THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 22 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974341
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 22, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
--Top4trrrY--22 March 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
22 MARCH 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Burma
Intercepts suggest at least 14--
and perhaps as many as 16--infiltration
groups passed through the Thanh Hoa
area of North Vietnam in the first two
weeks of March. Four of these units
reported strengths to higher headquar-
ters which averaged out to about a bat-
talion apiece. If the others were of
roughly the same size, we would guess
that close to the equivalent of two di-
visions came through Thanh Hoa.
According to a captured document,
the Peking-oriented White Flag Commu-
nists have been ordered to mount a ter-
rorist campaign on 28 March to celebrate
the twentieth anniversary of their in-
surgency. Much of the action would prob-
ably occur in the countryside of south-
ern Burma, where most of the 4,000 White
Flags operate, but there might also be
isolated acts of terrorism in Rangoon.
We doubt the Communists can cause
a very big stir. Neither the White
Flags nor any other insurgent group in
Burma can carry on a sustained campaign.
Besides, the government is already con-
ducting precautionary sweeps.
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3. Israel-Jordan
4. Rhodesia
The border is quiet. Israeli
troops have withdrawn after the most
serious military operations since the
June war.
Casualties seem to have been fair-
ly heavy on both sides, although accu-
rate figures are hard to come by. The
Israelis claim they killed 150 "sabo-
teurs" and inflicted substantial losses
on regular Jordanian Army units. In ad-
dition to one aircraft and several
armored vehicles, Tel Aviv admits to
losing 21 killed and 70 wounded.1
King Husayn has called for an Arab
summit conference, which will probably
be held soon. So far, Egypt, Lebanon,
Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen have said they
will come. Husayn's request for a meet-
ing was couched in terms clearly in-
tended to show how fed up he has become
with all of the empty sloganizing about
Arab unity.
In the United Nations, the odds
are that the Security Council will not
go along with Jordan's demand for puni-
tive measures against Israel. However,
the council may condemn breaches of the
cease-fire from whatever source and de-
mand that past resolutions be carried
out.
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5. Czechoslovakia
6. Nigeria
President Novotny is all but out.
He has indicated he is ready to resign,
and the Central Committee has announced
it is ready to allow him to shed the
burdens of office.
His most likely successor is Joseph
Smrkovsky, a leading advocate of "democ-
ratization."
* * *
Ambassador Sullivan reports a dis-
tinct change in the comportment of the
Czechoslovakian charg?n Vientiane
since the big changes in Prague. Not
only has the charg?poken gleefully to
his Western colleagues about develop-
ments at home, but he has also begun to
be more objective about Communist activ-
ities in Laos. For example, he recently
spoke critically to Americans and Lao-
tians of North Vietnamese/Pathet Lao
shelling of Saravane and Attopeu.
Sullivan suspects other East Euro-
peans there share the Czechoslovak's
doubts about Ho Chi Minh's abuse of his
neighbors.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secret
- 16
22 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
22 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Swedish Soundings in Hanoi: Recent Swedish prob-
ings of North Vietnam's position on negotiations evi-
dently turned up nothing new. Ambassador Petri,
Sweden's envoy to Peking, visited Hanoi as part of
this effort in late February and early March. He gave
a rambling account of his adventures to US Embassy of-
ficers in Stockholm on 15 March. Petri refused to be
pinned down on details of just who said what and to
whom, but his message was both clear and familiar: Hanoi
is not interested in negotiations except on its own
terms.
Petri was told by the North Vietnamese a year and
a half ago that if the bombing is stopped, "we know
what we will have to do." He says this ambiguous state-
ment still characterizes the basic North Vietnamese po-
sition. The leaders in Hanoi firmly rejected the con-
cept of reciprocity and said the President's San An-
tonio formula is unacceptable because it would be
"capitulation."
Petri's impressions of the Communist scenario for
negotiations is standard stuff. He said Hanoi would
respond promptly to a bombing halt which is "definite
and conclusive," but he also made clear that the North
Vietnamese think of postbombing talks only as prelimin-
aries for setting up negotiations with the Liberation
Front. These, in turn, would be concerned basically
with working out a US withdrawal. Hanoi rules out par-
ticipation in negotiations by the present Saigon gov-
ernment, but Petri suggested that a "suitable" govern-
ment (a coalition?) in Saigon could take part.
Petri also received the standard Vietnamese Com-
munist pitch of how Hanoi cannot speak for the National
Liberation Front. He apparently buys the dubious propo-
sition of "differences" between the Front and Hanoi
over negotiations. His contacts with both parties con-
vinced him that Hanoi is more interested in negotiations
than spokesmen for the Front, whom he characterized as
"tough guys" operating independently of the North Viet-
namese.
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II, NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi may be Intensifying Effort to Influence
American Opinion: In recent weeks, North Vietnam has
opened its doors to selected American leftists and
influential correspondents.
writer Mary McCarthy and Professor Franz Schurmann
are now in Hanoi, and American newsmen William Baggs
and Harry Ashmore have been given permission to make
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another trip. Walter Cronkite has also apparentl
received permission to enter North Vietnam. ..111111
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* * *
Hanoi Highlights Critical Statements in US Press:
In its English language broadcast on 20 March, Hanoi
gave particular attention to recent comments in US news
media critical of the US position on Vietnam. The
broadcast quoted the Long Island daily Newsday stating
that the US position in Vietnam was steadily deterio-
rating and that US troops should be withdrawn. The
news department of NBC was also quoted as saying that
the war in Vietnam was being lost when judged against
the Johnson administration's expressed reasons for
pursuit of the conflict. Recent statements by NBC
correspondent Frank McGee and Walter Cronkite of CBS
questioning the US commitment were also reported. In
sum, the broadcast noted that the American press has
underlined that the US cannot turn the tide of the
war even by sending in more troops.
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