THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 MARCH 1971

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005992511
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: March 4, 1971

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The President's Daily Brief
4 March 1971
46
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THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
4 March: 1971
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Sharp fighting has resumed in eastern Laos.. (Page 1)
President Thieu, with his domestic audience as well
as Hanoi in mind, has warned that South Vietnamese
forces might attack the North. (Page 2)
In Cambodia, South Vietnamese forces have engaged
in a series of sharp battles east Of the Chup plan-
tation (Page 3)(
Mujibur Rahman has rejected a bid by President Yahya
to mollify East Pakistani anger. (Page 5)
Lee Kuan Yew says that the Soviets have invited
Singapore to bid on a "huge" maintenance and repair
facility. (Page 6)
The Chinese launched their
(Page 7)
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Operation LAM SON 719 Situation Map
z General area of ARVN operations
551089 3-71 CIA
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VI ETNAM- LAOS
? Sharp fighting has resumed in eastern Laos,
with Communist attacks on 2 and 3 March against
Hills 30 and 31 north of Route 9, against the high
ground south of Ban Dong, and against a South Viet-
namese strongpoint just north of the intersection
of Routes 9 and 92. Some of the assaults were pre-
ceded by heavy shelling and ground probes.
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In South Vietnam, widely respected former
prime minister Tran Van Huong, now a senator, has
publicly criticized the US for failing to provide
adequate air support for the campaign in Laos.
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SOUTH VIETNAM - NORTH VIETNAM
President Thieu told a provincial cadre meeting
yesterday that South Vietnamese forces might attack
the North unless Hanoi stopped sending its forces into
the South. He Added that the Communists no longer
retain the initiative, and that anti-Communist forces
now have the capability to attack the enemy anywhere.
Thieu has only recently adopted this bel-
licose Zine more characteristic of Vice
President Ky. He clearly wants to keep
North Vietnam thinking about its own de-
fenses while it attempts to counter Lam
Son 719. He probably also wants to im-
press on Hanoi that the time has passed
when it can invade the South without much
concern over retaliation. Thieu also had
his domestic audience in mind, for many
of the cadre addressed may be able to help
his re-election, and an element of bravado
stands well with them.
The speech will reinforce Hanoi's appre-
hensions about sossible attacks a ainst
the North.
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CAMBODIA-VIETNAM
South Vietnamese armor, infantry, and ranger
troops around Dambe fought a series of sharp battles
along Route 75 east of the Chup plantation on 1 and
2 March. They reported killing about 270 enemy
troops while their own casualties were 58 killed and
over 200 wounded. The South Vietnamese also lost a
substantial amount of weapons and equipment, includ-
ing one tank.
Since the Clearing operation began in
early February, the South Vietnamese
claim tb:have killed over 2,500 Commu-
nists, at a cost of about 330 killed and
1,700 wounded.
/the enemy appears deter-
mined to keep the South Vietnamese forces
tied down to divert or delay them from
moving into the important storage and
base areas in the countryside around
Dambe.
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CAMBODIA
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PAKISTAN
Yesterday Mujibur Rahman rejected a major bid
by President Yahya Khan to mollify East Pakistani
anger over his postponement of the Constituent As-
sembly. Earlier in the day Yahya had called for
leaders of Pakistan's political parties to meet in
Dacca on 10 March, and intimated that the assembly
might be able to meet soon afterwards. Mujib quickly
announced, however, that he would not attend, charg-
ing that the conference was being scheduled "at gun-
point."
Mujib's stand increases the significance
of his promised statement to a mass rally
on Sunday, when he says he will announce
his plans. By turning away from this
chance to defer a definitive pronouncement
pending the proposed conference, he is at
least partly seeking to safeguard his lead-
ership of the irate East Pakistanis. Con-
sul General Blood believes that unless
some dramatic breakthrough occurs, a dec-
laration of independence by Mujib on Sun-
day appears increasingly likely.
Also yesterday, on the second day of a scheduled
two-day general strike, Mujib extended the work stop-
page through Saturday, while still urging restraint.
The army appears to have supplanted the police in
Dacca, and nighttime curfews remain in force.
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SINGAPORE
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew told Ambassador
Cross yesterday that the visiting Soviet maritime
delegation has invited Singapore to bid on a "huge"
maintenance and repair arrangement for Soviet ships.
Lee said he estimated that the arrangement would
cover 25 to 40 percent of the Soviet fleet and an
even larger amount of merchant shipping. Although
he did not say what he had replied to the Soviets,
Lee reiterated to Ambassador Cross his earlier po-
sition that if the US, UK, and Australia kept Sing-
apore facilities busy there would be no room for
the Soviets.
Previously, Lee had given assurances that
he would not entertain any proposals for
Soviet naval use of Singapore's facilities
and that he would make no arrangements
about Soviet shipping without first con-
sulting his Commonwealth defense partners.
Lee's attempts to pressure these partners
and the US into a substantial commitment
to use the Singapore facilities show up
clearly in his obvious exaggeration of
potential Soviet business.
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NOTES
Communist China: The Chinese launched their
space satellite
Yemen (Sana) - US;[
Berlin: The slowdown of West German civilian
traffic on the autobahn to West Berlin is an attempt
by Pankow to strike a balance between its current
relatively flexible approach toward matters of mu-
tual interest with Bonn and its much harder view on
matters which it considers illegal, such as West
German political meetings in West Berlin. The
Christian Democratic Party is now holding a three-
day meeting there. The traffic harassment caused
Mayor Schuetz to postpone the opening scheduled to-
day of West Berlin Senat talks with the East Germans
on Easter passes.
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Top Secret
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