SPECIAL DAILY REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02408145
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: April 27, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: March 28, 1968

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T t
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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28 March 1968
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Approved for Release: 2019/04/17 CO2408145
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
28 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi Calls on Public for an All-out Effort: An
editorial published in 'Hanoi's party daily on Sunday
calls on the North Vietnamese public to redouble its
efforts in support of the war in the South. "Now is
the time," it said, "to concentrate all our forces"
and devote "everything to the struggle." The theme
is not new, but the editorial has an unusual sense
of urgency about it. It describes current develop-
ments in the South as "a new situation." It character-
izes the fighting there as "a general offensive and
uprising," terms which the Communists used frequently
at the start of the Tet offensive but which have been
used only sparingly since then. The editorial also
talks of "mobilizing" the troops and the people of the
North, suggesting that a special manpower roundup may
be under way.
* * *
Front Interview: A prominent Liberation Front
spokesman has portrayed the Communist Tet offensive
as a giant step toward making the US position in the
South untenable, but not as an attempt to seize power
in one fell swoop. Like other Vietnamese Communist
spokesmen, he offered no hints of a willingness to
compromise and made clear that the Communists continue
to seek a settlement wholly on their terms.
Nguyen Van Tien, the head of the Liberation Front
delegation in Hanoi, told a Japanese correspondent in
a two-hour interview on 25 March that "most" of
South Vietnam has been "liberated" since the Tet offen-
sive and that the allied forces are "surrounded" by a
"great sea" of hostile humanity. He claimed the of-
fensive's purpose was not to occupy the cities but to
disorganize allied forces and create psychological un-
rest.
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Tien questioned US interest in a peaceful settle-
ment, but he said that if Washington "respects the
Vietnamese people's fundamental rights," then there
are "many ways to hold talks." He made clear that
North Vietnam's offer to talk in return for a bombing
halt did not commit the Communists to over-all peace
negotiations. He said the Front supported Hanoi's de-
mand for an unconditional bombing halt, but he went
on to stipulate that if the US wants "peace talks,"
it "should end its aggression in South Vietnam" and
withdraw all its armed forces.
Tien dodged a question about what kind of gov-
ernment would appear in the South after the war. He
said it would be a "highly flexible coalition govern-
ment," and explained that this was made clear in the
Front's political program last summer,
Tien also played down the significance of Khe
Sanh and said the Communists did not consider it a
second Dien Bien Phu.
the foreigners who were recen y
stopped or detained for questioning include two Swed-
ish diplomats who visited recently, the French News
Agency correspondent, and the Indian military represen-
tative to the International Control Commission in
Hanoi.
It is not certain if these individuals were in-
discreet in their wanderings or if North Vietnamese
security forces are simply more vigilant. The latter
seems likely in view of the newly published security
decree,
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Administrative Changes near the Chinese Border:
Communica ions ige
Vietnamese have adjusted their local administrative
boundaries in the northwestern part of the country
1
nce
1
1
a
es
a
or
near the Chinese border.
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II, NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
North Vietnamese Army Newspaper Comments: Hanoi's
army �al y on arc c aline a e recent Tet of-
fensive had contributed significantly to a political
crisis in the US in which President Johnson was increas-
ingly isolated from his colleagues and his critics. The
army editorial was broadcast both to audiences in North
Vietnam and in English to Havana for replay to the US.
The domestic broadcast indulged in unusually
harsh language, calling the US President a wounded
"wild beast" who "shouted for war." The broadcast to
Havana zeroed in on the President's critics within his
own party and said President Johnson was facing his
"darkest tragedy" since his accession to the presidency.
The newspaper reported that Senator Robert Kennedy and
Senator McCarthy were using the Vietnam question as a
"trump card," and that the New York Senator was de-
manding an end to the war, a change of US policy, and
the removal of the President.
* * *
Hanoi Reports AP Criticism of Westmoreland's
Strategy: Hanoi's international service on 27 March
reported an analysis of US military strategy and tac-
tics by Peter Arnett of the Associated Press. Accord-
ing to the broadcast, Arnett said that General West-
moreland will be remembered above all for his use of
massive firepower--so massive that "aircraft and artil-
lery are called in to do the job that infantrymen did
in other wars.... More and more Americans.. .see this
massive use of firepower as the major weakness in US
military tactics in Vietnam," Arnett is represented as
saying.
* * *
"Antimilitarist" Meeting of "Black Americans":
Two hundred members of the "antimilitarist movement
and organizations of black Americans" met recently
in Illinois, according to the Hanoi international
service. The meeting allegedly drafted a "common pro-
gram of action" against the war in Vietnam and against
US racism, and decided to organize an antiwar demon-
stration next August in Chicago.
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