U.S. LIFTS VEIL OF SECRECY AT BATTERED LAOTIAN BASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 147
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 3, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 20, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

CHICAGO IF_IB1341 .
Approved For Release 2000t0V15N: ba-RDP80-01601R00060111.11=
STATI NTL
U.S. Lifts eu sf Seer cy at
atteresi Laotia
prom Tribune Wire Servicel
LONG CHENG, Laos, Jan. 19
?The United States today lifted
its 10-year veil of secrecy from
this strategic Laotian govern-
ment base while bitter fight-
ing raged around it.
Newsmen were given an
American-sponsored 1.0 o k for
the first time of the bat-
tered stron.ghold , where the
U. S. Centrat Intelligence Agen-
cy had trained, advised, and
paid Meo irregulars for the
last decade.
Military spokesmen said gov-
ernment troops had dislodged
guerrillas from much of the
five-mile-long skyline Ridge ov-
erlooking the base, and ex-
pressed optimism the base
would be secure within a few
days.
Fire an Helicopter
However, the chartered hell-1
copter that brought newsmen
to the base came under mortar
fire from Communist positions
only a mile away as it landed
on . the central part of the
ridge.
A c tin g defense minister,
Prince Sisouk Na Champassack,
flew to Long Cheng. lie said,
"the situation is much better
now." Sisouk had said two
weeks ago that he did not
know whether government
troops being besieged by North
Vietnamese guerrillas could '
hold on to the base 80 miles
200 MILES CHINA
Plain of Jars
LU AND
PRALHG
LONG CilE1;11,&
13
BANGKOK
If V.
'7
lar forces at Long Cheng, said
the guerrillas had lost about
8,000 men in and around Long
Cheng. However, he said gov-
ernment troops had suffered
heavy losses when the Commu-
nist poured in more than 6,000
rounds of 130 mm artillery the
last three weeks.
Government forward forces
still were in a eyeball to eye-
ball confrontation with North
Vietnamese who had threatened
and attacked the base since
capturing the strategic Plain
of Jars, 20 miles to the north.
Heavy Resistance Told
Sisouk said, "We are still
meeting heavy resistance on the
skyline." ?
American planes were attack-
ing guerrillas along about one-
fourth of the ridge and rifle
fire crackled as soldiers moved
thru heavily damaged buildings
in the town of Long Cheng. Gov-
ernment units were carrying
out mopping operations in Long
Cheng town against groups of
North Vietnamese infiltrators.
Pao expressed optimism the
base and the town of Long
Cheng would be completely
secured within a few days.
However, it appeared unlikely
that Americans would be able
to move back soon any of their
secret equipment into Lon g
Cheng.
U. S. Equipment Moved
The equipment in
some sophisticated c r ypto-
graphic machines. It was re-
moved to the rear weeks ago.
Many buildings on the base
and in the adjacent town of
Long Cheng have been leveled.
Maj. Chanh led four battal-
ions in an assault on the guer-
rillas on the ridge Sunday. He
told newsmen there had been
hand-to-hand fighting.
Chanh said his base had suf-
fered 28 killed and 69 wounded,
at "Charlie Whisky," a high
ground from where he directed
the assault.
A runway at the base still
was not in use by U. S. or
Laotian 'planes.
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...leo Tribesmen and regu-
"We think it is still service-
able but we don't want to risk
losing a million dollar air-
plane," said a IL S. official at
Long Cheng. He said the air- ?
strip still was threatened by
North Vietnamese guns.
se
STATINTL
DAILY wor5
Approved For Release 200%/?511A*12A-RDP80-01601R000
Daily World Foreign Department
from combined news services
- The Nixon Administration on Jan. 19 finally lifted the veil of secrecy that shrouded
operations in Laos of the Central Intelligence Agency during the past quarter of a century.
But only a peek was allowed the journalists in Laos granted permission to approach Long
Cheng, and the peek was accompanied by the usual U.S. briefing that attributes every
advance by patriotic forces to "North Vietnamese."
Thus, a United Press Interna- aries are attempting to recapture on the same day, of another 100
tional dispatch datelined Long the base. civilians in Mikhe village, is re-
Cheng purports to describe the Other developments ceiving widespread attention
fighting for this "stronghold Other developments relating t,o throughout the world.
where the U.S. Central Intelli- the Indochina war; The Pentagon has freed all per-
gence Agency (CIA) had trained, 1 ? TASS reports that at a sonnel implicated in the Songmy
advised and paid Meo irregulars press conference in Hanoi, the massacre except Lieut. William
for the past decade."information bureau of the Neo Calley, who is at liberty at an
But the dispatch is full of ref- Lao Haksat on Jan. 18 accused Army base at President Nixon's.
erences to "North Vietnamese" Thai authorities of violating the personal order.
troops, mortars, 130-mm guns, Geneva Agreements on Laos and French speak out
5
and "infiltrators." No mention is with cooperating closely with the ? At a press conference in
made of the Pathet Lao, the strik- CIA in carrying out the aggres-
Tokyo, Maurice Schumann, French minister for foreign af-
ing force of the Neo Lao Haksat sion in Laos. Correspondents were fairs, declared his government
(Laotian Patriotic Front), al- shown captured Thai uniforms,
though repeatedly throughout that documents, identification cards and people dislike "Vietnamiza-
past ten years foreign newspaper- and personal effects. The Lao spokesmen tion" and see an agreement rec-
men and foreign diplomatic of- s charged that Thailandi
ognizing the Vietnamese people's
ficials who have visited the lib- has been turned into a U.S. air- right to self determination as the
erated areas of Laos have re- base for raids on the Indochina only way to achieve peace in Viet-
ported no evidence of the pres- countries and for training -mer- nam.
ence of North Vietnamese forces. cenaries and Lao puppet troops 6 ? In Saigon, according to a
On the contrary, their reports for the aggression against Laos. Liberation press agency report
have detailed the remarkable de- ? Chemical warfare reported relayed by TASS, the secret police
fensive and offensive power of 2? The Kao San Pathet Lao of the Nguyen Van Thieu clique
the indigenous forces, tempered news agency reported Jan. 18 that have seized Huinh Tan Mam,
and strengthened through more Muongkham District in Xiengk- leader of the South Vietnamese
than two and a half decades of houan Province was repeatedly students' movement and chair-
raided by U.S. Airforce planes in man of the General Union of Stu-
fighting against French and Jap-
anese colonialists and so-called 1971, killing 50 civilian residents dents of Saigon. The agency said
"special forces" and Thai mer- of the village of Bantong, 40 resi- Huinh Tan Mam was seized while
cenaries trained, equipped and dents of Bano and another 1e0 in on his way home from school on
armed and commanded by the CIA other villages and hamlets. It said Jan. 5, and that all attempts. by
Base captured by Lao hundreds of peasants had been students to locate him at police
The UPI dispatch of Jan. 19 re- poisoned by chemicals sprayed by stations and prisons have proved
ports fighting inside the CIA U.S: planes on Dec. 17, 1971. futile.
base, declaring that "its fate was 3 ? President Ton Due Thang 7 ? The U.S. Airforce stepped
still in doubt." of the Democratic Republic of up raids in Laos and South Viet-
The NC() Lao Haksat announced Vietnam sent a message to Prince nam Jan. 19, and the U.S. Corn-
on Jan. 17 that its troops had over- Souphanovong, chairman of the mand said the heaviest B-52
run Long Cheng and captured the. Neo Lao Haksat, expressing full raids in two years had been di-
stronghold, solidarity with and support by the rected against installations of the
The UPI report, quoting CIA Vietnamese people for the strug- liberation - forces in the Central
puppet commanders, places these gle of the Lao people. Highlands of South Vietnam. The
commanders on Skyline Ridge 4 ? Publication by the "New U.S. Command also claimed a
overlooking the base and on high Yorker Magazine" of an article by U.S.F-4 missile-firing jet fighter
ground adjacent to the ridge, in- SeYlmur Hersh thit the U.S. De- had shot down a North Vietnam-
dicating that the Neo Lao Haksat fense Department's secret reporrese MIG-21 over North Vietnam.
claim was correct butthat the_on the Songmy massacre on About one-third of the U.S. B-52
CIA pu
ppeApplEOVErd&OroKretlb 12000P1NIFP MenktReft8064:1160 1R(0001209-150001 -2
Y . . troops of 347 civilian volved in the raids.
Meo tribesmen and Thai mereen
women, old men and children, and ?
LOS A.EGELES TILES
Approved For Release 2000/S5P1d16WIRDP80-0160
C, Mortar Fire Hits Laos Major?
?
as He Tells of Toll at Key. Base
' BY JACK FOISIE ? ..? ? .?
Times Slat Writer
?
LONG CHENG, Laos?Maj. Chanh
had just recounted his losses-28
killed and 69 wounded. Then an ene-
my mortar round burst into his po-
sition and he became the 70th. ?
That's the way it was Wednesday
. on "Skyline Ridge," as correspon-
? dents made their first visit to this
key base and its environs. Built in
- 1061, Long Cheng was long a secret
base because of the presence of large
numbers of Central Intelligence
Agency workers.
The ridge, rising sharply 2.000 feet
out of Long Cheng Valley, has been
a battleground for the past week in
one of the most vicious fights of the
. Laos war, The North ? Vietnamese
. seized the ridge a week ago, and
since then the troops of fabled Meo
Gen. yang Pao have been battling to
get it back. He is assisted by Ameri-
can advisers, calling in Waves of
bombers.
Much of Long Cheng base in the "They mortar us about
valley has been evacuated as the en- very 10 minutes," he ex-
emy continues to pound it with long plained. "That is why we
range artillery. The airstrip?for a are so well dug in."
decade the most important in north Sure enough, without a
Laos?cannot be used until the ene- whirl of warning, there is
my is Oriven off Skyline Ridge. "So a smash close by. A boy-
he won't be looking down our soldier (we learned later he
throat," the talkative Vang Pao ex- is 14) is splashed with
plained.? shrapnel. He wraps a shred
. -
An air of confidence is returning of parachute silk around
. .
at Vang Pao's headquarters. Afore his head and plods off to
than half of the four-mile-long ridge see the aid man.
is back in friendly hands. . - There is another smash.
This time it is Maj. Chanh
- But a big fight is still continuing who suffers a minor?head
on Skyline Ridge. Otir Air America wound from shrapnel.' Lao
chopper spirals out of the valley and soldiers do not wear steel
hurriedly drops us on "Charlie helmets. ,
Whiskey," the high point in the cen- American p 1 a n e s are
ter of the ridge. . . Overhead dropping sup-
- Maj. Chanh commands plies. The chutes are red,
Group Mobile 30, with blue and yellow, to desig-
about 700 men strung out nate what is being dropped
for more than a mile in ? ammunition, food and
holes du,sb by. hand or water, special needs. After.
formed out of bomb crat- several days of such air
ers. drops, the ridge is as color-
-Until 12 days ago, Chanh ful as a quilt, for the silk
had his troops -in an easy is snared by the troopers
job ?near Vientiane, the for bedding.
4.,ao administrative capital In Long Cheng Valley
!about 80 miles to the south
[In itself, four miles long and
Long Cheng. .
That Chants's. unit could
transferred to the em- a mile wide, there is some
activity again. American
.ent in LaosAE$ t
17110ity and
dd For Reas41200T05/11 e'f.
Lao soldiers or a
battled Long' Cheng ridge-
choppers swoop down to
tn
1 n e indicat
hlso the importance at-
tached to this northern
tronghold just below the
plain of Jars. In past
years, regional comman-
ders refused to turn over
{heir troops to help Vang
Pao. Laotian elite despise
him because he is a Meo
tribesman and a former
French army sergeant.
Troops Encouraged
Chanh, a paratrooper, is
too busy to spell his long
last name. He moves
among his men, cheering
them up. His troops took
"Charlie Whiskey' with
the losses Chanh de-
scribed. He points out
where the enemy is dug in
on the next ridge. He
looks concerned about his
visitors.
STATI NTL
hut wipeout of enemy sni-
pers. Large American
transport planes circle
overhead to drop supplies.
The bright sunshine
bounces off the tin roofs of
a thousand ? huts .which
once housed. families of
Lao fighters but are now
,abandoned.
There is evidence of
hasty evacuation of the
base as we chopper into
the valley for a brief and
cautious look. Bombs and
napalm pods have been
left behind. The wood and
stone houses of CIA per-
sonnel have been looted.
The wreckage of a plane
leaves an ugly scar.
Standing serene and un-
Thai artillery in the area
but we are not shown
them. -
The Lao point their ar-
tillery in different direc-
tions and fire one gun at a
time, much to the distress
of their mass fire .advisers.
They .are firing now at a
. ridge they previously
held. When enemy pres-
sUre became .too great -a
few days ago, this artillery
battery was evauated by
American "hook" helicop-
ters based in nearby Thai-
\land.
Spacious Quarters
Back to the Vang Pao
headquarters we fly. It
overlooks Long Cheng and
Is housed in a spacious
home built for the Lao
king so he could see war
activity in comfort. Now
the windows in the house
'are broken by the concus-
sion of shelling:
Vang Pao, in a nonmili-
tary bush s u it, snorts
when asked. if the enemy
will try to regain Skyline
Ridge.
"He will try, maybe for a
month. more," Vang Pao
said. "But we have hurt
him bad, maybe 8,000 dead
or wounded. He will no
Cheng."
have Lo
? 'Other .sources of casualty
are not so high.
figures
Both sicles have lost manys.
hundred.
KEY BASE ? Long
Cheng, long secret be-
cause of CIA presence.
. Another base is Ban Son.
Times map
molested on a small knoll
in the valley is a Buddhist
temple, its fading paint
still able to glow when
struck by the sun.
We chopper over to an
artillery, base west of Sky-
line Ridge. It is known as
Firebase Thunder and is
rustic compared to Viet-
namese war standards.
There-are four large
American guns, manned
Iiik-RDP811404601R.000600150001 -2
Outnumbered
yang Pao has about 3,-
000 men for the immediate
defense of Long Cheng. It
is believed he is outnum-
bered by the North Viet-
namese about two to one.
The enemy troops are still
pressing forward but with
less gusto in the past sev-
eral days. B-52 and other
American and Lao bomb-
ers have hurt them.
NEW YORK TIRES .
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.2 0 JAN W/2
?
.C.I.A-Aided Laos Base Hit Hard
,By CRAIG R. WHITNEY
Special 0 The New Yerk Times
. LONG TIENG, Laos, Jan. 19
--The long-secret military base
maintained here by the United
States Central Intelligence
Agency to help Laotian irregu-
lars 'battle the North Vietna-
mese is badly damaged and has
been put out of effective ac-
tion by the Communists even
'though the Laotians have re-
occupied most of a high ridge
that commands it.
The United States and Lao-
GOvernments lifted a 10-
year veil, o .secrecy from the
lone and allowed a group of
newsmen to charter a helicop-
ter today to land on it and
observe military operations.
Lorig-Tieng came under heavy
attack on Dec. 31 by a North
-Vietnamese force of 6,000 to
9,000 men. ?
,The base consists of a mile-
long paved runway, with re-
loading facilities and stores of
bombs for the small Laotian
0T-28 bombers, a complex of
-communications buildings at
either end and a large cluster
Of villages that housed 30,000
'civilians before the attack be-
gan and they fled. By Jan. 12
'all this was in imminent danger
of falling to the largest North
Vietnamese attack ever
1aunched against it.
r 'By that time the C.I.A. and
'the Laotians had moved most
-of their electronic and recon-
naissance equipment from the
base.
- Since then, however, a force
of about 6,000 Laotians has re-
taken most of a key position
on what is known as Skyline
Ridge, overlooking the base
from the north. Included in the
force are perhaps 2,000 of the
Meo tribesmen for whose clan-
destine operations the base was
Originally built and 1,000 Thai
"volunteers," in ?addition to
rpgular Laotian troops.
:Despite the advance atop the
ridge, the helicopter that car-
ried reporters and some United
States officials to the central
pari.ofit came under mortar
attack from North Vietnamese charter line Air America----plus
troops only a mile away. occasional United States Air
Sporadic sniper fire ricocheted Force jet bombers from Thai-
in the deserted streets of Long land.
Tieng and made it unsafe for Official Explains Change
planes to land there. A ranking American official,
High-ranking American offi- asked to explain why reporters
dais, who acceded to requests were suddenly given a guided
for the visit to the base on con- tour, replied: "This is a North
Vietnamese invasion of Laos,
and there's no point in keeping
you people from seeing it for
yourselves. This year they've
brought in a lot more troops,
heavier equipment, and showed
more determination than they
ever have before?for what po-
litical objective I just don't
know."
Both the Americans and the
Laotians here ? the Laotians
have made the defense of the
spectacularly beautiful moun-
tain valley their primary effort
by bringing troops from all
over the country?expect the
North Vietnamese drive to
entensify.
In the steep, trackless
jungled hills to the north the
North Vietnamese are believed
to have moved 6,000 to 9,000
first-line combat troops across
the Plaine des Jarres. Thby
have used powerful artillery
with a 20-mile range to com-
manding advantage.
Usable but Cluttered
The attacks have halted in
the past two days, but fear of
them prevents the Air America
planes from landing on the air-
strip, which is still usable bat
cluttered with ordinance for the
T-28's, which now operate from
Vientiane.
Some of them were dropping
cluster bombs?antipersonnel
devices that break into small
bomblets and explode like fire-
crackers?on remaining Com-
munist positions at the south-
ties had been heavy and might em end of the valley.
have reached 600 to 700 killed The North Vietnamese have
in the current fighting, the also been harassing the Laotian
heaviest in Indochina at the
moment.
At the general's headquarters
on a hill overlooking the south
side of the Long Tieng com-
plex, a handful of young Amer- a helicopter landing position
icans in civilian clothes were wounded three Laotian sol-
planning B-52 raids on the Corn- diers; 28 have been killed and
munist positions around the almost 70 wounded in the
base. action there this week. .
A visitor on a wide-ranging One of the wounded was a
tour encountered no Americans boy who was struck in the head
in ground combat anywhere on by a piece of shrapnel. He said
or near the base. But the skies he was 14 years old but was
were filled with American, part of the regular Laotian
planes?cargo aircraft dropping l armed forces. He was flown out
Approved For ReMairWASAV,;a4A1-1205etaign 41)1A3Q0
C.I.A. and the Laotians lay thei'much at night," he said.
dition that they not be identi-
fied, said the Laotians had
suffered at least 600 killed,
E.--171; im5,-%A?104?,
LAOS
Luang
r
JARRES
Sam Thong
The New York Times/Jan. 20, 1972
wounded or missing in the con-
tinuing conflict around the
base.
Maj. Gen. Vang Pao, com-
mander of the military region
and of the Meos in the C.I.A.-
supported irregular forces, was
ebullient today as he was call-
ing in American and Laotian air
strikes on North Vietnamese
positions on the craggy lime-
stone pinnacles that dominate
the eastern end of the base.
He quoted casualty statistics
that appeared to be wildly op-
timistic-8,000 of the enemy
killed?but he is usually either
elated or despondent. American
officials said they estimated
that North Vietnamese casual-
forces that have been driving
them out of bunkers on the
ridge by firing mortars at them,
mostly at night.
Two mortar rounds aimed at
STATINTL
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STATI NTL
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL,
ExAmiApproved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-0160
E - 204,749
" EXAMINER 8: CHRONICLE
. 8 ? 640 0040 oz.
1 ?
By Holger Jensen
? LONG CHENG (Laos)
-7- (AP) ? What once
ghost t Sio vly being
was CIA base now is a
reduced to rubble by
* North Vietnamese artil-
lery. ?
The ridgetop above it
. is a holocaust of bomb
strikes a n d incoming
mortars.
For seven days, out-
numbered Laotian gov-
ernment troops support-
ed by American air pow-
er have been battling
. Communist-led forces
. for control of this val-
ley, 78 miles north of Vi-
entiane.
? The outcome still is in
? doubt.
"Sniper fire echoes in
the ruins of abandoned
hoes and offices that
still bear "Happy New
Year" signs. Automatic
Weapons chatter when
government troops en-
gage small bands of in-
f i It r at or s in house-
:to-house combat.
A man can's tell
where the fire is coming
from unless he is hit.
'.-1-leavier fighting rates
on the bomb-cratered lu-
:nay landscape known as
Skyline Ridge. Laotian
troops have dislodged
the enemy fram their
fortified bunkers on the
ridgetop, but they must
endure constant mortar
fire and repel periodic
'counterattacks
Once so top secret
that. it did not appear on
maps, Long Cheng is a
secret no more.
But it redrains a sym- Major fighting erupted
bol of U.S. involvement here Jan. 32, and Thai
mercenaries and Royal
Laotian reinforcements
from other military re-
gions were flown in last
Sunday. These rein-
forcements, along with
air strikes, helped. avert
the immediate fall of
Long Chen.
Yesterday, the U.S.
Embassy in Vientiane
agreed to let newsmen
yisit Long Chen if they
'would pay to charter Air
America planes: and hel-
icopters.
They were greeted by a
host of Laotian generals
watching the war from
the king's villa and con-
ferring with a number of
unidentified Americans.
Some of the Ameri-
cans wore civilian
clothes. Others were
armed and wearing
camouflage I at i g ii e s.?
Under the agreements
they could not be photo-
graphed or named. nor
could their respective
government agencies be
disclosed.
Sipping peach juice,?
Gen. yang Pao greeted
visitors warmly and told
them Long Cheng had
been hit by 6624 enemy,
artillery rounds in tile
past three weeks.. He
in the Laotian war and a
focal point in the biggest
dry season offensive
ever launched by North
Vietnam in this land-
locked country.
Four miles long and a
mile wide, t ii e Long
Cheng Valley served as
a Central Intelligence
Agency listening post in
t h e mountainous and
military region.
It was headquarters
for Gen. Van Pao's
army of tough ('IA-
supported Meo tribes-
men irregualrs and a
refugee camp for 35,000
Meo civilians escaping
the enemy's annual in-
cursion into the Plain of
Jars.
The valley floor is lit-
tered with villas and vil-
lages, military com-
pounds bristling with ra-
d i o antennas, refugee
hovels and a hillside:
house belonging to Kin
Savang Vathana.
There is an air strip
where fixed-wing a i
craft no longer land be-1
cause of enemy fire.
The refugees .were
evacuated last week aft-
er the Communist corn-'
in a n d 's unprecedented'
72-hour attack that cap-
tured the Plain of Jars
and the resulting ad-
vance southward by the
:goinmunist troops. ... 4
claimed his forces had
won "a great victory
. . . We killed 8000 and
wounded 6000 to 7000."
At the same time,
yang Pao claimed his
forces suffered 16 dead
and 85 wounded.
Body bags lying on the .
airport runway back at '
Ban Son and large num-
bers of bandaged gov-
ernment troops raised
doubts about his statis-
tics.
yang Pao also insisted
he had 8000 troops fight-
ing in the Long Cheng
area.
The Americans here
said it was more like
3000. They estimated en-
emy strength. ? at 3000
and said 500 to 600 prob-
ably had beeh killed so
- far.
yang P a o insisted:.
"The enemy cannot take
Long Cheng."
But he added. "They
will try until February.
They have supplies for
one month and in small
groups they are strong.
We can hold them off."
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jirjA-197Z- -
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WO:fung-7"0"'
To :Visit CM 3 i se
By D. E. Ronk
Special to The Washington Post
A visit to Long Cheng is
one of the most sought-after
press trips in Indochina be-
cause of past U.S. efforts to
keep the base's existence a
secret. Until Tuesday night
air requests were routinely
denied.
VIENTIANE, Jan. 19?In
unprecendented move,
the U.S. mission to Laos
today allowed a selected
group of journalists to visit
the long-secret Central In-
tellimice Agency base at
Long Cheng.
The 14 journalists were
the first ever authorized to
visit the embattled head-
quarters of the Meo troops
of Gen. yang Pao and their
CIA advisers.
.Ranking CIA personnel
here were reported to have
suggested, the trip over the
objections of others in the
11.S. mission.
'Preparations for the flight
to the base 80 miles north of
here were conducted in
tight secrecy to forestall a
rush by journalists applying
for seats on the plane. ?
Left Out
? The original list of those
authorized to go left out two
major dailies and an inter-
national news service.
The Agence France Presse
correspondent here charged
-that he had been discrimi-
nated against, saying that he
had requested permission to
visit Long Cheng long be-
fore most of those selected
to make the trip. He
charged that some reporters
who had not even asked to
visit the base were invited
in a blatant attempt to
repay articles favorable to
the U.S. mission here.
? The Washington Post was
not on the original list but
after a protest, this writer
was offered .a seat on the
plane.
Sought After
. Norman Barnes, director
of the U.S. ' 'Information
Service in Laos, refused to
comment on charges of fa-
voritism, but noted that
some 30 journalists are in
Laos covering the Pathet
Lao-North Vietnamese of-
fensive against Long Cheng
and that only a limited num-.
ber of airplane seats were
U.S. spokesmen ,in Vien-
tiane have consistently said
the base was a Royal Lao-
tian government base, and
referred requests to Laotian
officials. These officials, in
turn, have redirected re-
quests to the CIA represent-
ative here.
The location of the base
in a mountain valley sur-
rounded by hostile forces
has made unauthorized vis-
its almost impossible. Those
who have made their way in
by plane have been de-
tained, questioned and re-
turned to Vientiane on the
next flight with hardly more
than a glance at the base.
During the first half of
the 1960s, U.S. officials de-
nied that the base even ex-
isted. Later a Very few jour-
nalists were allowed to visit
under extremely restrictive
"ground rules."
STATI NTL
Two theories' are current
here about why the visit was
finally authorized.
"Little remains at Long
Cheng since last year's near
collapse, so there is noihirr,r
to see, really," a former U.S.
official said,
Another American close.,
to Long Cheng's activities
said continued pressure
from journalists and pessi-
mism about Gen. yang Pao's
chances of holding out had
led to the decision to "get it
out of the realm of a black
(clandestine) operation."
The former official added
that "Long Cheng long ago
ceased to be the most impor-
tant base in Laos. Try get-
ting into Nam Yu."
Nam Yu. according to reli-
able -U.S. sources, is located.
near Ban Houei Sal, 210
miles northwest of Vientiane
near the Chinese and Bur-
mese borders. It supports a
number of clandestine oper-
ations, including sending in-
telligence teams of moun-
tain tribesmen into northern
Laos, southern China and
eastern Burma.
Secret Briefing
The newsmen authorized
to make today's trip were
first given a secret briefing-
outling rules for reporting
on the visit. Highly reliable
sources said Tuesday that
the group would be briefed
.at the base by Hugh Tovar,
first secretary of the U.S.
embassy who has been iden-
tified by Radio Pathet Lao
as the CIA station chief for
Laos.
Knowledgeable sources -
here said that every effort
has been made to keep CIA
advisers now directing Long
Cheng's defenses away from
the visiting journalists.
Highly reliable sources here
said that at least 20 "para-
military" advisers described
as "America's answer to the
mercenary" are now in Long
cheng.
? Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP8Q-01601R000600150001-2
WASHINGTON POST
Approved For Release 2000/APIS))%lif-2RDP80-016
?? " ,
By JackFoisie
Leis Angeles Times
LONG CHENG, Laos, Jan.
;19-LMaj. Chanh had just re-
' counted his losses-28 killed
and 69 wounded. Then an
enemy mortar burst into his
position and he became the
'seventieth.
That is the way it was
-Wednesday on "Skyline
:Ridge," an escarpment ris-
ing sharply 2,000 feet out of
-Long Cheng Valley which
has. been a battleground for
the past week in one of the
..most vicious fights of the
Laos war.
The North Vietnamese
seized the ridge a week ago,
and since then the troops of
Meo Gen. yang Pao have
.been battling to get it back.
. ;He is assisted by American
? ,advisers, calling in waves of
-bombers.
? Much of Long Cheng base
In the valley has been evac-
uated as the enemy contin-
ues to pound it with long-
range artillery. The airstrip
k.---for a decade the most im-
ortant in northern Laos?
cannot be used ' until the
enemy is driven off Skyline
Ridge. "So he won't be look-
ing flown our throat," the
? talkative yang Pao ex-
plained.
, An air of confidence is re-
turning at yang Pao's head-
'quarters. More than half of
-,the four-mile-long ridge is
,back in the hands of progov-
ernment troops.
-
IA Laotian gOvernmenf
spokesman said in Vientiane
that Laotian ' government
tro-ops had recaptured all of
Skyline Ridge, UPI reported.
Gen. Thongphan Knocksy,
spokesman for the Defense
Ministry, said the govern-
ment troops were sweeping
the eastern crest of the
ridge, which was captured
Tuesday, to dislodge the re-
maining North Vietnamese
forces from bunkers and
trenches.]
Supplies Dropped ?
In Long Cheng valley it-
self, four miles long and a
mile wide, there is some ac-
tivity again. American chop-
pers ? swooped down to the
valley floor to drop off Lao-
tian soldiers for a hut-by-hut
wipeout of enemy snipers.
Large American transport
planes circled overhead to
drop supplies.
The bright sunshine
bounces off the tin roofs of
a thousand huts?now aban-
doned?where the families
of Lao fighters once lived.
As we fly into the valley
for a brief and gingerly
look, we can see evidence of
hasty evacuation of the
base. Bombs and napalm
pods have been left behind.
The wood-and-stone houses
of CIA personnel have been
looted. The wreckage of a
plane leaves an ugly scar.
Standing serene and un-
molested on a small knoll in
the valley is a Buddhist tem-
verlookin
L
pie, its fading paint still
able to glow when struck by
the sun.
But the big fight is on
Skyline Ridg e. Our Air
America helicopter spirals
out of the valley and hur-
riedly drops us on "Charlie
Whiskey," the high point in
the center of the ridge.
'Group Mobile 30'
Maj. Chanh comMands
"Group Mobile 30," with
about 700 men strung put
for more than a mile in
holes dug by hand or
formed out of craters.
. Until 12 days ago Chanh
and his troops had an easy
job near Vientiane, the
country's administrative
capital 80 miles to the south
of Long Cheng.
That Chanh's unit could
be transferred to the embat-
tled Long Chong ridgeline
indicates improvement in
Laotian unity as well as the
importance attached to this
northern stronghold just
below the Plain of Jars. In
past years, regional com-
manders refused to turn
over their troops to help
yang Pao. Laotian elite de-
spise him_ because he is . a
eng
Meo tribesman and a former
French Army sergeant. -
Chanh, a paratrooper, is
too busy to spell his long
last name. He moves among
his men, cheering them up.
His troops took "Charlie
Whiskey" with the losses
Chanh describes. He points
out where the enemy is dug
in on the next ridge. He
looks concerned about his
visitors.
"They mortar us about
every 10 minutes," he ex-
plained. "That is why we are
so well dug in."
Boy Wounded
Sure enough, without a
whirl of warning, there is a
smash close by. A boy-sol-
dier (we learned later he is
111) is splashed with shrap-
nel. The boy wraps a shred
of parachute silk around his .
head and then-plods off to
see the aid man.
There is another smash.
This time it is Maj. Chanh
who suffers a minor head-
wound from shrapnel. Lao
soldiers ? do not wear steel
helmets.
yang Pao has about 3,000
men for the immediate de-
fense of Long Cheng. It is .
believed that the North Viet-
namese outnumber his men
About two to one. The Ha-
noi-directed troops are still
pressing forward, but with
less gusto in the past sev-
eral days. B-52 and other
American and Lao bombers
have hurt them.
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WASHINGTON STAR
Approved For Release 248/0/64/11d9:761A-RDP80-01601R00
U.S. Eta
By TAMMY ARBUCKLE
, Special to The Star
LONG CHENG ? ? An era
has come to an end here. What
was once a thriving American
base coordinating the ground
and air war in north Laos and 1
housing one of the most active
American intelligence com-
munities overseas is deserted
and partly wrecked.
Signal derricks stand shorn
of their sophisticated commu-
nications aerials. Stone bar-
iacks blocks and sandbagged
houses stand empty. Equip-
ment is littered all over a case
of unused windsocks, gleaming
chromium pipe fittings, sym-
bols of American plans for
greater comfort. Trays of un-
used aerial bombs stand on
Asphalt which is pocked and
? ripped by Communist long-
? range artillery.
? The air operations center is
burned to the ground. Filing
cabinets peer from wreckage.
STATI NTL
hifijig- as' e End
News Distorted Chanh Injured
The Vietnamese last Satur- Chanh said 28 of bis men
day were in possession of all were killed and 69 wounded
the eastern Skyline Ridge mounting the steep bare slopes
ooking straight down onto of Charlie Whisky. Standing on
Long Cheng. Their sappers. Charlie Whisky, Chanh said,
were inside Long Cheng town, "We are still being shelled;
which clings to the Skyline's every 15 minutes we get two
southern lower slope and even or three rounds." As he turned
onto Long Cheng runway. away, and walked up the hill,
It is obvious the American C o m m u n i s t shell landed,
briefers in Vientianeavere dis- wounding Chanh slightly in the
torting the news in saying -back of the head.
Long Cheng had not yet fallen
Gen. Thao Ly who is over-all
i
when in fact t had last week- commander of the Lao irregu-
end. Briefers were able to do lar strike division, admitted
this without actually lc ky lying be-
Nervous Meo and Lao troops-
vender through town firing
bursts from their M16 rrifles,
nervous of small groups of
North Vietnamese troops who
slip in here each night and
hide, only to be rooted out
again during the day. One sol-
dier comes from the American
compound clutching a table
'lamp and a copy of Time mag- ?
'azine.
.r And perhaps most symbolic
'of the great change, the Amer-
'lean press corps is here after
being excluded except for a
privileged fbw for 10 years.
.O course, the Americans
, could come back here if the
Vietnamese are driven further
away. American helicopters
still land on this strip bring-
ing food and ammunition to
allied troops while U.S. jets
and Lao T28s hammer the
Vietnamese positions 2,000
yards from the airstrip. But a
full-scale return of Americans
is unlikely.
. "It will never be the same
again here," an American offi-
cial said. "The Vietnamese
were right into Long Cheng a
week ago and I am not sure
the government will be able to
drive them back all the way
again to make Long Cheng a
safe proposition for all con-
cerned."
? The Vietnamese assault of
Jan. 12 and Aie
been the beg
t
for this base.
the fighting and continuous
cause the press lackei no. w1-
shelling here on Skyline is tak-
edge of the terrain. American ing a heavy toll. He said his
bnefers completely omitted irregulars had suffered 209
the fact the important ridge casualties since the first Viet-
north of Skyline and its air- namese assault against the
strip was abandoned many helicopter pads along Skyline.
days ago by government After he said this, a soldier
forces leaving everything crept out of a trench shaken
and bleeding from a slight
head wound when another
Vietnamese shell arrived.
A third round came in just
over the general's radio aerial
and burst a few yard behind
on a Skyline slope dropping
toward the town.
Gen. Ly believes the North
Vietnamese are quietly rein-
forcing their troops, holding
out 300 yards along the ridge
east of Charlie Whisky on
Charlie Tango, while harass-
ing the Lao troops along the
ridge with shellfire to keep
them from making another
rush and clearing the east end
of Skyline.
North Vietnamese shells oc-I
north of Long Cheng's run-
way in enemy hands.
Eyewitness accounts here
say the North Vietnamese at-
tacked the key Skyline Ridge
in broad daylight. The fighting
began when a water gathering
party of Lao bumped into the
Vietnamese inf antry when
they came up the steep slopes
and a desperate firelight de-
veloped, clearing the Lao from
a series of helicopter pads
along Skyline.
Vietnamese apparently came
up the Long Chen side of
Skyline and the Lao fought
their way out, taking heavy
casualties.
The Tide Turns
Sunday the tide turned in the
allies' favor. After air power Whisky seem aimed particu-
had hammered Skyline East, larly at U.S. helicopters corn?
turninz it from a smiling lag in and are intended to
green iill into a yellow era- cause maximum casualties to
tered maonscape of rock and troops unloading choppers or
stones, an-extremely gallant to hit a chopper. Below Sky-
assault wasi launched by Lao line on another slope near Lao
irregular infantry. Across the King Savang Vatthana's emp-
bare saddle on Skyline the tY house, which like Skyline is
Lao, using gi -!nades and small also part of the Long Cheng
arms, took Charlie Echo, complex, the Meo commander
Charlie Whisky and Charlie Gen. yang Pao, is putting
Alpha helicopter pads but the maximum firepower on Sky-
North Vietnamese even now line East and on positions
are clinging stubbornly to northeast and southeast.of the
Charlie Tango, the last pad in Long Cheng runway. ?
their possession. Every few minutes the gen-
Maj. Chanh, the Lao corn- eral . calls in U.S. and Lao air-
mander in position on Skyline strikes on his radio. Beside
who led the ? assault, told me, him he has a 4-foot telescope.
"I knew we were winning Peering through it he spots
F etki ti2daftiViyi ge6fithals amese on a
t 601R0006001*50001-2
ny gone, second company
gone.'"
the valleY below skyline. He
ranges a 4.2 mortar on them
casionally dropping on Charlie
then calls in an airstrike.
There is a series of flashes
and smoke. Looking through
the telescope afterward I can
see nothing moving.
yang Pao says there have
been B52 strikes north of Sky-
line to hit enemy concentra-
tions and logistics lines.
Despite all this firepower
some American officials think
the major Hanoi attack on
Long Cherig is yet to come.
"The Vietnamese are get-
ting their stuff together now,
then they will attack again,
"an American official said.
"The North Vietnamese are
holding the east end of Skyline
waiting for relief."
U.S.Other
officials think
Hanoi has shot its bolt against
Long Cheng.
The former opinion would
seem correct. There is no
doubt North Vietnamese are
still around, as at dusk their
long-range artillery fires again
at Long Cheng. The North Vi-
etnamese are regrouping,
waiting favorable weather,
then they'll come again the
Lao general staff watching the
battle here believe.
rt; At 1
7' XQS ANGELES 'LS.
Approved For Release 2002/p5M :1?*-RDP80-01601
U.S. Expanding Role in Laos
Despite Curb,as War Worsens
BY JACK FOISIE '
l'Tinies Staff Writer
? .
PAKSE, Laos?American partici-
pation in the Laos war continues
to expand despite congressional bans
on spending and other limitations ?
imposed by the State Department
and the Pentagon. ?
As the war worsens here, it is the
character of the Americans?from
Ambassador G. McMurtrie Godley in
Vientiane to the refugee worker
here=to work harder ? at trying to
save the situation.
While new ways to bend the bans
and stretch the limitations have
,been devised, the basic rule that no
organized American ground combat
units can get involved in Laos con-
Unties to be observed.
But everything short of putting in
American infantry is being done to
help the reeling Royal Lao Army.
This backup, formerly carried out
clandestinely, is now performed in
the open.
"All the secrets have been exposed
in congressional investigations or
by you - r ep or ter s," I was told.
"There's npthing left to hide."
Pakse is a case in point. A year ago
a reporter arriving by Lao commer-
cial plane or crossing from Thailand
was spurned by Americans and
sometimes ousted by the Lao milita-
ry. ? Now a correspondent finds the
military mOre relaxed and the
Americans friendly and cooperative.
?
for bombers. These pilot-
spotters afe known as
"Ravens,' and "Raven
House" in the evening has
all the camaraderie of
:young professional
ry men who recount the,
adventures of the day and -
think not of the risk to-
morrow.
The air war in support of
Laos troops is small-scale
in comparison with the
"big air war" waged by
Thai-based _American jets
bombing the Ho Chi Minh
supply network in eastern
Laos. But it can still mean
death for the "Ravens."
During the past 21
months, 18 AmeriCan
planes "based in Laos"
have disappeared while on
combat support missions.
These include 10 "Rav-
ens," while the ethers are
CIA- chartered transport
planes or helicopters
flown by Air America or
Continental Airways pi-
lots. Twenty-eight persons
have died in these mis-
haps.
Guerrilla Teams
There are 34 Americans living
here and involved, in one way or an-
other, with helping Gen. Soutchay
Vongsavanh and his 5,000 Lao
.troops fend off the North Vietnam-
.ese, who have been steadily ad
.vancing since mid-December and
are now only 20 miles from.Pakse
The military advisers?known in
Laos as "attaches"?wear the green
fatigue uniform, but most other
Americans are in mufti.
A good number of them are pilot
who fly light planes and spot targets
Another role performed
by Americans in Pakse
still is somewhat secret.
Former military men
work wth Lao guerrilla
teams. They continue to
masquerade as members
of the U.S. Agency for In-
ternational Development
mission in Laos, despite a
Wash ington announce-
ment that this association
with AID would be ended
s and the longstanding AID
policy of not being in-
volved in military opera-
tions would be restored.
A military adviser to the
Lao -forces must have in-
finite patience. For years
. Lao officers have believed
STATI NTL
that artillery is best uti-
lized when fired one gun
at a time, and all the per-
suasion of Americans ad-
vocating mass fire has had
little effect here .on the
Pak:7e front.
An exception to the
usual lethargic Lao soldier
is the Lao pilot of the
"Mighty Mite" fighter-
bomber, a converted
American propeller-driven
training plane.
Once flown by American
or Thai pilots, the "Mighty.
Mite" air force now ap-
pears to be all-Lao here.
The pilots fly with the zest
of all airmen, even though
their bomb loads are puny
by comparison with Amer-
ican jets, which often on
their way back from
mbing the trail save a
ocket or two to 'use in
close support on the Pakse
front.
11,000 Refugees
The conventional AID
program continues in
southern Laos, despite the
prospect that the enemy
may overrun Pakse and
reach the east bank of the
Mekong River.
A $1.5 million expansion
of the Pakse airport is
nearing comPletion. A
new, dirt strip for aircraft
has been built on the west
side of the Mekong as a
fallback position.
But mostly the AID
t ea m her e, headed by
Louis Connick, is occupied
with finding new land for
the 11,000 refugees who
have fled from the agricul-
tural-rich Boloven Plateau
to the east of Pakse, an
area now entirely occu-
pied by the North Viet-
namese.
Approved For Release 2000105115 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000600160001-2
Approved For Release 200k5i4g :ibiA-RPTAMAP1
By Richard E. Ward
As the Lao Patriotic Front (Pathet Lao) forces
continue their offensive in several strategic regions_of
Laos a victory of unprecedented proportions for the
liberiition forces appears to be a certainty.
? In itself this will be a major setback for the Nixon
administration's mad design for "victory" in Indochina,
.but there is a strong possibility that a U.S. debacle in
Laos may. well be the prelude of the American Dienbien-
phu in Indochina:
. Never before has the U.S. posture in Indochina so
closely paralleled that of the French on the eve of their
defeat in 1954. Since the beginning of U.S. armed
aggression .in Indochina, American strategists have
scoffed at analogies with the French humiliation in
Indochina. But history has shown that the U.S. with far
greater manpower and material resources has done worse
than the French.
This appears to be what is happening today.. The
Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Viet-
nam offere-t1 the U.S. a realistic, honorable solution for
ending confl:ct in Vietnam in the seven-point peace plan
put forward by PRG Foreign Minister Nguyen Thi Binh
last July. However, the U.S. has not even deigned to
answer it to the present day except by escalating the
military struggle, by pushing its "Vietnamization" and
"pacification" programs in South Vietnam, stepping up
the air war throughout Indochina-and attempting to
strengthen the puppet forces in Laos and Cambodia.
Cambodia almost liberated
In the meantime, the pro-U.S. forces in Cambodia
suffered devastating defeats and by the end of 1971, the
Phnom Penh army began disintegrating, a process which
.
is now 'accelerating. Despite the B-52s, the C-119
gunships and other deadly U.S. military hardware used
to support the Phnom Penh forces, Cambodia is four-
fifths liberated and, according to the latest reports, the
pro-U.S. Cambodian troops are throwing down their
guns and fleeing en masse from the combat zones.
While the Cambodian collapse was in progress, the
I
Pathet Lao liberation forCes continued their offensives
, ..
which have reached the point where the CIA's army in
Laos is retreating at every point, where resistance is
being offered, and the mercenary and puppet army,
? Casual observers of the situation in Laos used, to
describe the struggle there as a "seesaw" battle. During
the dry season Pathet Lao advances were conceded, but
.it was generally assumed that these gains.were reversed
during the wet season by use. of U.S. air power
supporting the CIA forces. however, this was not the
.real picture.
For many years the facts of the Laotian struggle were
concealed from the American public?the systematic
U.S. bombing of Laos which began in May 1964 and the
huge CIA-directed military operations on the ground.
liven more important was the incorrect portrayal of the
military picture as a seesaw. U.S. airpower did cause the
liberation forces to abandon some of their territorial
gains, but it was not generally recognized that these were
strategic retreats with losses of less significance than
were annually inflicted on the pro-U.S. troops. While the
CIA army was being ground to pieces, the liberated.
zones 'of Laos was being expanded and consolidated with
the.progressive elimination of CIA-mercenary bases from
the liberated areas.
Since 1968, at least, it can be said that the tide had
clearly turned and each year Pathet Lao gains were far
greater than wet season advances of the pro-U.S. forces.
In March 1968, the liberation forces in Laos overran an
"impregnable" U.S. base on a mountain-top at Pha Thi
in northern Laos, about 16 miles from the North
Vietnamese border. The Pha Thi installation contained
sophisticated radar equipment used by the U.S. to direct
.American planes to targets in North Vietnam. On one
day liberation forces scaled the mountain's vertical face
and the following day the base was completely annihi-
lated with most of the personnel killed, wounded or
taken prisoner. More than limit' of the U.S. Air Force's
technicians on the base were killed, losses admitted by
the U.S. only two years later.
While the U.S. has sought to use Laos as a. strategic
base for supporting its military operations against
Vietnam, it hypocritically complains about North Viet-
namese "intervention" in Laos.
Massive bombing ?
After. the 1968 bombing halt over North Vietnam,
the U.S. shifted the bulk of its aircraft to attacking Laos
in a vain effort to stop the advance of the liberation
forces, which have remained on the .offensive to the,
present day.
During the summer of 1969, the U.S. attempted a
desperate move, to retake the Plain, of.Jars which had
..
been part of the liberated zone for years. Peaceful
villages, whose inhabitants were prospering under the
liberation administration, were obliterated by U.S.
bombs. Thousands of the inhabitants who were unable
to gain refuge in ? other liberated areas were forcibly
seized and taken by U.S. aircraft 'to internment camps in
the occupied zone.- The commander of the CIA merce- ?
naries, Gen. Vang Pao, moved into the empty plain.and
proclaimed a great victory. The U.S. transported equip-
ment and reinforcements to the plain for several months.
But when the Pathet Lao gave battle during the winter
of 1970.Vang Pao's forces were smashed and retreated in
panic even though they had all the air. support they
could use.
The Pathet Lao victory on' the Plain of Jars was one
of their greatest victories up to the time and was?
followed by important ;advances in the south at Saravane
zhbvjgomarktrejukak.26oroliorgi 3 S:0
5 CIXAtiP801,01E10IROTO0t061150001ft'
The
004t1i1L-13d
Toiat urixj STATINTL
Approved For Release Tlyyjckf/t?z CIA-RDP80-01601 Ri
urpolltaf ria oapEtzttrlora
r- Thailand
At least two U.S. 9-52 bombers were damaged
on Jan. 10 when guerrilla sappers with satchel ?
charges attacked the giant U.S. airbase at Utapao,
about 90. miles south of Bangkok, where some
6000 U.S. personnel are stationed. The informa-
tion was supplied by Thai military spokesmen. At
press time U.S. military authorities were still
refusing to divulge any information on the raid.
The attack came shortly after a visit to Thailand
by Gen. Creighton Abrams, who reportedly was
trying to persuade the Bangkok regime to send /
more Thai mercenary troops to bolster the CIA's V
decimated army in Laos. The Thai rulers are said
to be reluctant to send more troops to Laos
because of the growing strength of revolutionary
forces in Thailand itself.
In a recent report on the Thai revolutionary
movement in the Far Eastern Economic Review,
Arnold Abrams wrote: "The guerrilla front has
slipped southward through the mountains to the
edge of Thailand's vast central plain. Largely
unnoticed by followers of Thai affairs, and
unknown to the Thai public, advance guerrilla
elements have moved into the southwestern
section of Phetchabun: a significant geographical
junction where the northern mountains meet the
central plain."
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VEY? YORK :eras
Approved For Release 2ootAsAB 1.ZiA-RDP80-01601
LAOTIAN DEFENSE..areIan east
tthe s
of PaksZGtoovo Iii th
Government
, el
forces have been driven west-
': IS SAID TO STIFFEN west-
ward.
American observ-
;rs here say they see no indi-
. cation that the. Communist of-
Enemy Is Reported Under tensive is having the desired
Pressure at Long Tieng pefhroeuctmaon6ndPrnelnaliinertainSoutiviastnniat
.will not succeed unless Long
Tieng falls.
r;. By CRAIG R. WHITNEY "We think now that we may .
Special to The New York Times have some chance, probably a
VIENTIANE, Laos, Jan: 18? little less than 50-50, of holding
North Vietnamese troops who them off," one American ob-
have been staging attacks in server said. But others said
the Long Tieng area of north- there were no plans at present
ern Laos since New Year's Eve to repone the base, even if its
are reported to have been en- position is saved, and there is
countering increasing pressure the beginning of a suggestion
in recent days from the Lao- in official circles here that the
tian defenders. 'American strategy of bolstering
Most of the fighting has been Laotian forces with guerrillas
on a high two-mile-long ridge backed by the Central Intelli-
overlooking the American-sup- gence Agency is proving Met-
ported base, and there the Lao-
fective.
tians were said to be advancing -
slowly, trying to drive the Laotian Air Force Assisting
enemy out of bunkers in the "Air power is about the only1
central part of the ridge, thing keeping them going now,
? [Government troops have one source said. In addition to
;retaken nearly 500 feet of the B-52's, the Americans are
the ridge in heavy hand-to- operating C-134 gunships and
hand combat, United Press F-4 Phantoms from bases in
International, quoting mili- Thailand and the Laotians are
tary sources in Vientiane.] dropping American bombs with
Involved in the fighting at their 40-plane air force.
Long Tieng are about 6,000 Most supply and troop trans-
North Vietnamese who began port missions for the Laotians
their attacks on the base after are performed by charter planes
havin completed a sweep across flown by Air America from
the nearby Plaine des Jarres Vientiane and Thailand. One of
to the' northeast, these planes went down a few.
The defenders?about 4,000 weeks ago for unknown reasons
Meo tribesmen in irregular in northern Laos in an area
units, regular Laotian forces where 20,000 Chinese are build-1
and.about 2,000 Thai volunteer ing and defending a road from
soldiers paid indirectly by the the border toward the Mekong
United States Government? River.
have been supported by bomb- Another small Air America
ing attacks from United States plane "took fire" several days
B-52 aircraft. The Thais were ago over the same area while
said to be manning artillery it was dropping leaflets in an
positions in support of the Lao- effort to solicit information
tians. about the lost transport, an
' Airstrip Under Enemy Fire American official said today.
With the base under con- But he could not say wheth-
tinued enemy fire, the 5,000- er the ground fire came from
foot airstrip is said to be usable Chinese troops defending the
road or from pro-Communist
only by helicopters and only
at great risk. Pathet Lao forces in the moult-
. Most Americans h-
ere think tainous area, which is corn-
that the swift North Vietna_ pletely under Communist con-
mese atack across the Plaine trol. American planes are nor-
des Jarres and against the main many forbidden to fly over the
road, which has been under
Governmen military stronghold .
a Long Tieng is an effort to construction for two years. j
crush the American-supported
Irregular forces and alter the
political balance between the
Government and. the Commu-
nists decisively. If this suc-
ceeds, it is felt, the Government
of Prince Souvanna Phouma
may be forced to tell the Amer-
icans they may no longer bomb
the principal communist infil-
trattion routes through south-
ern Laos into South Vietnam
and Cambodia.............
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STATI NTL
DAILY 'ORM
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STATINTL
Demands grow for Viet peace
Both the Italian and French peace committees have stepped up ac-
tivities in support of the Indochinese people's. efforts to end the U.S.
aggression in their countries. The French Peace Committee called for
world support of the conference, scheduled in mid-February in Versail-
les, to mobilize international public opinion against the Nixon Govern-
ment's "automated warfare" against the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia. In Rome, a meeting of the National Italian Peace Committee
on Jan. 16 adopted a call to all peace partisans to expose the U.S. ag-
gression. The meeting was followed by a demonstration of thousands of
Italians demanding an end to the U.S. aggression:
In Indochina, the CIA "special forces" in Laos attempted to re-
capture the big base of Long Cheng, but were hurled back. Fighting con-
tinued around Pakse in southern Laos. In Saigon, President Nguyen Van
Thieu's puppet commander Lt. Gen. Ngo Dzu said he expected a heavy
offensive by liberation forces at Tet, which begins Feb. 15. Gen. Dzu
said his troops would have to have reinforcements.
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RECORDAgiritotieCI.For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA'RDP80-01601R0
E - 144,254
? 164,048
"AN 1 8 1072
HACK
In the Laos
Disaster,
A Crisis
For Nixon
By Nasrollah S. Faterni
rNDER THE HEADING "The Unreported
, ILI War in Laos Could Become a New Viet-
i,nam," it was reported in this column last
Oct. 19: "Seldom has the Senate of the
United States been so disturbed and dig-
/ tressed as in the case of the secret war
: waged in Laos by. the CI.A.,??This war, which
has never been reported 1.; the public or au-
thorized by the Congress, is run in most re-
spects directly from the American embassy
' in Vientiane."
The North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao
during the last four weeks have driven the
. Meo and Thai forces from the Plaine des
? Jarres and' the Bolven plateau and at this
time are attacking Ban Nikh, a key govern-
ment position in the south, and Long Tieng,
the strongest center of the CIA and Meo-Thai
forces in the north. The 32,000-man Meo
itrmy of General yang Pao is now reduced to.
fewer than 5,000 and the 7,500 Thai volunteers
, have disappeared. At present more than 80
per cent of the country is occupied by
'Chinese and North Vietnamese.
The Chinese have Occupied the northern
part and are building a new road toward
, Park Beng on the Mekong. This new road
'puts most of northern Laos under Chinese
domination. The number of Chinese troops in
the northern area is close to 25,000. The con-
centration of antiaircraft and associated ra-
dar installations along the road, which is now
c spreading to central and southern Laos,
, makes this area one of the most heavily de-,
fended in Asia. The United States air com-
mand in Indochina has declared this area off
limits to United States aircraft.
rill-1E NORTH VIETNAMESE are capable
I of attacking both Vientian? and the Roy-.
al Capital. The number of Pathet Laos and
North Vietnamese forces is close to 200,000.
Many observers Of the Indochina scene at the
United Nations believe that the North Viet-
.They also want to present Pr?dent Nix-
on in February with ,a Laotian government
ready to ask the United States to withdraw
from Laos. The recent election of the nation-
al assembly in the cities under CIA control
shows that the people of Laos are tired of
war and bombs. Voters turned against old
! members who support war and defeated 60
per cent of them. The election showed a
deep-seated dissaifsfaction with war and a
yearning for peace at any price.
The other reason for this attack is to se-
cure a free corridor through the western
reach of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, already pro-
tected by antiaircraft and surface to air mis-
siles. ?
T PERSONALLY BELIEVE that the
I. North Vietnamese attacks in Laos,
Cambodia, and South Vietnam have the com-
plete support of Communist China. Its pur-
pose is to embarrass President Nixon during
his visit to Peking,. to weaken his bargaining
position, and to present him with a fait ac-
compli. In addition the Chinese are trying to
prove that Washington's whole Indochina
strategy, from the invasion of Cambodia and
Laos to the continuous bombing of the Ho Chi
Minh Trail and the intensive bombing of the
north and Vietnamization, has been a dismal
failure.
? For three 'years the CIA has trained,'
armed, clothed, and fed the Laotian army. It
has organized at a cost of more than $100
million a year the irregular forces of General
Vang Pao, the Meo commander. This irregu-h
lar army was larger than the Royal Lao
army. Its cost, according to the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee, has tripled in the
past two years.
At present there is no effective centre/
government functioning Laos. The United
States provides not only for all of Laos's de-
fense needs but for day to day salaries 'and
the cost of the government.
The total budget of the Laos government.
on paper is $36.6 million. The estimated ex-,,
penditures of the United States in Laos sur-
passes $700 million.
WHATEVER be the spectilations as to the
v/V future, two points .are very clear at
this juncture:
? As long as there is no settlement in
Vietnam and the war is continued. Laos and
Cambodia will remain a hostage available to.
the Chinese and the North Vietnamese. At;
the same time the area under, government
control shrinks steadily, the cost to the.
American taxpayer increases, the number of
refugees and destroyed villages and towns
soars, and the whole area plunges into chaos.
? The North Vietnamese with the support:
of Chinese and Soviet arms have again out-
'Laos.namese at this time do not want to take over ?
maneuvered our Pentapon strateaists, have2
VietnamizatiAPPKWUM
Their pitrpose is tnirnkh6000itater
pes20001050135sitelAiiRD0(601601R0006001500012
of bombs in Indochina since January 1969 has armed offensive yet, in order to slow that alli
succeeded in blunting their aggressiveness.
STATI NTL
our human sacrifices, $200 billion 'of 'expendi-
tures, and ten years of military effort have
changed very' little in southeast Asia. These
and many other thoughts will haunt Presi-
dent Nixon between now and his visit to Pe.,"
king. My ardent prayer is that both the Pres-
ident and Professor' Kissinger be aware of
the maze of Oriental diplomacy which has:
bewildered, confused, plagued, and destroyed
some of the greatest diplomats and states-
men.
Any adjustment, settlement, and arrange-
ment for the future' of Asia must be based on.
a realistic, just, and enduring peace.
Dr. Nasrollah? S. Fateini is Distin-
guished Professor of International Af-
fairs and director of the Graduate Insti-
tute of International Studies at Fair-
leigh Dickinson University.
4 4
W.ESTINGTON POST ?
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?
-a* fans Make
aimis e -
rave Situati
By D. E. Ronk .
Special to The Washington Yost
VIENTIANE, Jan. 17?Most There appears no question
Informed ,observers in this that the government holds
capital are frankly amazed at Long Cheng and its troops are
the Laotian army's continuing making headway. in establish.
will to fight after being driven ing better control of the sur-
from the Bolovens Plateau dur- rounding terrain.
Ing what -was the heaviest The situation at Long Cheng
combat ever faced by Laotian remains grave, however, with
troops.
They are also amazed at the uPwards of 15,000 enemy
success this week of Gen, troops with heavy weapons
yang Pao's Meo-Thai irregu- maneuvering through the val-
lars in tenaciously holding on leys and gorges against the es-
to a 15-square-mile area ?
around the CIA base at Long timated 9,000 Moo, Thai and
Cheng, 30 miles north of here. ; Lao troops attempting to hold
At last report from the the valley and its defensive
embassy in Vientiane, the network.
Communist drive to wrest con-
trol of Long Chong from yang ? ?
Pao's Meo tribesmen and his
CIA sponsors appears to be
slackening after Laotian re-;
serves and reinforcements
took the offense in hand-to-1
hand fighting to regain tacti-
cal control of key terrain.
Skyline Ridge, a 10.000-yard
strip of high ground along the
north rim of Long Cheng Val-
ley, has been the center of
Laotian efforts for the past
three, days, with Gen. yang
Pao's troops attemping to plug
enemy infiltration routes into
the valley.
Sources here say the Meo-
Thai forces are doing well and
that a major infiltration route
through the ridge at its center
has been retaken. Laotian
troops are continuing east-
ward against an enemy battal-
ion still on the ridge and'
threatening the valley.
Although about 150 enemy
Infiltrators remain in Long
Cheng Valley, it is in progov-
ernment hands, U.S. sources '
say.
Late last week the Commu-
nist Radio 'Pathet Lao an-
nounced capture of Long
Cheng village by its forces
and claimed its flag was flying
in _ the valley.
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rj
BATTLE CREEK, MICH.
ENQUIRER & NEWS
E 4d1,481 7 1972
44,23
New attacks may cast -----
embarrassing shadows
? North Vietnam's leaders, what-
ever we may think of them, are
resilient and not lacking in shrewd-
ness. They are aware of the threat
President Nixon's Peking visit
poses to their. success in South
Vietnam. And they now have man-
aged, -after so many defeats in
battle, to launch another offensive
?one which may prove embarrass-
ing to the President as he prepares
to meet with Mao and Chou En-Jai.
. The offensive began about two
weeks before Christmas, as North
Vietnamese regulars attacked sud-
denly and with massive force the
Plain of Jars in Laos. They were
opposed by native forces supported
by American arms and CIA advis-
ers, which proved to betriemore
of a match than the hapless Cam-
bodians to the south. The attack
was the biggest and swiftest
? launched by Hanoi in the long his-
tory of military contest for the
Plain of Jars, which has changed
(hands every year in the last 10.
? A few days later, an equally
heavy attack was mounted on the
south of Laos, it too meeting with
quick and decisive success.
' The purpose of the a tt a ck s.
...,,ac,,juLt9 have been the clearing of
the Ho Chi Minh trails. And, with
the help of a newly aggressive air
force of Mig-21 fighters and sur-
face-to-air missiles, Hanoi seems
,to have achieved its objective. The
heaviest American bombing of the
war ? including that of North Viet-
nam ? has been unsuccessful in
countering the enemy drives.
As a result, North Vietnam will
soon be prepared to attack strongly
somewhere in South Vietnam. The
attack could come in one of several
areas, but U.S. predictions are that
the Central Highlands will be the
field of battle. There Hanoi's troops
can be well supplied and have the
least worthy South Vietnamese op-
position ? defense forces consid-
ered the most lackluster of all Sai-
gon's troops.
The attack may never come.
Hanoi may still be thwarted. But
the protiability is that it will, and
that it will meet with at least
limited success. That prospect is
not one which President Nixon can
relish. For it would place him in a
weaker bargaining position both in
Peking and Paris, and possible cast
such a shadow on the efficacy of
his Vietnamization program as to
revive the war as a major issue
at home. .
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LOS .t.1:G.7S
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NOTHING TO STOP ENEMY
Reds Ner
,? BY JACK FOISIE
Times Staff Writer
PARSE, Laos?The war
is closer to this Mekong
River town in southern
Laos than ever before.
Both the Lao govern-
ment troops and their U.S.
supporters seem resigned
that if the North Vietnam-
ese want to 'push all the
way to the banks of the
Mekong in this region,
nothing is going to stop
them.
As in northern Laos, the
North Vietnamese force
moving toward ..Pakse?
some 3,000 men?started
Its annual dry season of-
fensive earlier than in past
years?and the push. is
stronger.
The enemy recovered all
?of the strategic Bolovens
Plateau with the taking of
Paksong on Dec. 27. They
advanced farther toward
Pakse with the fall of Ban ??
Nhik, a week later. Now
? the "front" is only 20 miles
?away. There have been
ambushes on the road
within 12 miles of town..
Doubts Showing
aos uver
The-signs of doubt that
the Royal Lao Army can
hold are beginning to
show. Since Paksong fell,
11,000 new refugees have
streamed into town to es-
cape the North Vietnam-
ese. .
Many see safety only on
the west side of the Me-
kong in this lower reach of
the river where it is not
the border with Thailand.
A thin slice of Laos lies to .
the west. ? - :
On New Year's Eve a de-
cision was made to eve-
THREATEN ED --With
plateau- in Red control
following foil of Pok
Song, front is now only
20 miles from Pakse.
Times map
cuate all foreign families.
Fifty-three women, chil-
dren and nonessential
men, mostly Americans,
were flown out. About 35
U.S. military, Central In-
telligence Agency person-
nel, aid workers and oth-
ers remain.
, Those who carry on are
realists. One of the civili-
ans long in Laos exola;e-
why he had his "bug-out
own
bag" all packed:
"The Laos army In this
area has never improved.
Its leadership is shattered
by. politics and corrup-
tion is as bad as anywhere
in Laos. The troops don't
want to fight and have no
-faith that they can."
? There are a few Ameri-
cans who believe that this
is still a Yo-Yo war. They
note that Paksoneb also fell
to the enemy last May,
causing Pakse families to
be? evacuated then also.
Last year the North Viet-
namese did not drive
farther west. The rains
.came and Lao troops
walked back into Paksong
and ? stayed until -their
latest withdrawal.
Peking Visit
"Whast may have
changed- the game plan," a
pessimistic American offi-
cial said, "is. President
Nixon's upcoming visit to
Peking, and also that this
is a presidential election
year."
.There is the assumption
that the North Vietnamese
want to occupy as much of
Laos as possible. Should
the Nixon visit to Peking
result in Chinese pressure
on Hanoi in some way.
Hanoi's leaders would
also like to saddle Mr. Nix-
on with .defeats in Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam
and so cause him political
problems at hoine and
abroad ? dimming his
ichances for reelection.
It is also believed here
that the North 'Vietnamese
would like to cut Highway
,13 between Pakse and the
Cambodian- border, and
use the Mekong River,
which parallels the road,
STATI NTL
as another route for sup-
plying Red units in Cam-
bodia.
The faulty condition of
the Lao army in the south;
after more than a decade
of U:S. assistance and ad-
Vice, can only be explained
in terms of the divisive-
ness and immorality in
Laos.
The war here is being
fought in what amounts to
a fiefdom of the Champas-
sack family, itself divided
but with its leader being
bumptious Prince, Boun
Oum. He sneers at his fel-
low princes of other fami-
lies. The national govern-
ment of Premier -Souvan-
na Phouma, also a prince,
as a result gives the 4th
Military Region (southern
Laos) a low Priority.
It is believed that Prince
Boun Oum, should he be
driven across the Mekong,
would prefer to salvage
the west side sliver of his
domain by seeking the
protection of Thailand
'rather than remain under
the nominal banner of the
Vientiane *government.
The Champassacks, com-
posed of many half-broth-
ers through various liai-
sons of the clan members,
feud among- themselves,
but one Or another con-
trols, or takes a cut, of al-
most all trade and trans-
portation in southern
Laos. ,
It is well known that be-
fore North Vietnamese
troops began to dominate
the war in the south, the
Champassack army had its
"arrangements" with the
Pathet Lao insurgents, so
that both sides survived
with minimal fighting.
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17 JAN 1972 .
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Lao EAreguil
ku frapori
? By TAMMY ARBUCKLE
Special to The Star
VIENTIANE ? Lao irregu-
lars and North Vietnamese in-
fantry have been fighting at
'close, quarters along Skyline
Ridge overlooking the U.S. Air
Force and CIA base at Long
Cheng 75 miles north of here
in the past 72 hours; well-
:informed military sources say.
Lao forces advanced about
200 yards at a cost of 5 dead
and 22 seriously wounded
against an estimated rein-
forced battalion of Vietnamese
'dug in on bunkers along 4,000
yards of the 10,000 yard ridge-
line.-
Thirty Vietnamese were
killed in this action, sources
said.
?? Skyline Ridge is the key to
'the Long Cheng Defense. The
North Vietnamese seized all
but the western end Friday
and infiltrated into Long
Cheng valley through a gap in
.the center.
U.S. air and Lao strikes ?
including, according to Lao
military sources, a B52 strike
north of Skyline which fright-
ened allied troops because of
, its closeness to them ? ham-
-
M Grid und
ant 11 ?ge Battile
mered North Vietnamese posi-
tions.
The B52 strike prevented the
North Vietnamese from rein-
forcing its units.
Following the strikes Lao ir-
regulars with U.S. advisers On
the ground, attacked and took
the center of the ridge Satur-
day, stopping North Vietnam-
ese infiltration Into Long
Cheng.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman
said no Americans were killed
in the action.
U.S. sources said the Ameri-
can ground advisers are "case
officers" concerned with oper-
ational and logistic command
of the Lao irregulars.
These sources said the
Americans were not in the
forefront of the infantry com-
bat, but were stationed well
back, observing the fighting
and calling air stiikes. ?
These advisers are contract
personnel employed by the
CIA. They are armed with pis-
tols and submachineguns as
are most Americans here in
Laos where Communist sol-
diers can appear suddenly at
any airstrip intthe Mco hill
country.
Although Hanoi still controls
the eastern 4,000 yards of the
ridges, American and Lao hel-
icopters still are able to land
"at some risk," according to a
U.S. spokesman.
STATINTL
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WASH' NGTO:; POST
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?
Chinese 7fre
lane Iver Lao's
:VIENTIANE,
By D. E. Ronk
Special to The Washington Post
Jan. 15?An over Laos is considered some
American cargo plane was
heavily damaged, apparently
by Chinese antiaircraft fire
of the most hazardous in the
world by seasoned pilots.
Flying over the Chinese road
While flying over northern Laos is considered 'almost suicidal
this morning, highly reliable
sources here say. The pilot
wits seriously wounded.
i:An Air America C-123 on a
leaflet dropping mission over
a-road being built by Chinese
...
engineers in Laos, 175 miles
northwest of Vientiane, was
hit by Chinese air defenses
along the road, the sources
say, wounding at least two of
the plane's crew including the
pilot.
The sources said the plane's
crew was dropping leaflets
over the Chinese road. The
sources say.
"Normally the air space
over the Chinese road is
strictly "off limits" to Ameri-
can planes, official sources
here say, due to a concentra-
tion of Chinese antiaircraft
weaponry along its length.
Installation of the antiair-
craft weapons resulted from
unauthorized bombing of the
road in 1969, sources here say.
Construction of the road by
Chinese engineer crews has
been in progress for the past
leaflets offered a substantial 'four years, having been
reward in gold for information I agreed to by Laotian Prime
leading to t h e location of I Minister Prince Souvanna
wreckage and occupants of an-lPhowna.
other Air America C-123 ldst The road has now reached a
. last month in the area and point about 30 miles north of
.possibly hit by Chinese Pakbeng on the Mekong
groundfire. River. Beyond its present ter-
./kir America announced a minal point, a trail exists that
week ago that emergency is barely passable for wheeled
search and rescue operations vehicles, informed U.S.
for the downed aircraft with sources say, but they doubt it
three Americans and one Lao- is being used for transport
tian aboard had been sus- purposes.
pended though a routine area
alert would be maintained.
Air America is an American
airline specializing in contract
work for the U.S. government,
Mainly the CIA. Reliable
sources in Vientiane said last
month that the C-123 lost near
the Chinese road was on a
clandestine "drop" mission,
carrying supplies to an intelli-
gence gathering base north-
east of the road.
Suicidal Flights
. -Because of groundfire,
*Miler and terrain, flying
?
STATI NTL
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W4SHI1GTON STAR
Approved For Release 200100?At5192JA-131DREEN01601R
. By TAMMY ARBUCKLE
Special to The Star
VIENTIANE?Laotian and American officials
say the situation in Laos is now extremely serious
as, hard fighting continues in the northern half
?of this mountain kingdom.
Lao' officials say the war is falling into the
centuries-old pattern of fighting between Thais
. and Vietnamese for control of the east bank of
the Mekhong River..
The Laotians fear this time their country will
be split between their Thai and Vietnamese neigh-
bors with the lion's share going to the North
.Vietnamese. The Thais are steadly being dragged
into .the war because of mounting Lao and Meo
battle casualties. .
? As the Laotian and tribal 'units are steadily
pushed west by the North Vietnamese army,
the Thais are more inclined to interfere because
they fear the Mekhong Valley will fall to Hanoi
and their own.national security will be seriously
threatened. The Laotians desperately need Thai
help because their heavy losses in combat are
wiping Out their own manpower, making it im-
possible for them to continue the. war alone.
Iii this second Indochina war, which for Laos
began in early 1963, Lao and Meo casualties have
been horrendous, particularly in the past four
years. Laotian estimates say 27,000 Lao and Meo
have been killed in action or so seriously wounded
as to be unable to fight again.
United States policy has been another factor
causing the Thais to enter the Laotian war faslos
than ? they might have. The
Up Skyline Ridge
United. States pays the Thais
to fight in Laos as part of the Immense Hanoi pressure in
Nixon Doctrine of using Asian North Laos is continuing with
troops to fight Hanoi. the Thais now trying to fight
The Laotians are becoming their way up Skyline Ridge
near Long Cheng against en-
so desperate new, with casual-
ties running at 25 dead per day trenched, determined North
Vietnamese regulars, an oper-
in battles around Long Cheng,
75 miles northeast of here, ation likely to add to the Thai
that the Thais are very wel- dead even though attacks like
come. this are normally spearheaded
Another factor in the Laos by the Meo and Lao.
manpower situation is the lack (United Press International
of any meaningful conscription reported that Laotian rein-
laws. Even with Thai help ex- forcements have retaken the
pected to double to 12,000 or Skyline Ridge a mile north of
one division by March 1, the Long Cheng. Fighting was still
North Vietnamese are still heavy, but the government's
winning the contest. chances of holding Long Cheng
Known Thai battle deaths in were believed to have im-
Laos since Dec. 18 are 672 Proved.)
killed in action. Approved j? "ffglikg0,: girj5/1
, .
sons. They fear tne Laotians
will give way to the North Vi-
etnamese because of high cas-
ualties and because Hanoi is in
the best military ground posi-
tion it has been in any dry
season.
The North Vietnamese are
battering at Long Cheng Val-
ley now, two months before
they normally would have
reached there, leaving them
four months more to advance
before the rainy season turns
their supply routes into a mo-
rass.
The Laos dry season weath-
er is a tremendous asset to
Hanoi. The weather enters
Laos from the northeast and
North Vietnam making Hanoi
weather forecasting for North
Laos extremely accurate and
allowing Hanoi to gear its of-
fensives to cloudy, rainy, fog-
gy weather when the U.S. Air
Force is relatively ineffective.
" Foggy in the Morning
From Laotian hill positions
fog can be seen gathering in
the valleys by 2:30 a.m. By 4
a.m. the fog has crept up the
hillsides until everything is
emeshed in dripping wet
clouds. This could last till 11
a.m. and North Laos skies in
January and February are of-
ten overcast for days.
By March warm weather
drives away the fog but it is
replaced by thick dust clouds
up to 10,000 feet high leaving
the sun a hanging red orb in
the sky with all living things
gasping for breath. This dust
is caused by farmers burning
off land combined with high-
pressure windless weather
which prevents dust and
smoke from moving. Then In
May comes the monsoon with
heavy clouds and rain, again
giving Hanoi troops excellent
cover and allowing them to
fight with supplies they moved
up in dry season.
5 ?Cifft-RD P801401 GM
and casualty factors, Ameri-
can officials say Hanoi has
thrown an additional division
into North Laos this year.
New Armor, Artillery
Also, the Communists have
new long-range artillery and
light armor, and are showing
increasing willingness to use
the air force of ATMs based
just across the Laos. border.
American Embassy officials
believe Hanoi will try to
smash the :),Ieo forces and al-
low the Pathet Lao to advance
to the 1960 ceasefire line 60
miles north of here at the
same time widening the Ho
Chi Minh Trail system in
South Laos?perhaps all the
way across the Laos panhan-
dle.,
Then the North Vietnamese
will wait to see the political
results of their campaign, offi-
cials believe. .
In internal Laotian politics,
authoritative American offi-
cial sources see Prince Sou-
vanna Phouma, the Premier,
at the fulcrum of power to his
left is the peace faction who
are aghast at Laotian losses
and would like to make peace
with Hanoi, call for a U.S.
bombing halt in Laos and al-
low the Pro-Communist Pathet
Lao more seats in the Vien-
tiane government. To Souvan-
na's right are the generals,
also aghast at territorial and
manpower losses, but whose
solution is to dispense with the
tattered cloak of neutrality
and sign open agreements for
full-scale military help with
South Vietnam and Thailand.
Balance Helps the Prince
American officials say that
currently these two factions
balance each other out, leav-
ing Souvanna firmly in power.
But there are several impon-
derables. One is the makeup of
the new Laotian National As-
sembly elected Jan. 2. Almost
heniatiarg
cal views are unknown be-
0Ontinued
Dy"AS1i1NGTOL POST.
Approved For Release 2bicrilog11F. CIA-RDP 0-01601
e
? aeniniane
0 ran qui
es
By Peter Osnos contest went off smoothly of Gen. yang Pao's CIA sup-
? iVashinaton Post Foreieri Service and public resentment ported Army of Meo tribes-
? VIENTIANE,'
,Jan. 14_ against some of the aristo- men.
everal hundred neatly crats was expressed. To the south, the Commu-
radio? d nists are determined that
iiressed Laotian students pa- The Pathet
the Laotians will no longer
.acied down Vientiane's nounced the balloting bit-
., be in a position to harass
pain boulevard yesterday terly as a fraud and a sham,
vorning chanting slogans at but then acknowledged that their activities on the trail
from the Bolovens Plateau. ,
. Impassive riot police while . even s?, the people had
managed to make them- Maximum Impact .. '?
4hoppers and office workers
selves heard. That being . Furthermore, .say the '
..e.aaked on with amusement. .
said, the elections have been- . .Americans, the Communists
CI:The biggest Communist promptly forgotten. want to make their splash
fensive of the Laotian war The only real issue after now so it Will have the maxi-
'AS: under way, according to all is the war. The responsi- . mum impact on Mr. Nixon's
'American military assess-
bility for coping with that visit to Peking and the first
falls very largely on eln- presidential primaries in the
year-old Prince Souvanna United States.
Phouma who for 10 years ' Then, it is hoped, the
Attend is changing the pro- has struffled vainly to res- enemy will settle back, con-
:odure for taking exams.
it Vientiane has always been
. trange1y removed from the
eighting going on around it
'atents, but these students
;were disturbed because the
"elusive French lycee they
tore some semblance of fictent that they have blood-
meaning to the neutralist . ied the Laotians and dis-
coalition established at the couraged the Americans suf-
1962 Geneva .conference. ficiently so that no effort
Ond now, although the situa- The currently dismal mill- will be made to reclaim
?1..l'on in. the northeast and to tary .and diplomatic situa- . their losses until next sum-
. -the south is worse than tion has Souvanna more mer, at the earliest..
the city remains pioba- ? worried' than ever. before, Those Americans willing
Alythe quietest ? and least . confidants say, if only be- to discuss (but never for at-.
? a t
warlike capital in Southeast _ cause the positions of all .tribution) the present grim
those he is trying to deal Picture and the prospects
with have hardened. aheadare the diplomats.
'Vientiane ?and a few author-
Brother's Letter ized military men from the
The most recent letter army attache's office.
from his Pathet Lao half- . Advisers in the field, on
brother Prince Souplianou- the other hand, especially
vong (received on Dec. 18. the CIA men who supervise
the day the Communist of- virtually the entire effort in
fensive began) was a virtual the northeast, will sag, noth-
ultimatum for surrender ing and are not friendly to
and insisted that there be a outsiders.
Comnumist Pathet Lao
'oldiers stride purposefully
,across a downtown intersec-
tio,nirorn one of their villas
te another and no one pays
ariy;:attention. At the
:North Vietnamese embassy
? ithlarD-is a reception for left-
!Wilig-", journalists and U.S.
N'gression" is denounced.
v.':.Defense Minister-delegate
kilspoic Na Champassak
tgeritis as much time in his
J.ob AS minister of finance as
it(;cloes on military affais
Atad keeps his regular tennis
datea 7 with diplomatic
friends.
rhe ministry of defense it-
se1a large brick building
et the outskirts of town, is a
textbook of disorganization.
The functionaries, closeted
in7iMall offices poring over
Slacks, of papers are genial
bta:3)emused. From Friday
fgrning to Monday morning,
their offices are closed.
National Assembly Election
. Earlier this month, there
w4s-.'an election in govern-
tient-held areas for a new
0 National Assembly to take
'office in the spring. Forty of ?once these objectives have increasing pressure, the
69 incumbents were de- been achieved. . function of Ban Son has
le:pied including some By this reckoning, what changed greatly. Now it is
backed by Laos' powerful the North Vietnamese are the center of the military
? f1i nnrth-
-AIM assAipli has citge kted control of the north- east and the CIA contingent
.changed nothing. Amen- vaunted Central Inte ligenee t 1 tr T
complete ceasefire and a
total cessation of the U.S:
bombing before peace talks
begin.
A bombing halt would. of
course, apply to the Ho Chi
Minh Trail, and the Ameri-
cans, who keep what is left
of Laos going with military
and economic aid and ad-
vice, would scarely agree to
that.
Faced with the always
present possibility that Laos
might collapse, threatening
President Nixon's Indochina
policies, Americans, too, are
very concerned about the in-
tensity of this year's offen-
sive.
Many, however, take, the
optimistic view that there
are limitations to what the
Communists have in mind
and conditions will ease
Ban Son, 70 miles north of
Viantiane, is a refugee cen-
ter with an airstrip and sup-
ply depot that began operat-
ing in March, 1970, in a val-
ley not far from Long
Cheng. It was a favored
place to take visiting jour-
nalists who wanted to see
what the United States was
doing for the thousands of
displaced mountain people.
There ?is a primitive but
clean hospital with a doctor
from the U.S. Agency for In-
ternational Development.
There is also a small mess
where advisers and pilots of
CIA-operated Air America
can get cheeseburgers and
cold beer.
Ban Son's Function
In the past two weeks as
Long Cheng has come under
princely families. determined to have is undis- supporte o
rt
transports (rented from the
Air Force), along with a half
dozen other types of smaller
aircraft and vintage H-34STATINTL
helicopters, stream into the
valley carrying supplies, am-
munition and soldiers.
' Ban Son is now .the offi-
cial headquarters for the
Second Military Region but
because of its location it is
almost undefendable as a
military installation. For the
first time in a year, it was
penetrated by a guerrilla'
squad and struck by rockets
earlier this week.
There is talk, rumor at
this stage, that Ban Son will
soon have to .be evacuated
as the enemy sweeps south-
ward past Long Cheng. As it
is, the CIA men are not
spending their nights there.
Meo's Role
Over the years, as the
pace of. fighting in the
northeast has . quickened, it
has been the Meos who car-
ried the brunt for the gov-
ernment. Lately, their ranks,
have become depleted ;Ind
Laotian reinforcements who
have filled out the units ail
are very young.
At the hospital in Ban
Son, there is a young Men
soldier who had his hand .
and part of his face blown
away at Long Cheng. He is
19 and has been a soldier for
three years. Another
wounded soldier, a two-year
veteran, was 13.
'At the start of the offen-
sive, military sources fixed
the number of Meo-Laotian
soldiers in the northeast at
8,000, mostly in small units
guarding firebases along the
Plain of Jars and around
Long Cheng. Another 3,000-
4,000 Thai irregulars were
also on duty.
. As badly as the. Meos
were mauled in the fighting
around the plain and more
recently around Long
Cheng, sources report that
the Thais have taken pro-
portionately greater casual-
ties. One fire support base
on the plain had 500 Thai
soldiers when the battle
began, according to a Meo.
officer. In the end only 18
came out.
The Thais, who the Ameri-
cans steadfastly maintain
are all volunteers, are used
primarily as artillerymen
Ogb
adttiority rave u or eleaser1200019t5/115 :1qt751e4TiDgcticilalti)
caifs;, however, pronounced Agency base at Long Cheng airstrip.
themselves oleased that the and crippling the remnants. Huge C-130' Air America
aciskosiirif troop.
repu ta
tion as fighters is not good.
They are often ? unciiscip- _ ,
'iNetrot
V;02.1'D STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/05/115,AlltADP80-01601R0
flt Lx
'7)0:
r
Daily World Foreign Department
from combined news sources
The Laotian Patriotic Front said yesterday that "the Lao People's Liberation
Army Wednesday overran Long Cheng. the last stronghold of special forces and Thai
mercenaries in the Plain of Jars area.",
"The enemy forces." it stated, cial forces and a supply point combat troops by May 1. Laird
were annihilated in large num- for Long Cheng. Some 97,000 re- said the Saigon military forces
t?
bers and the rest fled in panic fugees were in the Ban Son area, were now operating 1,000 air-
with the Liberation Army after having been driven from their craft and are flying "all combat
them." . homes by U.S. aerial and artil- support sorties." He predicted
Long Cheng was the main base lery bombardments. the troops of the Nguyen Van
Of the U.S. Central Intelligence Gen. Vang Pao, the U.S.-trained Thieu clique would win 75 per-
Agency in north central Lao. former French and Japanese col_ cent of the battles in future be-
laborator, .who commanded the cause "they have the training.
Situated 80 miles northeast of
Vientiane, it was used at great cost
to American taxpayers for the Moo special forces was reported they have the equipment. they
i i
to have fled by plane to Ventane, have the capability to do the
.
recruitment and training of so-
called "special forces" and Thai abandoning his troops.
mercenaries to raid the liberated Sam Thong, another CIA 'strong-
two-thirds of Laos under control point seven miles northwest of
.
of the Laotian Patriotic .Front Long Cheng, was also in the
hands of the Lao liberation forces.
(Neo Lao Ilaksat). In southern Laos, liberation
Charge million being deported
In Paris, a spokesman of the forces surrounded Royal Laotian
'
Democratic Republic of Vietnam Army puppet troops 15 miles from
Pakse and -kept up attacks on
charged that the U.S. and the
Saigon clique were removing by puppet positions on Highway 23.
force "a million inhabitants of The puppet commander at Pakse,
South Vietnam from provinces to Brig. Gen. Sutchai Vongsavan,
v
regroup them in concentration vowed to "defend Pakse at all
camps in provinces further south." costs."
In Washington, President Nixon The accusation that one million
announced he was withdrawing
South Vietnamese were being mov-
70.000 U.S. troops from Vietnam ed by U.S. and Saigon forces was
over the next three months, leav-
made by acting Ilanoi negotia-
ing an estimated 69,000 troops tor Nguyen Van Tien at the 190th
session of of the Paris talks on
which Defense Secretary Melvin
Laird said may not be withdrawn
Vietnam. The vast deportation pro:.
"until the POW situation is re-
ject would be accomplished by
._ air transport, according to the
solved."
Laird also said the U.S. will ?Hanoi spokesman and his coun-
continue to use air power "to
terpart of the Provisional Revo-
lutionary Government of South
protect the armed forces who
remain in South Vietnam." ? Vietnam.They said they desired "to
A spokesman of the Royal Lao-
? tian U.S.-dominated puppet regime draw public attention to this
c
in Vientiane disputed the Pathetrime in order to stop it." They
Lao claim to have captured Long charged President Nixon with
Cheng, but admitted defenders making "propaganda and electo-
r
of the CIA base had lost three rat publicity" in promising to
w
peripheral positions Wednesday wind down the war. They called
to the Lao liberation forces, and on the U.S. negotiator to begin
another the day before, serious negotiations on the peace
p
. The Lao liberation forces also proposal made last year by the
,
struck at Ban Son, 20 miles representative of the PRG.
southwest of Long Cheng and a In his comment on Nixon's
fall-back base 'for the CIA's
pledge to withdraw 70,000 U.S.
spe-
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
0
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601FECT010-60050001-2
OMAHA, NEBR.
WORLD HERALD
M ? 125,376
S ?:273,,94
JAN 1 4 1972
Omaha World-Herald, Friday, Jan. 14, 1972
Artillery Threatens
CIA Base in Laos
from World-Herald Press Services.
Communist troops in Laos
Packed by heavy barrages from
Fussian-made artillery conti-
fued to pry key areas around
ong Cheng from government
ands, and the Pathet Lao radio
'aid the CIA guerrilla base had
OlreadirraliFfr"'
t, ' U.S. sources here denied the
rommunist claim. .
p A Defense Ministry
$pokesman said heavy fighting
.Within 72 hours would decide the
late of the key government
tronghold ? the headquarters
.kof Gen. Van Pao's Meo
tribesmen ? 80 miles northwest
t)f Vientiane.
Acting defense minister
4.isouk Na Champassack told
United Press International that
he fall of Long Cheng will pave
the way for Communist in-
iltration into Vientiane.
k In South Vietnam enemy
t
pound forces struck hard at
governmental outposts Thursday
jn the third day of intensified
i ighting, and mortar shells hit
Iwo U.S. positions at Da Nang.
f In pther developments, U.S.'
.. ,
planes exchanged missile with
antiaircraft positions inside
kj\lorth Vietnam, and a new allied
sweep was launched in southern
iCambodia.
s4 The South Vietnames corn-
miand reported 26 more enemy
iattacks in the past 24 hours,
making a three-day total of 86.
This is the highest level of
enemy action since last October,
the Associated Press reported.
In the air war, two Air Force
F105 fighter-bombers flying
escort for B52 bombers on raids
against North Vietnam's Ho Chi
Minh trail in Laos fired three
air-to-ground missiles Wednes-
day at a Soviet-built surface-to-
air missile battery about 40
miles north of the demilitarized
zone.
About 3,000 Cambodian
soldiers and their families,
fleeing from the fallen base at
Krek, 10 miles from South Viet-
nam's border, jammed truck
convoys entering Tay Ninh
Province northwest of Saigon.
Krek was abandoned by the
Cambodians after South Viet-
namese troops pulled out earlier
this week to take up positions
closer to Saigon in expectation
of enemy attacks.
The U.S. Command reported
five Americans were killed in
action and 47 wounded last
week. The total is about the
average for the past three
months. Eleven Americans died
from nonhostile causes.
The South Vietnamese com-
mand said 221 government
troops were killed and 497
wounded last week. The allied
commands reported 803 enemy
killed.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
KfitTLAND, ORE.
oREGoNlApproved Forjelease 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R
? t - 407,186
11 - 245,132
i-, \
1419714
.. ?.7 sources and preserve American envl-
? i, f ronment.
(
McCloskey proves more
. , be removed as a financProperty taxesial source for
, Tax Reform ? may
' public schools in the aftermath of a
issue candidat should initiate tax from the national
California court decision. Congress
than one- e
level with the income being the princi-
so ?. pal source of revenue.
during quick Oregon WS!
?
By HARRY BODINEi
, of The Oregonian staff
STANDING with his back to a fire- --He said he was frustrated as a con-
place on .the Oregon State campus in gressman to vote for Defense Depart-
Corvallis last Sunday night, GOP presi- incnt appropriation bills for two years
dental hopeful Paul McCloskey invited not realizing each contained $1 billion
questions from 150 persons in the for financing a Central Intelligence
? ? roam. Agency-directed war in Northern Laos.
They don't have to be friendly, he Thai_ CIA, he believes, should carry
said, and the first one lofted from the out its t'ssspose ? gathee.;etele-
ence ?
, The administration, McCloskey said.
withheld information on the SST, on the
environmental impact' of the Amchitka
statis-
tics routinely made available
Aierc
fo
nuclear blast and even economic
gen-
eration.
The counrry can't survive, Mc-
Closkey believes, when the. average
American doesn't trust his government
to tell the truth or feels it's concealing
the truth. Recent polls, he added, show
that CO per cent of the public doubts
governmental veracity.
On other issues:
Amnesty for Armed Forces desert-
Court Decisions ? They should re-
ceive more than "minimal compli-
ance" as on busing. So should deci-
siona not desired by the Nixon Admin-
istration.
Civil Rights ? The U.S. should prac-
tice what it preaches and enforce the
laws.
The Press ? It should agree with the
Washington Post and dispense with
,background briefings that allow gov-
Vernment officials to make statements
and not be accountable for them later.
Population ? lt should be stabilized
for the future good of the country and
? audience wasn't.
"Who is paying
you?" a young man
? asked.
? McCloskey, a Cal-
ifornia congress-
man, replied that
one third of his
1972 campaign fund
so far came from
Los Angeles indus-
trialist Norton Si-
? Mon, another third
from contributors
in the $1,000 to $5,-
000 range, the last
third in small sums.
The 44-year-old challenger asked for
ers ? It should be granted under speci-
fied conditions only after the war ends
and the last prisoner returns home.
The "conditions" include two years of
federal service in social or environ-
mental fields at minimum pay.
National Defense ? The nation can't
afford to relax its posture nor scrap its
research and development as long as
other nations (the Soviets) have gener-
als who look with favor on a "knock-
out" blow against the U.S.
The Draft ? It should be retained to
make certain the U.S. can meet its mil-
itary needs.
McCloskey scored the Nixon Admin-
istration for allowing Armed Forces
morale to fall to the lowest point in the
nation's history. That combined with
30,000 heroin addicts from Vietnam dis-
tress him as a former Marine Corps
lieutenant colonel who earned the Navy
Cross and Silver Star in Korean War
combat. He wants peace, "but I'd fight
tion, like ,the Johnson A,dmini to preserve human liberty again,"
akration,
is increaAPPEAMPtoiliarart eiea?632000i081161,. CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
Land Use Policy ? A national .land
=don designed to sell a viewpoint
rather than inform. use policy is needed. So is a national
,
nprixv nniirxr in order to PrinnPrvp rP-
BODINE
questions at all his Oregon appear-
ances in a two-day schedule. They
ranged widely beyond his two main
campaign themes ? a termination of
the Vietnam War and more truthful-
ness in government.
In essence McCloskey's view on Viet-
nam is that the Nixon Administration is
prolonging the war to keep the Thieu
" government in power until the No-
vember, 1972, election.
American casualties are down, he
granted, but the scope of the war
, through aerial bombardment is high
with the civilian populations of Viet-
nam, Cambodia and Laos ? not Com-
munist forcei?taking the brunt of the
bombing.
'He would end the war subject to one
stipulation ? return of American pris-
oners now held by the Communists.
On truthfulness in government Mc-
Closkey believes the Nixon Administra-
its environment. Abortion should be le-
gal with a woman having the ultimate
choice of whether she bears a child.
Women's Rights ? In the last year
he reversed himself and voted for the
Women's Rights amendment to the
U.S. Constitution.
Washington D.C. Crime Bill ? It was
necessary (McCloskey voted for it)
even with "no-knock" provisions.
There are times when society's welfare
must come first. Wiretapping shouldhe
allowed only on a court warrant.
Cuba ? The U.S. should recognize
Castro.
Mideast ? No quarrel with Nixon
policy of an "even hand" between Is-
rael and the Arabs. Israel must not be
allowed to fall.
Parties ? "Why don't you become a
Democrat?" McCloskey was asked fre-
quently in Oregon.
He has a traditional Republican dis-
trust of government bureaucracy
and a belief that an individual should
be allowed to make his own decisions
and control his own life, he replied.
Beyond that some of the Democratic
Party's leadership doesn't ihspire him.
The "Southern strategy" of the Nix-
on Administration is killing The GOP,
he feels, citing new voter registrations.
What would a McCloskey "victory"
in New Hampshire prove?
"That the Republican Party was
worthwhile for the poor, young anti'
blacks to join," he said.
Approved For Release 2900Z0,5/1iCIA-RDP80-0160
:;..4;a-6s' -Hunts-.
Infiltrators
T. Near Base
By D. E. Ronk
' Special to The Washineton Post
VIENTIANE, Jan. 13?Gen..?
yang Pao, commander of Meo
and Thai irregulars in north-
east Laos, has poured 2,000
troops into Long Cheng Valley
to root out 150 Communist in-
filtrators operating in small
groups through Long Cheng
village while waiting for rein-
forcements.
Official U.S. sources, say-
ing the next 48 to 72 hours
will be decisive for operations
against the infiltrators unless
they are reinforced, categori-
cally denied Radio Pathet Lao
claims that Pathet Lao forces
have captured the CIA-oper-
ated base 80 miles north of Vi-
entiane. Calling the radio
broadcasts monitored in Bang-
kok "propaganda to demoral-
ize the Med on the front line,"
the sources said, "There is ab-
solutely no question of Long
Cheng being occupied by Com-
munist troops,"
Reinforcements for the
Communist troops are now at-
tempting to infiltrate, but
should they fail to arrive soon
yang Pan's troops will be able
to corner and overwhelm
those already present, the
sources claim.
Twenty miles southwest of
Long Cheng at Ban Son, a
Communist demolition team,
believed to be Pathet Lao,
early this morning hit the
outer perimeter of the tempo-
rary CIA headquarters with
11-40 rockets and gunfire for 20
minutes inflicting light casual-
ties on progovernment forces,
Informed sources in Vientiane
announced.
Approximately 20 men were
reported to have been in the
attacking force at Ban Son;
which replaced- Long Cheng
as the CIA field headquarters
flollowing the fall of the Plain
of Jars and opening of the
siege of Long Cheng in the
past three weeks. No dam-
age was inflicted on the facili-
ties at Ban Son, the sources
said, but it is believed in Vien-
tiane that the attack, the first,
such in almost a year, will be
the first of many in the near
future and will force removal
of the CIA headquarters soon.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
DAILY IV GELD
1 2 JAN 1972
*Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R00060011g01:2_
up- Enva ers,
ach cr C=Eocell
Daily World Foreign Department
-, from combined press sources
Saigon President Nguyen Van Thieu-'s troops yesterday gave up another Cambodian
ca,mpaign and fled back to safer terrain near Saigon. . .
Troops of the puppet Lon Nol re- nine kilometers west of Saigon Report flight from CIA base
gime were ordered to take the and the 11th motorized regiment
place of the Saigon forces in Cam- of the U.S. Army 37 kilometers The situation at Long Cheng
boclia's rubber area, but these fol- northwest of Saigon. was still unclear. Puppet troops
lowed the Saigon troops in flight Patriots' 1971 report of Vientiane's "Royal Laotian
over the border into South Viet- South Vietnam People's Libera- Army" were said to have aban-
narn. tion Army sources say that in doned the CIA base, headquar-
Alibi for the new rout was is- 1971 their regular and irregular ters of the Meo puppets and Thai
sued by Thieu's military aides, forces put out of action and took mercenaries under nominal corn-
who claimed a major offensive prisoner 32,620 officers and men, mand of General yang Pao. Whe-
against Saigon positions would be destroyed 420 military vehicles ? ther or not the CIA-trained,
launched by Vietnam freedom and damaged or sank 149 ships equipped and commanded Meo
fighters next month. Thieu him- and boats, shot down or destroy- and. Thai forces had also fled
self has predicted that liberation ed on the ground 77 planes, and could not be determined from
troops will launch a general of- blew up 22 depots of ammunition U.S. news sources.
fensive throughout all Indochina and materiel. The U.S. news sources con-
to coincide with President Nix- The U.S. Command at ' Saigon tinue to follow the customary
'on's February visit to Peking. said that a U.S. Airforce F-4 Practice of attributing all major
Lao puppets in troublePhantom fighter-bomber was the opposition in Laos to the "North
Simultaneously with the Saigon target of two missiles near Se- Vietnamese," ' a deliberately
troops' flight from Cambodia, the pone, a key hub of the so-called chosen usage to deny the exist-
Vientiane puppet government mil- Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The ence of indigenous patriotic for-
itary forces reported the loss of U.S. sources said the Phantom ces and to uphold the U.S. ra-
key positions in both northern jet ducked out of range when the tionale for its decades'-long ag-
and southern Laos and said the rising missiles were sighted.'
gression in Indochina.
'U.S.-Vientiane military - position Elsewhere, for the fourth time Credibility of Saigon and U.S.
was deteriorating badly.Command news sources is also
this year, a U.S: Airforce jet
Pathet Lao bomb "squads onfighter carried out a so-calld suspect in relation to the immi-
o
Monday. penetrated the defense "protective reaction" strike nence of a general offensive by
/perimeter of the U.S. Central In- against an anti-aircraft site in Patriotic forces. Hanoi newspa-
j telligence Agency (CIA) base at North Vietnam. pers, emphasizing the increase
Long Cheng, and Vientiane pup- Before flying back to Saigon, of U.S. bombing and aggressive
pet troops retreated several miles the Thieu regime's ambassador activity, indicate that the talk
after abandoning Ban Nhik, an to the Long Nol clique, Tran of a coming offensive by patriot-
important position 18 miles from Van Phuoc, told a UPI corre- ic forces may be a cover. The
the South Laotian center of spondent he was angry at Cam_ increase in U.S. bombing comes
Pakse. bodian press reports denouncing at a time of growing rapproche-
The Kaosan Pathet Lao news the behavior of the Saigon pup- merit between Peking and Wash-
agency, in a report yesterday pet troops on Cambodian soil. ington, it is noted. .
relayed from Hanoi, charged that The Saigon troops have been
U.S. Airforce planes sprayed tox- accused of looting, raping and
ic agents over the densely popu- violence against Cambodians
lated district of Muong Kham in for the past two years.
Xienquang Province. The agency Col. Thach Chanh, commander
reported many casualties among of the Lon Nol puppet force or-
the local population, with many dered to take over from the flee-
Lao dying almost immediately ing Saigon troops, said his men
and approximately 40 more dying would be quickly overrun without
later from the poison. support of the Saigon forces and
Hanoi newspapers also report- he would rather face prison than
ed yesterday that the People's stay in the area without suppert.
Liberation Armed Forces of South
Vietnam on Sunday and Monday
attacked Saigon troop positions
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601R000600150001-2
NAT I01.;AL GUARDIEI4
Approved For Release 201C005A11519721A-RIWOT-itibll
By Richard E. Ward
The people of Indochina are continuing to suffer a
rain of death from the air because President Richard
Nixon is trying to stave off a military defeat that could
endanger his reelection.
. That was the real purpose behind the five days of
massive U.S. bombings of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam during Christmas week, an interpretation.
widely voiced in the American press.
Both the President and Defense Secretary Melvin
.?Laird have threatened North Vietnam with further
massive attacks, while other Pentagon spokesmen and
U.S. military sources in Saigon have said they will almost
be a certainty.
With the dry season in South Vietnam coinciding
with the opening of the 1972 presidential campaign and
Nixon's election-oriented diplomacy, it is evident that
'the. U.S. command has been ordered to avoid a military
disaster like the 1968 Tet offensive which ended Lyndon
Johnson's political career. The paranoia in Washington'
has become even greater after recent grave defeats
suffered by the U.S.-backed forces in Cambodia and
Laos.
Immediately after the attacks against North Vietnam,
the U.S. air armada shifted its main thrust against Laos.
But stepped tip U.S. bombing 'has been unable to halt
the advance of armed forces of the Lao Patriotic Front
besieging the largest base of CIA-commanded mer-
cenaries at Long Chieng (south of the Plain of Jars),
which was.reported to be on the verge of collapse Jan. 4.
Already most of the Meo and Thai mercenary forces
have fled the base which is undergoing withering artillery
fire that U.S. aircraft have been unable to silence in two
weeks of heavy bombing.
Latest reports from South Vietnam indicate that the
Saigon regime and U.S. command fear that an offensive
by the Liberation Armed Forces may be imminent. A
Saigon newspaper generally considered to be a mouth-
piece for puppet President Nguyen Van Thieu boastfully
said that Saigon forces are readying a counter-offensive
that? would defeat an offensive by the liberation forces
expected before Nixon's visit to Peking in late February.
Whether the Liberation Armed Forces are actually
planning a major military drive in South Vietnam is
really unknown, but what is clear is that the stepped t:ip
bombing throughout Indochina demonstrates the sorry
state of the much vaunted "Vietnamization" program
and that Thieu's million-man army cannot meet either a
major offensive or just a sustained drive on a moderate
scale by the resistance forces.
"Well-placed administration sources," Neil Sheehan
wrote in the Jan. 2 New York Times, say that "the
administration is trying with air power to stave off a .
major military ,setback in Judtplajvaiul6Arg kin/05
Approvea
Troop replacements.
sensitive election year. .. .Thus, when the military situa-
tion turned critical in Laos and Cambodia last month,
with rapid enemy advances that threatened the pro-
American governments, Mr. Nixon resorted to the one
major military tool left to him"?U.S. airpower.
The Nixon administration is now enmeshed in the
same insane logic of its predecessor. Having pursued a
military victory to the point where its leading figures
cannot shake off responsibility for their failures, the
administration continues to press forward with the air
war, hoping that it can buy enough time to avoid further
military, political and diplomatic disasters before the
U.S.. election.
Nixon: airs well
As the rain of death continued in Indochina, Nixon
sought to deceive American opinion about the adminis-
tration's true aims. During a Jan. 2 TV interview with
CBS corespondent Dan Rather, the President claimed
that "our goal is to end American involvement in
Vietnam before the end of this year and before the
election" and that "our plans are working out."
But Nixon immediately contradicted himself by
stating that if the Vietnamese did not come to terms
with the U.S., a residual force of up to 35,000 U.S.
troops would remain in Vietnam and continued air
strikes against North Vietnam would be a possibility.
Taking advantage of his large TV audience, Nixon
stated the only obstacle to total U.S. withdrawal was the
American prisoners being held by the "enemy." Waxing
at length on the POW question in an effort to depict it as
A rbiA5lita*O-otbeAPRfotitbtoTtridefil-2
continued
NATIONAL GUARDIAN
Approved For Release 200d/e51t :17PA-RDP80
ByT117 Far Eastern Economic Review
Vientiane, Laos
When he airived here to assume the office that makes him the
most powerful man in Laos, U.S. ambassador George McMurtrie
Godley III was faced with dismaying problems. On the military
front, ever-increasing American involvement had failed to halt
persistently successful communist advances. With the fall of
Muong Soui, U.S.-Thai-Laotian base near the Plain of Jars, morale
in Vientiane crumbled and America's whole policy of fighting a
secret war in Laos seemed on the verge of being discredited.
Ambassador Godley was faced with several options ranging
from withdrawal to dramatic escalation. Characteristically Godley
chose to escalate and ordered CIA-run mercenary forces to invade
the previously untouched and communist-dominated Plain of
Jars. The ploy caught the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao off
balance but the cost was high. It meant a major escalation of U.S.
involvement in Indochina; it turned the once heavily populated
Plain of Jars into a mercilessly bombed free-fire zone; and it made
refugees of about 20,000 Laotians. Most importantly, the
decision sparked a Senate investigation into America's furtive yet
manifold presence in Laos.
In the two and a half years since his arrival, virtually all checks
on the use of U.S. air power and military support have been
eliminated and American military expenditure has been pushed
from about $250 million a year to almost $400 million.?Godley,
who favors a military victory over Hanoi rather than a U.S.
withdrawal, also backed last winter's disastrous U.S. 'supported
South Vietnamese invasion of Laos, authorized CIA use of
Laotian bases for operations in Cambodia and once summed up
his approach to the Laotian problem by telling a group of visitors
that "the only good communist is one six feet under the earth."
"Runs the country"
In Vientiane, Godley is the object of ceaseless speculation and.
comment. Invitations to his dinner table are more coveted than
those of any Laotian official because, as one foreign resident
remarked, "Godley runs this country."
The American ambassador does not give on-the-record
interviews, but his public remarks alone make him one of the
more colorful figures in the history of American involvement in
Laos. Godley has continued the U.S. policy in Laos of supporting
the civilian Premier, .prince Souvanna Phouma. How much the
American ambassador supports Laotian aspirations for neutrality
and a way out of the Indochina war, is another matter. The
Ambassador is known to regard his role in Laos as doing
everything possible to help the U.S. defeat the Vietnamese
communists....
Godley's style of public service probably assumed its defining
form in the mid-I960s, when he served as U.S. Ambassador to the
Con:go. As in Laos, Godley had at his command a clandestine
force of U.S. warplanes and mercenaries. First as Deputy. Chief of
Mission and later as ambassador, Godley played a crucial role in
crushing the Stanleyville uprising and building up President
Mobutu as a military strongman the Americans could rely on.
After two years in the State Department, where Godley reputedly
chafed at being behind a desk rather than in a war zone, he was
named in June 1969 to the post he coveted most?Laos.
...
En Laos, GAYptibittpdfl=i5ig ReteAd;(203301115P14
putting down mutinies by African tribeimen. On one occasion he
grabbed a non-white fellow ambassador from a neutral country,
shook him by the lapels, and shouted: "You clear everything you
say to the press with me." The cause of the ambassador's ire: a
report that he had discouraged a U.S. congressman from visiting
the North Vietnamese Embassy. Godley's relations with the press
at times are as stormy as they are with his diplomatic colleagues.
When three journalists, including this reporter, walked to the CIA
base at Long Cheng, near the Plain of Jars, in 1970, Godley
announced he was "through with helping the press"?an ironic
enough statement since most U.S. Embassy activities had been
directed toward misleading reporters on American involvement in
Laos....
"The Colonel" ?
?
In Vientiane, Godley frequently is called "the Colonel"
because of the importance he places on military tactics.
Significantly, his predecessor, William Sullivan, now a Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State, was called "the Field Marshal"
? because of the political considerations to which he subordinated
military activity. ?
This year, following the U.S. invasion of Laos, North
Vietnamese troops put increasing pressure on Luang Prabang, but
did not take the town. The North Vietnamese action had
numerous precedents in Laotian history and virtually ? every
ranking diplomat in Vientiane with the exception of the
American ambassador regarded the communist action .its a
diplomatic . signal through ,military channels that Hanoi was
'irritated by the invasion but would not use it as a pretext 'to
invade.the Mekong valley. Godley, on the other hand, interpreted
the communist move as a major defeat for Hanoi, saying the
communists tried to take the royal Capital and failed.
Such lack of appreciation for the nuances of Laotian lighting
and talking, which has been going on for decades, can lead to
disastrous misinterpretations of the other side's motives?and
make genuine communication impossible. Perhaps with this in
mind, one communist diplomat said recently: "Even if a solution
were possible, I do not see .how we could negotiate it with a man
like Godley."
Godley in fact does seem to be the wrong man in the .wrong
place at the wrong time, full of enthusiasm for a war which most
Americans by now have come to detest, determined to win a
military victory in a war which the Nixon administration says it is
trying to end. On the other hand, Godley fits into an American
strategy which has been described as "escalating upstream while
you de-escalate downstream." According to this interpretation of
the Nixon policy, U.S. involvement in Laos and Cambodia will
grow, in terms of firepower and military support, while the
American involvement in Vietnam is declining. The aim, in effect,
is to create a screen upstream from South Vietnam to protect
Saigon. The main 'problem of the strategy is that Laos and
Cambodia must pay the price.
In executing such a strategy, Godley seems an ideal choice-at
least from the Nixon administration's viewpoint. Godley;
according to sources close to him, has said he would like to stay
in Laos until the war is won. Whatever the outcome of the war,
he may continue to dominate Laos for a long time. President'
INSitapvityl gaol klotidtbio 5001011qambassadors
Z1)7 XORK TIME$
1 2 JAN 1972
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601
-rt,orpt,?^ zt rat.t rr,s7.17 ' t -s_4r-rcts
1
U.S. Jet Is Target of Missiles -
From Deepest Site Yet in Laos.
By CRAIG R. WHITNEY
apecat to Tht Mt? or Times
SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan.- --
Justification for Raids
1I?The United States com-
mand said today that a North In justifying these raids, Gen.
Vietnamese missile site near Creighton W. Abrams issued a
' Tchepone, deeper and farther statement saying, in part, "the
south in the Laotian panhandle North Vietnamese have been
,than one has ever been re- told repeatedly that action
ported before, fired two sur- would be taken to protect the
face-to-air missiles yesterday lives of U. S. miiltary personnel
morning at an American fight- should the enemy threaten our
aircraft, or engage in efforts to
er-bomber that was attacking
enemy supply trails.
The North Vietnamese first
began firing the Soviet-built
achieve a significant logistics
buildup, or violate the DMZ."
The command has never de-
missiles at American planes ,scribed the results of those
over Laos only a year ago, but raids but pilots say they had
mostly from places within their been hampered by bad weather
own country. Tchepone is about and had failed to hit many of
30 miles southwest of the North, the targets.
Vietnamese border and 23 miles In the last two months the
west of Quangtri Province in North Vietnamese have sent
South Vietnam.
The Phantom jet evaded-both
missiles and was not damaged,
the command said. The missiles
were belived to have been fired
from a mobile launcher but, ac-
cording to the command spokes-
man, the pilot did not see it
and no retaliation was reported.
,
Tchepone, a bombed-out town they had not been engaged by
enemy MIG's then, but have
since reported sighting ,a few
flying parallel to them as they
drop bombs on the trail net-
work in Laos.
their MIG-21 supersonic fight-
ers across the border over Laos
to challenge American planes ?
bombing the supply trails and
supporting Laotian irregular
troops farther north, on the
Plaine des Jarres.
The pilots of the planes that
bombed North Vietnam said
On a junction of the trail sys-
tem, was held briefly. by South
Vietnamese troops during their
Invasion of Laos last winter.
Air Defense Improved
American pilots have reported Laotians Report Losses .
that the North Vietnamese air VIENTIANE, Laos, Jan. 11
defense system on the trail net- (UPI) ? Government military
work in southern Laos is better sources today reported the loss
established and more extensive of key positions in both north-
this year than it ever has been. ern and southern Laos and said
- The command also announced the military situation was de-
that an Air Force Phantom that teriorating rapidly.
was escorting a B-52 mission as Enemy bomb squads pene-
the trail was challenged and. trated the defense periineto '
fired two missiles at a North last night at the base operated
Vietnamese air defense radar by the United States Central In-
site across- the border 35 miles telligence Agency at Long Tieng
arid, fighting was reported near-
by, the sources said.
Government forces were said
to have abandoned Ban Nhik
after heavy fighting at close
quarters and pulled back sev-
eral miles to the west toward ?
'Pakse, the main commercial
town in southern .Laos.
north of the demilitarized zone,
in the Bankarai Pass.
The command described the.
fiing as a "protective reaction"
strike initiated after the radar
site began to track the Ameri-
can planes. The command holds
that such radar tracking is a
hostile action because it can be
used to guide antiaircraft fire.
The radar site is believed to
have been destroyed, the com-
mand said.
In the week after Christmas,
American warplanes carried out
five days of large-scale raids
on North Vietnamese airfields,
supply depots, and antiaircraft
sites, partly in retaliation for
the increased challenge to U. S.
aircraft over the trail. ,
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