Prisoner Exchange

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP62-00865R000200280023-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 1997
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: July 11, 1954
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/08/17 : CIA-RDP62-00865R000200280023-7
N.Y. Times
AL 17 1954
PRISONER EXCHANGE
In a dispatch, to, this news?apes
Henry R. Lieberman has described
i the Bastille Day exchange of prison-
ers in Vietnam. The .French Union
troops, survivors of a "Death March"
from DtenIienphu, were, he says, "a
ghastly contingent of.?emaciatett, sal-
low-faced men, living sacks of bones
with festering sores, swollen feet and
.hay.ting, glazed eyeballs." Those who
could eat wQlfed whole loaves of
_
bread ravenously
, Many were not
able to make the exertion. By con-
trast, the Vietminh prisoners returned
by the French Union were, he says,
"
healthy-looking. specimens" who got'
aboard the LSM under their own
power. Under the guidance of their
Communist leaders -they refused to
. accept fresh. uniforms and cigarettes
rind chanted Communist slogans as
they went ashore.
The elements in such a story have
.become, unhappily, all too familiar.
They are reminiscent of earlier ex-
changes, each of which has illustrated
that there is a wide and deep gulf
between the free and the Communist
worlds, It is a gulf in essential be-
havior. It. stems from widely different
moral conceptions, chief of which is
that concerning the value of human
not usually a happy one, but among
civJized peoples there is an agree-
ment that it need nod and should not
be made worse 'than it is. This is
dictated by simple humaneness. The
moral person does not cause suffering
to others unnecessarily. The humane
person ,,seeks to ameliorate, not ag-
gravate, suffering, even in an_etlemy.
Such' concepts have no validity,
however, when a dogma such as com-
munism. throws away all moral and
humane values. It is not enough to
say that life is held cheaply in Asia
or that one might expect brutal treat-
ment from Tonkinese irregular sol-
diery: `Life is just as valuable oil
Asia as it is anywhere else, and the
Tonkinese have b,EEtn known for years
as an' essentially gentle and warm-
hearted people. It is the Communist
conspiracy, not Asia, that holds life
to be, of no value, It is the destruc.
tion of morals that makes gentle folk
into brutes. `Mis is the lesson of the
Death marches and the cruelty to
prisoners and we will do well to keep
it constantly in mind.
Approved For Rele~se 2001/08 - P62-0086$ R000200280023-7
 CPYRGHT
Approved For Release 2001/08/17 : CIA-RDP62-00865R000200280023-7
C?S? Monitor
JUL 13
Thailand Seen .Ke
By Arnold C. Brackman
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Ayutthaya. Thailand
Thailand, strategically cen-
tered in the heartland of South-
east Asia, is held by many to
be the military pivot today' upon
which any common defense
must turn if Communist en-
croachmerit in this region is to
be checked.
Any reasonable doubt about
Communist aims in this'rich re-
gion of rice and rubber fades
easily when reviewing this
Country's far-flung frontiers
while standing here on the cen-
tral, rice-growing plain of Thai-
land, a former capital site just
north of Bangkok. -
In the north and east is the
border with Laos and Cambodia,
two of the component states of
Indochina, There Communist in-
filtration, backed by military
victories against the French in
Vietnam, continues daily. Only
six months ago, a Communist-
controlled 'Vietminh force suc-
ceeded in briefly entering and
holding Thakhek, a Thai-Laos
frontier town situated on the
amed Mekong River.
Campaign of Terror
In. the West, an independent
and socialist Burma is in pursuit
f remnant Communist bands
which have openly waged a
ai1paign of terror for six years
.n the hopes of overthrowing by
iolence the democratic govern-
ent of Prime Minister U 'Nu.
And in the south, communist
ands from Malaya, forced to
lee the country under British
military pressiirez have tried to
ake silent refuge inside the
outhern provinces of Thailand,
xhausted by pursuit in Malaya.
Projecting the general situa-
ion just a bit further, as viewed
rom central. Thailand, in the
ar north stands the Chinese
efend its historic position as a
ree and independent nation.
Mobilization Plans
The first, and most 'obvious,
s to shore up its own defenses
rom within, The tempo in this
irection is steadily increasing,
oncommitant with a deteriora-
ion in the. nearby Indochina
ar situation.
General mobilization plans,
ere completed last December.
in recent months, too, Thailand's
eacetime army of 45;000 , men
as been. quietly increased , to
bout 65,000. troops. There are
ow indications that a minimum
orce of 100,000 well-trained and
ell-equipped soldiers is the
oal. for the near future.
In April of this year, for the
rst time, a volunteer defense
rganization' got under way. Its
urpose is to develop a 100?000-
trong'.home guard ' for local
efense. Trained in the use of
rms. their weapons will be held
use in Minute Man stvle- +I,,-
familiar guerrilla tactic of A he
American revolution.
Thailand's police, in essence a
miniature army under the In-
terior Ministry, is also girding
itself. This force of abolzt 40t~
000 men includes, incongruously
enough, paratroopers and ar-
mored units, One `'of its .func-
tions is border patrol, the Thais
wisely keeping. their.. regular
army in the rear; thereby avoid-
ing any possible "frontier -in-
cidents" with any of their
neighbors.
Thailand, with a population of
roughly 20,000,000 people, is in'
no position today to finance this
defense by itself. Military hard-
ware has alway"s proven an ex-
pensive proposition, especially
in these contemporary days of
jet power, automatic weapons,
and general inflation,
ommunist colossus with a mil- i American Weapons
ion men or more on its southern Thus, as a second course of
order. And- farther south, on action to maintain its independ-
roubl
d S
t
e
uma
ra, one of the
eys to the stability of the In-
onesian republic, Communist
I ntrigues are disrupting the
overnment's land reform pro-
am, hampering estate produc-
ion and interfering with oil
utput.
In this disturbing situation,
hailand ' has. today turned to
48
ence and integrity, Thailand has
freely turned to the United
States for military aid and as-
sistance, This, is being carried
out at present by a Joint United
States Military, Advisory Group
(JUSMAG ).
America is providing both
1G. Asia Defense
weapons and expert know-how
to build up Thailand's armed
s into, a - mo ern a en-
sive force to. deter internal and
external threats.
A third course in their de-
fense of sovereignty is strict
adherence by the Thais to the
spirit and letter of the United
Nations. Open Communistag-
gression in Korea four years
ago served notice upon the re-
alistic. Thais , of future eventu-
alities. Only ?a United Nations
comirlitment-'united action in
the truest sense of the word
today-can defend Thailand.
Drive for, UN Action
The Thais seem to know this.
rhus, they were one of.the first
.ountries in the world to dis-
-satch troops into Korea after
;be United Nations entered the
'ray?' Thailand, too,. has main-
:aine'd a strict embargo. on the
shipment of rice, rubber, tin,
and wolfram , to Communist
China . And Thailand has be-
come the southeast Asian re-
gional headquarters for such
United Nations- organizations as
Miles
AAY}, a ? 160 200
By a Staff Cartographer'
Strategic Thailand faces
Communist threat from Viet-
nam (1), and guerrilla infiltra-
tion from Malaya (2).
ECAFE, FAO, WHO, UNICEF,
and UNESCO.
Thin may also explain why
Thailand initiated last year the
drive to get the United Nations
o..take action in Indochina. The
ig powers, alternately, have
ried to avoid this move,
France rejected outright last
ear this type of "interference."
he United States, anxious not
o, disturb a touchy ally, also
roved reluctant to back the
hais, although this attitude
hanged recently at Washington.
nd in June of this year, after
eviving the issue once again,
he Soviet Union vetoed the
hai. move in the Security.
ouncil to?get a peace observa-
ion team into Southeast Asia.
But the Thais have not given
p hope and expect to re-in-
roduce the issue to the Gen-
Thus Thailand's policy today
s based upon a practical mar-
Approved For Release 2001/08/17 : CIA-RDP62-00865R000200281 02.3-7