THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE IN LAOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000300100003-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2004
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: March 25, 1971
• Content Type: OPEN

S 3924 Approved For Rele /~ A~1 8 00 RqY00100003-5 r f ech 25, 1911
care now. Scholarships, totaling $29 million,
would be provided for low-income medical
and dental students. A similar amount would
be budgeted for training physicians' assist-
ants. Medical schools would be eligible for
$93 million in grants for expansion. A com-
mission would be set up to study the high
cost of malpractice insurance.
Mr. Nixon said that nationalization of
health insurance inevitably would lead to
federal personnel approving local hospital
budgets and setting local physicians fees.
He said the better way-"more practical,
more effective, less expensive and less dan-
gerous''-is to reform and renew the present
health system.
Many Americans will agree. But there is
strong support also for nationalization. The
Kennedy-Griffiths plan was drafted by the
AFL-CIO and the Commitee of 100 for Na-
tional Health Insurance created by the late
Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto
Workers Union. A long debate is likely in
Congress before an adequate solution is
reached to the mounting problem of financ-
ing the Nation's health care. The Adminis-
tration's plan appears at first glance to be
adequate.
[From the Atlanta Constitution, Feb. 25,
19701
Tim GENOCIDE CONVENTION
Genocide is an ugly word defined as "the
deliberate and systematic destruction of a
racial, political or cultural group."
The word came into common usage after
World War II when Nazi extermination of
some six million Jews and gypsies staggered
the conscience of mankind. In 1948 the U N.
General Assembly adopted the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide. This made mass murder
of a people a matter of international con-
cern. The United States signed the conven-
tion but has never ratified it, and it has no
effect in our country.
Surely Americans are not indifferent to the
deliberate mass slaughter of innocents.
Then why haven't we taken a stand with
74 other nations by ratifying the convention?
For a long time it was held that treaties
of this sort would supercede our Constitu-
tion or interfere with sovereignty. But
President Nixon, backed by the Secretary of
State Rogers and Attorney General Mitchell,
says there is no constitutional obstacle and
has urged the Senate to approve the Conven-
tion.
One influential organization has opposed
ratification from the beginning. The Amer-
ican. Bar Association, meeting in Atlanta, has
once again gone on record as opposed
ratification, though the vote was close-130
to 126. They argue that Americans could be
tried in foreign courts, or that our troops
in Vietnam might be accused and tried on
charges of genocide.
This attitude, we'd guess, is greatly appre-
ciated by those employed in the propaganda
bureaus of America's enemies. It seems to
suggest that genocide is a terrible crime un-
less Americans are committing it. One dele-
gate said quite bluntly that genocide in war
is no crime and added: "I wouldn't be in this
country if it weren't for genocide. It was
either the white man or the Indian and the
Indian went down the drain." This mem-
orable quotation is probably framed on the
office walls in Hanoi and Moscow right now.
Rational Americans know well enough that
we intend no genocide in Vietnam or any-
where. But we're being accused of it. This
is unjust, but perhaps it is behind the Presi-
dent's desire to place the nation firmly on
record. "I believe we should delay no longer,"
he told the Senate, "in taking the final con-
vincing step which would reaffirm that the
United States remains as strongly opposed to
the crime of genocide as ever."
The enormity of the crime, it seems to us,
makes the objections look like petty quib-
bling over technicalities. We support the
President wholeheartedly.
Vietnamese troops in he area between Khe
Sanh and Tchepone -:e. doubled after the
invasion began, to tl e equivalent of four
or five divisions, and is pretty clear that
General Giap meant to fisht a decisive battle
to keep open his suppiv routes to the south..
But the actions in ow second and third
weeks of the opcratici siowed him that, for
all his two-to-one sup'riority in numbers in
the area as a whole, re could not concen-
trate enough men to .,fit a clear-cut victory
at any given point wit :cut exposing them to
devastating losses fro.u air attack.
Second, said the :' cnnomist-
The other thing t is South Vietnamese
have achieved, and wh ci, has bgen made pos-
sible by their ability t?, s say one jump ahead
of Giap's men, is to gave deprived the com-
munist forces in Cam -iodia and South Viet-
nam of a substantial r ?portion of the sup-
plies they were coup it on being able to
use between now anc: May, 1972. -
Mr. President, in tie belief that fre-
quently we here at ?lcme do not see the
forest for the tree I ask unanimous
consent that the ar;:irle entitled "What
It Has Bought," pu" 11:,hed in the Econo-
mist of March 20, 1971, be printed in
the RECORD.
There being no ..h.:ection, the article
was ordered to be p be Led in the RECORD,
as follows:
WHAT IT ,A; BOUGHT
Mr. PROXMIRE. Mr. President, an
editorial published in the Atlanta, Con-
stitution following the American Bar
Association's vote on the Genocide Con-
vention is an example of the many fine
editorials and stories on this important
human rights covenant.
Following World War II, the entire
world was shocked by the exposure of
the Nazi extermination of over 6 million
Jews. Consequently, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the Conven-
tion on the Prevention and Punishment
of Genocide in 1948.
The Constitution asked why America
stands apart from 75 other nations in the
world which have ratified the Genocide
Convention. The paper pointed out that
the human rights treaties of the U.N.
would not supersede our own Constitu-
tion and that both the President and the
Attorney General. have urged the Senate
The paper further stated that the
claim that the United States would be
charged with genocide by many foreign
nations is based on false assumptions:
It seems to suggest that genocide is a
terrible crime unless Americans are commit-
ting it.
But all rational Americans know that
America does not intend to, nor does it
commit, genocide anywhere in the, world.
Unfounded charges can be made at any-
time, anywhere, regardless of Whether
or not we adopt the Genocide Conven-
tion. I have been at a loss to understand
how our not signing the convention
would protect us from unfounded allega-
tions by other nations or people.
The time has come to ratify the Geno-
cide Convention. I urge the Senate to act
now.
I ask unanimous consent that the edi-
torial be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the :RECORD,
as follows:
THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE
Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, this week
the London Economist magazine re-
viewed the effect of South Vietnam's ex-
pedition in southern Laos with the clar-
ity of thought, and dispassion of intent
for which that journal has long been
noted.
The 'Economist says the South Viet-
namese in Laos have probably won a
year's quiescence in the war, and that the
operation has succeeded in at least two
very important things.
First, it demonstrated that-
The North Vietnamese have been unable
to prevent the invading force from coming
and sitting in their own back yard, They
tried to prevent it. The number of North
It is six weeks on 1? *e.day since the South
Vietnamese went into Laos: six weeks more,
and the monsoon will ix- starting, the gullies
of the Annamite chi a of hills will be dis-
appearing under any:-' 111g up to eight feet
of water and it will ,e God, not man, who
is cutting the Ho Ch lliinh trail. It'has not
beeneasy to tell wha has been going on in
southern Laos these mast six weeks. For once
the non-communist s d(- of the war has been
fought under wraps: its reporters and the
cameramen have bent escorted to what it
was convenient for t-,wn to see, the spokes-
men have told as m' cl' as they wanted to,
and each hillside ti ssle has duly become
either a triumph or 'out. Perhaps this is
how wars have to be snip-ht. But enough has
happened now for the shape of the campaign
to be reasonably pl.?-'n Even If the South
Vietnamese come bf-"k out of Laos fairly
soon-and provided t"i,e. come out in reason-
ably good order-th .?peration has had a
major effect. It has rr,,vie it clearer how this
war is likeliest to end '' iot with a peace, but
a pacification. It sho' d also have helped Mr.
Nixon to make up his mind how many
Americans-above aT . now many American
helicopters and boml cr --he will have to try
to persuade the Am,- cia'an electorate to let
him keep in the wa- iU the months imme-
diately before the ;='esidential election in
November next year.
The South Vietna??:e:'e army has not done
the most it may have biped to do. It has not
beaten the North Vi ?tnamese in a aet-piece
action, and thereby - nraed the tables in the
battle for morale. got beaten itself at
Landing Zone Rang , and only just came
out on top at Hill 3 which seems to have
been a turning-poir- of the operation. It
knows that it could not have fought this
campaign without tl help of American air
power, and the batt -:rid helicopters liauled
out of the Laotian hills are evidence that
American air power `.z,+s had a rough time
against the other ci y'e's anti-aircraft guns.
It is quite possible that the North Viet-
namese will still be we to catch, and ham-
mer, some South Vietnamese units before
they pull back over the border as the rains
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,9968000300100003-5 S3923
And, from a peak of 8% or 9 percent
last summer, rates on conventional home
loans have dropped to 7 percent in some
cities and 63/4 percent in a scattered few;
the swiftest decline in decades.
As Time magazine noted this week,
this decline in interest rates has had the
double effect of reducing the buyer's
monthly payments and enabling people
with lower incomes to qualify for mort-
gages under the usual standards de-
manded by lenders.
Finally, the Federal Housing Admin-
istration gave the market a lift by cut-
ting the ceiling on its home loans from
71/2 percent to 7 percent.
Thus to President Nixon, and to his
entire housing team, I think we owe a
hearty "well done."
PRISONERS OF WAR STATEMENT
Mr. HUMPHREY. Mr. President, hav-
ing joined in supporting the congression-
al resolution which led to the President's
designation of this week as "National
Week of Concern for Prisoners of War/
Missing in Action," I should like to reit-
erate at this time, along with Ameri-
cans everywhere, my personal concern
for American prisoners of war in Viet-
nam.
I urge once again the Government of
North Vietnam to observe the minimum
Standard of treatment for prisoners of
war as it agreed upon with 124 other
governments in the Geneva Convention
of 1949. And I urge our own Government
to disengage completely from Vietnam by
the end of this year so that we can ob-
tain the early release of our servicemen
and civilians, now being held in Viet-
nam. The North Vietnamese Govern-
ment and the National Liberation Front
have offered to negotiate the release of
these prisoner-hostages once we submit
a timetable for the complete withdrawal
of American troops from Vietnam. I
strongly request that the administration
consider this offer seriously before re-
jecting it as a tactical diversion by the
other side.
Until these American citizens are prop-
erly cared for according to the mini-
mum standards set by international law
and released in a timely fashion, we
must all work toward the rapid achieve-
ment of these demands. Only through
concerted energies can we emphasize the
strength of our demands to the North
Vietnamese Government and the Nation-
al Liberation Front as well as to the ad-
ministration.
In that regard I ask unanimous con-
sent that the statement issued by the
Student Association for Freedom of Pris-
oners of War together with the signa-
tures from leaders throughout the coun-
try be printed in the RECORD. This asso-
ciatign has worked unceasingly to bring
this issue before the public conscience.
and I commend the work it has done and
will continue to do. It has organized bi-
partisan support from students and other
solicitious citizens and public represen-
tatives. For that reason it merits the sup-
port of this entire body.
There being no objection, the state-
ment and signatures were ordered to be
printed in the RECORD, as follows:
We, the public representatives of the Unit-
ed States of America, differing in our politi-
cal persuasions and our opinions concerning
the conduct and management, of the South-
east Asian war by this Government, call upon
the leaders of the Communist Forces In that
area of the world to respond to our plea for
the humane treatment of the United States
military personnel and the civilians that
those Forces hold as prisoners.
We ask that they not examine this plea
for either superficial or hidden motives, for
we assure them that we speak from our
hearts, without regard to any political label
or coloring.
We speak on behalf of the families of
the nearly 1.800 American servicemen and
the 18 civilians who await word of the wel-
fare, or indeed the existence, of their hus-
bands, sons, brothers and fathers missing in
action or captured in Southeast Asia.
Under both Democratic and Republican
Administrations, the United States Govern-
ment has brought the plea for humane treat-
ment under the supervision of the Inter-
national Committee of the Red Cross to the
attention of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, and to the other Communist Forces
in Southeast Asia.
A minimum degree of humanity on the
part of the said Forces would require them
to fulfill their obligations under the 1949
Geneva Convention relative to the Treat-
ment of Prisoners of War, by identifying
each serviceman that they now hold or have
held prisoner; a decent respect for the opin-
ion of mankind should compel them to do
so.
We further call upon said Forces to as-
sure this nation and to assure the world
that they will begin to comply with all pro-
visions of the 1949 Geneva Convention rela-
tive to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, by
which all parties to the conflict in South-
east Asia are bound. We ask nothing more
than these prisoners' rights as soldiers and
men, as set down In the long history of civil-
ized mankind, and in the 1949 Geneva Con-
ventions.
The children in our States who are denied
fathers, the wives who are denied husbands,
the parents who are denied sons, the brothers
who are denied brothers, and prisoners of
war who are denied life in its most primitive
meaning, deserve this simple courtesy and
basic right required by international law and
protocol.
In the name of simple and basic humanity,
we request the Government of the Demo-
cratic Republic of Vietnam and all other
Communist Forces in Southeast Asia to be-
gin Immediate and meaningful negotiations
for the release of all prisoners of wax, es-
pecially the sick and wounded.
The following is a list of those United
States Senators who have signed the state-
ment on prisoners of war being circulated
by this organization:
AS OF 12 P.M., MARCH 25, 1971
Senator Allen, Senator Allott, Senator
Beall, Senator Belimon, Senator Bennett,
Senator Bible, Senator Boggs, Senator Brock.
Senator Brooke, Senator Burdick, Senator
Byrd of Virginia, Senator Cannon, Senator
Chiles, Senator Cook, Senator Cooper.
Senator Dominick, Senator Ellenc,er, Sen-
ator Fannin, Senator Gambrell, Senator
Goldwater, Senator Griffin, Senator Gurney,
Senator Hansen.
Senator Harris, Senator Hurnphre.7, Sen-
ator Inouye, Senator Jackson, Senator Jordan
of North Carolina, Senator Jordan of Indi-
ana.
Senator McGee, Senator McIntyre, Senator
Metcalf, Senator Miller, Senator Moridale,
Senator Montoya, Senator Moss.
Senator Muskie, Senator Nelson, Senator
Packwood, Senator Pastore, Senator Pearson,
Senator Prouty, Senator Routh.
Senator Saxbe, Senator Sparkman, Senator
Stevens, Senator Stevenson, Senator Thur-
mond, Senator Weicker, Senator Young.
Every Governor has signed this statement.
Six hundred forty-three Mayors and forty-
seven State Attorneys General, and numer-
cus other public servants on. the state, local,
and municipal level have added their sig-
natures to the statement.
THE PRESIDENT'S COMPREHEN-
SIVE HEALTH PROPOSALS
Mr. PACKWOOD. Mr. President, an
e ditorial published in the Portland
Oregonian lauds the President's com-
prehensive health proposals stating that
other proposals based on a national
health insurance would inevitably lead to
raore Federal control over State and
local governments.
Under the President's bold health-care
plan the Federal Government would play
a comparatively minor role with private
insurance companies and the health in-
dustry.
I ask unanimous consent to have
printed in the RECORD the Oregonian
editorial of February 19, 1971, entitled
"Reformed Health Care."
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
(Front the Portland (Oreg.) Oregonian,
Feb. 19, 19711
REFORMED HEALTH CARE
President Nixon's health care program,
proposed in a message to Congress Thursday,
would cover virtually all Americans, as would
other plans under consideration by Con-
gress. But in contrast to some proposals,
such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's and Rep.
Martha W. Griffiths' Human. Security Pro-
gram, the federal government would play a
ccniparatively minor role in cooperation with
private insurance companies and the health
piofessions.
Cost of the Kennedy-Griffiths national
health insurance has been estimated at from
$53 billion to $77 billion a year, financed
from increased Social Security taxes and
from federal general revenues. Mr. Nixon
made no over-all estimate of the cost of his
plan, but individual items added up to
$2.8 billion.
Under the Administration plan, employers
would be required to provide comprehensive
private insurance for employees by July 1,
1973. The employer would pay 65 per cent
of the premium cost at the start and 75
per cent after 21/2 years. Employes would
pay the remainder. Full hospitalization,
surgical and medical care, laboratory serv-
ices, maternity and well-child care would be
Co aered.
The government would subsidize family
health-care for families earning less than
$5000 a year under a proposal to eliminate
most of the present Medicaid program.
Farniles earning less than $3,000 would pay
no premiums and those earning between
$3,000 and $5,001) would pay on a sliding scale.
The $5.30_ monthly contribution now paid
by the elderly for supplemental Medicare
co""erage would be eliminated.
s nationwide network of health main-
tenance organizations would be encouraged
by Federal financial aid. The President said
such organizations would reverse the present
"illogical incentive" whereby doctors and
ho ptials are paid in relation to how long a
patient is ill. Under his plan, lie said, income
would grow in relation to how long the
pas.ient is well.
A doctor corps would be established at a
cost of $10 million to provide care in rural
areas and ghettos where there is inadequate
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approach. This has not been the stroll across
the Ho Chi Minh.tralls that some of South
Vietnam's generals seem to have thought it
would be. But neither has It been the flop
that so many hand-wringers expected.
The operation has done two things, and
these two things are very important. The first
is to have demonstrated that the North Viet-
namese have been unable to prevent
the invading force from coming and sitting
in their own back yard. They tried to prevent
it. The number of North Vietnamese troops
in the area between Khe Sanh and Tchepone
was doubled after the invasion began, to the
equivalent of four or five divisions, and it is
pretty clear that General Giap meant. to
fight a decisive battle to keep open his sup-
ply route to the south, But the actions in
the second and third weeks of the operation
showed him that, for all his two-to-one
superiority in numbers in the area as a whole,
he could not concentrate enough men to win
a clear-cut victory at any given point without
exposing them to devastating losses from air
attack. The South Vietnamese were able to
move into one section of the trails after an-
other-first east of Tchepone, then around
Tchepone itself, and then to the south of
it-spend a week or so in blowing up the
dumps they found there and blocking the
routes to south-bound traffic, and then flit
away by helicopter to the next landing-place
before Giap's plodding infantry could stop
them. It has been an exp6nsive way of doing
things, in shot-down helicopters and spiked
and abandoned guns. But it has put the
squeeze on the trails.
And that is what counts. The other thing
the South Vietnamese have achieved, and
which has been made possible by their ability
to stay one jump ahead of Giap's men, is to
have deprived the communist forces in Cam-
bodia and South Vietnam of a substantial
proportion of the supplies they were counting
on being able to use between now and May,
1972. The trails of the Ho Chi Minh route,
running like capillary veins along the limb
of the Annamite hills, are the second of
Hanoi's two means of keeping the war in the
south going. The first was the Sihanoukville
route, run by Chinese ships to the port of
Sihanoukville and from there by Chinese-
owned lorries trucking the guns and am-
munition to the South Vietnamese 'border,
and financed through the Bank of China in
Hongkong. That route was closed whet; Gen-
eral Lon Nol threw Prince Sihanouk out of
power a year ago this week and when the
Americans sent their troops into Cambodia to
prevent the North Vietnamese from putting
him back again.
Now the Laos operation has cut across the
best part of the Ho Chi Minh route. It is
around Tchepone that the tracks wind un-
der the thickest canopy of trees; ten miles
west of that erased town the last ridge of
the hills falls away into relatively open coun-
try where the trucks cannot hide from the
bombers. The South Vietnamese have found,
and destroyed, some of the supplies that had
been hidden away along the trails; they have
obliged the North Vietnamese to use up other
dumps in fighting them; above all, they seem
to have stopped about half the south-bound
traffic just by being there. The fact that the
total amount of traffic on the trails has been
cut by less than half Is simply a result of the
reinforcements that have been pouring down
from the north into the fighting zone-and
have got not farther.
What this will mean for the war in the
south, which is the heart of the matter, had
better be judged when the monsoon ends in
September or October. The optimists in
Washington are saying that by then the com-
munist divisions in Cambodia will have been
reduced to tattered bands of men trying to
stay alive in the jungle. The optimists about
Indochina do not find many people to believe
them nowadays. But there are sensible men
who think that the trail-cutting operations
may already have made it impossible for
the communists to launch any major attacks
in Cambodia or South Vietnam either dur-
ing the coming wet season or during most of
the dry season that follows it, which goes on
until May, 1972; and who believe that a
smaller raid on the trails during that dry'
season might be enough to keep them quiet
from then until the beginning of 1973. If
these guesses turn out to be right-and if
nothing goes bloodily wrong in Laos in the
next six weeks-this fighting may have justi-
fied the number of men who have died in it.
It will have bought a year, and maybe more,
of relative quiescence: a year or more in
which the armies of Cambodia and South
Vietnam will get more arms and better train-
ing, and after which it will be that much
harder for General Giap to order another at-
tempt to turn the tide.
:[f this is how it goes, there are two lots of
people who will have to draw their con-
sequences from it: the men who run the war
in Hanoi, and in Washington. The North Viet-
namese have already seen the centre of the
war move twice in the past year. Last year it
moved westwards from South Vietnam Into
Cambodia. This year it has moved northwards
from Cambodia into southern Laos. One effect
of this is that, although a larger part of
Cambodia and Laos is now involved in the
war, the total proportion of the land area
of Indochina in which a significant amount
Of fighting is taking place is probably smaller
than it used to be, and most of this Is sparse-
ly populated back-country; in this sense there
has actually been a de-escalation of the war.
But there has also been an effect on
Hanoi's calculations. The communists have
lately been telling a lot of their men in
South Vietnam to come back above ground:
to hide their guns, apply for identity cards,
and blend into the normal life of the country
for the time being. This is part of the strat-
egy of lying low In South Vietnam which
they fell back on last year. But until now the
low-level strategy has been backed up by
the belief that the North Vietnamese regi-
ments in Cambodia might be alile to start
attacking across the border again before
long. If that possibility has to be deferred
for another year, and perhaps for longer
than that, the communists' low-level strat-
egy will have become a very long-term busi-
ness indeed. Of course, the North Vietnam-
ese are not likely to call the war off by a
public admission of defeat, as.the Greek
communists did in 1949. But the longer the
Vietcong have to get along without the sup-
port of North Vietnam's regulars, the more
the struggle will become a political contest
combined with a certain amount of terror-
ism and only the occasional guerrilla action.
It will be a job for the intelligence men and
and the police-and the politicians-more
than for the army.
The Laos campaign also has its lesson for
Mr. Nixon. It is that he has to balance the
political necessity to go on withdrawing
troops from Vietnam against the fact that
the South Vietnamese army will plainly go
on needing a certain amount of American
help to prevent things coming unstuck again
next year or in 1973. It Is true that by this
time next year the South Vietnamese will
have got more helicopters of their own-600
against about 350 now-and more fighter-
bombers and more artillery. It is true that
there may not have to be another operation
on the scale of those In Cambodia and Laos
before Mr. Nixon faces his fight for re-elec-
tion next year. But it is going to be important
that Mr. Nixon should leave just enough
units in Vietnam to make it possible for the
South Vietnamese to enforce the past year's
change in the state of the war. He knows
that the war is now deeply unpopular in
America. His own policy of Vietnamisation
is partly to blame for that: the Americans,
having thought they were gettin * 'nit, still
see their helicopters being shot. Gown on
television. But he also knows tha his policy
requires him to provide South Vic nam with
enough help to make the differe,io-!
CLEANING UP POLLUr]ON
Mr. HRUSKA. Mr. Preside:;,. we are
treated to countless words acid catchy
phrases about cleaning up poilltion. It
is my pleasure today to spe ik briefly
about two oranizations which are doing
something about it.
The first is the Governor's ouncil to
Keep Nebraska Beautiful. Thi group is
promoting an intensive state?,ride anti-
pollution effort during the n-nth of
April, which it is calling Neb a;ka En-
vironmental Action Month.
This fine organization is i,eo+ded by
Mrs. Les Anderson, Omaha, wr -i has been
very active in fighting polhi.ion-long
before it became the popular i.hing to
do.
Mrs. Anderson and her coma it Lee have
organized a full-scale promotional effort
dedicated to securing particip ti in of all
Nebraskans in this first com?rohensive
statewide effort. They have e'ilisted the
help of these individuals ar_d groups:
Garden clubs, county extensi;jn agents,
the clergy, mayors, industrial editors,
school principals, and neighbrrhood im-
provement groups.
To all of these groups and iodividuals,
Mrs. Anderson's committee has dis-
patched fact sheets and sugg:2sted pro-
grams and projects which the y can un-
dertake in order to make a ce~n.structive
contribution to the month's at ti-Aties.
Mrs. Anderson meanwhile I ea+._ipens to
be cochairman of another . oinmittee,
called the Environmental Col trol Com-
mittee of Downtown Omaha, Inc.
The committee held its fist awards
luncheon recently and honor-ed. several
Omaha businesses for their ef] arts to im-
prove the Omaha envirollmeni.
Awards went to these firms.
The Northern Natural G. s Co. for
building a plant which heats 34 down-
town buildings, cools 12, al d reduces
pollution by eliminating the n yea for in-
dividual systems.
The Union Pacific Railroad o;_ install-
ing an industrial waste treatr.tennt plant.
Safeway Stores for eliminat ng; the use
of incinerators and using mere ecologi-
cally beneficent methods of disposing
of solid wastes.
The Omaha Public Power 1 ti::trict for
early and continuing efforts t abate air
pollution.
Mrs. Anderson's commen at the
awards luncheon are well worth re-
peating. She said in part:
American industry is spending over $3 bil-
lion a year to clean up the envir, mnent, and
additional billions to develop p ducts that
will keep it clean.
The real danger today is nci from the
free enterprise establishment th is bas made
ours the most prosperous, the io,t power-
ful, and the most charitable nati n on earth.
The danger today resides in the -1itaster lob-
by-those crepe hangers for p(rs)nal gain
or (those who) out of sheer ig cranee are
undermining the American aystem and
threatening the lives and fort?sn-s of the
American people.
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S 3926 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE - March 25, 19 1
This awards luncheon prompted the
Omaha World Herald to publish an edi-
torial on her comments and those of
James Malkowski, her- fellow cochair-
man.
The World Herald voices a common-
sense approach=one I like very much-
when it refers to pollution as "a prob-
lem that is serious but not as hopeless
as it is sometimes made out to be."
I ask unanimous consent that the com-
plete text of the World Herald editorial
be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT
Ready for some upbeat talk, about the
environment?
Listen to James Malkowski. As naturalist,
forester, ecologist and intensely concerned
citizen, he was fighting pollution in this
community long before it was the popular
thing to do.
On Tuesday, as cochairman of the Environ-
mental Control Committee of Downtown
Omaha, Inc., he was passing out awards for
business and industrial achievement in
cleaning up our surroundings.
He reminded his audience that he had
helped to define what was "environmentally
degrading" in our way of life and had never
spared business and industry. But Tuesday
he was helping to honor the Northern Nat-
ural Gas Co. and the Omaha Public Power
District. Why? In his words:
"These awards do not in any way accept
or condone the practices of any business and
industry, including any here today, which
result in avoidable environmental degrada-
tion. Present problems, however serious as
they are, do not negate the legitimate efforts
to keep our air, water, food, and water,
cleaner.
"On the contrary, I believe we should laud,
loudly and clearly, the true efforts that are
being made by everyone, including business
and industry, to keep and improve our en-
vironmental quality. This is what we are do-
ing here today."
Or listen to Mrs. Les Anderson, the other
cochairman and head of Keep Nebraska
Beautiful and Keep Omaha Beautiful. She
was honoring the other two winners, the
Union Pacific Railroad and Safeway Stores.
She said she was proud of business spon-
sorship that had made many beautification
programs possible, proud of her country, its
system and of the overall improvement in
the quality of life. Said Mrs. Anderson:
"What was it (life) really like 150 years
ago? For one thing it was brief. Life ex-
pectancy was 38 years for males.... The
work week was 72 hours.... The average
pay $300. The women had it worse. House-
wives worked 98 hours a week."
Food was monotonous and scarce. In sum-
mer people sweltered and in winter they
froze, and-
"Whatever American business has done to
bring us out of that paradise of 150 years
ago, I say let's give them a grateful pat on
the back."
The danger, as she see it, lies not in Amer-
ican industry, but in what she called the
"Disaster Lobby," made up of crepe hangers
who for personal gain or out of ignorance
undermine the American system.
Jim Malkowski and Mrs. Anderson may
not haveprecisely the same view of America.
But they do agree that some Americans,
including a number of forward looking busi-
ness firms, are doing their part to make the
country cleaner and to keep it beautiful.
And that's our cheering word about a
problem that is serious but not as hopeless
as it is sometimes made out to be.
THE SELLING OF THE one hour, with commercials, and featured a
PENTAGON recitation of the script by CBS's charismatic
Roger Mudd. Mr. Mudd did not write the
Mr. TOWER. Mr. President, there has script; he was burdened with it. The show's
been much controversy lately concern- producer works in New York. He is reported
ing the documentary "The Selling of the to be thirty-four-years-old Peter Davis, whq
Pentagon." Some serious charges have says he and his staff spent ten months work-
been raised concerning this matter which ing on this "documentary." Mr. Davis does
should be satisfactorily answered- I have no, appear to make any claim to objectivity
in his work. He is making a charge: that
recently read an article published in Air the Department of Defense spends a vast
Force Space Digest, written by its senior amount of money on propaganda designed
editor, Claude Witze. I should like to to win public approval of its programs. Armed
bring this article to the attention of with cameras, scissors, and cement, he pro
the Senate. It contains some more serious ceeded to make his case.
allegations that the originators of the This magazine has neither the space nor
documentary should answer to maintain the desire to do a detailed critique of "The
their credibility. Selling of the Pentagon," but we have ex-
Iask unanimous consent that the ar- amined enough of it to demonstrate that it
leaves CBS with a credibility gap wider than
ticle, entitled "The Wayward Press-- the canyons at Rockefeller Center. Here is
Tube Division," be printed in the RECORD. an example:
There being no objection, the article At one point, early in the script, Mr. Mudd,
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, the narrator, transitions to a new sequence
as follows: in Mr. Davis' portrayal with a paragraph of
[From the Air Force Space Digest, Mar. 15, four sentences. We will examine the sen-
tences one at a time:
Alum. "The Pentagon has a team of colo-
THE WAYWARD PRESS (.TuBE Div.) nels touring the country to lecture on for-
(No'E.--Following is the complete text of eign policy."
the column "Airpower In the News," by The team to which he refers comes from
Senior Editor Claude Witze, as it will appear the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
in the forthcoming April 1971 issue of AIR (ICAF), with headquarters here in Wash-
FORCE Magazine, the publication of the Air ington.There are four colonels on the team-
Force Association.) two from the Army and one each from the
The winter issue of the Columbia Journal- Air Force and the Marine Corps. There is
ism Review, a quarterly - published at the also a Navy captain, and, totally ignored by
Columbia University Graduate School of CBS, a foreign-service officer from the State
Journalism, is devoted almost entirely to a Department. They are not "touring the coun-
study of how the press has performed in coy- try." They have a briefing, on national-secu-
ering the war in Vietnam. The only possible city policy that is given seven times a year,
conclusion a reader of these eight essays can no more and no less. ICAF is not mentioned
reach is that the press has done a deplorabe in the CBS script, and there is no reference
job. No matter what epithets you might ward to the mission of the college. A TV camera-
to hurl at the political administrations in man who visited the school could easily take
Washington and Saigon, at the military a picture in the Lobby of a wall inscription
hierarchy, at the military-industrial corn- that says:
plex, and at the doves or the hawks, even "Our liberties rest with our people, upon
more heated epithets could justifliz.bly be the scope and depth of their understanding
thrown at the purveyors of ink and electronic of the nation's spiritual, political, military,
signals. and economic realities. It is the high mission
There is one examination of television's of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
performance, written by Fred W. Friendly, a to develop such understanding among our
former president of CBS News, who indulges people and their military and civilian lead-
In a bit of self-flagellation, confessing that ers."
the "news media, and particularly broadcast The quote is attributed to Dwight D. Eisen-
journalism" must share the responsibility for hover, who spoke those words at the dedi-
public misunderstanding of the situation in cation of the college in 1960. He understood
.Indochina. Speaking of the years when he, the requirement, perhaps more clearly than
Friendly, was the man in charge at CBS, he any other man in our history.
says, "The mistakes we made in 1964 and The ICAF national-security policy briefing
1965 almost outran those of the statesmen." is designed forthe education of Reserve of-
One thing missing from Mr. Friendly's ficers from all branches of the armed forces,
recitation is any suggestion that the televi- not primarily for the general public. The rea-
sion medium lends itself in a peculiar way son the team, including the State Depart-
to distortion of fact. This reporter has nearly merit officer, gives its In seven locations each
forty years of experience on newspapers and year is to reduce travel- expenses by elimi-
magazines, including more than a decade op- nating the necessity for Reserve officers to
crating from the copy desk of a metropolitan visit the college. None of his was explained by
daily. Television news was born and brought CBS.
up within that same forty-year period. I MunD. "We found them [the ICAF team]
have watched it closely and confess that I in Peoria, Ill., where they were invited to
never was impressed by its impact until Lee speak to a mixed audience of civilians and
Harvey Oswald was murdered on came>ra. Ni military Reservists."
newspaper or magazine ever will duplicate Here we have a use of the word "found"
that 1963 performance in Dallas. Yet, if I saw that would not be permitted by a competent
it today, I would demand confirmation that newspaper copy editor. CBS was told that
the event took place at all and that what we Peoria was on the schedule, and the CBS
saw on the tube was not a clever compilation camera crew spent three days at the seminar
of film clips, snipped from a wide variety of In that city with the concurrence and co-
source material and glued together tc' make operation of the Defense Department, the
a visual product that could be marketed to ICAF, and the Peoria Association of Corn-
some huckster of toothpaste or gasoline, and -merce. Before departing, CBS was given full
then turn out to be a winner of the Peabody information on the curriculum, the sched-
Award. uling, the military and civilian participa-
In support of this professional skepticism, tion, the costs, and the funding. The Asso-
we have the performance of Mr. Fri"sndly's elation of Commerce was the sponsor, in this
own CBS on February 23. The program was case, and was permitted to establish the
billed as a "News Special" and was called rules under which civilians were admitted.
"The Selling of the Pentagon." It ran for. Their seminar, billed. In Peoria as the "World
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -Extensions of Remarks Ma;1 20, 1971
THE REFUGEE SITUATION IN LAOS
HON. JOHN G. SCHMITZ
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, may 20, 1971
Mr. SCHMITZ. Mr. Speaker, recent re-
ports from one of our colleagues con-,
cerning the refugee situation in Laos
were highly disturbing. The general im-
pression one got from the media report-
ing of his statements on the refugee
situation in Laos was that allied bombing
operations were responsible for the dis-
location of substantial numbers of Lao-
tians and was, in fact, the principle cause
of the refugee problem existing in Laos.
It seemed strange to me that this
should be the case in Laos when the
major cause of refugees in South Viet-
nam was Communist terrorism. When it
was brought to my attention that our
colleague had seen three USIS reports
concerning the generation of refugees in
Laos I asked the U.S. Information Agency
if they would be good enough to supply
me with copies of the reports which had
been made available to my colleague so
that I -could make my own assessment.
I insert in the RECORD at this point the
material which the USIA sent in response
to my inquiry. The three surveys on the
refugee problem in Laos are highly in-
teresting and recommended reading for
all those who wish to truly understand
the refugee situation in that nation.
The material follows:
U.S. INFORMATION AGENCY,
Washington, D.C., May 18, 1971.
Hon. JOHN G. SCHMITZ,
House of Representatives.
DEAR MR. SCHMrrz: In response to your
letter of April 27 to Mr. Shakespeare. I have
enclosed exact copies of'the Laotian refugee
survey reports given to Congressman Mc-
Closkey in Vientiane. You may be interested
to know that copies have also been given to
the Senate Subcommittee on Refugees and
will presumably form a part of the record of
the recent Subcommittee hearings.
The surveys in question were conducted
by USIS in Laos at the request of the Am-
bassador and were intended for the inter-
nal use of the Embassy. In evaluating the
results, it may help you to know that this
was a purely informal inquiry into refugee
attitudes and opinions. Since the USIS offi-
cers involved are not professional research-
ers, it was not possible to use scientific sam-
pling techniques in selecting the inter-
viewees.
If I may be of further assistance in this
matter, I hope you will not hesitate to call
on me.
Sincerely,
had access to all three documents while he
was in Vientiane.
SURVEY OF REFUGEES FROM THE PLAIN OF
JARS-SUMMARY-NO. 1
In late June and early July of 1970, USIS/
Vientiane American and local staff under
the guidance of the Embassy Political Sec-
tion conducted interviews with about 215
refugees from the Plain of Jars area of Laos
on the conditions of life in the wartime
Pathet Lao zone and their reasons for leav-
ing it. (The results of an earlier survey on
Plain of Jars refugees (March 1970) and a
July survey of non-Plain of Jars refugees are
not included in the material presented below.
Both were less complete, detailed and con-
clusive than the survey whose results are
presented; their only substantial difference
was their indication of higher levels of anti-
pathy to the Pathet Lao.) The refugees were
then living In twenty settlements In the
Vientiane valley. Physical obstacleg such as
bad weather and bad roads limited the scope
of the interviewer's findings. Elaborate sta-
tistical sampling methods were not applied
to the selection of interviewees, who none-
theless seem fairly typically distributed and
generally representative of the population
of their area in age, sex, education, occupa-
tion, and villages of origin. By comparison
to the general group of refugees, these peo-
ple had lived with the Pathet Lao longer than
the average time. In comparison to the gen-
eral population of the Pathet Lao zone,
ethnic Lao, as opposed to hill peoples, pre-
dominate untypically in the Plain of Jars
population.
RESPONDENT'S BACKGROUND
The great majority of the respondents left
their homes In 1969, and more than 80%
said they had moved one or more times be-
fore their move from the Plain of Jars to
Vientiane province. Seventy-seven percent
said their children were with them; 20%
said their children were with the Pathet
Lao. Many had had children in Pathet Lao
schools; the parents appreciated the schools
when they were local (three quarters of the
cases), but disliked it if the children were
required to leave home for schooling.
REACTION TO LIFE WITH THE PATHET LAO
"Unity" (cooperative farming and com-
munal arrangements for looking after chil-
dren) (21%) and "morality" (17%) were
positive aspects of the refugees' experience
with the Pathet Lao; forced porterage (40%)
(which 65% of the respondents had per-
formed) and taxation (35%) were the nega-
tive aspects most frequently mentioned.
BOMBING
Ninety-seven percent of the people said
that they had seen a bombing attack. About
one third had seen bombing as early as 1964,
and a great majority had seen attacks fre-
quently or many times.
The Pathet Lao, 75% of the refugees re-
sponded, had taught them to dig bunkers
to avoid bombing attacks. When bombs
dropped, all the villagers reported taking ref-
uge either in a bunker Inside the village
(28%), in a bunker outside the village
(41%), or In the woods (31%). Somewhat
fewer than two-thirds of those who answered
this question had seen someone killed. Usu-
ally a small number of deaths had been
observed; 32% had seen only one person
killed by a bomb. This applied to troops as
well. Only 18% of the respondents had ac-
tually seen Lao/Viet troops killed by bomb-
ing, and 25% had heard rumors of such
deaths. Isolated atypical answers to these
questions were also received; one man said
he had seen 112 persons killed,. other in-
dividuals spoke of strikes that had killed
80, 20, 30 and 20 Pathet Lao troops respec-
tively.
Seventy-five percent said their homes had
been damaged by bombing. Most of these
attacks took place in 1969. :),:, of the peo-
ple said bombing made he d, irv!ult for them;
two-thirds holding that 11 made earning
More than a bare subsist roe living im-
possible in its intense pe~ioris. 88% said
they had built a shelter in tie woods. 71 % of
those questioned said tha united States
aircraft did the bombing; ?7