VISIT TO THAI BINH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: August 5, 1972
• Content Type: MISC

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
15 Aug 72
K 5 NORTH VIETNAM
Visit to Thai Binh
Hanoi in English to Southeast Asia' 1000 GMT 5 Aug 72 B
[For a VNA.International Service English report On this visit see page K-4 of the 7
-August DAILY REPORT] ?
[Text/ [Announcer] A team of the International Commission for Inquiries Into U.S. War:
Crimes in Indochina has. just toured Thai.Binh, a rice rich province in North viettamla
delta. Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general and a member of the team, visited
the Lan sluice, which was completely destroyed by U.S. bombs on July 29. The sluice
is an important hydraulic work. Its construction began in 1961 and Was completed in
1963 at a cost of 1 and a half million dong and millions of work days. The project
[words indistinct] of paddy fields in the southern district of the province.
Lan 'sluice had been bombed and rocketed on July 19,.24; and 28 of this year but had
been. repaired'. The last U.S. attack reduced it to rubble. Seeing the destruction,. .
Ramsey Clark had this td say: [Follows male voice with American accent] "(21 see) the
sluices are strategic' in the utilization of water for tens of thousands of acres,, and
hundreds of thousands of people, and their livelihood depends on it, so it is obviously
quite a critical target, and when you hit it, you endanger the lives of all those ? -
people and you destroy this good earth that,.uhh,-has given (?them livelihood).
[Words indistinct] facility and, uhh, vital in the regulation of, Umm, the water lei/el
on the tens of thousands of acres which support, uhh, .hundreds of thousands of people,.
'So, the Jeopardy to their lives and livelihood is quite clear from hitting this target..
"We have recently had, uhh, some terrible floods in the United States, particularly'
in the northeastern part, where the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland,
Washington D.C., uhh, experienced, uhh, the most Severe floods in many, many years,.
and of course there was the, uhh, tragedy and disaster in Rapid City, South Dakota,
earlier in the year. .
"So the American people know.something about, umm, the human suffering and loss of
life that can result, uhh, from flooding.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
.1.7) ye_ K 6 NOTH VIEMAM
a.lt I think tne--the risk of flooding to the people of, uhh, the Democratic Republic
Of North Vietnam 15, uhh, is much more serious because the--the life of this country
depends upon it L1--its ability to grow the foods that, uhh, require the very careful
regulation of water levels. Particularly, uhh, with rice its important that there
be plenty of water, but, uhh, not be too much water, or there will be no rice crop,
and, uhh, people will starve.
."So it's imperative that, uhh, the, uhh, people of this country, uhh, of North Vietnam.
be able to regulate, uhh, their water, and this requires a very intricate system of
dikes, pumps, sluides, and dams. And if there's injury to this system, then the crops,:
uhh, will perish. This, uhh, this province of Thai Binh is, Uhh, a rich agricultural
area. The highest point in the whole province is only 2 meters above sea level, so
you can see immediately that, uhh, not only will the food upon which life depends be
lost if there is flooding here, but life itself will be lost immediately because, uhh,
homes and, Uhh, villages can be flooded, Therefore, attacks on-the dikes, the sluices.
and the pumping stations that are essential, uhh, are attacks on the very economic
basis, on the very life, of this country, and they should never, never be done."
(Announcer] Ramsey Clark also visited the bomb damaged hospital for lepers and a
secondary school in the province. He made these remarks: (Same American accented
male voice) "This morning, Friday, August 4th, the first place we visited (?was) the
small village of Phu Vang, (?Where) two airplanes attacked on the 31st of July and
dropped approximately 20 bombs in the area generally. Among the places damaged, there
were, uhh, a hospital for lepers called (Le Phong), which is more than a hundred years
old and which cares for a thousand people suffering from leprosy. The bombs that hit
there killed three people and injured three, in addition doing great damage to the
hospital facility. itself.
"We also visited'a secondary school which was, umm, had been quite an attractive
building, uhh, only completed in 1966, and we visited there with six of the teachers.
The bOmbs there injured the principal of the school as well as four of the teachers.
But fortunately, the children were away on vacation, so no children were injured-.
"It's not, umm, possible for me to Make a final judgment as to what was intended..by the
pilot at that time. It would be necessary to first attain all possible evidence as to
targets in the area, and perhaps, uhh, uhh, from the, uhh, Air Force of the United_
States there would be some statement as to what they claim they were trying to do here.
"But one thing is very clear, and that is that when military aircraft bomb a country,
uhh, where there is no military engagement going on, where there is no actual battle
being engaged in, they 'will inevitably, unnecessarily, uhh, kill innocent people, kill
civilians, and destroy Schools and hospitals, as we have seen this morning. And the
lesson, of course, is that the bombing should be stopped immediately, should never have
been done in the first place, and should never be done again."
-(Announcer] The former U.S. attorney general said further about the U.S. attack on
dikes: (Same American accented male voice] "We visited, uhh, one site yesterday,_
that uhh--where a dike had been, umm, bombed directly--(?I think) that a bomb had hit
directly on the top of the dike and had torn, uhh, a large crater in the dike there
and had done damage nearby. In fact, that bomb, uhh, killed a mother and her-=and her
daught6rs and left, uhh, husband without a wife and a son without a mother and sisters.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
. -
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1
Iv. . Aug 'te K 7 NORTH VIETNAM
When we arrived, there were many,-many people already working to repair the dike--
the people of North Vietnam are very hard workers--and they had, uhh, carts--there
were both men and women--and they had, uhh, shovels, and they had, uhh, what we call
(?tamps) I guess--what you pound the earth dawn with--and uhh, they never stopped
while we were there. They kept, uhh, working, uhh, constant15%" [recording ends]
You have just listened to former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, now in North.
Vietnam, speaktng about U.S. bombing raids in Thai Binh Province.
Clark Comments on Haiphong.Bombing-
Hanoi in English to Southeast Asia 1000 GMT 6 Aug 72 B
[For a VN A International Service English version of this report see
August DAILY REPORT]
Page
K-4 of the 9
[Text] On August 5 American lawyer Ramsey Clark and other members of the visiting team
of the International Commission for Inquiry Into U.S. Crimes in Indochina were in
Haiphong city to gather facts about U.S. crimes. Asked to comment on what he had
seen, the former U.S. attorney general said: [Follows recorded male voice with
American accent]
"thviously there is massive destruction in this part of Haiphong. Uhh, just-Standing
here on top of this debris you can see, umm, that many, many buildings were totally
destroyed. We can be fortunate, I guess, that more people weren't killed.. It's--
it's quite amazing that, uhh, when you look at the dimension of the destruction here
--all this area--that, uhh, many, many people, uhh, weren't killed and so tragic as it
is in any world--it could have been hundreds, lmm--or even thousands (?of hundreds
that) could have been killed in, uhh--in such, umm, terrible bombing and destruction in
the living area of the city of Haiphong as we see here.
"Well, we know this--whether accidental or on purpose, uhh, you can stop the accidents .
as well as the purpose, and, uhh, there is absolutely, uhh, no excuse for bombing, of
North Vietnam. There never has been and ,uhh, it should never have happened, it should
stop immediately, it should never happen again.
"rcan't'judge in any particular case, uhh, until I have all the facts and I Will not
judge until I have all the facts whether a particular situation was a mistake. Uhh,
we Intend to get as many of the facts 24 possible and, and we'll then make our
judgment."
[Announcer] About the destruction of Phuoc Loc hamlet on the outskirts of Haiphong by
U.S. warplanes on April the 16th last, Ramsey Clark had this to say: [Re0orded male. .
voice With American accent] "Well of course there can never be any justification for .
what happened here at-Phuoc Loc. It's so-pitifUl,that,.uhh, the violence of technology
would be used to destroy the lives of such a gentle and simple and beautiful people.
We must learn the lessons of these tragedies and, umm, know that We create determination
In the hearts of all people that there shall be peace and rules of law that can be
firmly enforced to prevent these tragedies from every happening again.
"I've known Tony Lewis for many years and he's an extremely sensitive person. He was
here at the village of Phuoc Loc shortly 'after the bombing occured, and I agree fully
[cough] what he said. Well, I feel very badly.
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The--the tragedy is the same, t over, umm, is the offender, and, umm, the thing
we have to 1,:now is that, uhh, there is still this enormous capacity in man to kill.
America has shown its car.lacity to kill many times in -many ways, and if we do not
set aside our violence, we'll destroy, ourselves." [recording ends)
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/12/03: CIA-RDP08T00376R000100260037-1