyss-Inquart, notorious for several acts of genocide which included the bursting of Dutch dikes, leaving millions homeless and resulting in the death of thousands.

"Unfortunately for American credibility, since the appearance of the famous Pentagon papers in the New York Times, it is well known that such methods of making war have been coldly considered at the highest Washington levels."

No. 100

9

8/18/72

## Tokyo Views

Japanese interest centered on Mr. Kissinger's expected arrival today in Tokyo.

Independent-moderate Mainichi's Saigon correspondent wrote that "some observers say President Thieu's political life has been guaranteed, while others say he has been pressed for a bombing halt and urged to give way to a coalition government."

Another correspondent for the same paper said:

> "The unexpected visit to Saigon by Dr. Kissinger supports speculation that a rift has broken open between the U.S. and South Vietnam over reports from Washington and Paris that peace is near."

## Indian Treatment

Indian reports stressed hopes for a breakthrough and implied that White House concern to prevent the POWs and the war from becoming campaign issues lay behind new U.S. "flexibility" and supposed resolve to "dump Thieu."

## "Proof" of Dike Bombing

New Delhi domestic radio yesterday said that the Minister for External Affairs had told the lower house of parliament that "conclusive proof is now available" of American bombing of dikes in North Vietnam. The report said:

> "Mr. Swaran Singh said the Indian envoy in Hanoi has sent an account of the American bombing of the dikes. The Indian representative, along with other diplomats, was taken round by the North Vietnamese authorities to see the damage."

The account did not say that the bombing of the dikes was deliberate, but today's National Herald, published by Ghandi and Congress Party interests, and the pro-Communist Patriot front-paged Mr. Singh's statement and declared it "conclusively proves Americans are deliberately bombing dikes in North Vietnam."

No. 100

10

8/18/72

Tel Aviv: "Reason for Kissinger, Tho Trips"

Semi-official *Davar* of Tel Aviv declared it hard to believe that there is no connection
between Dr. Kissinger's visit to Saigon and Mr. Le Duc Tho's return to Hanoi. The
paper judged:

"Had there been no significant progress in their recent talks, their parallel journeys would have been unjustified."

Venezuela on Defoliation Statement

All Caracas morning papers today front-paged the State Department denial of U. S. contingency plans to use herbicides in Venezuela. Most papers used the statement verbatim.

Media also reported President Caldera's statement in his press conference yesterday that he supposed the report was "one of thousands of preposterous reports that find their way out of the U. S. Government."

Papers also noted his remark that there was no reason to make "a tempest in a tea-pot" about the small U. S. military mission in Caracas, especially since foreign advisers in other countries numbered 20 to 30 thousand.

Television last night and newspapers yesterday gave prominent play to the statement by Foreign Minister Calvani that he had instructed the Embassy in Washington to obtain a clarification of the report.

No. 100

11

8/18/72

## Hanoi: "U.S. Propaganda About Withdrawal"

Both *Nhan Dan* and *Quan Doi Nhan Dan* today carried an article by Chien Thang titled, "Troop Withdrawal from Vietnam or More Massive Participation in the War?"

As broadcast by Hanoi radio's English service it said in part:

> "The White House is giving full blast to its propaganda machine as the last combat division of U.S. infantry is pulling out of South Vietnam...."

> "It is clear that Nixon's allegation about 'peaceful negotiation' and 'winding down the war' is merely a trick to fool public opinion and to cover his rabid acts of war in the hope of winning a decisive military victory in a short time."

## *Nhan Dan* on "Reconciliation"

*Nhan Dan* yesterday ran an editorial indirectly criticizing the leaders of the socialist camp in denouncing efforts at "reconciliation." The editorial, characterized as "important" by Hanoi media, asserted than in U. S. global strategy, "an equilibrium of forces among the big powers and the division of the main components of the socialist system is conceived as a shield to give U. S. imperialism complete freedom of action in checking, by means of violence, the national liberation movement..."

The editorial declared that "the policy of genuine reconciliation among various countries must be based on the respect for the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of all nations, big or small." By contrast, the paper stated, "reconciliation' for the U.S. "is merely a Machiavellian policy to materialize designs of aggression, enslavement, subversion and peaceful evolution by new methods."

> "In other words, to carry out the 'Nixon Doctrine,' U.S. imperalists have applied the policy of reconciliation toward a number of big powers..."

No. 100

12

18/18/72

"The policy of principled reconciliation with the imperialist powers must aim at consolidating and strengthening the revolutionary forces, isolating and differentiating the class enemy, directing the spearhead of the revolution at opposing the schemes of the bellicose forces of the imperialist ringleader....

"In given conditions, it is correct to make some reconciliation in order to impel the offensive of the revolutionary forces, but if out of the narrow interests of one's own nation one tries to help the most reactionary forces avert the dangerous blows, that is just like throwing a life-buoy to a drowning pirate. That is a cruel reconciliation beneficial to the enemy and not beneficial to the revolution."

## Moscow on Le Duc Tho Stopover

Moscow Radio's domestic service yesterday reported that two secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU, one of them a member of the Politburo as well, received Le Duc Tho during his stopover in Moscow. It stated that Mr. Tho "expressed sincere gratitude to the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet Government for the constant and effective aid to fighting Vietnam," and added:

"On the Soviet side, resolute support was expressed for the heroic struggle of the Vietnemese people, for the constructive proposals for peace put forward by the DRV Government and the PRG... The USSR will continue to render economic and military aid and moral-political support to the Vietnamese people right up to the complete victory of their just cause."

## Peking: Nothing on Kissinger

Monitored Peking media have not yet reported on Mr. Kissinger's visit to Saigon. NCNA this afternoon circulated a brief report in its international service in English that Mr. Le Duc Tho arrived in Peking en route to Hanoi and that he was the guest of honor at a banquet.

No. 100

13

8/18/72

... Western Europe, p. 2 Asia, p. 11 Communist Countries, p. 13

KISSINGER TRIP TO SAIGON

Summary

Media in many countries headlined Henry Kissinger's flight to Saigon to discuss
Vietnam problems with President Thieu and other officials.

Most first-day comment assumed that his trip indicated some progress in his pri-
vate talks in Paris with Le Duc Tho, whose plan to visit Hanoi was seen as possibly
linked to the Kissinger trip.

Observers in several countries asserted that the visit had to do with Communist
demands that Thieu resign the Presidency:

--BBC radio said "the Communists are hoping that Kissinger is going to prepare the way for the removal of the Thieu administration, which to them is the main obstacle to progress."

--Paris radio reported "a spreading rumor" in Washington that "President Thieu no longer enjoys President Nixon's favor."

--*Corriere della Sera* of Milan said "the most serious problem for the U.S. is how to accept North Vietnam's demand to abandon the Thieu government without loss of prestige."

--Seoul's **Joongang Ilbo** expressed concern that President Nixon, "now running for re-election and under domestic political pressure, may feel compelled to accept a Vietnam war settlement amounting to U.S. abandonment of its commitment and support to the present Saigon government."

Hanoi's army paper, **Quan Doi Nhan Dan**, said today that "there is no plan up
Nixon's sleeve except plans to intensify the barbarity of his attacks on the civilian
population of both South and North Vietnam."

* * *

No. 99

1

8/16/72

London: Kissinger Trip "Raises Hopes"

These were British headlines today:

"KISSINGER TRIP RAISES VIETNAM PEACE HOPES"

(Left-oriented London *Daily Mirror*)

"SAIGON HUSTLE RAISES HOPES"

(Nationalist *Daily Express*)

The Washington correspondent of the independent *Times* of London said the trip "prompted immediate speculation that Dr. Kissinger had made some progress at his secret meetings in Paris... with North Vietnamese negotiators which President Nixon wished to communicate to President Thieu."

"_Bearer of Bad Tidings?""

The liberal Guardian's reporter said the trip announcement "encouraged speculation of a breakthrough in negotiations." He observed:

"The Administration... is showing increasing sensitivity to the mounting propaganda campaign against damage done to dikes and civilian targets, but as yet there has been no indication that it is planning to halt or reduce the bombing raids...

"It is clear from the current series of secret talks that the U.S. and North Vietnam have reached agreement at least on minor procedural matters....

"It appears improbable that there has been any important break-through in the peace negotiations....

"Inevitably the fact that the President has ordered him to go suggests that Dr. Kissinger could be the bearer of bad tidings, spelling out just how much the Nixon Administration can be expected to do for an unpopular ally in an election year."

No. 99

2

8/16/72

# "New Formula to Test?"

The independent _Financial Times_ wrote:

> "Although the tightest security surrounds the Paris discussions, it is already clear that a major obstacle to any settlement is the Administration's refusal to replace General Thieu's regime in the south with a coalition government embracing the Communists, as Hanoi repeatedly demands.

> "The significance of the visit to Saigon may therefore be that some new political formula is under discussion that President Nixon wants to test on the present rulers there. It is no less evident that as the election approaches, the Republicans are increasingly anxious to get a settlement in Vietnam that will enable them to stop the bombing and rob the Democrats of a major source of advantage."

## "Hanoi Hopes Nixon Will Concede in Negotiations"

Yesterday's conservative London _Daily Telegraph_, a supporter of U.S. Vietnam policy, called the Ramsey Clark affair "a sad reminder of the rent that had been torn in the whole fabric of American life by this corroding war, and also of the distorted vision it has inflicted on otherwise sane and sober men...."

> "All that Hanoi has to do is to get peace and a complete American withdrawal within four months is to desist. Naturally, while there is a hope that Mr. McGovern might win the election and leave South Vietnam to the tender mercies of a bogus, Communist-dominated government, the north will fight on--although its ability to do so is fast being destroyed."

> "There is also the hope that Mr. Nixon, if sufficiently harrassed by his American traducers, will concede in negotiations what Hanoi could not win in battle."

## "Ecological Warfare" and the Dikes

The _Guardian_'s sustained criticism of U.S. conduct in Vietnam was expressed yesterday in an editorial asserting that "there has been ample evidence to show that the U.S. has been engaging in what can fairly be called ecological warfare in Vietnam."

No. 99

3

8/16/72

It cited allegations of cloud-seeding projects and "attempts to create firestorms in the Vietnam forests," and added that "whether or not the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam has been deliberately aimed at the dikes...is contested, but whatever the intention, the result would be the dislocation of the enemy's environment."

### BBC: "Communists Hope Kissinger Will Help Remove Thieu"

A BBC radio correspondent in Paris declared last night that it must be more than coincidence that Le Duc Tho and Mr. Kissinger left "almost simultaneously" on their missions. He said:

> "The Communists are hoping that Kissinger is going to prepare the way for the removal of the Thieu administration, which to them is the main obstacle to progress."

### Paris Radio: "Thieu Out of U.S. Favor?"

State-run French radio's U. S. correspondent this morning reported "a spreading rumor" in Washington that "President Thieu no longer enjoys President Nixon's favor" and that the question of his removal seems to have been posed. The correspondent said Mr. Nixon is expected to make an important speech on Vietnam within the next few days, possibly at the Republican convention.

The Washington correspondent of commercial Europe One radio suggested this morning that the Kissinger trip might only be intended "to divert American public attention from the Democratic charges against the Administration."

### TV: "Problem of Evicting Thieu"

Both networks of state-managed television noted the *Time* report of a new peace plan. The second network judged that "this plan will satisfy no one," and added that "the problem of evicting Thieu is more real than ever."

The first network ran a film clip of Ramsey Clark in the U. S. The Paris anchorman quoted him as saying, "The POWs will be liberated as soon as the senseless bombings end."

No. 99

4

8/16/72

"All Settled Except Saigon Regime"

Gerard Le Quang wrote in the early edition of today's moderate-left France-Soir that for some weeks the Americans and the North Vietnamese have been exchanging "new proposals aimed at solving the key problem... that of the regime in Saigon. The rest--notably the ceasefire and the bombing halt--is virtually settled...."

"The only thing that remains to be found is a way to make the South Vietnamese--those of Saigon (minus Thieu), the NLF, and those who have not yet sided with either--negotiate among themselves...."

"It is perhaps time for these last-named, the third force, to make their weight felt if they still intend to have a place in Saigon."

"Nixon Will Not Sacrifice Thieu Before Election"

The Washington correspondent of moderately conservative Figaro asked yesterday, "Have the U.S. -North Vietnam secret talks entered the active, final phase at last? No one, of course, can say with certainty...."

"The only thing that appears certain is that Mr. Nixon will not sacrifice his ally openly before his re-election is secured. Public opinion polls lead him to believe that the majority of voters would prefer to see him run the risk of missing an opportunity for peace again rather than approve the humiliating solution of a capitulation at any price as advocated by Mr. McGovern."

"Can Nixon Afford to Drop Thieu?"

This morning's moderate right L'Aurore carried a front-page commentary in which Jean-Louis Guillemard expressed scepticism about the Time magazine peace plan story:

"...It is, after all, only a variation of the previous Nixon plan, already rejected by Hanoi... Moreover, nothing proves that its application would bring about the removal of General Thieu...."

No. 99

5

8/16/72

"Can Mr. Nixon afford to drop President Thieu and accept the coalition government called for by the other side? Mr. Nixon being what he is--that is, a man attached to traditional values-- the answer should logically be negative. Not because President Thieu occupies a large place in Mr. Nixon's heart, but because it is for this man, to keep him in office, that 45,000 Americans have fallen in South Vietnam. It is because of these dead Americans that Mr. Nixon can scarcely accept Hanoi's demands.

"As a matter of fact, the Chief Executive is willing to reach a negotiated settlement, to take circumstances into account, but not at the price of a glaring failure."

## West German News Play

Major West German newspapers today and yesterday gave prominent play to Mr. Kissinger's trip to Saigon, speculation on a North Vietnamese attack on Saigon, Mr. Clark's statements on his visit to North Vietnam and Mr. Mitchell's characterization of Mr. Clark as naive.

## "Must Have Discussed Thieu in Paris"

Left-center Frankfurter Rundschau, an outspoken opponent of U.S. policy in Vietnam, cited *Time* magazine as asserting that the main element of a new peace plan was "Thieu's ouster." It said:

"November 7 places both Hanoi and Washington under pressure of time. Hanoi must be prepared for tougher negotiations after Nixon's re-election, and a solution before election day would considerably improve the President's chances....

"Meanwhile, the U.S. Administration has become aware that its three points--ceasefire, complete withdrawal and release of the POWs--cannot trigger accommodation. We may safely assume that in Paris Kissinger discussed the question of eliminating Thieu in a manner to avoid the impression of direct U.S. involvement.

No. 99

6

8/16/72

"Thieu apparently knows what is in store for him. In his latest speech, he called for continuation of the air war for six or seven months. Only the air war guarantees that Hanoi's entire economic and military potential can be smashed, he said. But he added-- with prescience--that this unfortunately depends on America's readiness to support Saigon."

"Communist Clarity on Thieu Issue"

The military affairs analyst of independent-right *Frankfurter Allgemeine* noted yesterday that Mme. Binh, in an interview in the *New York Times*, had said the Viet Cong places higher priority on the ouster of Thieu than it does on American withdrawal. He concluded:

"This is not new. But never before has the political aim of the military offensive been spelled out in public with such clarity. Le Duc Tho tried to wring this concession from Kissinger in the secret talks. He apparently failed... Now the aggressors are taking their case to the public. They do this with great skill; their timing in this phase of psychological warfare is excellent...."

"If the Americans stop the bombing, Thieu collapses militarily. If they give up Vietnamization, Thieu collapses politically. His Government will be replaced by a coalition under Viet Cong control. Thus the POWs are a pretext. The question is how will this affect the American voter. When Johnson halted the bombing he did not obtain peace in return and the POWs were not released. The Nixon Administration will remind the voters of this."

"Hanoi Uses Dupes on Dikes"

Today's right-center *Die Welt* of Hamburg called Hanoi's efforts to "mislead" Western opinion about damage to the dikes systems "impressive," asserting that statements by persons like Ramsey Clark and Jane Fonda "are given inordinately wide coverage in Western news and opinion media, particularly in the U.S.," while White House or Pentagon statements on the subject are "mistrusted." It added:

"The dikes are not imperiled. The only peril is the one to the public which is informed by past masters of propaganda and occasionally also by their guests and stooges."

No. 99

7

8/16/72

"Even If Dike Damage Not Intentional..."

Independent *Stuttgarter Zeitung* said yesterday that "trustworthy witnesses" such as Ramsey Clark and Sean McBride "declared unanimously that the Americans have bombed the dike systems deliberately." The paper called "no less credible" the Administration statements that a week of intentional bombing would destroy the system, that any bomb damage to dikes is accidental, and that the system has had inadequate maintenance. The paper concluded:

"Regardless of which side is engaged in self-protecting propaganda and which is telling the truth, the catastrophe of the destruction of the systems could be a result of this inhumane and unnecessary war. For even if the U.S. does not bomb the dikes deliberately, it must accept the consequences of the air war and it cannot be denied that the lack of manpower because of the fighting prevents adequate repair work on the dikes."

*West Berlin: "Trip to Tell Thieu to Stand Aside"*

Pro-Social Democratic *Spandauer Volksblatt* of West Berlin judged that the purpose of Dr. Kissinger's visit to Saigon was "to make it clear to Thieu that he must no longer stand in the way of the envisaged success of Nixon's policy... But it is hard to imagine that Washington might be planning a provisional division of South Vietnam in order to remove Thieu from the political scene gracefully."

"Support Nixon Can Count On"

Today's independent *Tagesspiegel* of West Berlin concluded that Vietnam negotiations had arrived at a "significant stage," and that the Administration had presumably submitted "its own compromise for a political solution" in the secret talks.

Referring to the controversies over bombing the dikes and the alleged "missed chance for peace" in 1968, the paper said President Nixon could disregard the charges coming from "all those people who are so closely connected with the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations... whose bad consciences are converting them from Saul to Paul...

"Nixon can still rely on the support of those Democratic politicians and Senators who regard a reasonable solution as more important than the question of who is helped in the election campaign by the charges."

No. 99

8

8/16/72

Tabloid B. Z. declared that Mr. Clark had walked into a "propaganda trap" by reporting inaccurately North Vietnamese statements on the release of POWs and the dikes. The paper declared:

> "With Clark's failure, the Democrats' attempt to make Vietnam a hot election issue burst like a soap bubble... The unfortunate Mr. Clark could not have made it more clear that the Democrats' top politician is Hanoi's man in the dispute.... Poor McGovern. With Clark as an aide, he is really ill-served."

## Rome TV: Speculation on Settlement

State-controlled Italian television last night carried a foreign affairs analyst's view that "obviously the announcements of the Kissinger and Le Duc Tho trips support speculation... that a political settlement in Saigon is being negotiated, and that Nixon wants Kissinger to discuss it with the person most interested--Nguyen Van Thieu..."

> "President Nixon is about to participate in the Republican convention, apparently indifferent to the repeated and violent criticism of his handling of the Vietnam war..."

## "A Turning Point"

A radio correspondent in New York reported this morning that "in these last few hours there has been a feeling that the negotiations for the solution of the Vietnamese conflict are at an important turning point..."

> "Unofficial sources believe that Kissinger is trying to convince Thieu that the latest, more intense secret negotiations do not mean that America is plotting behind its ally's back."

Influential independent Corriere della Sera of Milan declared today that "the most serious problem for the U. S. is now to accept North Vietnam's demand to abandon the Thieu government without loss of prestige."

No. 99

9

8/16/72

"Kissinger Warning to Tho?"

Leftist weekly *L'Espresso* of Rome wrote:

> "If the bomb strikes are accidental, then the North Vietnamese water control system has been hit too often; but if it is a case of deliberate attack, then it has been hit too lightly.

> "The truth seems to lie in a third possibility: that these bombs have been Nixon's warning... to the North Vietnamese leaders that if they do not take account of his election campaign problems... then not even the Red River dams, on which the lives of millions depend, will be spared...

> "It is entirely believable that this was Kissinger's message for Le Duc Tho."

Stockholm: Dikes and U. S. Domestic Pressures

Conservative *Svenska Dagbladet* said "things have not gone the way Nixon thought they would. Criticism has sharpened again, largely as a result of the bombing which has escalated at a frightening pace and because dikes and dams, vital to the very existence of the North Vietnamese, have demonstrably been damaged by bombs."

The paper added, "Continued strong pressure from the Democrats could still force Nixon to intensify his efforts to come up as soon as possible with something that can be interpreted as a tangible step in the direction of peace in Vietnam."

Liberal *Dagens Nyheter* said "the bitterness of the invective" of Administration spokesmen at Mr. Clark's statements "should not come as a surprise, since it comes from a government which has made a double standard of morality and the double-cross the guiding principle of its actions.

> "What is morally upsetting is clearly not Ramsey Clark's appearance on 'the enemy radio' but rather the massacre of human beings and the destruction of the environment in Indochina."

No. 99

10

8/16/72

## Commission Found No Conclusive Evidence?

This morning's press reported that a news conference held by Hans Goran Francke of the "international commission" which visited North Vietnam revealed that it had been unable to find any conclusive or massive evidence of intentional U. S. bombing of dikes and dams. Instead, Francke asserted, "The reaction of world opinion against the American bombing of North Vietnam has had a certain restraining effect on the Nixon Administration's escalation of the war."

### Tokyo: "New Progress"

Major Japanese television networks and newspapers gave salient play this morning to Dr. Kissinger's trip to Saigon. Practically all correspondents said it indicated new progress in the secret Paris talks.

The Washington correspondent of moderate independent Yomiuri reported that "the sudden announcement gives the impression that the Paris secret talks are approaching a climax." He added that it "can also be taken as a rebuttal of criticism hurled at President Nixon by Sargent Shriver, Ramsey Clark, and Governor Harriman."

Moderate independent Mainichi judged the Saigon journey significant because "the crux of the secret talks is now clearly the treatment of the Thieu regime and the political future of South Vietnam."

### "A Terrifying Air Force War Next"

Independent-liberal Asahi yesterday noted the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam but pointed to a buildup of air operations capability in Thailand and strengthening of the Seventh Fleet as evidence that "the war, therefore, is changing into a new type of war--an air force war.

"Although its Vietnamization program is not making any headway, the U.S. is improving and developing weapons to pursue this air force war. What is terrifying is that it is leading to genocide and ecocide without a trace of guilty conscience. This is because the horrors of a ground war are not visible in a highly mechanized air war....

"The United States should find a way to terminate the war."

No. 99

11

8/16/72

## Seoul: "Pressure to Abandon Saigon? "

Independent *Joongang Ilbo* of Seoul today expressed concern that "President Nixon, now running for re-election and under domestic political pressure, may feel compelled to accept a Vietnam war settlement plan amounting to U.S. abandonment of its commitment and support to the present Saigon government." The paper urged the U.S. not to accept a settlement that would result in eventual Communist domination of South Vietnam.

## Indian Treatment

Several Indian newspapers yesterday and today reported Mr. Kissinger's remarks that there is some reason to believe that Hanoi is interested in serious negotiations. They also carried the White House comment that Mr. Kissinger's visit to Saigon is not to be interpreted as a breakthrough. Papers also carried the *Time* story of a new peace plan.

The press reported Mr. Clark's remarks on POW living conditions and his statement that POWs would be released after a negotiated settlement. Papers also reported the Pentagon comment disputing Mr. Clark's statement that the POWs are receiving good treatment.

## Caracas Treatment of Defoliation Story

All television newscasts last night and all Caracas morning newspapers today ran comments by Venezuelan political leaders denouncing the report that Venezuela was among the countries listed in U.S. contingency plans for possible use of defoliants against guerrillas. The only editorial comment, in the independent *Daily Journal*, deplored that the consequences of being an "open society" evidently included "secret reports" getting onto front pages.

No. 99

12

8/16/72

Hanoi: "New Nixon Plan a Hoax"

Hanoi VNA today quoted the army paper *Quan Doi Nhan Dan* as saying the "new peace plan of U.S. President Nixon... is nothing but a hoax in the framework of his election campaign...

"There is no plan up Nixon's sleeve except plans to intensify the barbarity of his attacks on the civilian population of both South and North Vietnam..."

Yesterday VNA summarized a *Nhan Dan* comment criticizing a British proposal to reconvene the Geneva conference, calling it an act by Mr. Heath "to please U.S. imperialism..."

In its domestic service and in broadcasts to South Vietnam, the radio and VNA carried reports of U.S. air attacks on civilian targets and a dam on the Kien Giang River.

Hanoi media continued to play the activities of the "investigating commission," giving prominent place to remarks by Ramsey Clark on his visits to places allegedly damaged by U.S. air attacks. Although members of the commission were quoted directly as believing that the irrigation systems were being deliberately bombed, there were no direct citations of Mr. Clark on that issue.

A Hanoi broadcast to American servicemen today cited the *New York Times* as saying the withdrawal of the last U.S. combat unit from Vietnam "did not mean that Vietnamization has scored a success." The broadcast said troop withdrawal was an "illusion" because of the redeployment of the forces and the increased U.S. Navy role in the war.

Moscow: "Troop Withdrawal Covers Escalation"

Moscow TASS today circulated summaries of comment in *Pravda* and *Izvestia* on U.S. troop reductions in Indochina. *Pravda* concluded:

"By using troop withdrawal propaganda maneuvers the Pentagon would like to cover up the further escalation of its aggression in Indochina. But these maneuvers will not mislead anyone."

No. 99

13

8/16/72

## Defoliation Story

The paper said of the report of a contingency plan to use defoliants in Europe that "any attempt to export this pernicious experience to other areas of the world is certain to meet with a strong rebuff from the people."

## "Films Prove Civilian Targets Hit"

TASS today circulated a brief report of Mr. Clark's press conference, stating that ABC television had shown film of his inspection of a hospital, a church and houses in the Haiphong area damaged by USAF attack. The report said the films were "irrefutable evidence" that civilian targets are hit.

Moscow radio domestic service asserted on Monday that "right-wing Americans have not forgiven Mr. Clark" for his "eyewitness testimony" of the bombing of civilian targets.

## Peking: Nothing on Kissinger, Clark

Monitoring indicates that Peking has not mentioned the Kissinger trip or Mr. Clark's statements.

No. 99

14

8/16/72

THIS EDITION SUPPLEMENTS
THE MATERIAL IN PART I

PART II -- 1200

CURRENT NEWS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1972

WASHINGTON POST - 15 AUGUST 1972 P-1

Paris Talks
Held Again
By Kissinger

By Murrey Marder

Washington Post Staff Writer

Presidential adviser Henry A. Kissinger met in Paris again yesterday with North Vietnamese negotiators while political blame-fixing rolled on in the United States over earlier failure to end the war.

Kissinger talked privately with Hanoi Politburo member Le Duc Tho and Xuan nam's delegation at the Paris peace talks, White House Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler told newsmen. No details whatever about this 16th announced meeting were disclosed. The meetings are coming on a fortnightly pattern, July 19, Aug. 1, Aug. 14, which administration sources earlier have described as a prolonged diplomatic probing process.

Ly Van Sau, a spokesman for the Vietcong's Provisional Revolutionary Government, charged in Paris that "Mr. Nixon is using the so-called private meetings to make American opinion believe that something is happening, while in fact he is increasing the escalation of the war." But the spokesman declined to say why, in that event, the Communist side is continuing private talks.

Disclosure of the latest Kissinger-Tho talks coincided with new statements by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark attacking Nixon administration war policy on Clark's return from a trip to North Vietnam.

Clark said in San Francisco that he was increasing that American war prisoners "will be released immediately when we stop this senseless, murderous bombing and end the war and get out..."

North Vietnam, however, reported in a broadcast from Hanoi yesterday that its version of ending American involvement in the war also continues to require ending support for the regime of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.

The Hanoi broadcast, refer-

ring to President Nixon's peace offers, said, "No one necessarily believes that if there is a cease-fire, if the Americans withdraw their troops and if the captured soldiers are released, the Vietnamese people will be able to solve their own political problem... Militarily speaking, the Americans must withdraw. Politically speaking, the puppets must be toppled. The Americans must stop supporting the Thieu clique. Vietnamese traitor Thieu must resign."

This is a critical point in which the Nixon administration and its political challenger, Sen. George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee, are at odds. McGovern has declared his readiness to abandon support for the Thieu government.

Secretary of State William P. Rogers, in Miami to testify before the Republican Platform Committee, said yesterday:

"As our military involvement in Vietnam ends, we will continue to provide economic support and military supplies to South Vietnam to prevent a military takeover by North Vietnam. Thus the political future of Vietnam will be left to the Vietnamese themselves to be determined by the political process."

Rogers added a new counterstance yesterday to the continuing political crossfire over the charge by Democratic vice president nominee Sargent Shriver that President Nixon passed up "an unparalleled opportunity" to end the war in 1969.

If anyone ignored a peace

CONTINUED PAGE 2

NEW YORK TIMES - 15 AUGUST 1972 P-3

Foe in Vietnam Blows Up
Another Munitions Depot

Special to The New York Times

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Tuesday, Aug. 15 — Another South Vietnamese ammunition dump was blown up early yesterday by Communist commando attacks, urban terrorism and shelling continued to increase.

The Saigon command reported that the latest attack was directed against two ammunition bunkers three miles northwest of Pleiku in the Central Highlands. The bunkers contained 105-mm. howitzer shells.

The attack followed a Communist commando assault Sunday on the large military compound at Longbinh, 15 miles northeast of Saigon. The South Vietnamese command reported yesterday that several thousand tons of ammunition were destroyed.

Enemy Shellings

Reporting on the increase in enemy activity, the command said that in the previous 24 hours, there were 42 shellings by Communist forces of various Government positions throughout South Vietnam.

On Sunday night, the command said, six grenades were thrown into a militia station in the city of Quinhon, killing three persons and wounding 20 others.

The command assault Sunday at Longbinh was aimed at the South Vietnamese part of the compound and no casualties or damage was reported in the American section. The attack ended after a heavy exchange of fire and a great deal

CONTINUED PAGE 2

BALTIMORE SUN - 15 AUGUST 1972 P-1

Clark confident
on POW release

BY WALTER R. GORDON

Sun Staff Correspondent

San Francisco—Ramsey Clark, fresh from a two-week tour of North Vietnam, said yesterday he believes the inauguration of a McGovern administration next January would lead to the immediate release of some of the American prisoners in North Vietnam.

However, he said Nguyen Duy Trinh, the North Vietnam-ese foreign minister, told him that release of all the prisoners is still dependent upon a full political settlement.

But Mr. Clark, who served as attorney general under President Johnson and is backing the Democratic presidential nominee, said he believed all the prisoners could be released within 90 days after the inauguration.

Mr. Clark's comments came during a crowded, emotional press conference. Pale and obviously exhausted, Mr. Clark gave a detailed description of a tape-recorded interview with 10 American prisoners of war and recounted scenes from a 1,500-mile trip around North Vietnam.

He said he was convinced

the North Vietnamese were treating the prisoners "humanely," that they had not been brainwashed, and that their housing, food and medical care appeared to be adequate.

Traveling to North Vietnam at the invitation of the Hanoi leadership, he was shown bomb-out schools, hospitals, churches and dikes. He said he did not know it the civilian damage had been "planned" by American generals but added that he had lists of "dates and times and places" that he wanted to ask the Pentagon about.

First since 1970

Describing his discussions with North Vietnamese peasants, he said in a voice deep with emotion: "Believe me, it's hard when they look you in the face and say, 'Why are you bombing?' God knows, I couldn't tell them why. There can be no possible moral justification for it."

Saying he was the first American to visit a POW camp

CONTINUED PAGE 2

Prepared by the Air Force (SAFA) 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.

James Killingbeck, Chief, Current News Branch, OK 7-8765
Helen Young, Assistant Chief

For research, clipping services and distribution call Harry Zubkoff, Chief, Executive Agency Services, OK 52884

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 16 AUGUST 1972

Kissinger visit swings
spotlight toward Thieu

By Courtney R. Sheldon
Staff correspondent of
The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

President Thieu stands today, as he has for
the four years of the Nixon administration, at
the storm center of the Vietnam peace
debate.

In the fury of the presidential campaign, the dispute rages deceptively around whether Mr. Nixon ignored "peace signals" from Hanoi in 1969.

But, in substance, the argument is over the
wisdom of negotiating seriously with the
North Vietnamese if it means the early
demise of the Thieu government, or one
similarly oriented.

President Nixon's sudden dispatching of
presidential adviser Henry A. Kissinger to
South Vietnam confirms this.

Though the administration is tight-lipped,
the No. 1 item for discussion may be the
future of Mr. Thieu.

Mr. Kissinger is fresh from secret confer-
ences with Hanoi negotiators in Paris. He
carries with him to Saigon either a softening
of the Communist position or a recommenda-
tion that the U.S. and South Vietnam modify
theirs — or, and this seems most likely, both.

The fluidity of present negotiations with
Hanoi are still so great, however, that
Administration spokesmen caution against
speculation that there has been a significant
breakthrough in the Paris bargaining.

Mr. Nixon upholds the Thieu government.
Senator George McGovern and Sargent
Shriver do not.

Thorough interrogation

When Mr. Nixon took over the White House
from Lyndon B. Johnson in 1969, Mr. Kiss-
singer thoroughly interrogated the State De-
partment, Pentagon, and Central In-
telligence Agency for their best judgment of
Hanoi's intentions.

In a National Security Memorandum in
early 1969, which surfaced in April of this
year, it was stated:

"There is general U.S. Government agree-
ment that Hanoi is in Paris for a variety of
motives but not primarily out of weakness;
that Hanoi is charting a course independent
of Moscow, which favors negotiations, and of
Peking, which opposes them; and that our
knowledge of possible political factions
among North Vietnamese leaders is ex-
tremely imprecise."

It also said that among the "major points of
consensus" was that:

"A combination of military pressures and
political tactics explains recent enemy with-
drawals and lower levels of activity."

It is this judgment which is at issue in the
current crossfire between Secretary of State
William P. Rogers and Sargent Shriver,
backed up by W. Averall Harriman and Cyrus
R. Vance, who represented the U.S. at the
Paris talks during the Johnson adminis-
tration.

Mr. Shriver, then the U.S. Ambassador to
France, says that the enemy's pullbacks in
1968 were Hanoi's way of signaling the U.S.
that they would buy a compromise settle-
ment.

Fraud suspected

Mr. Rogers denies anything at all was done
or said by Hanoi which constituted a peace
signal.

What he is really saying is that the

proffered peace that the Democratic doves
might be willing to have accepted, was, from
his standpoint, a fraud.

If accepted, he and Mr. Nixon have many
times contended, South Vietnam would have
been taken over completely and U.S. pledges
of commitments henceforth would be consid-

ered worthless by the world.

Against this, the Democrat doves argue
that Mr. Nixon always responds to Hanoi's
signals with military toughness and more
bombing. Further, it is said that the U.S. has
done more than its share to save South
Vietnam, and President Thieu is a dictator
who does not represent the dominant thinking
of a South Vietnam weary of having its own
people killed.

As might be expected in a political cam-
paign, there are peripheral issues rippling
out from the central debate over peace
signals.

Mr. Rogers is saying that if there were
peace feelers of the consequence Mr. Shriver

(CONTINUED NEXT PAGE)

THE NEW YORK TIMES 16 AUGUST 1972

Kissinger's Diplomacy

By JAMES RESTON

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15—Henry Kissinger's trips to Paris are good news and good politics, since they suggest that there is some movement toward peace, but the fact is that even Kissinger does not expect any real change in the Paris talks until late in the election campaign.

It is assumed by top officials here
that Hanoi and the National Liberation
Front, despite their serious losses on
the battlefield since May, are deter-
mined to mount one more offensive
before November.

Their supplies from the North have
been reduced by the American mining
of Haiphong harbor and the relentless
pounding of U.S. air power, but they
have not been stopped, and there is no
evidence that the Hanoi negotiators
are responding to Kissinger's argument
that Mr. Nixon's peace terms are more
generous now than they are likely to
be if he wins the election.

Nevertheless, the Administration in-
tends to keep the secret Paris talks
going throughout the campaign, for the
more active Kissinger is on the peace
front, the more awkward it is for
Senator McGovern to argue that Mr.
Nixon is concerned mainly with wag-
ing war.

Kissinger's mission to Saigon has a
dual purpose. It enables him to inform
General Thieu of the tone and sub-
stance of the Paris talks and relieves
him of the charge that the Administra-
tion talks to Hanoi but not to Saigon.
Also, while Mr. Nixon has said he
would not force the retirement of
General Thieu, he does not want to
give Thieu a veto over Washington's
peace terms or allow Thieu to think
that American airpower will be at his
disposal for as long as he wishes to
remain in office.

The Administration would obviously
like to see a compromise settlement
and a cease-fire in Vietnam before
the election in November, but the
President is said to be confident that
he can win anyway even if Hanoi
offers before the voting to release all
prisoners of war under Senator Mc-
Govern's more generous peace terms.

What the President has not been
able to see, however, is how he will
be able to withdraw if both Saigon and
Hanoi stick to their present policies,
and the Communists go back to guer-
rilla warfare, which could go on indefi-
nitely.

His dilemma is that the Saigon
regime cannot be relied on to defend

itself without American air power,
and yet is not likely to make any more
concessions for peace as long as it
thinks the American fighters and
bombers will remain.

The Administration has been trying
to persuade Hanoi, not only in Paris,
but with some help from the Soviets,
that it is trying to work out a lasting
accommodation with Moscow, Peking
and the other Communist capitals, and
that North Vietnam can avoid the de-
struction of its industries and benefit
by the reconstruction of its country
if it makes peace.

Officials here say Kissinger has been
instructed to inform the negotiators
on the other side that Mr. Nixon's
terms are flexible, and he is said to
be urging them to propose modifications
to the Nixon peace plan. But unless
there has been a change in the last
session at Paris, Hanoi has not budged
from demands that are unacceptable
to the President.

The Administration is said to have
pointed to the progress made toward
a reconciliation between Washington
and Peking, and to have observed that
no progress would have been possible
if Peking had demanded that the
United States get rid of Chiang Kal-
shek and take all its troops out of
Taiwan as conditions for establishing
more normal Sino-American relations.
If China could move toward an accom-
modation one step at a time, why not
Hanoi? But apparently this argument
made no impression on the other side
either.

So the stalemate continues and is
likely to do so until it is clear to Hanoi
that its next offensive has failed, and
that it faces the possibility of a Nixon
victory and the protracted bombard-
ment of its country by a President
who doesn't have to worry any longer
about the political consequences of the
war.

The hope here is that this prospect
will look even more unpleasant to
Hanoi than Mr. Nixon's terms of peace
near the end of the election campaign,
and that then the Kissinger's negotia-
tions will finally make progress.

Meanwhile, the Administration is
content to carry on the Kissinger talks
and let Hanoi choose between bomb-
ing and compromise. Logically, offi-
cials here still keep saying, Hanoi will
finally choose peace, or Thieu, if he
cannot count indefinitely on Ameri-
can air support, will adjust to the
realities, but logic has never been a
surplus commodity in Vietnam, and it
is likely to get even scarcer between
now and November.

7-8

NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE

21 AUGUST 1972 (16)

Put Up and Shut Up

Reports of repression in the Saigon government of Nguyen Van Thieu long ago ceased to be surprising. But last week, in proclaiming a new set of almost preposterously harsh press laws, Thieu demonstrated anew his thirst for total control of thought in South Vietnam. His decrees will almost certainly have the effect of wiping out most of Saigon's newspapers. Those that remain will necessarily be so totally pro-government that Moscow's Pravda may look like an underground sheet by comparison. And, along the way, Thieu's treasury stands to pick up some extra pasters.

The new law, which will go into effect early next month, is straightforward enough. Every newspaper publishing in Vietnam must deposit 20 million pasters (approximately $47,000) in the national treasury to guarantee payment of fines they might receive for printing news that is deemed harmful to the national interest. In fact, many Vietnamese newspapers are judged by even neutral observers to be inaccurate in their reporting and irresponsible in their criticism of the government. But opposition leaders argue that Thieu's action was overly fierce. "The purpose of the law is not to defend the country," says one editor. "It is to destroy the opposition."

The financial requirement will probably be enough to knock off all but about twelve of Vietnam's 44 dailies (27 published in Vietnamese, fourteen in Chinese, two in English and one in French). And those papers that survive will still have plenty to worry about. Not only can the government levy fines under the new law, but it can legally confiscate newspapers and seek life sentences in prison for offending publishers. U.S. officials in Saigon, treating Thieu's latest conflict with the press as purely an internal Vietnamese issue, have publicly ignored the episode. "It is unfortunate, of course," says one senior U.S. official, "but this is a sovereign country."

KISSINGER VISIT...CONT'D

now describes, why didn't the Johnson administration do something about them?

The record of that period shows that the Paris negotiations were bogged down on such elementary questions as the shape of the table. It was a period when a lame-duck administration had no power in Washington to commit the incoming Nixon administration.

The hassle over whether Mr. Shriver himself warned the State Department that it should pursue the "peace signals" is only a side issue.

Mr. Rogers says he has no such communications form Mr. Shriver. Mr. Shriver retorts that his views were incorporated in memorandums from the Paris negotiators.

The spotlight focuses more and more on Mr. Thieu, and the appearance grows that the U.S. will find ways to ease him out of the picture quicker.

Mr. Thieu moves, meanwhile, to restrict the opposition press in Saigon under emergency powers.

The New York Times reports that there is torture and mutilation of suspected Communist sympathizers in the South. And Mr. Thieu calls for relentless bombing of the North, for years if necessary.

THE WASHINGTON POST 16 AUGUST 1972

Victor Zorza

Moscow Fears
Peking-Bonn Tie

CHINA'S ENTRY into European politics, which Moscow has been viewing with some anxiety as a prospect for the future, has suddenly become for the Kremlin an immediate and alarming a reality.

The fanciful notion of an anti-Soviet alliance between China and West Germany, which is one of the Kremlin's recurring nightmares, has now become an issue in the party maneuvers leading up to the West German general election in December.

It is not an open issue, because no responsible politician in West Germany now advocates anything as adventurous as that. The public debate in Germany is centered on whether diplomatic relocations with China should be established immediately, as the opposition Christian Democratic Party is urging, or after the election, as Willy Brandt's government would prefer to do, so as not to upset the Kremlin.

The Kremlin's own fears and dark suspicions have transformed the issue of diplomatic recognition into the threat of an alliance between Russia's most powerful neighbors and, as some Soviet leaders believe, potential enemies. The Kremlin elevated last month's visit to Peking by Gerhard Schroeder, the former German foreign minister, to the status of an opening move in the CDU's supposed plans to enter into an alliance with China if it wins the December election.

PERHAPS THE Kremlin wanted only to warn the West Germans against playing with any such dangerous ideas. But in showing its fears so emphatically it has also persuaded many West German leaders that they still hold a strong Chinese card which they could play against the Soviet Union.

Certainly there are strong forces in the West German opposition which do not accept the new treaties the Brandt government has negotiated with the Soviet Union and its allies at face value. These farces argue that Brandt has given the Russians too much, and they would like to get some of it back if the Christian Democrats form a government.

The know that Bonn cannot on its own make the Communist world di gorge East Germany or make the Kremlin heed other West German desires, But they believe that West Germany and China have a common interest in checking the power of their common neighbor and that they would therefore coordinate their policies.

Investia, Moscow's official government daily newspaper, concluded that Schroeder's visit showed that West Germany's Christian Democrats were willing to go along with Peking's anti-Soviet designs, and recalled that they had long nursed the idea of "playing the Chinese trump card" against the Russians. The East German Communist Party newspaper Neus Duitshland said that Schroeder was working for a "partnership with Peking' in which "He smells the chances of realizing an ancient Bonn dream."

Brandt's Foreign Minister Walter Scheel, sought to reassure the Russians. Questioned in an interview about the opposition's advocacy of contacts "as a means of exerting pressure on Russia" and as an alternative to West German's present foreign policy of far-reaching cooperation with the Soviet Union, he answered: "It is naive to think that the Federal Republic (West Germany) could enter into an alliance with China against other great world powers."

IS THE West German opposition naive, or the Kremlin? If viewed in terms of in? If viewed in terms of the old balance of power based on military might, the notion of Germany and China squeezing the Soviet Union between them is certainly naive. But what the Kremlin fears is the role that a Chinese-German arrangement might come to play in the new diplomatic balance of power which is gradually replacing the old. But this new balance itself is not as safe as it might seem. Moscow now sees itself as potentially threatened by China and Germany, while both countries still feel threatened by Moscow. When nations maneuver under threat the results are never as predictable as some policy makers would have us believe.

8-F

CHICAGO TRIBUNE 17 August 1972

# More on Shriver's 'Signal'

As Secretary of State Rogers says, there is an "Alice in Wonderland" coloration to Sargent Shriver's charge that President Nixon received an indication from North Viet Nam early in 1969 that it wanted to wind up the war and "blew" the chance.

Averell Harriman and Cyrus Vance, President Johnson's negotiators in the Paris "peace" talks, amplified the Vice-Presidential candidate's statement by saying that the "signal" was the withdrawal of 90 per cent of the troops Hanoi formerly had on the offensive in South Viet Nam.

But, says Mr. Rogers, that occurred in September and October of 1968, three months before Mr. Johnson left office and Mr. Nixon took over. His question seems logical: If the Democrats interpreted the withdrawal as signifying that the Communists wanted a settlement, why did they not act upon it and do something?

And if that was indeed Hanoi's intention, why did it not instruct its Paris negotiators to tell their American counterparts directly?

An informed guess of why the North Vietnamese cleared out of the South is

that they took a bad mauling in the lunar new year offensive during February and March of 1968. They suffered additional losses in two subsequent waves of attack, the first in May when the first Paris talks got under way and the second in August.

The final withdrawals to North Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia were linked to the agreement in Paris on Nov. 1 for the end of all American bombing of North Viet Nam.

State Department and intelligence estimates are that the withdrawals indicated the other side was "licking its wounds" and that it had to regroup and resupply because of the serious losses sustained in the Tet offensive. Such operations have been characteristic of Communist tactics over the years, and it is far-fetched of Messrs. Shriver, Harriman, and Vance to consider them a conciliatory gesture or a positive invitation.

The New York Times headlines its chronology of the events: "Focus of Dispute: Peace Signal in '68 or Politics in '72?" Well, come to think of it, there is an election coming.

The Abc

DESPITE the Presi-
dent's univer-
sal bombin-
g forth a
States
sea the
Vietna
Battalions
and their
troops
in the un-
ear di-
rectly in-
dike its
opponents
say that
wings an
with inten-

BALTIMORE SUN 17 AUGUST 1972 Pg 1

Kissinger, Bunker
—to meet Thieu today

Saigon (A)—Henry A. Kissinger began a comprehensive review of the war and peace negotiations last night in preparation for a report to President Nixon before the opening of the Republican National Convention Monday.

Arriving in a nighttime drizzle from Zurich, Switzerland, where he had joined his parents for their 50th wedding anniversary, the presidential adviser sped off in a black limousine from the tightly guarded Tan Son Nhut Airport to the home of the United States ambassador, Ellsworth Bunker. He made no statement to newsmen.

Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Bunker conferred into the night in preparation for a meeting with President Nguyen Van Thieu today.

Fanned speculation

The simultaneous departure of Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnamese negotiator, from Paris for Hanoi fanned speculation that a new peace move was being explored.

U.S. officials in Saigon were light-lipped. They repeated a statement issued by the White House earlier that Dr. Kissinger was in Saigon for a "general review of all aspects of the Vietnam problem including the negotiations in Paris."

Shortly before Dr. Kissinger arrived, U.S. officials disclosed that President Nixon has decided to withdraw additional American troops from Vietnam after September 1, when the

(CONTINUED PAGE 2)

THURSDAY MORNING - 17 AUGUST 1972

KISSINGER--CONT.

level will be down to 35,000. This does not include 100,000 Americans supporting the Saigon government's war effort from air bases in Guam and Thailand and from ships of the 7th Fleet off the Vietnamese coast.

Mr. Nixon will make an announcement on further pullout some time during the next two weeks, the officials said. They added that he had not decided on a firm figure, but, the several contingency plans are available to meet last-minute changes.

In Washington, the presidential press secretary, Ronald L Ziegler, also cautioned against speculation about a break-through in the negotiations. He said Dr. Kissinger's trip had been under consideration for several weeks.

Asked if Dr. Kissinger had gone to Saigon to ask General Thieu to step down, Mr. Ziegler replied by warning news-men against speculation on details and contents of these talks and the ones the adviser has been holding in Paris.

"Incorrect speculation"

"Those who are aware of the content of these talks are very few," he said. "Therefore I can say quite confidently many of the speculative stories that come up from time to time are just that."

Pressed again to say whether Dr. Kissinger was asking General Thieu to resign and make way for a coalition government—one demand made by the Communists in the Paris peace talks—Mr. Ziegler said: "It would be incorrect speculation to say that Dr. Kissinger's trip is for that purpose."

There were some suggestions floating around Washington that Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Tho would report no progress in their secret talks. The two have met three times in the past six weeks.

Another possibility raised was that Mr. Kissinger was in Saigon to reassure General

WASHINGTON POST

17 AUG 1972 pB6

Army Plans School
On Race Relations

HEIDELBERG, Germany, Aug. 16 (AP)—The U.S. armed forces in Europe will establish a race relations school to train 34 two-man instructor teams by Dec. 15, the Army said today.

The announcement followed several outbreaks of violence over the past weeks, at least two of which had racial overtones.

A statement said the school, patterned after the Defense Race Relations Institute at Patrick Air Force, Fla., will be located at Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps. "Each class will be conducted for three weeks and will consist of 16 teams composed of an officer and a noncommissioned officer, one Caucasian and the other from a minority group," the statement said.

Thieu that Mr. Nixon intended to continue backing him.

The Paris peace talks have been deadlocked over one key political issue—control of the Saigon government. Hanoi wants a political settlement that would oust General Thieu.

Tho calls trip routine

Paris Bureau of The Sun

Paris — When Le Duc Tho, Hanoi's "secret" peace negotiator, left the French capital for Hanoi yesterday he warned that his sudden departure did not necessarily signal a breakthrough in his talks with Henry A. Kissinger.

Mr. Tho, who met Monday with Dr. Kissinger, President Nixon's national security advisor, said at Le Bourget Airport: "My trip is a routine one and has no other significance."

An aide said the trip was long planned and that Mr. Tho would be staying on for September 2, the national day.

WASHINGTON STAR & NEWS 17 August 1972 P1

# Thieu Meets
With Kissinger

SAIGON (AP) — U.S. presi-
dential adviser Henry Kissin-
ger conferred with President
Nguyen Van Thieu and the top
U.S. officials in Saigon today,
but nobody would say what he
told them.

"I really won't talk—there
is no sense in asking me ques-
tions," President Nixon's chief
adviser on foreign policy told
newsmen when they asked if
he was delivering any new
peace proposals to Thieu.

Kissinger, who arrived yes-
terday from Paris and Swit-
zerland, met with Thieu after
a session last evening with
U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth
Bunker and a meeting of near-
ly three hours today with
Bunker, Gen. Frederick. C.
Weyand, the commander of
U.S. forces in Vietnam, and
Weyand's Air Force com-
mander, Gen. John W. Vogt.

(Saigon government sources
said Thieu had spurned a U.S.
bid for a luncheon meeting at
the palace with Kissinger on
the ground that Theiu was
"too busy," United Press In-
ternational reported. However,
Thieu agreed to a meeting lat-
er in the day.)

Kissinger said his confer-
ence with the other Americans
dealt with "the general politi-
cal and military situation."
This echoed the White House's
earlier announcement that he
was going to Saigon for a
"general review of all aspects
of the Vietnam problem in-
cluding the negotiations in
Paris."

Kissinger came to Saigon
after a secret meeting in Paris

Monday with Le Duc Tho of
the North Vietnamese Politbu-
ro. While the American was
traveling to South Vietnam,
Hho was en route back to Ha-
noi.

This combination of events,
coupled with the boost that a
peace agreement would give
President Nixon's candidacy
for re-election, touched off
speculation around the world
that Kissinger and Tho had
made a deal and that Kissin-
ger had come to Saigon to tell
Thieu he would have to resign
and make way for a coalition
government.

In Washington, White House
press secretary Ronald L. Zie-
gler denied that was Kissin-
ger's mission, saying it would
be "incorrect speculation to
say that Dr. Kissinger's trip is
for that purpose."

RNOON
T NEWS

T 17, 1972

el Bombs
y Clark

Rejects
Charge

loyed or under construction.

'Under Construction'

Instead, he said, intelligence
eports now show the Soviets
only had 42 missile subma-

WASHINGTON STAR & NEWS

17 August 1972 P8

WASHINGTON STAR & NEWS

17 August 1972 P12

'construction.' "

It appeared from Kissinger's
earlier statements that the
U.S. side considered a subma-
rine to be "under construc-
tion" when hull sections are
brought together at an assem-
bly shed, while the Russians
used an earlier stage to mean
a submarine was "under con-
struction."

Jackson refused to back
down after Fulbright's rejec-
tion of his charge and reaterat-
ed his claim. "They lied.
There is no other way. They
said they had 48," he said.

In other comments, Jackson
claimed that opponents of his
amendment calling for "equal-
ity" in any future nuclear
terms agreement were delay-

CONTINUED PAGE 2

WS 17 August 1972 P1

0 Strikes
North

can jets hit North Viet-
rikes yesterday in the
tesumption of full seaplane

BALTIMORE SUN
16 August 1972

Japan-China
link renewed
by Tanaka

BY THOMAS PEPPER

Sun Staff Correspondent

Tokyo—Kakuei Tanaka, Japan's prime minister, met yesterday with China's Sun Ping-hua, deputy secretary general of the semi-official China-Japan Friendship Association, in the first direct contact with an official from mainland China since the Communist takeover in 1949.

It represented another step in the process leading toward normalization of relations between the two countries. Mr. Tanaka was invited last month to visit China by Chou En-lai, his counterpart, and he accepted the invitation last week. Mr. Tanaka is expected to go to Peking late next month.

Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Sun held their talks in what was described as a "cordial atmosphere from beginning to end."

One of the stickiest problems now facing Tokyo and Peking is the need to declare a formal end to World War II hostilities.

Tokyo would prefer to avoid another act of surrender, and to avoid formally abrogating its earlier treaty with Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists.

Peking, on the other hand, regards the government on Taiwan as an outlaw group, with whom no treaties should be binding.

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Tanaka accompanied Emperor Hirohito to government-sponsored ceremonies marking the 27th anniversary of the end of World War II.

A minute of silence was officially observed at noon, and flags on government buildings flew at half-mast.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
14 August 1972

Focus

on the tricks
of warfare

By Henry S. Hayward

Hong Kong

War has its tricks — and the war in South Vietnam is no exception.

Take the case of the rebounding bridge:

A North Vietnamese bridge was bombed. One span was dropped. The Communists hid a heavy crane under the fallen span and, when night came, lifted it back into place. That night traffic flowed freely over the supposedly bombed bridge.

Before dawn, the crane lowered the span once more onto the river bed. In daylight, with the crane again concealed, the bridge did not appear a necessary target to U.S. bombers. But the next night it could be used again... and again....

Communist gunners in the South sometimes lob in a few mortar rounds aimed at a specific target. But if it is an urban target, they often don't know if they hit it.

They then wait for reports of sympathizers or agents in the town, base, or city before firing again.

They also look in the local newspapers, to see if reporters have indicated where the shells landed, so they can correct their aim.

Or they listen to police radio calls to see where police cars or ambulances or firefighting equipment is being sent to handle the shelling.

Thus South Vietnamese police don't give the proper names of the shelled areas in their radio calls. They use codes and nicknames instead. And military officials become vague when pressed by newsmen for specific details of where incoming shells landed.

Some left to roam

Similarly, when South Vietnamese police capture Viet Cong agents in Saigon or other cities, they try to obtain information on other agents. They do not pick up all the known enemy operatives because they want them to lead to other agents. Sometimes they just

keep an eye on what's going on.

Last month in Phu Lam, near Saigon, one Saturday was devoted to a practice alert. The idea was to show citizens how to cope with a genuine enemy attack. But it also was a good opportunity for South Vietnamese intelligence experts to look for draft dodgers, deserters, and Communist infiltrators in the crowd.

The latter in particular were expected to be on hand to see what the government intends to do in event of an attack.

Thus Saigon officials sent to the scene a number of Communists who had voluntarily surrendered (known as chieu hola) who were spotted in the crowd. If they saw a familiar Communist face, they could quietly point him out to the police, who then would arrest the man for interrogation.

Double agents

This system, however, is subject to possible abuses. A Communist turncoat just might be still pro-Communist and not identify his former colleagues. Equally bad, he might identify an innocent civilian against whom he just happened to have a grudge or wish to remove from the scene.

The North Vietnamese, meanwhile, use a number of known tricks to protect their tanks and guns from air attacks. One used during the Easter offensive was to park new tanks alongside old wrecked ones.

The theory apparently was that American and South Vietnamese pilots already had grown accustomed to seeing a destroyed tank in a certain location and would pay no further attention to it — nor would they notice the undamaged vehicle alongside.

This protective measure did not always work, needless to say.

There also was the well-known North Vietnamese practice of assigning soldiers with brushes or branches to walk behind their tanks to obliterate the tread marks and bent grass which otherwise led airmen to the tank even if the machine itself was disguised.

Of bridges and bombs

Another tactic was and is to park vehicles and weapons inside houses, or under, over-hanging rocks and in narrow defiles, or clumps of trees. If they can reach dense jungle, of course, the protection from the air is best of all.

The United States has introduced the so-called "smart" bombs which literally see their way to difficult targets by means of television cameras or laser beams in their nose. The Communists are less technical but equally ingenious.

30

cost the South Vietnamese 14 men killed and 28 wounded.

American troop strength in Vietnam dropped to 42,400 as of last Thursday, the United States command reported.

A 2,200-man cut left 3,400 to depart in three weeks in order to meet President Nixon's September 1 goal of 39,000.

In the air attacks on North Vietnam, Navy pilots reported that they struck barracks and storage buildings at the Hoi Doi military complex, 20 miles southwest of the port of Haiphong. Smoke and darkness prevented an assessment of damage.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

11 August 1972

# U.S. boosts arms flow to Saigon

By Daniel Southerland
Staff correspondent of
The Christian Science Monitor

Saigon
The United States has replaced equipment lost by the South Vietnamese in the early stages of the North Vietnamese offensive and now is providing additional planes, tanks, and artillery pieces.

Military sources say that the South Vietnamese are getting more M-48 tanks, more 155-mm. howitzers, and more 176-mm. artillery pieces.

They are also getting additional Quad-50's called "dusters," which consist of four 50-caliber machineguns mounted together.

The South Vietnamese Army now has more tanks and artillery pieces in the field than it did before the start of the North Vietnamese offensive.

Military sources say that the added equipment is being provided because of North

Vietnam's use of the air during the offensive.

The offensive and a reconsideration of Force's capabilities in giving the Air Force the supersonic F-16 and the F-5ES, according

The sources say being given to provide the A-4 Skyhawk which is more solid and fighter.

The Skyhawk has Navy in the bombing aircraft. Until now, the A-37 light attack aircraft sophisticated aircraft have had. They are Vietnam's MIG-21.

South Vietnamese are replacing equipment being replaced. The losses were

The 3rd Infantry all its artillery and retreat from Quartermay.

The United States recently moved to the Cambodian Army Vietnamese tank at the Cambodian Army M-72 light anti-tank as the LAW.

WASHINGTON POST

13 August 1972

# Burma Easing Its Isolation

By Jack Folsie
Los Angeles Times

RANGOON, Burma—The government of this aloof nation is beginning to let down a little the barriers that set it apart from the rest of the world.

While still trumpeting to his 27.5 million people the virtues of “the Burmese way to socialism,” Prime Minister Ne Win of the Revolutionary Government of the Union of Burma appears to be relaxing, a tiny bit, the rigid, rigorous and parochial practices of the past decade which have made Burma a loner in world affairs, and stagnant in material progress at home.

Diplomats here of all political stripes normally would be cheering these first tentative experiments by Ne Win to soften his Marxist-inspired political and economic absolutism. But they obviously suspect that any foreign expression of approval would turn off his efforts at liberalism.

Burma—so “unaligned” it refuses even to join other non-aligned nations in friendly chats — has diplomatic relations with both Koreas, both Vietnams, and both Germans. But with a 1,300-mile common border with the People’s Republic of China, Burma does not deal with “the other China” on Taiwan.

## Incentive-Price System

While continuing to regard foreign goodwill as suspect, in recent months Ne Win has appeared ready to give up on some socialistic doctrine, particularly by allowing—behind his back—a small-scale incentive-price system to creep into agricultural production.

He has never been able to convince the farmer—about two-thirds of Burma's 10 million workers—that all-government marketing of the crops is good for the peasant.

More and more farm produce is being allowed to enter the “free market”—the black market. Police occasionally make token raids on black

marketeers, but selling a tiny part of the crop for profit is now being recognized as serving the farmer, as well as the public.

The Burmese housewife is getting tired of standing in long lines at government shops and then finding that the choice items are all sold out.

Besides relaxing socialized farming and crop-marketing, Ne Win seems to be slowing nationalization of industry. His last spurt was in January. It appeared to be a punitive measure, directed against small one-family businesses (mostly run by Chinese and Indians) for black marketing raw materials they were granted by the government for “peoples production.”

## Foreign Aid

Another breakthrough is that while still treating foreigners with caution, Burma is accepting more and more foreign aid. None of it is from the big three, the Soviet Union, China or the United

States. is Japan

For there firm determination to represent Ne Win toward straight Bates Trans-Oceanic offshore is found in Burma.

Although every sidered spy on non-governmental research other change

For ton and to represent in major junction in a sma

28

AFTERNOON
CURRENT NEWS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1972

WASHINGTON STAR 18 August 1972 P1

Kissinger, Thieu
End Private Talks

SAIGON (AP) — Henry A. Kissinger ended two days of talks with President Nguyen Van Thieu today, and flew to Japan, leaving no hints for the public of what they said to each other.

Brief statements issued by
the U.S. Embassy and by
Thieu's office said the nearly
six hours of talks had dealt
with the "general situation" in
Vietnam and the peace nego-
tiations in Paris.

If there were any significant
disagreements between Kissin-
ger and the South Vietnamese,
they were not revealed by the
statements. even though they
were issued separately. But
the total time consumed by the
secrecy-cloaked talks height-
ened speculation that new
peace proposals had been
carefully explored during the
two days of meetings.

The U.S. Embassy state-
ment said the talks "provided
an opportunity for a general
review of all aspects of the
situation in South Vietnam as
well as of the talks which have
taken place in Paris with rep-
resentatives of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam."

The South Vietnamese com-
munique said the two men had
"reviewed the general situa-
tion of the Republic of Viet-
nam and questions related to

the Paris peace talks."

Kissinger was smiling and
appeared relaxed when he was
seen off at Tan Son Nhut Air
Base by U.S. Ambassador
Ellsworth Bunker and Nguyen
Phu Duc, Thieu's chief adviser
on national security.

Kissinger was to stop over-
night in Tokyo for a meeting
with Japan's new prime minis-
ter, Kakuei Tanaka, then fly
home to report to President
Nixon at Camp David.

No Photos Allowed

Newsmen were not allowed
near the Saigon conferences
and not even the usual photo-
graphs of the participants
were permitted. Kissinger and
Thieu met for three hours and
45 minutes today and for two
hours and 15 minutes yester-
day.

Le Duc Tho, top North Viet-
namese adviser -at the Paris
peace talks, ended his two day
stay in Moscow yesterday and
flew home to Hanoi, the Tass
news agency reported.

While in Moscow, he met
Politburo member Andrei P.
Kirilenko and Konstantin F.
Katushev, secretary of the So-
viet Central Committee. Both
Soviet officials reiterated their
support of North Vietnam and
again denounced the American
bombing and mining of North
Vietnamese ports, Tass said.

Reds Bag Jet,
Shell Airfield

SAIGON (AP)—Communist
forces shelled the Da Nang air
base and an adjoining village
and shot down the 77th Ameri-
can plane lost over North Viet-
nam since the resumption of
full-scale bombing 4½ months
ago, the U.S. Command an-
nounced today.

One American and eight Viet-
namese were reported killed
in the rocket barrage at Da
Nang and four Americans and
eight Vietnamese were wound-
ed. The U.S. Command said
two buildings and six U.S. air-
craft were damaged.

Two barrages of rockets hit
about 2½ hours apart before
dawn today. Estimates on the
number fired ranged from 13
13 to 16.

The U.S. Command also re-
ported that an American ad-
viser was killed last night dur-

WASHINGTON STAR
18 August 1972 P3D

Post-Election
Decision Date
On F14 Okd

By ORR KELLY
Star-News Staff Writer

A House-Senate conference
committee has agreed to
postpone a key decision date
in the Navy's F14 fighter
plane program from Oct. 1
until after election day, Con-
gressional sources said to-
day.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, 18 AUGUST 1972

MARY MGRORY

WASHINGTON STAR & NEWS 18 AUGUST 1972 P-10

Nothing Can Stop the Wild Blue Yonder

Bombers

Sometimes when a peace
mission is contradicted by a
bombing raid, it is an acci-
dent. Such was the case in
December 1966, when "Opera-
tion Marigold," three months
in Careful cultivation, was
wiped out by an untimely
strike on Hanoi.

Somebody forgot to ground
the Air Force that particular
day.

In 1967, when Soviet Pre-
mier Alexei Kosygin was visit-
ing Hanoi supposedly to talk
reason, the Air Force appar-
ently again failed to get the
word.

Sometimes, however, it is
deliberate. The same year,
when Harold Wilson, then
England's prime minister,
thought he had sighted a dove,
in long talks with Kosygin, a
bombing pause brusquely ter-
minated by Lyndon Johnson,
who could not wait another 48
hours.

Stubborn Little Nation

So the fact that Henry Kls-
singer's arrival in Saigon for
talks with Nguyen Van Thieu

coincided with massive raids
on the North - could mean
only that nothing can stop the
Air Force once it is pro-
grammed for 400 strikes or
that the President didn't want
the North Vietnamese to think
he was going 50 ft.

Le Duc Tho was simulta-
ously arriving in Hanoi, and
since he spends much of his
time in Paris, as his country's
chief negotiator, maybe the
President thought he should
have a taste of the medicine
he has prescribed in unlimited
doses for a stubborn little na-
tion that refuses to cooperate
in his re-election plans.

Maybe the routine raids
were to reassure President
Thieu, who has lately com-
plained of faintheartedness
from Washington.

There is speculation that
Kissinger took in his baggage
the deed of a villa on the Ri-
viera where Thieu could spend
his exile. His departure is a
hard-core demand of the North
Vietnamese, but they have
also added the conditin that
Thieu's entire government be
"dismantled."

Still, if Thieu were to go
and the war still goes on, Nix-
on can claim on the campaign
trail that he has gone the ex-

tra mile, and that only the
intransigence and arrogance
of the North condemns its peo-
ple to further and perhaps
even more severe punishment.

Ramsey Clark, who is just
back from Hanoi, reports that
the effect of the bombing on
the people who endure it has
been to stiffen their resist-
ance. The former attorney
general cannot expect a hear-
ing on this point, although his-
tory is on his side.

No doubt Richard Nixon
would like to have peace in
Vietnam, as another star in
his crown. But each passing
day seems to persuade him
that he can be re-elected with-
out it. At the moment, the
McGovern campaign poses as
much threat to his prospects
as North Vietnam does to the
security of the United States.

McGovern's talkative
friends are providing him with
unlimited embarrassment on
his key issue. Sargent Shri-
ver's initiative about the
bright prospects in 1968 and
1969 falls awkwardly within
the Johnson period in the
White House. Ramsey Clark's
suggestion that the prisoners
would be released upon the
election of McGovern didn't
help noticeably, either.

But these gaffes fade into
brilliance when compared with
the revelations of Pierre
Salinger's diplomatic efforts
in Paris last month, and Mc-
Govern's handling of them.
The candidate, who is sur-
rounded by men with a
marked lack of a passion for
anonymity, first denied that
Salinger was his agent, later
declared that it was at his
"request" that Salinger sound-
ed out the North Vietnamese
about the prisoners.

The episode did not jeopardize the prospects of peace as much as the bombing of Hanoi, but it did raise serious questions about McGovern's judgement and capacity for self-preservation.

No matter what Kissinger
brings back from his pre-
convention spectacular, the
President feels confident of his
own future. The public, ac-
cording to available indica-
tors, is not aroused about the
bombing. The polls show that
in a choice between the vindi-
citive and the hapless, the
country will go for the vindici-
tive. The Republican Platform
Committee has ruled out the
war as a subject for discussion
at the convention. It seems
well on its way to being elimi-
nated as a campaign issue as
well.

REDS BAG

T....... CONTINUED

Reds southwest of Saigon,
there South Vietnamese
ces are trying to blunt an
my buildup and keep open
hway 4 to the capital.

The Saigon command said
oteurs blew up a small
idge on the highway about
miles southwest of the capi-
ternarily stopping traf-

outh Vietnamese militia-
n battled enemy forces
out 25 miles southwest of

WASH STAR & NEWS

18 AUGUST 1972

P- D6

NBC CREW
IN PEKING

Lucy Jarvis, the NBC
producer of "The Louvre"
and associate producer of
"The Kremlin," arrives in
Peking today (Friday) with

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, 16 AUGUST 1972

WASHINGTON STAR AND NEWS 16 AUGUST 1972 PAGE 1

# Kissinger, Tho Head for Vietnam

By GEORGE SHERMAN

Star-News Staff Writer.

Presidential advisor Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho both headed for Vietnam today to touch base in Saigon and Hanoi, respectively about fresh movement in their private Paris talks.

In Washington it was doubted that there would by any swift, dramatic outcome to either visit. Well-placed sources, while cautioning against any imminent breakthrough, added that enough had happened in the private sessions to warrant close personal consultation with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.

"We are in a sensitive period now and it is not worthwhile to speculate on or to characterize the negotiations," White House press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler said yesterday in announcing Kissinger's visit to Saigon.

The key presidential aide, who Monday held his third meeting since July 19 with the North Vietnamese, was to arrive in Saigon today and to leave Friday.

According to Ziegler, Kissinger is to meet with Thieu. U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and others "for a general review of all aspects of the Vietnam problem, including the negotiations in Paris."

The Saigon visit, he said, had been under consideration by President Nixon for "several weeks."

Late yesterday the White House said that Nixon had communicated directly with Kissinger before the aide's departure for Saigon from Laax, Switzerland — where Kissinger had been with his parents celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Earlier in the day in Paris, the Viet Cong spokesman at the talks said, without elaboration, that Le Duc Tho would be returning to Hanoi today.

Before departure, the silver-haired member of Hanoi's politburo said that speculation of a breakthrough tied to his trip was not correct.

"My voyage today," Tho said, "is within the framework of my usual comings and goings" between Hano and Paris. "There has been a lot of speculation about my departure. In general, this speculation does not coincide with reality, and could also lead to inaccurate conclusions."

It is expected that Kissinger will visit Tokyo briefly before reporting over the weekend to the President here on the Vietnam negotiations. The

Japan stopover Saturday would deal with the agenda for talks between Nixon and the new Japanese premier, Kakuel Tanaka, set for Hawaii Aug. 31-Sept. 1.

On the Vietnam front, U.S. officials acknowledged that the substance of Kissinger's talks in Paris and Saigon is known to few outside the inner sanctum of the White House. But privately, sources

reject the suggestion that Kissinger and Le Duc Tho have already come up with a compromise which the Americans now must "sell" to their South Vietnamese allies.

What is to happen in Saigon, it is believed, is a sizing-up operation to make sure that Thieu and Nixon remain on the same wave length in the critical months of negotiation and fighting ahead against the North.

According to this diagnosis, Hanoi has hinted privately to Kissinger at willingness to

consider something less than total victory in South Vietnam. That hint, to have any meaning for Nixon, means dropping the Communist demands that the United States couple its military withdrawal from Vietnam with toppling of Thieu. That Hanoi demand is at the heart of the negotiating deadlock.

Nixon has consistently and adamantly insisted that the United States will not impose

(CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE)

# The Kissinger Mission

Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's peripatetic national security adviser, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, seldom travels casually. And coming as it does on the heels of his secret conversations in Paris Monday with North Vietnamese negotiators Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy, it is clear that Kissinger's current visit to Saigon is of the utmost important in the search for a negotiated settlement to the Southeast Asian conflict.

Before he leaves South Vietnam on Friday for his next destination—whatever that may be—Kissinger will, in the words of the White House, review “all aspects of the Vietnam problem, including the negotiations in Paris” with President Nguyen Van Thieu, U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, General Frederick Weyand (the commander of American forces in Vietnam) and other top officials.

No particular prescience is required to deduce that Kissinger's discussions with Thieu will be central to the success or failure of the mission. As President Nixon put it on July 27, the Communist demand that the U.S. dump Thieu and impose a government of "national unity" in which there would be strong pro-Hanoi elements is "the one hang-up" in the negotiations. Mr. Nixon has consistently rejected — we think correctly — the notion that he should hand North Vietnam on a diplomatic platter what it has been unable to gain on the battlefield. And this is the principal substantive difference between Mr. Nixon's approach to the problem of Indochina and that of Senator McGovern, the Democratic standard-bearer, who apparently sees no reason why the United States should not dump Thieu and renege on its commitments to its allies.

It is not known if Kissinger brings with him to Saigon a specific compromise offer from Hanoi. But it is unlikely that he would be making the trip if he did not have definitive proposals to discuss. Back in October of last year, Thieu agreed to give up the presidency a month before new elections under international supervision would be held in

South Vietnam. This was not acceptable to Hanoi then and Thieu is vigorously resisted subsequent suggestions of further concessions on his part. But much has happened since October and it is possible that some variation of this proposal, perhaps dressed up in new clothing, is in Kissinger's briefcase.

There has also been the suggestion that what may emerge is a two-tiered South Vietnamese government, with Communists running the districts they control militarily and the Saigon government ruling in the remainder of the country. Thieu's acquisition of emergency powers in June and the promulgation in Saigon earlier this month of tough new restrictions on the South Vietnamese press may have been in anticipation of such a development.

Whatever the form of a negotiated settlement, it is likely that it will entail an Indochina-wide cease-fire (including, of course, an end to the U.S. bombing of the North) and essential that it provide for the mutual and rapid repatriation of all prisoners of war, military and civilian, American and Vietnamese.

The principle of allowing the South Vietnamese to determine their own political future cannot be compromised. But Thieu should not confuse his own personal political future with that of his country. The second is not negotiable; the first, under certain circumstances, could and ought to be, if by so doing a just peace could be achieved.

This peace initiative, like other previous ones, may well founder and everyone should be prepared for that. But it does appear that we are as close to a negotiated settlement as we have been in many, many months. President Nixon, shortly after his inauguration, said that he would expect to be "judged, and judged harshly" by the electorate if he did not redeem his pledge to end American participation in the war by election day, 1972. It would not surprise us unduly if he had something rather important to say on the subject when he delivers his renomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach one week from tonight.

3

Kissinger's
Trip Is Hit
As 'Junket'

By William Greider

Washington Post Staff Writer

RACINE, Wis., Aug. 17—Sen. George McGovern today accused President Nixon of staging an elaborate, “highly publicized global junket” by foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger to deceive the American public on the chances for peace in Vietnam.

The President's real purpose, McGovern charged, "has been stalling to prop up Gen. Thieu and his corrupt military regime in Saigon."

McGovern's remarks, delivered at an impromptu press conference at a church here, were a counterattack to White House criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate's independent communications with the North Vietnamese over release of American prisoners.

McGovern said, "I think the President has placed the survival of Gen. Thieu's political career ahead of the interests of releasing our prisoners and bringing the troops home. I don't share that view."

McGovern offered this description of Kissinger's recent travels to Paris and Saigon

See McGOVERN, A4, Col. 3

# McGovern Calls Kissinger Trip Junket

## McGOVERN, From A1

where he met with representatives of both North and South Vietnam:

"The President has his chief foreign policy specialist on a highly publicized global junket on the eve of the Republican convention. That is what is interfering with quiet, serious, professional negotiating far more than anyone else could possibly do.

"Mr. Nixon has manipulated Mr. Kissinger and American public opinion to appear to be negotiating when actually he has been stalling to prop up Gen. Thieu and his corrupt military regime in Saigon.

"Meanwhile, another 20,000 American soldiers have been killed while Mr. Nixon has been President. Another 110,000 of our troops have been wounded. And another $60 billion in U.S. tax money has been wasted in the war."

The exchange of harsh criticism between McGovern and the White House began after it was disclosed Wednesday that Pierre Salinger, a McGovern campaign aide, had called on the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris, at-

tempting to arrange an early release of U.S. prisoners in Hanoi.

The White House today said that effort could jeopardize the Administration's attempts to arrange a negotiated settlement of the war. McGovern himself described Salinger's efforts as "a brief middle-level inquiry" which could not affect any serious negotiations with the North Vietnamese.

McGovern said later, however, that he would try no more peace feelers himself, the Associated Press reported.

In Washington, when a reporter asked whether the White House considered Salinger's activities helpful or harmful, presidential press secretary, Ronald L. Ziegler said that it is the President who has "the responsibility to pursue negotiations and he is doing that."

"So we are concerned when this type of activity occurs," Ziegler said with reference to Salinger's meeting with the Communist negotiators.

Asked if the negotiations had in fact been jeopardized, Ziegler said, "We do not know what was said and we cannot make that judgment."

Asked the source of his concern, Ziegler said, "We have a situation where the candidate (McGovern) has declined to be briefed on the negotiations that are underway and there is a chance of his saying some-

thing that could jeopardize the negotiations."

Kissinger is scheduled to return to Washington Saturday and go directly to Camp David to report to the President.

McGovern's counterattack was delivered at St. Edwards Church in Racine where he was meeting with Roman Catholic parents to discuss federal aid for parochial schools. Under questioning, McGovern elaborated on his own decision to designate former Defense Department counsel Paul Warnke to receive White House briefings on foreign policy rather than attend the briefings himself.

"Let me speak rather bluntly on this," McGovern

said. "I don't want to restrict my own right to speak out on the Vietnam issue... I was fearful if I was personally tied in too closely to White House briefings, that might serve as a check on what I could say."

McGovern said that Warnke will use his own judgment on what information from the briefings he passes on to the candidate and that McGovern himself will honor any confidentiality.

"I don't want him to tell me some classified information that I already know," McGovern said. "If he hears some nuance in the negotiations which might change something I'm saying, then he'll pass it on."

ar on Mobsters

which has been battling with
other criminal elements.

Moments before the gunman arrived at the bar, the Neopolitan Noodle, the Gallo mob members left the bar for tables in the rear of the restaurant. Their places were taken by the four businessmen, whose wives were farther down the bar. Without warning, the gunman, who had been standing at the bar, opened fire.

The Gallo faction has been feuding with the “family” of Joseph Colombo Sr.—of which it was once a part—since Colombo was shot down at an Italian-American Unity Day rally in June, 1971. Colombo has been an invalid ever since, and police have attributed at least 15 deaths to the ensuing

tion operations, later consolidating their hold and using the businesses to cover up illegal operations.

Counter-efforts by police are frequently stymied, officials say, by a lack of public awareness of which firms are mob-controlled. At the same time, the public is generally apathetic towards gang wars as long as they remain between the warring groups.

Friday's murder of two innocent men, officials feel, has touched off a public indignation that could be harnessed into broad public support for a campaign to curb mob activities. Toward that goal, City Hall sources confirmed that the mayor has authorized additional funds for the police department and expressed

indications.

* Triggering enough new technologies so that each research worker will create seven new jobs.

Currently the Nixon administration is budgeting $13.9 billion a year for all research and development, about half of it military. One goal of the bill is to spend as much on future civilian research as on military research.

The bill was passed after Kennedy accepted an amendment by Sen. Peter Dominick (R-Colo.) reducing the three-year commitment from $1.8 billion to $1.02 billion. Dominick voted for the bill, though he had previously called it 'wasteful' and "unneeded."

All Virginia and Maryland senators voted for the bill.

Kennedy supporters said the bill could win early backing from the House Science Committee, and ultimately dollar support from the Senate and House Appropriations subcommittees that handle NSF funds.

They conceded that the $1 billion sum might trigger a Nixon veto, if appropriated in full. But they pointed to the success of another Kennedy crusade with a considerable price tag: The federal war on cancer, overwhelmingly passed by Congress and quickly adopted as its own by the administration.

proving the quality of life in this country in a 'quantum jump,'" he said.

"The potential of science is nowhere being matched by its performance," Kennedy argued. "we have the knowledge but we haven't made the concerted effort necessary to put it to use.

"Western Europe, with a gross national product only one-third of the U.S. GNP, has a third more technical personnel employed in civilian research, Japan, with only half the U.S. population and one-seventh of our GNP, has 70 per cent as many scientists and technical personnel in civilian research and development."

Hill Unit Approves
Indian Business Aid

United Press International

The House Interior Committee yesterday approved legislation that would give Indians a new source of fdeeral funds to help them establish businesses.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. John P. Saylor (R-Pa.), would provide an additional $50 million for direct loans to Indians. It also includes a controversial feature authorizing outright grants of up to $50,000 for Indian business enterprises.

# Kissinger Holds Talks in Paris

## TALKS, From A1

form Committee, said yesterday:

Rogers added a new countervestment yesterday to the continuing political crossfire over the charge by Democratic vice president nominee Sargent Shriver that President Nixon passed up "an unparalleled opportunity" to end the war in 1969.

If anyone ignored a peace signal, Rogers charged, "it was President Johnson who missed the boat, not President Nixon."

Rogers was responding to statements supporting Shriver that were made Saturday by W. Averell Harriman, President Johnson's ambassador at the Paris peace talks, and Cyrys R. Vance, Harriman's deputy.

The secretary cited the Harriman-Vance statement that in October or early November of 1968, North Vietnam "signalled its willingness to reduce the level of violence" by withdrawing "almost 90 per cent" of its troops from South Vietnam's two northernmost provinces. Said Rogers:

"That would mean the Dem-

ocratic administration had three months to act on the supposed signal before President Nixon took office." Rogers, reiterating his charge of Friday that Shriver was engaged in "political fantasy," told reporters in Miami, "President Johnson was president then, and we cannot find that he passed on any reference to such a signal."

The public record does show, however, that when the Nixon administration came into office in Jan. 1969, Kissinger ordered a National Security Council review of Vietnam policy that included a question on why North Vietnam had pulled some of its troops out of combat in 1968. The record shows mixed interpretations among government

agencies about the extent to which Hanoi's troop pullback actions were judged to be based on political or military motivations.

State Department spokesman John King said yesterday that the department is still checking "this very complex period of American history" and he could not "confirm or deny" what Harriman and Vance said they reported, but he maintained there was nothing that the department construed as a "signal" for negotiations.

In the current sequence, the administration's announcement of the latest Kissinger meeting in Paris left open the question of where Kissinger will be in the days ahead, as well as the status of the secret talks.

Press Secretary Ziegler said that after the Paris meeting, Kissinger was going to the town of Laax, near Zurich, Switzerland, where his parents, Louis and Paula, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Ziegler said Kissinger's younger brother, Walter, and the presidential adviser's two children, Elizabeth 13, and David, 10, would be with the family group.

Ziegler said Kissinger will leave Switzerland today, but he declined to say where Kissinger is going. That raised speculation about a further Kissinger-Tho meeting, which Kissinger declined to discuss.

The recurring secret talks in Paris are increasing speculation about possible progress in the talks—speculation which the Nixon administration has no interest in discounting. The Washington Post reported on Aug. 4 that according to informed sources North Vietnam was described as "flirting" with U.S. proposals on the central issue of a possible compromise for sharing political power in South Vietnam. Other reports, notably in Time magazine this week, report continuing probing on this issue.

The Who Thought We Were Blowing A Chance
For Peace Should Have Spoken Up"

For the Record . . .

Some Great Successes
In the Post-War Era

From a recent address by Ambassador
U. Alexis Johnson, Under Secretary of
State for Political Affairs.

It is now fashionable to question our mo-
tives and accomplishments in the post-war
era. I find such questions extraordinary.

As to our motives, I will simply note that Winston Churchill, an observer with some experience in these matters, characterized our effort in the early post-war years as the "most unsordid act in history."

To my mind, our accomplishments speak
for themselves:

* Our bitterest enemies of three decades ago are now among our closest friends. And surely it is better to have strong friends than strong enemies.

* The dreadful prospect of another world war, this time between the Communist and non-Communist powers, seems now more remote than at any time since the mid-1940s.

* The American people have prospered to an unprecedented degree during this period.

The Door and Discu

A Republican

In the Journal of the
American Psychiatric
Assn. in 1968, Dr. Harry C.
Solomon, Massachusetts
commissioner of mental
health and professor emeritus at Harvard Medical
School pointed out that
with the introduction of
various drugs, many pa-

WE ARE HAVING
A LITTLE SALE
TWO WEEKS

Mon., July 24 thru Sat. Aug. 5
A Goodly Selection of
Fine Fabrics —

Woolens, Wool & Synthetic
Blends and Acrylics at what
we consider a very attractive
price.

FRANKLIN MILL STORE

Union St. (Just off Rt. 495)
Franklin

Open Daily 8:30-6:00
Mon., Thurs. and Fri. 'til 9:00

GOING
AWAY?

HAVE YOUR RUGS
CLEANED

Call Able at
782-5010

30 Days Free Storage
FREE PICKUP AND DELIVERY
OR
20% OFF FOR CASH AND CARRY

OPEN WED.
NIGHTS 'TIL
9:00

able
rug cleaners<sup>inc</sup>

SATS. 'TIL
5:30

20-30 Franklin St., Allston

# SPECTRUM
Varying shades of personal opinion on current issues

MURRAY KEMPTON
CBS RADIO NETWORK

AUGUST 7, 1972

I'm Murray Kempton.

The farther our civilization advances, the clearer it becomes that the more often you see a man's name in the headlines, the more certain you can be that he has absolutely no power over real events.

Dr. Henry Kissinger, for example, is so regularly described as a mover and shaker of history that the world must be close to suffocation just from holding its breath over his every coming and going.

And yet this same Dr. Kissinger was recorded last winter as wailing that the President was giving him hell every half hour because he couldn't rescue Pakistan from the clutches of India's Madame Nehru.

There will, to be sure, be those who argue that since Mr. Nixon is in a position to bawl out Dr. Kissinger, the President of the United States must be a powerful man indeed. Yet Mr. Nixon was at that very moment helpless before Madame Nehru, which is like being brought to your knees by the superior presence of some chairlady of the League of Women Voters. Such impotence is the property of every great power in a world where China can't even control Hanoi and the Soviet Union can't even ask the minimal courtesies due a house guest from the Arabs.

Still almost no one these days believes that government is anything but feeble. But what about those private men whose very names strike awe in the rest of us? Mr. Howard Hughes would seem to be a potentate beyond all others. Yet now *The Wall Street Journal* tells us that, since Howard Hughes established the seat of his empire in Las Vegas, persons absolutely unknown have stolen $300 million from him.

The lesson of any such revelation would seem to be that the more powerful a figure appears to the innocent among us, the bigger a pushover he is for the larcenous.

Or let us, to surrender our last illusion, look awhile upon the immense presence of Frank Sinatra. It is universally agreed that Sinatra is a figure so powerful that it is by no means a certainty that if the whim seized him to sing in the Sistine Chapel in Christmas Week, His Holiness the Pope would not hasten to extend him the booking. Such majesty, if it existed, would clearly seem to encompass every prince of Sinatra's blood. And yet *The Wall Street Journal* tells us now that Frank Sinatra, Jr., could not get permission to sing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas without kicking back five percent of his salary to its manager.

I did not even recognize the name of the bandit who thus so impudently thumbed his nose at majesty. But that is how things go these days; if you've heard of him, he's helpless; real power is the assured possession only of those entirely anonymous. I'm Murray Kempton with Spectrum.

 diverse opinions expressed on SPECTRUM are those of the commentators themselves and should not be attributed to CBS or any of its affiliates
Produced under the supervision of CBS New York, 57 Street, New York, New York 10019 (212) 765-4391

Kissinger Meets Thieu Amid Rumors

Associated Press

Nixon aide Henry Kissinger is motioned to a seat by South Vietnamese President Thieu at their Saigon talk.

By Jonathan C. Randal

Washington Post Foreign Service

SAIGON, Aug. 18 (Friday)---White House adviser Henry A. Kissinger conferred yesterday and again today with South Vietnamese President Thieu.

Neither side provided even a hint about the substance of

the talks, rumored to center on American determination to force the Saigon government to accept an unwanted compromise peace settlement with Hanoi and the Vietcong.

Kissinger and Thieu—accompanied by aides—met for 2 hours and 15 minutes at South

Vietnam's Independence Palace yesterday afternoon. They conferred again this morning before the scheduled departure for Japan or President Nixon's negotiator in the private peace talks with Hanoi.

There was no certainty that

any substantive statement about the talks would be made even at Kissinger's departure.

Some of Thieu's supporters insist that no breakthrough is in sight and that Hanoi might be justified in denouncing Mr.

See KISSINGER, A15, Col. 1

Bus Purchase

By Jack Eisen

Washington Post Staff Writer

The Senate Public Works Committee approved a new highway bill yesterday that would permit the spending of road funds to buy buses, but would continue the prohibition against such spending on rail rapid transit systems.

The measure, which will go to the Senate floor after the forthcoming recess, would extend the deadline for finishing the 42,500-mile interstate highway system from 1976 to 1980. It would cut the annual interstate financing from $4 billion to $3.25 billion.

Most of the controversy behind closed doors centered on the measure's transit features.

At one point last week, members voted to open the Highway Trust Fund, com-

posed mostly of gasoline tax revenue, to outlay for rail systems. A day later the committee reversed itself.

However, the committee did approve—for the first time in a highway bill—a provision permitting the spending of road funds for the purchase of buses.

It would authorize $300 million for buses to be used in urban areas and another $50 million for buses in rural areas. At the present price of buses, this would provide about 1,000 vehicles a year nationally. (Washington's D.C. Transit System has a fleet of 1,100 buses.)

Sen. Jennings Randolph (D-W.Va.), the committee chairman, insisted the decision to continue to bar the use if road funds for rail trainsit was not anti-rail,

"... Highway funds provided for bus transit are intended to supplement those of the (rail) program and not (to be) used as an excuse to weaken" federal financing of the rail systems, which are concentrated in the nation's largest cities, Randolph said.

The Nixon administration has proposed to abolish the separate rail program, and to consolidate all such transportation programs in a single transportation fund financed largely from gasoline taxes. Some urban spokesman have claimed that both roads and rails might be short-changed under this plan.

The measure also would permit metropolitan areas to re-route proposed controversial interstate highways, even if the reroutings are longer than the originally planned alignments, provided the new routes can be built at no increase in cost.

being harassed by false criminal charges, trials, imprisonment, untimely military call-ups and job dismissals because they wish to emigrate to Israel.

Another member of the House, Rep. John Buchanan (R-Ala.), who is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has an appointment at 10 a.m. today with Victor F. Isakov, a counselor at the Soviet Embassy. A Buchanan aide said the Alabamian plans to discuss "a number of issues that threaten U.S.-Soviet relations."

NASA Critic
Proxmire Has
Funds Role

From News Dispatches

Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.), a vocal critic of the space program, has moved into the chairman's seat on a subcommittee which plays a dominant role in shaping the nation's space budget.

The shift within the Senate Appropriations Committee, brought about by the death of Chairman Allen Ellender, left Proxmire overseer of a $20 billion slice of federal spending, including space, science, housing and urban development and veterans' programs.

Though Proxmire opposed a start on the space agency's next big project, the manned shuttle, he acknowledges that, "the preponderant Senate view is that we have to go ahead. A lot will depend on unemployment."

Appropriation hearings often serve as forums for officials to justify spending for the program or agency involved. Proxmire said his hearings will schedule witnesses with adversary views as well. And he promised that the sessions will be open.

The Associated Press exclusively to use for publication of all news dispatches contained in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein.

CARRIER DELIVERY

Daily and Sunday: 1 week, 98¢; 1 month, $4.25. Daily Only: 1 week, 60¢; 1 month, $2.60. Sunday Only: 50¢ per issue.

BY MAIL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA
(Payable in Advance)

Daily and Sunday: 1 year, $54.00; 6 months, $28.00; 3 months, $14.00; 1 month, $5.50. Daily Only: 1 year, $38.00; 6 months, $19.00; 3 months, $10.50; 1 month, $4.00. Sunday Only: 1 year, $30.00; 6 months, $15.00; 3 months, $8.00; 1 month, $3.00.

BY MAIL BEYOND MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA
(Payable in Advance)

Daily and Sunday: 1 year, $68.00; 6 months, $34.00; 3 months, $18.00; 1 month, $7.00. Daily Only: 1 year, $46.00; 6 months, $23.00; 3 months, $13.00; 1 month, $5.00. Sunday Only: 1 year, $38.00; 6 months, $19.00; 3 months, $10.50; 1 month, $4.00.

Rates outside U.S.A. upon request.

CLIP THIS AD

FURNITURE
CATALOGUE
STORES

Buy the most expensive brands at 25%-35% below retail. You name it, we get it! We ship anywhere.

INTERNATIONAL DECOR

Open 12-8, Sat. & Sun. 12-6

• Alexandria, 5908 Seminary Rd.

• Main Warehouse 820 8860

JOCKEY CLUB'S

Sea Catch

SEAFOOD
AT ITS FRESHEST

Complimentary Valet Parking
2100 Mass. Ave. (Fairfax Hotel)
833-8383

Rockefeller
Grants Top
$10 Million

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (AP)— The Rockefeller Brothers Fund said today it had made a record $10,287,498 in grants in 1971.

The sum brought to nearly $111 million the amount spent by the fund since it was established 32 years ago.

Among recipients of the biggest awards last year were the city's Greenacre Foundation, $340,000 for construction of a park; NAACP Legal Defense Fund, $120,000 for training black lawyers; Planned Parenthood of New York, $200,000, and the United Nations, $100,000 for a Latin American wildland management program.

RADIO-TV PART I
DEFENSE DIALOG

SUMMARIES ARE
NOT TO BE QUOTED

MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF AUG 19, 20)

<table><thead><tr><th>RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.</th><th>WASHINGTON, D. C.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td colspan="2">SUMMARY OF NETWORK NEWS IN THIS ISSUE</td></tr><tr><td>CHARLES COLLINGWOOD, CBS: Much of the fighting in VN today focused on the Saigon area where enemy troops have temporarily, at least, closed down three major highways in an attempt to seal off the capital.</td><td>GARRICK UTLEY, NBC: In SVN the cities of Hue and Da Nang were shelled by NVNese artillery. Government troops and American planes claim to have destroyed at least ten NVNese tanks outside Quang Tri City. Around Saigon three highways near the capital have been cut by NVNese and VC forces, blockading food shipments to Saigon. American planes carried out 250 air strikes against NVN yesterday. And today the US Command in Saigon announced that another plane has been shot down, its pilot is missing. He is the 85th American pilot to be shot down and listed as missing over NVN since the resumption of full-scale bombing in April.</td></tr><tr><td>COLLINGWOOD, CBS: While some Republican leaders in Miami are speculating about the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in the VN situation, President Nixon is meeting tonight with the man who should have the answers to that question, Henry Kissinger, who flew home today after meeting with North and South VNese leaders in Paris and Saigon. ROBERT PIERPOINT, CBS: The White House flatly denies stories that Kissinger went to Saigon to ask Thieu to step down. It is not denied that Kissinger might have detailed a settlement with the communists that would allow them to retain territory they now hold in SVN while new elections are held that could lead to a coalition government in Saigon. NBC also reported Kissinger's return.</td><td>ROGER MUDD, CBS: Today the military completed its airlift of 2500 Marines and Paratroopers to Homestead AFB about 30 miles from Miami. In addition a large force of National Guardsmen is on alert. JOEL BLOCKER, CBS: The 3,000 National Guard Troops who will be on standby call during the Republican Convention spread out in strategic positions around the city today. Hundreds in Miami itself, 150 in Key Biscayne, close to President Nixon's residence, and 900 here at a high school near Convention Hall. If the Convention proceeds peacefully, the next week may turn out to be a lark for the guardsmen.</td></tr><tr><td>COLLINGWOOD, CBS: Kissinger's mission was dismissed by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark as globe-trotting personal diplomacy.</td><td>GARRICK UTLEY, NBC: In a newspaper interview, McGovern said that if he wins in November, he thinks SVN's President Thieu and his group will rush to leave the country, and that their place will probably be taken by a coalition government ready to make a deal with Hanoi. Secretary Rogers thinks that the US will reach a negotiated settlement on the war in VN by election day in November or soon thereafter.</td></tr><tr><td>In SVN three highways near Saigon which had been cut by NVNese and VC forces have been reopened by the government. Further north the NVNese are increasing their pressure against Da Nang. They've overrun a district town and seized the entire Khe Sanh Valley south of Da Nang. Da Nang is larger now because of refugees. TOM STREITHORST, NBC: Reports on official theft of relief supplies.</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

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

PART I

CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 6:30

AUG 19

Military Completes Airlift To Miami

ROGER MUDD: Miami Beach police said today only about 350 protesters camped out last night in Flamingo Park near the Convention Hall. More demonstrators are expected this weekend but it appears unlikely the total will go above 5,000, which is the lowest estimate made by protest organizers.

Today the military completed its airlift of 2500 Marines and Paratroopers to Homestead AFB about 30 miles from here.

JOEL BLOCKER: The 3,000 National Guard Troops who will be on standby call during the Republican Convention spread out in strategic positions around the city today. Hundreds in Miami itself, 150 in Key Biscayne, close to President Nixon's residence, and 900 here at a high school near Convention Hall.

What's the scene down here for these troops this week, what are they going to be doing?

GUARDSMAN: Well, they'll be training. They'll have four hours of training each day and four hours of coordinated recreation. We have a great recreation program, football, basketball and plenty of good movies for them.

BLOCKER: Will troops be carrying any live ammunition?

GUARDSMAN: No, they will not.

BLOCKER: How will they ever get live ammunition if it was necessary?

GUARDSMAN: If the situation develops to that point and the orders change from the highest level of command, the ammunition would be available to them, but they will not carry it in the streets basically.

BLOCKER: From the hotel playground of Miami Beach to the playground of Miami Beach Senior High, where these troops are being billeted it is only a very short distance. And from here to Convention Hall it is only a very short march. And it will be there that these troops will

be work if they're needed this week during the Republican Convention.

Joel Blocker, CBS News, Miami Beach.

Nixon Meets With Kissinger

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD: While some Republican leaders in Miami are speculating about the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in the VN situation, President Nixon is meeting tonight with the man who should have the answers to that question, Henry Kissinger, who flew home today after meeting with North and South VNese leaders in Paris and Saigon.

ROBERT PIERPOINT: Although he has circled the world in a week and might now need some rest, Kissinger has not finished his trip.

He arrived at Andrews AFB late this afternoon and then continued traveling on to Camp David in the nearby mountains of Maryland, where he attends a dinner with President Nixon tonight to report on his conferences in various world capitals.

The President's main interest, of course, is to learn just what Kissinger may have accomplished in bringing nearer a negotiated settlement of the war.

Last Monday in Paris, Kissinger conferred with NVN's Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy.

Thursday and Friday he spent more than six hours conferring with SVN's President Nguyen Van Thieu.

Few other facts are known about those meetings, but there's been plenty of speculation.

But even if Thieu bought such a deal, would Hanoi agree? The White House suddenly encourages an optimistic answer, but so far the facts of the continuing war, and Hanoi's continuing hard line, do not confirm that optimism.

Robert Pierpoint, CBS News, at the White House.

2 Monday, August 21, 1972

PART I

Ramsey Clark Dismisses Kissinger Trip

COLLINGWOOD: Kissinger's mission was dismissed today by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark as globe-trotting personal diplomacy.

He made the remark after a meeting with George McGovern during which the two men talked about Clark's recent visit to NVN.

Fighting Focuses On Saigon Area

COLLINGWOOD: Much of the fighting in VN today focused on the Saigon area where enemy troops have temporarily, at least, closed down three major highways in an attempt to seal off the capital.

The latest road to be cut are Highway One, which goes east of Saigon and Highway Number Four, which leads to the Mekong Delta.

Highway Thirteen, which runs north of the city, has been closed for some time.

There was fighting today in all these areas as government troops tried to reopen the roads.

NBC SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

Kissinger Confers With Nixon

GARRICK UTLEY: Henry Kissinger returned to Washington late this afternoon and he went immediately to confer with President Nixon at Camp David.

Kissinger's round-the-world trip took him first to Paris for secret talks with NVN's top peace negotiator and then to Saigon for more secret talks with President Thieu.

There has been no information of what happened in those meetings, but there's been speculation about a new American peace offer.

Kissinger returned to Washington by way of Tokyo, where he talked about trade and China with Japan's new Prime Minister.

But it was the trip to SVN that was Kissinger's main mission.

George McGovern called it a political journey because it was made just before the Republican Convention.

Whatever it was, Kissinger wouldn't talk about it to reporters. And whatever Kissinger learned or ar-

ranged, President Nixon will be the first to know.

Kissinger left Andrews AFB immediately by helicopter to report to the President at Camp David.

Hue And Da Nang Shelled By NVNese

UTLEY: And the war continues.

In SVN today, the cities of Hue and Da Nang were shelled by NVNese artillery.

Government troops and American planes today claim to have destroyed at least ten NVNese tanks outside Quang Tri City.

Around Saigon three highways near the capital have been cut by NVNese and VC forces, blocking food shipments to Saigon.

It's been a long time since that's happened and it's an indication of a stepped-up enemy activity around Saigon.

Government forces are trying to reopen those roads.

US Planes Carry Out 250 Air Strikes

UTLEY: The air war continues, too.

FACE THE NATION CBS-TV 12:30 PM
AUG 20

Guest: Senator Robert Dole (R.Kan.)

MEET THE PRESS NBC-TV 1:00 PM
AUG 20

Guests: Clark MacGregor, campaign director of the Committee for the Re-election of the President; Herbert Klein, director of communications for the Executive Branch.

3 Monday, August 21, 1972

PART I

ISSUES AND ANSWERS ABC-TV 1:30 PM

AUG 20

Guests: Governors Ronald Reagon of California and Nelson Rockefeller of New York.

NBC SUNDAY NIGHT NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

If McGovern Wins Thieu Will Leave

GARRICK UTLEY: In a newspaper interview published today, McGovern said that if he wins In November, he thinks SVN's President Thieu and his group will rush to leave the country, and that their place will probably be taken by a coalition government ready to make a deal with Hanoi.

Rogers Thinks VN War End By Election

UTLEY: Secretary of State William Rogers thinks that the US will reach a negotiated settlement on the VN War by election Day in November or soon thereafter.

Rogers said that to the Philadelphia Inquirer in a newspaper interview published today. He said that he is convinced that an agreement is near.

That's a significant prediction coinciding with the return of Henry Kissinger from his secret talks with NVNese peace negotiators and SVN's President Nguyen Van Thieu.

Three Highways Reopened In SVN

UTLEY: In SVN three highways near Saigon which had been cut by NVNese and VC forces, have been reopened by the government.

NVNese Increasing Pressure On Da Nang

UTLEY: Further north, though, the news is not so good today.

The NVNese are increasing their pressure against Da Nang. They've overrun a district town and seized the entire Khe Sanh Valley south of Da Nang.

And for the first time, long-range 130mm artillery guns have been spotted near Da Nang. Two of them were destroyed by US airplanes.

The 130mm guns with their 17-mile

ranges have caused very heavy SVNese casualties wherever they've been used.

Da Nang Filled With Refugees

UTLEY: Da Nang is SVN's second largest city, and it's larger than usual now because of refugees.

US officials estimate that as many as 300,000 refugees have fled Quang Tri Province. Many of them are in Da Nang, and Tom Streithorst has a report on them.

TOM STREITHORST: Camp Books was built by the US Marine Corps, which turned it over to the SVNese Army at the beginning of the American withdrawal.

This spring, following the NVNese invasion, Camp Books became a relief center for refugees from Quang Tri Province. In all, there are 62,000 persons living here.

Now, in addition to losing their homes and crowded living conditions, the refugees complain of another problem--widespread official theft of relief supplies. Theft and corruption in VN are so commonplace they're a cliche. But surely stealing from hungry refugees reaches a low point in heartlessness.

Rice, the staple food of VN is the most critical item. Each refugee is supposed to receive a pound a day. They charge that not only are they short-weighted in the distribution, but what they do get is not whole kernel rice, but rice fragments and dust mixed with dirt and foreign matter.

This junior Saigon official said, it's a disgrace to admit it, but the people are right. This grade of rice is meant to be feed for chickens and pigs.

Before coming out here, we asked five American officials concerned with refugees In Da Nang, about the scandal at Camp Books. All of them profess to have no knowledge of it.

The heads of families of one refugee village, representing 9,000 people, met to try and decide whether to accept the rice as offered. They had written a letter of complaint to the province chief, another to the VNese Congress, and a third to President Thieu, without receiving an answer.

In the end the sense of the meeting was to accept the rice as offered

4 Monday, August 21, 1972

PART I

to them. It was that or go hungry.

Tom Streithorst, NBC News, Camp
Books, Da Nang.

Previews of the Week

ARTHUR LORD: Government leaders here in VN and in Japan will be carefully reviewing the discussions that were held with Dr. Henry Kissinger.

The VNese will be concerned about
future American support for the war
effort, while the Japanese will be
thinking in terms of future trade
with the US.

There is likely to be more heavy
fighting in Eastern Cambodia, where
the NVNese will try to infiltrate
fresh troops and tanks into SVN.

And in Laos, representatives of
the communist Pathet Lao and Prince
Souvanna Phouma's Government will
attempt to arrange peace talks to
settle the war there.

5 Monday, August 21, 1972

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF AUG 17)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: Reports on the growing controversy stemming from Pierre SALINGER's talks in Paris with communist negotiators. Today, the White House and several Republican spokesmen assailed the mission as possibly jeopardizing the negotiations and prospects for peace. Similar reports were filed by Robert PIERPOINT, CBS, and Tom JARRIEL, ABC.

ARTHUR LORD reports from Saigon on the meeting between Presidential Foreign Policy Adviser Henry KISSINGER and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van THIEU. LORD notes the South Vietnamese reaction to the talks and speculation as to their timing. Bob SIMON files a similar report on CBS, as does Jim BENNETT, ABC.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, Howard K. SMITH and Charles COLLINGWOOD, CBS, report on the intensification of the air war over NVN, noting that the bombing has been the heaviest since the resumption of the air war in April. John CHANCELLOR reports on the weekly casualty toll in the war. Similar reports were filed by ABC and CBS. CHANCELLOR also reports on a UPI dispatch from Vietnam which quotes Vietnamese medical sources as saying American B-52 strikes in Quangtri Province have killed and wounded more civilians than North Vietnamese gunfire.

BERT QUINT, CBS, reports on the weekly negotiating sessions in Paris. His report includes a film clip of Ambassador William PORTER who notes the absence of any substantive progress in the talks. Howard K. SMITH reports on remarks made in Paris by Madame BINH, which tend to support earlier charges by Sargent SHRIVER that the Nixon administration missed a chance for peace in 1969.

In the ground war, Arnold COLLINS, ABC, reports on the battle for Quangtri, which he says has become a "symbol" of the North Vietnamese offensive. Progress in retaking Quangtri City, he reports, is "imperceptible." Tom STREITHORST, NBC, reports from the highway leading to Quangtri, noting the changing complexion of the battle.

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC TV 6:30

McGovern Clarifies Salinger Mission

JOHN CHANCELLOR: It was hard today, frankly, to tell what was legitimate news about the VN war and what was political news about the VN war. The negotiations for peace are becoming more and more involved in domestic policies these days.

Former Attorney General Ramsey CLARK is fighting with the Defense Department over his recent trip to VN. There is squabbling about a possible NVNese peace signal in 1968. Presidential aide Henry KISSINGER is in Saigon on a journey which will get him home just in time to brief the President before Mr. NIXON goes to the Republican convention.

Senator George McGOVERN yesterday first denied and then confirmed that he had requested Pierre SALINGER, who was on his campaign staff, to speak to the NVNese in Paris about American prisoners.

And at the White House today, press secretary Ron ZIEGLER said this contact could jeopardize the President's effort for a settlement. ZIEGLER said "We are concerned."

And at the Republican convention in Miami Beach, Michigan Senator Robert GRIFFIN spoke out on the contact with the NVNese, having first checked with the White House in Washington. Here is part of what he said.

SENATOR ROBERT GRIFFIN: Everybody knows that Senator McGOVERN doesn't stand a chance in November unless the VN war continues until after Election Day. And in light of that fact, it's shocking and an absolute outrage that an amateur diplomat from Senator McGOVERN's entourage would meddle and inject himself into the official negotiations which are going on to end the war and release the prisoners of war.

But of equal concern, I suggest, to the American people, is the fact that Senator McGOVERN's credibility, which was something less than a thousand percent, that the credibility gap he is building has now widened until it is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean.

CHANCELLOR: McGOVERN insisted

today that he did not instruct SALINGER to begin any kind of peace negotiations with the NVNese. He said SALINGER's mission was only to seek information, to see if there had been any change on the possible future of the prisoners.

McGOVERN said that SALINGER, on his own, told the NVNese that if the war could be settled before the election, that would be fine with McGOVERN.

Here is some of what McGOVERN had to say today in answer to the NIXON administration.

SENATOR GEORGE McGOVERN: It is ironic that the White House thinks that a brief, middle level inquiry about the prisoners of war might interfere with negotiations. The NIXON administration has had three and a half years to bring the war to an end and to bring our prisoners of war home. And it has failed to accomplish that objective.

The President now has his chief foreign policy specialist on a highly publicized global junket on the eve of the Republican National Convention. And that is what is interfering with quiet, serious, professional negotiating far more than anyone else possibly could.

Mr. NIXON has manipulated Mr. KISSINGER and he has manipulated American public opinion to appear to be negotiating seriously when, actually, he has been stalling to prop up General THIEU's government in Saigon.

CHANCELLOR: The SALINGER affair has given McGOVERN something of a credibility problem. He first said he had given SALINGER no instructions to talk to the NVNese in Paris. SALINGER maintains a home there. Then he said he had done so. And he said he didn't know SALINGER had even returned from Paris to the United States until yesterday.

The McGOVERN people are downplaying the issue, and the White House appears to be playing it up, and we are likely to hear much more of this before the month is out.

## Kissinger Meets with Thieu

CHANCELLOR: In Saigon today, Henry KISSINGER, the President's Foreign Policy Adviser, spent over two hours with SVNese President Nguyen Van THIEU. There was no indication at all of what the two men

2 Friday, August 18, 1972

discussed. They will meet again
before KISSINGER leaves Saigon for
Tokyo and Washington.

Here's a satellite report on
KISSINGER.

ARTHUR LORD: Dr. KISSINGER spent a good part of the day inside the U. S. Military Command Headquarters in Saigon meeting with the top generals from the Army and the Air Force. Ambassador Ellsworth BUNKER also sat in on the session, which was described as a general review of the political and military situation.

The American Embassy in Saigon tried to squash speculation that KISSINGER has arrived here from the secret talks in Paris armed with a new proposal to end the war. The Embassy said KISSINGER's visit had been under consideration for several weeks. They called his scheduled meeting with SVNese President Nguyen Van THIEU strictly routine.

It is generally believed that Dr. KISSINGER's visit here is far from routine. One reason is that Le Duc THO, his counterpart in the secret Paris talks, is making a similar trip to Hanoi. Considering KISSINGER's track record in pulling off diplomatic spectaculars, that's just too much of a coincidence to ignore.

The SVNese press, which thrives on the cloak and dagger, has already printed what many VNese consider to be the inside story. The key phase of the visit, they believe, is the meeting between KISSINGER and President THIEU. They see it as a direct confrontation, with KISSINGER suggesting concessions to the communists to achieve a cease-fire and THIEU refusing to budge, believing that the proposed concessions are a sell-out.

If KISSINGER's mission here is to convince THIEU to change his hardline stance on dealing with the communists, then he has a tough assignment. THIEU has never been stronger politically. In the face of the NVNese offensive, the military has rallied behind him. And he now rules by decree under martial law.

The meeting when it came took place inside the heavily guarded Independence Palace. And at least for the photo session looked like anything but a confrontation.

Any concessions to the communists

would weaken THIEU's position. This makes THIEU a major stumbling block in the peace talks. But the American government has supported THIEU so well and for so long that now there is nobody else to take his place. He is now the strongman in SVN, and the Americans are stuck with him. And THIEU, being a smart politician, knows it.

Arthur LORD, NBC News, Saigon.

## Bombing Campaign Intensified

CHANCELLOR: The American Command in Saigon said today that bombing raids against NVN in the last twenty-four hours were the heaviest since the resumption of bombing was ordered in April, somewhere between three hundred and fifty and four hundred strikes in one day.

## Weekly Casualty Toll Released

CHANCELLOR: The weekly casualty figures were released. Last week four Americans will killed in combat in VN and twenty-eight were wounded.

SVNese killed numbered almost eight hundred; SVNese wounded almost two thousand five hundred.

## Quangtri Battle Still Rages

CHANCELLOR: On the ground, there was more heavy fighting between the enemy and SVNese Marines for Quangtri City.

Tom STREITHORST reports from the highway leading to Quangtri.

TOM STREITHORST: The Kissinger visit notwithstanding, the grueling fight for Quangtri City continued. Here American Phantom jets bombed the outskirts of the already shattered city.

On both sides, this is a conventional war of big weapons and heavy pounding. Digging is as important as shooting in a battle in which artillery causes the highest percentage of the casualties.

These mobile 175 millimeter guns were forced to abandon their position because the NVNese had zeroed in on it and were hitting the big guns with counter-artillery fire.

As the 175's took up a new position surrounded by tanks, smaller SVNese guns, 105's and 155's, took up the slack. We couldn't see the

3 Friday, August 18, 1972

NVNese, of course, but these sou-
theners looked very weary.

We spoke to American Marine ad-
visers in Quangtri about Dr. KIS-
SINGER's visit to Saigon. They
hadn't heard about it, but expressed
the hope that it didn't imply a cease
fire would be in place before SVNese
Marines reoccupied Quangtri.

The day Dr. KISSINGER arrived,
the Command announced the death of
eight marines and paratroopers in
Military Region 1. Doubtless, there
were more that weren't announced.
The fighting is at its heaviest
here in this part of SVN.

The troops up here have the
greatest stake in peace. Ironically,
very few of them even know that
Dr. KISSINGER is in Saigon.

Tom STREITHORST, NBC News, on
the road to Quangtri.

U. S. Bombing Exacts Heavy Toll

CHANCELLOR: United Press Inter-
national has a dispatch from VN
today which quotes VNese medical
sources as saying American B-52
strikes in Quangtri Province have
killed and wounded more civilians
than NVNese gunfire.

For two months all of Quangtri
Province was held by the NVNese,
and during that time it was declared
a free fire zone, which meant un-
restricted bombing.

The UPI report is based on
interviews with medical teams from
the Saigon University Medical School
which had been working near Quang-
tri Province.

CBS EVENING NEWS CBS TV 7:00

Bombing Raids Heaviest of Campaign

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD: The U. S.
Command in Saigon has disclosed that
in the twenty-four hours preceding
Henry KISSINGER's arrival, American
bombing raids against the North
were the heaviest since this phase
of the air war began last spring.
More than three hundred and seventy
air strikes were reported throughout
VN yesterday, and they were followed
by another big wave of B-52 attacks
today.

The official reason given for
the heavy raids was ideal flying
weather, the best in weeks. But

some observers saw the display of
air power as a move to reassure
President THIEU as he prepared for
his top secret talks with KISSINGER.

The first round of those dis-
cussions was held today, but no de-
tails were disclosed.

Bob SIMON reports now on what
effects KISSINGER's visit has had
on the mood in Saigon.

BOB SIMON: Dr. KISSINGER's
surprise visit came as no surprise
to the Saigon government. The Palace
has been alive with speculation this
past week about new developments in
Paris. And reliable Palace sources
say Ambassador BUNKER began laying
the groundwork for KISSINGER's
visit several days ago.

Political observers in Saigon
point to two speeches President
THIEU delivered recently; speeches
in which he emphasized the need for
continued American bombing and block-
ading of NVN. The speeches were
so passionate and bitter, observers
say, that they must have been prompted
by some fear that the Americans were
once again reconsidering their policy.

Only last Friday, THIEU re-
vealed that he had strongly opposed
President JOHNSON's bombing halt
of 1968. If the bombing had continued
he said, NVN would have been on its
knees a long time ago. There would
be fewer American casualties and
fewer American prisoners of war.
If the bombing stops again, he
warned, the vicious cycle of war
will continue indefinitely.

The American Embassy is being
unusually tight-lipped about the
KISSINGER visit. It appears that
only the very top ranking officials
know what's happening, and they're
not saying a word.

In VNese political circles there
is much talk, many theories, and
one general area of agreement. The
VNese do not believe in coincidence.
They don't believe it's a coincidence
that Le Duc THO, North Vietnam's
chief Paris negotiator, is in Hanoi
right now, and they don't believe
it's coincidental that Dr. KISSINGER
is in Saigon just a few days before
the Republican convention opens in
Miami.

Bob SIMON, CBS News, at In-
dependence Palace, Saigon.

Porter Pessimistic in Paris

COLLINGWOOD: In Paris meanwhile,

4 Friday, August 18, 1972

American and communist negotiators sat down at the peace table for another round of talks.

Bert QUINT has a report on that.

BERT QUINT: Despite secret negotiations, transcontinental journeys and speculation about a possible breakthrough, things look and sound pretty much the same at the Paris Peace Talks.

This session started like so many of the one hundred and fifty-four that preceded it. Madame BINH, the VC delegate, made it plain that the communist public posture, at least, has not changed. She insisted once again that American troops be withdrawn from VN and that a coalition government be formed in Saigon, without President THIEU.

Later, she said President NIXON lost a good chance for peace in January, 1969. She didn't explain. But that's the time Sargent SHRIVER charged recently that NIXON blew an opportunity to end the war.

The meeting itself was an old refrain. Each side blamed the other for the impasse and exchanged insults and propaganda. When it was over, Porter summed up session number one hundred and fifty-five.

AMB. WILLIAM PORTER: Want to hear what I've got to say? It's not very good. It's not very much. I don't think it was the most exciting session I've ever been in, to put it mildly. About the only interesting thing came at the end when there was a little verbal ping-pong on the question of a meeting next week. And they finally ended up by proposing one, and we accepted.

QUINT: Bert QUINT, CBS News, Paris.

## Salinger Mission Provokes Conflict

COLLINGWOOD: A political war has broken out over the peace talks and Pierre SALINGER's contacts with NVNese negotiators in George McGOVERN's behalf. Republicans here in Miami Beach and at the White House itself launched a co-ordinated barrage today at the McGOVERN camp, and McGOVERN fired back.

More from Robert Pierpoint.

ROBERT PIERPOINT: "This could undermine the President's efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement

of the war," charged White House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler.

Reporters had originally brought up the subject today of SALINGER's talks with the communists in Paris, but ZIEGLER clearly welcomed it. In fact, there had been a private discussion here earlier of presidential aides on just how hard ZIEGLER should hit the McGOVERN camp if the subject came up, and the decision was to hit hard.

Later SALINGER was approached at McGOVERN's headquarters for his reaction to ZIEGLER's charge.

PIERRE SALINGER: Well, you know, I once had Mr. ZIEGLER's job. And the only conclusion I can make from the remarks he made today -- it must be a slow news day at the White House.

The fact is that this administration knows, and it's known for some time, how it can accomplish peace in VN. And nothing I could say or nothing I could do would prevent that peace from coming about if the administration was willing to take those steps which are necessary to bring about peace. It's that simple.

PIERPOINT: ZIEGLER was asked just how SALINGER's Paris talks could undermine the NIXON administration's peace efforts. "We have," he said, "a situation where the opposition candidate declined to be briefed by the White House. And now his representative in Paris runs the risk of saying something that could jeopardize the peace talks."

Asked if he was expressing the President's view or his own, ZIEGLER said he had not specifically discussed his charges with President NIXON, who is now in his third day away at Camp David.

Meantime Republicans in Miami Beach were echoing ZIEGLER's sentiments.

SENATOR JOHN TOWER: This latest exercise clearly demonstrates the ineptitude and confusion that is characteristic of Mr. McGOVERN's management of his affairs. As long as it is characteristic of the management of his affairs, there is perhaps no harm done. But it certainly cannot be characteristic of the management of the affairs of the United States of America.

But the fact is that his meddlesome interference could well

5 Friday, August 18, 1972

have the effect of delaying the release of prisoners of war and prolonging the war.

SENATOR GORDON ALLOTT: Like all Americans of all political persuasions, I'm shocked by George McGOVERN's continuing interference with this nation's delicate peace negotiations. His meddling is reckless; it is detrimental to the efforts to end the war; and it is transparently political.

BILL PLANTE: George McGOVERN spent this hot Wisconsin summer morning pursuing time-honored American campaign tactics. He admired babies; he sampled local pastry; and he chatted for a while in the barbershop.

On hearing the White House charge McGOVERN aimed his return fire at the President's own peace efforts.

SENATOR GEORGE McGOVERN: The President now has his chief foreign policy specialist on a highly publicized global junket on the eve of the Republican National Convention. And that is what is interfering with quiet, serious, professional negotiating far more than anyone else possibly could.

Mr. NIXON has manipulated Mr. KISSINGER and he has manipulated American public opinion to appear to be negotiating seriously when actually he has been stalling to prop up General THIEU's government in Saigon.

PLANTE: McGOVERN said SALINGER's reminder to the NVNese that McGOVERN wants the war ended was made purely on SALINGER's own initiative. The candidate says he has no further plans for contact with negotiators in Paris.

Bill PLANTE, CBS News, West Racine, Wisconsin.

CRONKITE: The President's campaign manager, Clark MacGREGOR, said today his office is studying the LOGAN Act in connection with the SALINGER talks. This act forbids private citizens from engaging in diplomacy.

ABC EVENING NEWS ABC TV 7:00

Kissinger-Thieu Hold Talks

HOWARD K. SMITH: As scheduled, Henry KISSINGER talked for two hours with President THIEU in Saigon today.

As was not scheduled, the two men will have another talk tomorrow before KISSINGER flies on to Tokyo for a meeting with Japan's new Premier, TANAKA.

We have a report from ABC's Jim BENNETT in Saigon.

JIM BENNETT: Inevitably, the arrival of Dr. KISSINGER in Saigon has raised hopes that peace for SVN may be much closer. Primarily, he is here to talk to President Nguyen Van THIEU. But it's extremely doubtful that the nature of those talks will be immediately disclosed.

KISSINGER made it abundantly clear here that he would not talk to newsmen during his two day stay at a meeting with military advisers after his arrival.

The meeting between KISSINGER and U. S. Commander of American forces in VN, General Frederick WEYAND, U. S. Ambassador Ellsworth BUNKER and General John VAUGHT (?), Seventh Air Force Commander, lasted nearly three hours.

But it was his meeting with President THIEU later that gave rise to the biggest speculation as to why KISSINGER Has come to VN. The official line is that KISSINGER made his long journey to discuss substantive ideas with RHIEU. But many observers here believe that he has come to play the role of friendly adviser, perhaps to force THIEU to accept a cease-fire in place, despite NVNese control of large chunks of SVNese territory. Or even worse for THIEU, KISSINGER may be pressing Hanoi's demand that THIEU bow out.

If a new peace move is in the works, it undoubtedly will involve President THIEU. It's also problematical whether the President would ever agree to step aside in favor of a coalition government.

But Dr. KISSINGER is known for his persuasive powers. And the fate of President THIEU may well be decided by the talks that are taking place in the presidential palace behind me.

Jim BENNETT, ABC News, Saigon.

Madame Binh Supports Shriver Charge

SMITH: In Paris today, the chief VC peace negotiator appeared to take sides in that argument over whether or not President NIXON missed a chance for peace in 1969, as charged

6 Friday, August 18, 1972

by Sargent SHRIVER.

The communist diplomat said 1969 was one of the most favorable occasions to put an end to the war if President NIXON had wanted, a view that already has been hotly disputed by the NIXON administration.

## White House Reacts to Salinger Talks

SMITH: Those contacts between communist negotiators in Paris and McGOVERN emissary Pierre SALINGER came under White House fire today.

ABC White House correspondent Tom JARRIEL reports.

TOM JARRIEL: President NIXON wasted no time in showing Senator McGOVERN how volatile it is for a presidential challenger to mix domestic politics with international negotiations. The President unleashed his Press Secretary to tell reporters McGOVERN's unofficial contacts with the NVNese in Paris could jeopardize the administration's efforts to achieve a negotiated peace.

Presidential News Secretary Ronald ZIEGLER could not specify any harm actually done, but implied it was possible. ZIEGLER claims that since Senator McGOVERN has declined secret White House information on the current status of the peace negotiations, McGOVERN or some of his representatives may, through ignorance, endanger the U. S. peace efforts.

McGOVERN mousetrapped himself into vulnerability on the issue by refusing to personally attend the foreign intelligence briefings customarily given to presidential candidates. The President's campaign director, Clark MacGREGOR, says he's checking to see if the Democratic nominee or his people violated the LOGAN Act, which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with a hostile foreign government.

Tom JARRIEL, ABC News, at the White House.

## McGovern Responds to Criticism

BILL MATNEY: This is Bill Matney with the McGOVERN campaign.

George McGOVERN learned of the White House blast while shaking hands in Racine, Wisconsin. He did not react immediately, but asked a staff adviser to draft a

carefully worded statement.

Then he called a news conference in a nearby church to explain why he turned down the White House offer of personal briefings.

SENATOR McGOVERN: I don't want to restrict my own right to speak out on the VN issue. Many of the points of view that I have advanced over the last nine years are contrary to what one hears at White House briefings. I've been in on some of those White House briefings as a member of the United States Senate, and I found them more misleading than helpful in understanding the facts.

So I don't want to restrict my own freedom to speak out on the VN issue.

MATNEY: McGOVERN also used the occasion to counterattack the NIXON administration by suggesting that the KISSINGER trip to Saigon was a publicity stunt.

SENATOR McGOVERN: The President now has his chief foreign policy specialist on a highly publicized global junket on the eve of the Republican National Convention. And that is what is interfering with quiet, serious, professional negotiating far more than anyone else possibly could.

MATNEY: George McGOVERN still considers the VN war to be the major political issue with which to attack NIXON administration policies. And it appears clear now also that he will press that attack while, at the same time, keeping a lot of distance between himself and Mr. NIXON's foreign policy adviser.

Bill MATNEY, ABC News, with the McGOVERN campaign.

## Battle for Quangtri Continues

SMITH: VNese Marines were reported advancing today in Quangtri City despite heavy shelling from communist forces.

ABC's Arnold COLLINS reports on the continuing battle for Quangtri.

ARNOLD COLLINS: Quangtri City

7 Friday, August 18, 1972

has become the symbol of the NVNese offensive. Saigon can't afford to retake it; Hanoi can't afford to keep it, but both sides keep trying, at terrible cost.

American advisers call the battle a meat grinder. At least twelve hundred SVNese paratroops and marines have died here. As many as ten thousand NVNese are thought to have died.

If SVN can recover the city, it will own at least the capital of its northern province. Much of the rest of the province will still be in NVNese hands.

Progress in retaking the city is imperceptible. Because of heavy pinpoint shelling by the NVNese, the government marines still occupy the foxholes and bunkers given over to them by the airborne at the end of July.

Moving out of these defensive positions, they fight pitched battles, but return again to their bunkers. They have inflicted casualties on the NVNese, but have not cut off their reinforcements. They have captured weapons, but not cut off the supply. They have paid for all of this in blood, but gained little territory.

The meat grinder keeps turning.

Arnold COLLINS, ABC News.

PLEASE NOTE:

Ramsey CLARK was interviewed on "The Today Show," August 18, 7:00 AM. A complete transcript of the former attorney general's remarks is available.

8 Friday, August 18, 1972

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF AUG 16)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: In SVN there was heavy fighting, particularly in the area of Lai Khe and Highway 13, north of Saigon. ARTHUR LORD, NBC: It was a great surprise when the Rangers discovered that they had walked right into the middle of a NVNese ambush.

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD, CBS: The US Command in VN announced that American jets knocked out a power plant near Hanoi, and a railroad bridge 15 miles further north in bombing raids yesterday. An enemy Mig was shot down, but the command also disclosed that a US jet was shot down over the DMZ last Sunday and that both crewmen are missing. And yesterday two American helicopters were downed by enemy gunners.

HOWARD K. SMITH, ABC: The US Command said that American war planes flew more than 290 strikes against targets in NVN on Tuesday. Targets included a key railroad bridge and a thermo power plant, 30 miles west of Hanoi.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that he saw widespread damage to civilian installations in NVN caused by American bombing. Clark showed an anti-personnel bomb given to him in Hanoi. The Defense Department denied using such weapons against targets other than military installations. Clark was closely questioned by Senator Hiram Fong who spoke for the administration. ROBERT GORALSKI, NBC: Report from the Pentagon. The Pentagon is clearly concerned about what Ramsey Clark is saying about the bombing and the propaganda value that Hanoi might be getting out of it. ABC and CBS reported on Clark's testimony on the Hill.

COLLINGWOOD, CBS: The President's top foreign policy advisor, Henry Kissinger, is in Saigon tonight and the question on everyone's mind is what sort of news does he have for SVN's President Thieu. There were signs that Thieu himself is fearful that the news may not be good. ABC and NBC reported Kissinger's arrival in Saigon.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: Sargent Shriver charged last week that President Nixon passed up the chance to negotiate an end to the war in VN in the early months of his administration. In separate interviews, Sargent Shriver, Averill Harriman and Dean Rusk interpret what was happening then.

COLLINGWOOD, CBS: There was a report that McGovern had sent a message to the NVNese negotiators in Paris urging them to press ahead with peace talks without regard to the American political campaign. The report said the message was delivered by Pierre Salinger and that he was acting as McGovern's emissary.

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

Clark Testifies On Hill

JOHN CHANCELLOR: Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that he saw widespread damage to civilian installations in NVN, caused by Ameri can bombing.

Clark showed an anti-personnel bomb given to him in Hanoi. The Defense Department denied today using such weapons against targets other than military installations.

Clark was closely questioned by Senator Hiram Fong who spoke for the administration and here's how it went,

RAMSEY CLARK: I'm no military ordnance man but that is what I would call, as a guy who doesn't know any more than a former Marine corporal, a fragmentary bomb. When they hit they throw shrapnel all over the place. Now they have one purpose and that's to kill people. It was the Mayor of Hanoi that gave me that, and he said that that was dropped in a highly populated area of the City of Hanoi. It didn't go off.

If that's true then I know of no justification in law or morality for the use of that kind of weapon against civilian personnel.

SENATOR HIRAM FONG: Did you feel that after seeing the damage to the dike sluices and gates that they were deliberately bombed by our men?

CLARK: God knows, I don't want to think it was deliberate. But I don't know how all those bombs happen to hit on those dikes. I don't know how there could have been so much damage to the Lon sluice. Now, you can say, and it may be, that they had a bunch of SAM missiles, I don't know But why would they have them there? What would be the point of that?

SENATOR FONG: .....other material
Did you see any storage of material
inside the dikes?

CLARK: No.
H.F.: I have here with me three pic-
tures taken on July 24, July 29 in
the Hanoi-Haiphong area, showing oil
drums and other things stored within
the dikes. Did you see anything like
that in your trip?

CLARK: I can say that I did not
see a gun mounted on a dike at any
time; I did not see a SAM missile
on a dike at any time. They may have
removed them when they saw me coming.

Now rather than have them select,
the Department of Defense select
three pictures that they want to
show us, I would like them to show
us any pictures that they took of
the Than Hoa provincial hospital
area, the day before, the day of
and the day after the bombing to see
what's in those pictures. That would
be pretty interesting, wouldn't it.

I don't know, I don't know why
if we say we're withdrawing, we're
increasing the bombing. I don't
know why we do that. Is it to pun-
ish? What's the purpose? If we're
getting out, why don't we get out?

How do you possibly justify in-
creasing the bombing. I think it's
very difficult to get the truth in
the matter. I think we can barely
see it and I think the distortions
are enormous. And I would urge
every American who cares about his
children and the children of this
world to go over there and see for
himself. Because the truth is the
most powerful problem solver that
the Lord has given man on earth.

ROBERT GORALSKI: The photos
shown to Ramsey Clark were given to
Senator Fong by the Defense Depart-
ment. More were distributed later
today here at the Pentagon.

Senator Kennedy said during the
hearing that his committee had re-
quested but hadn't been able to get
any reconnaissance photos of the
bombed areas of NVN. These pictures
show military supplies in targets
in or near the dikes.

This was taken July 22nd about
30 miles south of Haiphong. Two
artillery pieces used as coastal
defense guns were filmed on a dike.
This was taken in the same area on
the same day with the camera record-
ing Pentagon says was a string of
anti-aircraft positions along the
coastal dike.

Four reconnaissance planes took
pictures on July 24th of what are
claimed to be petroleum storage
tanks stacked against a dike of a
Red River northeast of Haiphong.

These are more petroleum drums stacked next to a sluice gate and dike west of Haiphong, also on July 24th.

This reconnaissance photo shows
long rows of unspecified supplies
strung along a dike of a Red River
southeast of Hanoi. The picture was
taken on July 29th.

2 Thursday, August 17, 1972

The Pentagon says that fewer
than 20 dikes, small ones at that,
were bombed, and then only because
they were located near military
targets.

Robert Goralski, NBC News, at
the Pentagon.

Kissinger In Saigon For Nixon

CHANCELLOR: Henry Kissinger is
in Saigon tonight on a new mission
for President Nixon.

He went to get a new evaluation
of the process of the war and he is
to talk tomorrow with SVNese Presi-
dent Nguyen Van Thieu.

Some speculate that Kissinger
will renew President Nixon's assur-
ances of support for Thieu. Some
speculate he will ask Thieu to step
aside.

Nothing firm is known other than
Kissinger will report to the Presi-
dent on the weekend.

Heavy Fighting In Lai Khe Area

CHANCELLOR: In SVN there was
heavy fighting, particularly in the
area of Lai Khe and Highway 13, north
of Saigon.

Arthur Lord has a report on one
patrol of SVNese Rangers in the Lai
Khe sector.

ARTHUR LORD: This was supposed
to be just a routine patrol. Intel-
ligence reports indicated that the
NVNese had been moving some troops
through this area. But since it
was so close to the Fifth Division
headquarters, the Rangers did not
expect heavy contact. So, it was a
great surprise when they discovered
that they had walked right into the
middle of a NVNese ambush.

The NVNese were shooting at the
Rangers from the front and the rear.
The Rangers needed help to fight
their way out of the trap. They
called for air strikes.

SVNese Sky Raiders had a tough
assignment. The enemy positions
were very close to the Rangers.
Their bombs would have to be dropped
very accurately or friendly troops
might be killed.

The air strikes gave the Rangers
time to treat their wounded and pre-
pare to retreat. The bombs would
keep their enemy pinned down inside
the bunkers while they tried to make
their way back to the road.

The retreat was accomplished in
good order. The Rangers lost one
man while eight others were wounded.
The survivors were lucky to be alive.
This is Arthur Lord, NBC News.

Interpretations Of Peace Signal

CHANCELLOR: Sargent Shriver, the
Democratic vice presidential candi-
date, charged last week that Presi-
dent Nixon passed up the chance to
negotiate an end to the war in VN in
the early months of his administra-
tion.

Shriver said the NVNese signalled
their willingness to talk peace in
1968 by pulling a considerable number
of troops out of the northern provin-
ces of SVN.

The administration has denied
that this was a signal.

Earlier this year, a document
known as National Security Study Memo-
randum No. One indicated that both
military and political considerations
caused the pull-back.

But in 1968 Averill Harriman was
President Johnson's negotiator in
Paris; Dean Rusk the Secretary of
State, and Shriver was the American
Ambassador to France.

Here now in separate interviews
is the way each man interpreted what
was happening then.

REPORTER: There are some people
who are surprised that all the shout-
ing and the hollering about this
comes now during an election year.

SARGENT SHRIVER: I know it. I'm
very surprised.

REPORTER: Well, for example,
you were a member of the administra-
tion in 1968 insofar as you served
as the Ambassador to France at that
time. And a number of us have won-
dered possibly you could have raised
the point then, loudly and clearly,
so everybody could have heard it and
gotten yourself on the record then
rather than now.

SHRIVER: But it was raised, very
clearly in the dispatches from Paris,
everybody, there's no secret about
this. As Ambassador Harriman and
Vance have stated publicly and their

3 Thursday, August 17, 1972

articles had been written before I
ever brought it up. This was well
known to everybody. Certainly well
known to President Nixon and to his
National Security Council people.

I can't imagine why all of the
fuss today because everybody's known
about it. So the idea that they
can't find it in the State Department
table to me is almost incredible.

DEAN RUSK: The question really
revolves around whether the with-
drawal of NVNese forces across the
DMZ was a major political move.

Now the NVNese negotiators didn't
indicate that. And so I'm inclined
to think that this is a kind of a
bit of wishful thinking on the part
of some of our own people who hoped
that this would be a move that in
fact turned out to have no result.

REPORTER: You think then that's
what Sargent Shriver's alluding to.

RUSK: Oh I think that is. I
don't recall at all anything that
was said by the NVNese negotiators
that could be interpreted as saying,
"Look, this is a significant gesture.
We want to get down and talk business
so let's get together and make peace."
There was nothing of that sort.

AVERILL HARRIMAN: Combat stopped
and at that time was an indication
they were ready to recognize that
area as the first area to stop the
level of combat. We thought it might
well lead to a cease fire, that this
was an indication, we thought, of
their general good will supporting
that good will but their indication
they were going to be serious, be-
cause they told us privately they
were quite ready to start negotiating
and this simply added to the evidence
that we had.

REPORTER: Governor, how do you
respond to Secretary of State Roger's
comments that the Democrats had three
months to do something about the
indications from NVN and didn't do
anything about it.

HARRIMAN: Well, he knows as well
as I do and as you know that Presi-
dent Thieu, the President of the
Saigon Government, refused to come to
the negotiating table early in Nov-
ember when President Johnson stopped
the war, stopped the bombing of the
North and was all set to talk. And
he did, finally, after several weeks,
agree to send his representatives
to start negotiations and immediately
proceeded to get involved in rather

ridiculous procedural questions.
You remeber the arguments about the
shape of the table, a lot of non-
sense, but it kept us busy. All we
could do was to talk procedure. We
finally settled it in January 18th.
Rogers knows that, if he knows
anything. I'm not sure that he
understands any part of the situa-
tion. I doubt that he would have
raised it if he'd really understood
it.

So, we were all set. And when
President Nixon came over to start
the substance of negotiations and
nothing happened.

CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7:00

Kissinger In Saigon

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD: The Presi-
dent's top foreign policy advisor,
Henry Kissinger, is in Saigon tonight
and the question on everyone's mind
is what sort of news does he have
for SVN's President Thieu.

There were signs that Thieu him-
self is fearful that the news may not
be good.

The only SVNese official to greet
Kissinger at the airport was Nguyen
Phu Duc, one of Thieu's palace advi-
sors. And while this was perfectly
correct from a protocol point of view
it was in sharp contrast to the
large receptions involving high level
SVNese officials for previous Ameri-
can visitors of Kissinger's stature.

In Washington, White House news
secretary Ron Ziegler said only a
very few people know why Kissinger
is sent to Saigon, and that specula-
tion about the purpose of the visit
is nothing more than that.

As Kissinger arrived in Saigon
the NVNese official he talked to in
Paris two days ago, left that city
for a flight home to Hanoi. However
just before leaving, Le Duc Tho
cautioned reporters not to read too
much meaning into his trip. "I
want to make it precise that my
voyage is one of routine," he said.

Report of McGovern Sending Emissary
To Press NVNese To Make Peace Now

COLLINGWOOD: There were some
crossed signs in the McGovern camp
today.

4 Thursday, August 17, 1972

It started with a report that McGovern had sent a message to the NVNese negotiators in Paris urging them to press ahead with peace talks without regard to the American political campaign.

Bill Plante asked McGovern about that report during a campaign stop in Illinois.

BILL PLANTE: Senator, did you send word to the NVNese in Paris to make peace with President Nixon rather than wait for a possible change of administrations.

SENATOR MCGOVERN: I certainly did not. I know nothing about any such report.

There's no truth in it at all.

COLLINGWOOD: Later in the day, however, Salinger arrived in New York from Paris and told reporters that he certainly did talk to the NVNese and that George McGovern had asked him to. He then elaborated on his meeting in Paris.

PIERRE SALINGER: I do think it was important to make the point that I made to them about Senator McGovern's position with regard to ending the war without respect to the American political campaign.

There's been a lot of talk about the NVNese waiting for Senator McGovern. There's been a lot of talk about the difference of position between Senator McGovern and President Nixon. And I think it was important for them to know that Senator McGovern's position is peace is the number one and most important thing that could be accomplished and as soon as possible.

COLLINGWOOD: By this time McGovern and Salinger had a chance to confer by phone and McGovern later revised his version somewhat.

What he meant earlier, he said, was that he did not personally send Salinger to Paris, but that once he learned that Salinger would be going and would try to talk to the NVNese he asked him to get across the point that the American elections should not be a factor in the peace negotiations.

He also said he saw no discrepancy between this statement and his earlier denial.

## US Jets Bomb NVN

COLLINGWOOD: In VN the US Command announced that American jets knocked out a power plant near Hanoi and a railroad bridge 15 miles further north in bombing raids yesterday.

## Clark Testifies On Hill

COLLINGWOOD: It was the American bombing that former Attorney General Ramsey Clark criticized during his recent visit to Hanoi.

His remarks there aroused considerable controversy here at home. And today Clark testified on his visit before a Senate subcommittee and Marvin Kalb reports.

MARVIN KALB: Clark's tone was softer. His comments more hedged, but the end effect was the same. A strong denial that he broadcast for Hanoi Radio and a strong attack against US bombing of what he said were homes, hospitals and dikes in NVN.

As evidence he produced fragments of anti-personnel bombs and denounced their use.

CLARK: And they have one purpose and that's to kill people. They don't do much damage to property because it's just little shrapnel. They're not going to tear a house down. They may puncture a locomotive tank or something like that. If that's true then I know of no justification in law or morality for the use of that kind of weapon against civilian personnel.

KALB: Clark said he met and interviewed ten American prisoners of war.

GOP Senator Fong then raised a question producing this heated exchange.

SENATOR FONG: Is it true these are the same men that have been paraded time again.

CLARK: Well, I don't know why you say paraded. I think that little's those men.

5 Thursday, August 17, 1972

FONG: Well, maybe the word is not really.....

CLARK: I think when we say those men are brainwashed and don't know..

FONG: I haven't said they're brainwashed. I'm just saying....

CLARK: Then they'll come home and people say, "Look at him, he's been brainwashed." How do you know?

FONG: We have been told that these are the same men that appeared in pictures time after time.....

CLARK: How many times have you seen pictures?

FONG: I haven't seen many, but...

CLARK: How many times have they been interviewed?

FONG: This is......

CLARK: Do you know of one man that has been to a prison camp in the last two years?

KALB: Fong then produced Defense Department photographs showing military targets near dikes, and he wondered in that case if Clark thought the bombing of the dikes was intentional.

CLARK: I know how hard it is to determine intention. You can only determine intention by the intendor and from the circumstances. That's the only way. God knows I don't want to think it was deliberate. But I don't know how all those bombs happen to hit on those dikes.

KALB: These hearings are scheduled to continue tomorrow, Senator Kennedy hoping to get officials from the State and Defense Departments to provide some kind of answer to Ramsey Clark and some kind of justification for continued bombing of NVN.

It's clear the VN debate the administration didn't want, it has.

Marvin Kalb, CBS News, Capitol Hill.

ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7:00

Kissinger Begins Visit To Saigon

HOWARD K. SMITH: Henry Kissinger began his closely watched visit to Saigon today with its real significance still a mystery.

Kissinger met today with US Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. He will confer with SVN's President Thieu tomorrow

In Washington the White House said speculation that Kissinger went to Saigon to ask Thieu to step down would be incorrect.

The White House also cautioned against speculation that the visit signals a breakthrough in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Le Duc Tho, the key NVNese official who's been meeting in Paris with Kissinger, flew back today to Hanoi. But despite the coincidence in timing, Tho insisted his trip was strictly routine.

US Planes Fly 290 Strikes Over NVN

SMITH: The US Command said today that American war planes flew more than 290 strikes against targets in NVN on Tuesday. Targets included a key railroad bridge and a thermo power plant 30 miles west of Hanoi.

Clark Appears Before Hill Committee

SMITH: Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, just back from a controversial visit to NVN, appeared before a Senate subcommittee here in Washington today.

SAM DONALDSON: Some witnesses have the bad luck to face hostile questioning on Capitol Hill, but that was not the case today for Ramsey Clark, who related his story before a generally sympathetic panel chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.

Clark told again of seeing extensive bomb damage to the NVNese dikes.

CLARK: God knows I don't want to think it was deliberate. But I don't know how all those bombs happen to hit on those dikes. I don't know how there could have been so much damage to the Lon sluice.

Now, you can say, and it may be, that they had a bunch of SAM missiles there. I don't know.

DONALDSON: The only Republican present, Hawaii's Hiram Fong, suggested the dikes were being used for military purposes. Fong produced Defense Department photographs, he said proved it, including one showing oil drums stored on a dike.

CLARK: I wouldn't have any question that you're going to have to carry oil drums and things past dikes. You couldn't get them around the country if you didn't carry them past dikes from time to time.

6 Thursday, August 17, 1972

But I can say that I did not see a gun mounted on a dike at any time. I did not see a SAM missile mounted on a dike at any time. They may have removed them when they saw me coming. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me if they'd ever put them up there.

DONALDSON: Clark displayed an exhibit of his own. Two small fragmentation bomblets he said were given him in Hanoi. His hosts claimed they're used to prove the policy of genocide by the United States.

CLARK: These are called bomblets by the people in NVN and hundreds of them are contained in what's called a mother bomb, and there are casings of mother bombs all over the place. They have only one purpose and that's to kill people. The Mayor of Hanoi gave me that. And he said that that was dropped in a highly populated area of the City of Hanoi, that it didn't go off. I understand about two percent are duds, as we might call them, they don't go off, and that this was one of those.

ROGER PETERSON: This is Roger Peterson at the Pentagon.

Spokesmen here were quick to reject the charges that anti-personnel bombs were being used against civilians.

JERRY FRIEDHEIM: Roger, I haven't seen that. I take it those hearings are still on-going over there. I haven't seen any reports from there or anything else. It's just ridiculous to contend that we're engaged in that sort of campaign against personnel in NVN or anyplace else.

PETERSON: Later the Pentagon released reconnaissance photos showing anti-aircraft and artillery weapons dug in on top of dikes. Other pictures showed what were labeled petroleum drums being stored along a dike near a sluice gate and along a Red River dike near Haiphong. Pictures meant to bolster the Pentagon's contention the dikes are being used for military purposes.

The Pentagon also claims that anti-aircraft sites, missile launches

and supplies are moved in and out of populated areas, and it's possible that people like Ramsey Clark aren't aware of this when they see villages without apparent military significance that have been destroyed by bombs.

Roger Peterson, ABC News, the Pentagon.

7 Thursday, August 17, 1972

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1972

(BROADCASTS OF AUG 14 AND 15)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD and MARVIN KALB and ROBERT PIERPOINT, CBS-TV, JOHN CHANCELLOR and RICHARD VALERIANI, NBC-TV, and HOWARD SMITH and TOM JERRIEL, ABC-TV, all report and comment on Henry KISSINGER's trip to Saigon, speculating there are some special negotiations going on with the NVNese. THO also is flying back to Hanoi tomorrow after he met with KISSINGER in Paris yesterday. The White House will not say what KISSINGER's trip is all about other than he is in Saigon talking about SVN's problems in the war. There is the suggestion though that an intensive session of peace negotiations may be in the days ahead.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC-TV, reports US B-52's dropped a thousand tons of bombs on suspected enemy positions near Saigon. HARRY REASONER, ABC-TV, also reports on the US bombing near Saigon saying the explosions were so near the city the shock could be felt.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC-TV, reports Ramsey CLARK was in San Francisco where he talked about the US bombing of NVN. Former Attorney General John MITCHELL called CLARK's situation as being duped by the NVNese.

HERBERT KAPLOW, ABC-TV, reports Defense Secretary Melvin LAIRD praised President NIXON on his VN policy saying the White House needs someone who does not waver on this issue of the VN war.

JIM GIGGINS, ABC-TV, reports from Guam where US B-52 bombers fly missions over SE Asia twenty-four hours a day. The planes seem immune from enemy resistance as none have been shot down by the enemy yet. And only two have been lost because of technical problems.

HOWARD SMITH, ABC-TV, comments on August 14 on Mr. SHRIVER's statement about how EISENHOWER ended the Korean war. SMITH quotes from EISENHOWER's book and other sources which indicate a very rock hard line taken by the US with Korea. This led to the negotiations table, but this hard line is hardly what SHRIVER would advocate be done now in VN.

BETTY BOWER, WTOP-TV, reports on an organized group of Navy wives who are opposed to Elmo ZUMWALT's recent announcement that Waves may be sent to sea on ships with seamen. A woman states that if any woman goes to sea with her husband it will be her and not a Wave.

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <p><strong>CBS EVENING NEWS</strong> CBS-TV 6:30 PM</p>
        <p><em>Kissinger To Hold More Talks On VN</em></p>
        <p><strong>CHARLES COLLINGWOOD:</strong> Presidential advisor, Henry KISSINGER, is flying to SVN to continue there the NIXON Administration quest for an end to the war.</p>
        <p><strong>KISSINGER</strong> left for Saigon after another round of talks with top communist peace negotiators in Paris yesterday.</p>
        <p><strong>There is speculation that KISSINGER's trip signals an impending break through in the long stalemated peace negotiations.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>This mood was enhanced by the announcement that THO, the high level VNese official who met with KISSINGER in Paris plans to fly to Hanoi tomorrow.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>ROBERT PIERPOINT:</strong> While in Saigon, the White House says KISSINGER will confer with President THIEU, Ambassador BUNKER and others.</p>
        <p><strong>According to presidential press secretary Ronald ZIEGLER, KISSINGER will undertake a general review of all aspects of the VNese problem, including the negotiations in Paris.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>ZIEGLER</strong> declined to answer directly when asked if this meant there had been some kind of breakthrough at the Paris peace talks.</p>
        <p><strong>Though he did say that KISSINGER's trip has been under consideration for several weeks.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>ZIEGLER</strong>'s method of handling this latest event on the KISSINGER calendar left much room for speculation. One rumor that appears periodically in print and has propped up again the past day or so, is that President NIXON is now ready to dump President THIEU in favor of someone more acceptable to the communists.</p>
        <p><strong>There is no hard evidence here to support that rumor.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>MARVIN KALB:</strong> Officials admit growing disenchantment with THIEU's recent dictatorial moves, but they insist President NIXON is under no political pressure at this stage of his reelection campaign to move quickly against THIEU.</p>
        <p><strong>Which could satisfy Hanoi's basic demand for a settlement and possibly lead to the release of</strong></p>
      </td>
      <td>
        <p><strong>American prisoners.</strong></p>
        <p>Despite this note of caution, however, there is a strong sense here that the Administration is poised for a new and dramatic peace gesture.</p>
        <p><strong>Requiring, if not THIEU's approval, then at least his quiet acceptance.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>It is KISSINGER's job apparently to get one or the other.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>This gesture rotates around two concepts really:</strong> First, a cease fire, and second, a formula for reorganizing the Saigon government including, perhaps, a call for new elections.</p>
        <p><strong>There is no official comment here on the essence of KISSINGER's secret talks with the VNese in Paris, but it is clearly in the Administration's interest to convey an impression of motion and progress and that is being done.</strong></p>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <p><strong>NBC NIGHTLY NEWS</strong> NBC-TV 6:30 PM</p>
        <p><em>Laird Defends Pentagon</em></p>
        <p><strong>JOHN CHANCELLOR:</strong> There is other news - some of it involving Henry KISSINGER of the White House. Who is making another trip to VN.</p>
        <p><strong>The White House announcement of the KISSINGER trip to SVN was unexpected and speculation about why he's going was not encouraged today.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>Press Secretary Ronald ZIEGLER said KISSINGER would arrive in Saigon tomorrow.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>That he would talk with Ambassador Ellsworth BUNKER and the American military commander, General Frerick WEYAND (?), and with SVNese President THIEU.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>He said there would be a general review of all aspects of the VN problem, including the negotiations in Paris.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>KISSINGER will report to President NIXON over the weekend before the opening of the Republican National Convention.</strong></p>
        <p><strong>RICHARD VALERIANI:</strong> The announcement left (words unintelligible) dangling.</p>
        <p><strong>For one, the White House made clear that after leaving Saigon, KISSINGER would be going somewhere</strong></p>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

else before returning to Washington.

But Hanoi was ruled out, so was Paris, and a spokesman discouraged speculation about Moscow or Peking.

The White House also said that KISSINGER's trip was not related to the President's next announcement about troop withdrawals which is due before September 1.

That implies KISSINGER's going primarily to discuss the political situation in VN.

Which is what the negotiations in Paris are now all about.

The White House did nothing to discourage that line of speculation, but news secretary Ron ZIEGLER would not discuss the substance of KISSINGER's visit to Saigon, nor of his private talks with the NVNese in Paris.

ZIEGLER explained that we're in a sensitive period, which is something the White House has said frequently in the past.

So, at this point, the basic purpose of KISSINGER's trip to Saigon and wherever else he goes, remains a mystery.

But it does suggest an intensification of the peace negotiations in the days ahead.

### NVNese Negotiator Flying To Hanoi

CHANCELLOR: This line of speculation is strengthened considerably today by the announcement in Paris that THO, the NVNese senior negotiator with whom KISSINGER met yesterday, leaves tomorrow for Hanoi.

That could mean the exchanges between THO and KISSINGER were important enough for THO to be summoned home to report.

### No Let Up In War

CHANCELLOR: In the war itself, there was no slackening. B-52's dropped a thousand tons of bombs on suspected enemy positions near Saigon.

The heaviest bombardment in four years.

South of Quang Tri City, the bloody stalemate there continued.

The SVNese fought off an attack but couldn't advance.

### Clark Criticizes US Bombing Of NVN

CHANCELLOR: Ramsey CLARK himself was in San Francisco today for the annual convention of the Bar Association and so was his father, Tom CLARK, who retired some years ago from the Supreme Court.

Ramsey CLARK created some controversy when he returned the other day from his trip to NVN. He criticized the bombing of the north and he said American prisoners there were being treated fairly well.

And former Attorney General John MITCHELL said CLARK had been duped by the NVNese.

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

### Kissinger Flies To Saigon

HOWARD SMITH: Henry KISSINGER who talked to the NVNese in Paris yesterday is flying tonight to Saigon to talk with President THIEU of SVN.

Such a journey would be of interest any time, but it is doubly so now that VN has revived as an issue and Mr. NIXON's promissory note to the electorate to end the war in four years is within a few months of falling due.

TOM JERRIEL: (Words unintelligible) of secret talks, Dr. KISSINGER and NVNese negotiators have discussed proposals which President NIXON now wants KISSINGER to take up directly with President THIEU.

KISSINGER has been going to Paris hoping the NVNese were ready to separate military from political issues and a settlement.

They've refused believing the speculation that one compromise might be the removal of THIEU in favor of a so-called caretaker government to preside until new SVNese elections are held.

President THIEU has consistently been the primary obstacle in the path of a negotiated settlement. President NIXON has said THIEU will not be flatly dumped while the communists have demanded he be removed as part of a political settlement.

The primary focus on the KISSINGER trip is on the latest private negotiations and the possibility was left open by the White House that

3

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

some new proposals may be discussed in Saigon.

However, the likelihood of any dramatic breakthrough is being played down by the Administration although KISSINGER's secret talks are now described as having reached a sensitive period.

## Laird Praises Nixon On VN

**HERBERT KAPLOW:** Today's star performer was Defense Secretary Melvin LAIRD going into the bosom of his political family at the (word unintelligible) hotel to echo the praises of Nixon foreign policy and to take a few oblique swipes at opponent MCGOVERN.

**DEFENSE SECRETARY MELVIN LAIRD:** Of course, nothing would be more welcome than a negotiated end to the fighting in VN on our present most generous terms.

But until NVN is ready to negotiate peace, SVN will continue to resist aggression with ever increasing self-reliance and ever diminishing American assistance.

It is especially essential that the nation led by President and Commander in Chief who does not waver. We must have that kind of leadership, not only a Commander in Chief and a President that does not waver, but under the pressures of the job, we cannot permit anyone that fails to articulate his positions clearly without confusing language and takes the teeter-tooter approach to national security and to foreign policy questions.

**KAPLOW:** Whatever is said here, Republicans generally feel that as things stand now, the President could hold his own on VN as a campaign issue.

But they are hoping too that something comes soon of all this talk of negotiation. First, these people are sick of the war too and second, they feel that a VN settlement would ensure the President's reelection in November.

## US Bombers Hit Hard Near Saigon

**HARRY REASONER:** In Indo-China today, American B-52 bombers conducted their heaviest raids in the Saigon area in about four years.

They reportedly have dropped almost two thousand tons of bombs

on suspected enemy troop concentrations as close as twenty-one miles to SVN's capital.

The city itself shook to the impact of the explosions.

## Guam Is Major Base For VN Bombing Missions

**JIM GIGGINS:** Guam has the most lethal concentration of bombers anywhere in the world. For as far as the eye can see, almost nothing but B-52's.

This aircraft is the work-horse in the US saturation bombing campaign against NVNese troop concentrations and supply areas in SE Asia.

Almost nothing stops the missions here. These planes are taking off twenty-four hours a day, even during the late summer monsoon.

The long trip from Guam to SE Asia takes twelve hours. NVNese prisoners have said the sound of this bomber overhead strikes more terror than any weapon the Americans have.

The reason is because the killing power of the B-52 is extraordinary. When these men finish loading this plane, it will have sixty thousand pounds of explosives aboard.

The bombs from one mission, which consists of three planes will saturate an entire square mile.

For the NVNese, this is often times as frustrating as it is frightening. For they are not able to stop this Goliath of the sky. They had hoped the SAM missile would be their David, but so far, no SAM has brought down a B-52.

Flying slightly under the speed of sound, and at thirty to forty thousand feet, a B-52 is not an easy target.

The plane seems immune to even technical mishaps. Ron (?) has lost only two in the past three years to mechanical problems.

America's seemingly indestructable B-52 continues to carry its in-exhaustable messages of death across the Pacific to SE Asia.

The NVNese offensive shows few signs of dissipating and neither does this heaviest bombing campaign in history.

4

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

AUG 14

Smith Comments On Korean Issue

HOWARD SMITH: I would like to stay far out of the SHRIVER-ROGERS debate on whether or not peace was NIXON's for the plucking in 1969.

However, in the course of Mr. SHRIVER's remarks over the weekend, one secondary statement he made calls for historical correction.

He commended EISENHOWER's way of getting us out of the Korean War and implied NIXON should have done the same in VN.

But if Mr. SHRIVER remembered how EISENHOWER got us out of Korea he would not recommend it.

In his book, Mandate to Change, following page one hundred seventy-nine, EISENHOWER tells how he did it.

First he planned to send in two more American divisions, escalation that is, second he provided funds to create two more Korean divisions, Koreanization it might be called, third, quote, I discreetly dropped word, unquote, that if the Korean peace talks did not turn his way, President EISENHOWER would feel free to use nuclear weapons and to expand US attacks from Korea into China.

Fourth, and this comes from J. S. CUTRELL's history of the air war in Korea, not from EISENHOWER, President EISENHOWER deliberately began bombing North Korea's dikes, which play the same role as Hanoi's dikes do.

That apparently did it. Talks broken off before that were resumed and peace was soon agreed.

In short, EISENHOWER adopted a wholly uncompromising, rock hard line. That can't possibly be what Mr. SHRIVER wants done.

Alfred MCCOY, author of "Politics of Heroin in SE Asia" was interviewed on the Today Show, NBC-TV, on 8/15. Complete transcript is available.

EYEWITNESS NEWS WTOP-TV 5:30 PM

AUG 15

Women Organizing Against Zumwalt

REPORTER: Admiral Elmo ZUMWALT's order to allow Waves to serve on ships is now drawing organized opposition from many Navy wives.

BETTY BOWER: These five women are wives of career Navy enlisted men.

For the past decade or more they have felt the service has been good to them and their families.

But on August 8, they revised their thinking when they heard that this new Navy they talk about is going to assign Waves to ships.

WOMAN: Would you want to entrust your husband's lives to a woman? As far as I'm concerned, I don't want my husband with any woman.

ANOTHER WOMAN: If these women want to go to sea, if the Navy wants to give them a ship, let them have their own ship. Why take the men's privacy away from them on ship. They can't run around in their underwear, they have to be careful in their language.

When, the men go out at sea, that's when they are relaxed; they can do and say as they please. They don't have to worry about it.

But with these Waves aboard, they are going to have to be so careful; my husband is due to reenlist March - this coming March, and he will not reenlist if he goes aboard ship with Waves.

BOWER: When Waves are assigned to ships later this year, they will probably be placed aboard non-combatant vessels, such as the repair ship, USS Vulcan.

WOMAN: They have to draw a line somewhere. They want to get out and drive trucks, they drive them by themselves. If they want to go to sea, they can take their own ship. If the Navy wants to trust these women with a ship, send them all to sea by themselves, let them go to sea, they can stay six or nine months out there - I don't care.

But if there is a woman going to go to sea with my husband, it's

5

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

going to be me, not them.

BOWER: For those supporters of
women's lib, Z-gram 116 may be
one hundred years overdue, but for
a group of Norfolk Navy wives, it
means another kind of lib - a lib-
erty they prefer their husbands not
be tempted with.

6

Wednesday, August 16, 1972

RADIO-TV
DEFENSE DIALOG

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1972 (BROADCASTS OF AUG 14)

RADIO TV REPORTS, INC.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

JOHN CHANCELLOR, NBC: American B-52 bombers dropped 900 tons of bombs near the DMZ in an effort to keep NVNese men and supplies from reaching Quang Tri City. Around Quang Tri City SVNese marines fought six sharp engagements with the enemy but were unable to advance.

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD, CBS: Congressional investigators, looking into the military crackdown on drug abuse, have been told that the effort is driving some GIs from marijuana to more easily concealed hard drugs such as heroin.

HARRY REASONER, ABC: SVNese military spokesmen claimed that in the current enemy offensive, their forces are killing eight communist soldiers for every man they lose.

CHANCELLOR, NBC: Henry Kissinger is in Paris again talking privately for the sixteenth time with the NVNese.

WALTER CRONKITE, CBS: The GOP Platform Committee took up as its first order of business the VN War, even as in Washington the White House announced that the administration has tried again today to settle it. Henry Kissinger met secretly in Paris with NVNese negotiators.

HOWARD K. SMITH: In a news conference in San Francisco Ramsey Clark said this, a NVNese editor told him if there's a change in administration here, all US prisoners of war could be released the day the new president is inaugurated.
BILL WORDHAM, ABC: Interviewed Ramsey Clark. He asked Clark if the NVNese asked him to speak on Hanoi Radio. Clark said yes but that he declined. Clark visited with ten US prisoners. A film clip is shown of pictures that he took. Clark said he can stand the criticism. If he can help he wants to help. We can solve this problem. We can have peace. We have to.

REASONER, ABC: In the course of the enemy drive the Saigon regime of President Thieu has assumed what even for it is exceptional authority and among the first to feel the weight of its decrees are those considered to be opposition members of the press. ARNOLD COLLINS, ABC: Reports from Saigon that newspapers in Saigon feel that they're under attack. Saigon's most respected newspaper has been a target for all factions and was once bombed by the VC. The publisher is Senator Dang Van Sungh, who is interviewed.

## NBC NIGHTLY NEWS NBC-TV 6:30

### Ramsey Clark Returns To US

**JOHN CHANCELLOR:** Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark returned to this country yesterday from a two-week visit to NVN.

Today he was in San Francisco to attend the annual assembly of the American Bar Association.

Clark held a news conference and told reporters American prisoners of war will be free when there is a full settlement of the conflict.

Carl Stern was at the news conference and here is his report.

**CARL STERN:** Clark did not bring with him any new peace proposals, only a new plea to end the bombing. He said he had resisted all invita-tions to talk on Radio Hanoi and had sought only to bring home the truth.

**RAMSEY CLARK:** I believe in the basic goodness of the American people and I think if they know the truth, I have to believe this, if they know the truth, they'll do justice because we believe in justice, we really do, however much we forget it from time to time and how-ever lazy we can be, we do believe in justice.

Therefore, I want to tell you about two things, two principal things, I think, I saw.

The bombing is massive and it's destructive. And I saw hospitals, real hospitals bombed, some just damaged and some demolished.

And I saw churches destroyed. A lot of people in this country don't think they have churches over there. Well, I'll tell you, a week ago Sunday, they had a mass at 5:30 in the evening in Hanoi and there were 2,000 people in the church. And I can tell you I went down to the Lon sluice. And this is a sea wall, it's a flood wall, it's a water retention wall for dry seasons because they've got to get three crops a year out of that land, and it's been hit many, many times. And you don't have to look at it very long not to know that.

The bombing is inhumane beyond description. It's killing little babies and women and old men. Beyond being inhumane beyond description, it's stupid. Because it is clear beyond doubt to any reasonable

mind -- you talk about brainwashing all you want to, by God if they can brainwash me I'd like to see it.

Before I left, I was taken to a prison camp. I think I'm the first visitor to a prison camp since late 1970. Common sense tells you that when there is a full settlement the prisoners will be released.

In talking with the editor of the largest paper there and I've got his name, I'm not much on these names, he said in his judgement, as an il-lustration, that if there's a change in administration that prisoners will be released on January 20, 1973. And he said it wouldn't take 9 days to get all the prisoners back. The Foreign Minister said that it could be done in a short period of time.

He said I can reaffirm that all captured citizens of the US, military and civilian, have to be an issue in the overall Settlement. And that, and this is a quote, if there is reached a settlement on the PRG, Pro-visional Revolutionary Government, seven points and the two additions, the prisoner issue will be resolved immediately and implemented.

## US B52s Drop 900 Tons Bombs Near DMZ

**CHANCELLOR:** In the war, American B-52 bombers dropped 900 tons of bombs near the DMZ today in an effort to keep NVNese men and supplies from reaching Quang Tri City.

Around the city itself, SVNese marines fought six sharp engagements with the enemy but were unable to advance.

## Kissinger In Paris For Private Talks

**CHANCELLOR:** Henry Kissinger is in Paris again talking privately for the sixteenth time with the NVNese.

His mission was announced by the White House.

In Paris the NVNese would not confirm the meeting as they refused to confirm the previous meeting.

## CBS EVENING NEWS CBS-TV 7:00

GOP Platform Committee Takes Up VN War

**WALTER CRONKITE:** The Platform Committee took up as its first order of business the VN War, even as in

2 Tuesday, August 15, 1972

Washington the White House announced that the administration has tried again today to settle it. Henry Kissinger met secretly in Paris with NVNese negotiators. What happened, if anything, wasn't made public.

Here at Miami Beach, meanwhile, Secretary of State Rogers turned the tables on Democratic vice presidential nominee Sargent Shriver, who last week charged that the Nixon Administration already had blown one good chance to negotiate an end to the war.

Daniel Schorr talked with Rogers.

SECRETARY ROGERS: I intend to speak out on every opportunity when charges are made of this kind. I don't intend to engage in politics otherwise.

DANIEL SCHORR: Now this specific charge was somewhat clarified over the weekend, is that towards the end of the Johnson Administration the pull-back of NVNese and VC forces indicated in effect a kind of signal that provided an opportunity for peace. How about that.

SEC. ROGERS: Mr. Schorr, that signal, the alleged signal, according to Mr. Harriman, was given in October or early November, 1968. Now that means that the other party was in power for three months after that. And if there was any such signal and it had any such significance, the kind of significance that Mr. Shriver says it had, what did they do about it?

I thought he was talking about a signal that occurred after President Nixon took office. Actually what he's talking about is a signal that they received three months before they left office, and they're the ones that are primarily responsible for the negotiations in Paris, Mr. Harriman, Mr. Vance and Mr. Shriver. And I think that the American people are more confused than ever now.

What do they mean? What did they do about it? Why are they making the charge that we should have taken some action? Why didn't they act? They missed the boat. If peace was in somebody's lap it was in their lap because it happened in October or November, 1968.

And I think they have a duty to explain what they did about it. You mean they sat around for three months doing nothing until President

Nixon came into office and then they forgot to really tell him what the signal was.

SCHORR: I have to go Mr........

SEC. ROGERS: Thank you.

CRONKITE: W. Averill Harriman, who was American Ambassador to those peace talks at the time in question, issued a statement today. He said, all the information I had was available to Secretary Rogers when the Nixon Administration took over. If he didn't know about it, it was his own fault.

More on the dispute from our State Department man, Marvin Kalb.

MARVIN KALB: It may all be a matter of semantics whether there was a signal from Hanoi or not. There is no question, though, about the existence of information that Hanoi had withdrawn most of its troops from the northern part of SVN at the end of 1968.

Harriman and Vance, the Paris negotiating team at the time, chose to interpret this withdrawal as a clear sign of Hanoi's readiness for a deal, and they so informed Washington. But the new administration was highly skeptical of this information and chose at the time to take a more pessimistic view of the withdrawal.

In February, 1969, NVN launched another major attack against the South and the administration felt vindicated in its negative judgement of Hanoi's intentions.

Marvin Kalb, CBS News, Washington.

CRONKITE: Secretary Rogers spoke with Schorr after testifying as the lead off witness at the platform hearing.

## Ramsey Clark Criticizes US Bombing

CHARLES COLLINGWOOD: Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has returned to the US from his visit to Hanoi. While there his criticism of US bombing policy touched off a controversy here at home.

And at a news conference in San Francisco today, Clark seemed to go out of his way to keep the controversy going.

BILL WALKER: Responding directly for the first time to critics, Clark said he had to accept the invitation to visit NVN. The former Attorney General said he didn't know why he was invited and that he started the trip not knowing what it would accomp-

3 Tuesday, August 15, 1972

lish. But he declared, a man has
to live with himself, adding, I have
suffered all the anguish millions
of Americans have about that war.

Clark continued to denounce US
bombing of the North as inhumane,
but he stopped short of charging
that American planes have deliber-
ately attacked civilian targets.
Although he declared there was no
doubts from his observations that
such attacks had occurred.

Clark said he did return with
assurances that American POWs are
being humanely treated, and that
Hanoi is prepared to release them
immediately when a VN settlement
is reached.

He produced a letter from the
NVNese Foreign Minister to back up
his claim. And quoted one source as
saying the only thing standing in
the way of a settlement is the Nixon
Administration.

RAMSEY CLARK: In talking with
the editor of the largest paper
there, and I've got his name, I'm
not much on these names, he said in
his judgement, as an illustration,
that if there are changes in admin-
istration, the prisoners will be re-
leased on January the 20th, 1973.
And he said it wouldn't take nine
days to get all the prisoners back.

REPORTER: Are we to understand
that you believe that the election
of George McGovern by itself, with
nothing else happening, would lead
to the release of some or all of the
prisoners?

CLARK: I didn't say that. Now
that you mention it, I believe it,
yes.

What I said, if you would listen,
is that the editor of their paper
said that.

REPORTER: What affect do you
think your statements and your visit
to Hanoi will have on the McGovern
campaign?

CLARK: You have to do what you
think is right, and I wasn't -- I
can't do nothing because it might
have effects that I can't see or
control. When I was invited to go
I knew that I was going. I could
not possibly not go. Because if I
was invited maybe it could make a
difference for one prisoner or one
VNese baby or one day of the war.
Maybe I could learn something or
take a picture or help clarify the
truth about the situation, so I went.

And history will have to take care
of the rest. I don't know what af-
fect it will have......

WALKER: Clark denied he had
talked to McGovern before or since
his trip to Hanoi, but he said he
planned to call the Democratic can-
didate to offer him a complete brief-
ing.

Bill Walker, CBS News, San Fran-
cisco.

## Military Crackdown Driving Gls From Marijuana To Easily Concealed Heroin

COLLINGWOOD: Congressional in-
vestigators, looking into the mili-
tary crackdown on drug abuse, have
been told that the effort is driving
some Gls from marijuana to more
easily concealed hard drugs such as
heroin.

The report, prepared by the
General Accounting Office, is based
on interviews with enlisted men, es-
pecially those stationed overseas.

And most of them questioned in
VN said that the crackdown on mari-
juana was effective because that
particular drug is bulky and has a
distinctive odor when smoked, but
that the very effectiveness of that
had induced some pot smokers to turn
to heroin because it's easier to
hide.

ABC EVENING NEWS ABC-TV 7:00

Ramsey Clark Took Pictures in NVN

HOWARD K. SMITH: Former Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, who, next to
Shriver, irritated the administration
most, last week, came back from Hanoi
last night.

In a news conference in San Fran-
cisco today he said this, a NVNese
editor told him if there's a change
in administration here, all US pri-
soners of war could be released the
day the new president is inaugurated.

On his tour of NVN Clark carried
a camera lent him by ABC News, and
after today's news conference, ABC's
Bill Wordham questioned Clark and
they took a look at some of the film
he had made.

BILL WORDHAM: Mr. Clark, did the
NVNese ask you to speak on Hanoi
Radio?

RAMSEY CLARK: Yes, they suggested

4 Tuesday, August 15, 1972

that I give some greetings to the people of NVN and speak to American servicemen on the air. I declined. I don't speak VNese and I can talk to American servicemen at home.

WORDHAM: Well, now you're home. Do you have any word on the prisoners are they going to be released? Did the NVNese give any indication of their attitude toward the prisoners?

CLARK: Well, the only thing they said was, of course we will release the prisoners when there's a full military and political settlement. We want them to go home but not until there's a settlement.

I'm absolutely convinced that when there's a settlement the men will be released immediately. It won't take nine days.

WORDHAM: Were you allowed to visit any of the prisoners?

CLARK: Yes, I had an extensive visit with ten prisoners. I spent over two hours with them, tape recorded on film. Here I am coming into one of the rooms. I went through five of the rooms where the men stay.

These are two guys you could see there. These are awfully good men. I think they are strong minded men. They do their own thinking, and they're awfully good Americans.

WORDHAM: They appear to be well looked after?

CLARK: There, that's a guy from Oklahoma. I had fun kidding him.

Yes, they're well fed. One of them has put on weight. Most of them have lost a little. They don't like everything about the food but really have plenty of it.

Pictures from home, books. The pictures from home are very big to them, you know. They're lonely and they want to come home.

Here we're in their dining room where they eat in this wing of this prison. We sat in there and talked for a couple of hours, tape recorded it all. They also dictated private messages to their wives or families, whoever they chose.

WORDHAM: What is their chief attitude?

CLARK: The chief attitude is they want to come home, badly. They also want their families and loved ones to know that they're well. They are really well. They don't want people saying they have something

something wrong with their heads or their bodies. They're well men.

WORDHAM: Are they in any danger from the bombing?

CLARK: They think they're safe. They know more about it than I do. They're in a thick mansonry building, brick. Except for a direct hit, I think they're safe.

Here we're coming into the hospital. This is a demolished hospital in Than Hoa Province. It was hit and just devastated. It's a huge fallen place, eight or ten acres, ten or twelve buildings. That guy's at the head of it, hospital, of course, it's not in operation now. You could see this was the radiology building. I dug down through there and found a bunch of old medical records and stuff.

WORDHAM: Where about is this?

CLARK: We're at Square Avenue, in the woods so to speak, the boondocks. There's nothing within -- no habitation within three kilometers. This is a small school, a secondary school in Bu Von Village. I talked with six or seven of the teachers. Fortunately the school wasn't in session when it was hit because the kids would have killed if it had been. Here's a piece of a desk in the corner there real hard to see. They're modern desks. I saw them in a lot of places.

That means love your friends. They're big on signs. They have signs all over the place.

This is a very -- the Halee (?) area of Haiphong. A lot of Chinese moved in here about a hundred years ago. A number of them killed. Over 200 were killed in this area, they said.

Looks like the devastation of WWII. I went all through those cities, Berlin, Hamburg, Netherlands, Warsaw. It reminded you of that, nothing you want to see.

WORDHAM: Mr. Clark, there's been some criticism of your trip there. How do you react to that criticism?

CLARK: I can stand the criticism. I don't mind criticism. If I can help I want to help. I think we have to know the truth.

We'll have more Americans over there trying to find out and trying to get in touch with our servicemen. We can solve this problem. We can have peace. We have to.

5 Tuesday, August 15, 1972

WORDHAM: Thank you very much.
This is Bill Wordham, ABC News,
with Ramsey Clark in San Francisco.

## Pentagon Disputes Ramsey Clark

SMITH: The Pentagon today disputed one assertion by Ramsey Clark, namely that American prisoners in NVN are humanely treated.

The Pentagon noted that Hanoi has allowed prisoners to receive and send only a fraction of the mail permitted by the Geneva Convention, has never provided an official accounting of the prisoners held.

## SVNese Claim Eight-To-One Death Ratio

HARRY REASONER: In the IC War SVNese military spokesmen claimed today that in the current enemy offensive, their forces are killing eight communist soldiers for every man they lose.

They said that the casualty rate is most obvious in the northern sector around Quang Tri City.

But again today there was no indication of any let-up in enemy attacks with the emphasis on hit-and-run warfare.

## Thieu Assumes Exceptional Authority

REASONER: In the course of the enemy drive the Saigon regime of President Thieu has assumed what even for it is exceptional authority and among the first to feel the weight of its decrees are those considered to be opposition members of the press.

We have a report from ABC's Arnold Collins.

ARNOLD COLLINS: Newspapers here in Saigon feel that they're under attack. Under special powers assumed by President Thieu to combat the NVNese offensive, the government has instituted harsh new restrictions on the press.

The journals and their distributors have often angered government censors. Now they must deposit up to $120,000 to cover future fines. Appeals must now be made to military not civilian courts.

Publishers admit a need for greater responsibility by some Saigon newspapers, but the deposit is so large that many of them can't

pay it. Two opposition dailies have already decided to close down. The third and last one may also go under.

Saigon's opposition press operates out of tiny newsrooms like this. They think the new law is directed at them. They say the law was written to head off support for a peacetime coalition government in SVN, one which might exclude President Thieu.

Saigon's most respected newspaper is Chin Luan (?). It's been a target for all factions and was once bombed out by the VC. The publisher is Senator Dang Van Sungh.

Ironically Senator Sungh signed his name to a compromise bill which finally gave President Thieu the special powers to regulate the press.

SENATOR DANG VAN SUNGH: I don't think that the President has the right to modify the basic law of the press.

Of course we have to abide the law. As a Senator I will try to have some modification in the new law. As a newspaper man I abide to the law, but I fight for democracy. And I want my newspaper to be independent as before. And as I phone you, today I say that if it is not possible for it to be independent I will kill it and close shop.

COLLINS: SVN's publishers have a month in which to comply with the new press law. Senator Sungh and others hope the law can be modified in that time. If it cannot, many more of the presses in Saigon will be stopped.

Arnold Collins, ABC News, Saigon.

## GAO Says Military Crackdown On Drug Abuse Not Effective

REASONER: The General Accounting Office in a six-volume report sent to Congress today, said the military crackdown on drug use has not been effective.

The report said that enforcement of the law paradoxically may have driven some military men from use of marijuana which is bulky and easy to detect, to the use of heroin and other hard drugs.

The report called for improved control procedures.

6 Tuesday, August 15, 1972

## THE JACK ANDERSON REPORT WAVA RADIO
MUTUAL 5:10 PM

### Admiral Thomas Moorer's Black Box

**JACK ANDERSON:** Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas Moorer, was touring the links at a nearby golf course last week. In the admiral's golf cart was the familiar black box that follows Moorer wherever he goes.

The box contains a telephone that enables Moorer to talk with US installations around the world.

In the midst of his golf game, Moorer placed an important telephone call, but it wasn't to Saigon or to some other trouble spot. Moorer called his wife and told her he'd be twenty minutes late for supper.

## VNese Fire Costly US Ammunition
For Salvage of Brass Casings

**LES WHITTEN:** Congressman Lester Wolff is investigating reports that our SVNese allies are firing off costly American ammunition just to get the brass casings for salvage.

Wolff has reports through American official sources that hundreds of tons of the valuable brass was discovered on a boat belonging to VNese blackmarketeers.

## TEN O'CLOCK NEWS WTTG-TV 10:00 PM
AUG 13

### Biggest Construction Boondoggle

**JACK ANDERSON:** The biggest construction boondoggle in history has quietly closed down in VN.

Two construction firms, Raymond International and Morris and Knudsen started out in 1962 to build airfields in SVN. This burgeoned into a construction program that transformed sleepy villages into great airbases and seaports.

Mountains of lumber, steel, cement and machinery piled up faster than the construction crews could use the material.

From these dockside mountains truckloads of supplies frequently disappeared in the night.

The loss from SVNese pilferage has been estimated over $100 million. What supplies weren't pilfered were often used to build fancy quarters for company officials and officers' clubs for the brass. Those losses didn't come out of the profits. They were merely charged to the taxpayer. For the construction firms had a cost plus fixed fee contract, which was clearly the biggest windfall that has ever blown their way.

In early 1965, two more firms, Brown and Root and J. A. Jones were cut in for a share. Together they formed RMKEBJ with signed contracts to complete history's largest construction job.

Well it's an interesting coincidence that the Brown and Root firm who's always helped to finance the political career of Lyndon Johnson, was dealt into the contract after Johnson became President.

With the profits guaranteed under the contract, the giant combine never spared the taxpayers' money. They went through nearly $2 billion in government green like cow through clover.

Now the big construction boys are quietly packing their tools and going home.

This is Jack Anderson in Washington.

7 Tuesday, August 15, 1972