'BEST I COULD GET,' GENERAL ASSERTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150031-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: February 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150031-9
NEW YORK TIMES
'~~` I LIP E. V11J 7; 19 February, 1985
'BEST I COULb GET,'
GENERAL AS Ills
Was `an Apology' by CBS
g
an
now leader is his
Westmoreland Says Outcome: I Outcome],,,, War. 'General Westmoreland said that
"I admit that some of my judgments when he saw the CBS documentary, he
ip~ es, his red tie un- General Westmoreland said that he
Westmoreland felt victimized and that he empathized
.
named but not ematant, satis- with Mike Wallace
Red dn himself In a victory.- He "-I knew Mike Wallace and I thought
s as a man who had well of him," he said. "I think Mike
been.paced "center stage in one of the was a busy man. By his own admission
most unpopular conflicts in the history he was working on a number of things.
of the country" and who had been a fal- I guess, I think Mike was victim of cir-
of the Viet- cumstances as I was "
dlin
h
were mt the best, based on some of the felt he had no choice but to take legal
decisions I made, ' he said, "but I was action.
maki"i decisions constantly. People "Maybe it was my sense of `duty,
were going in and out of my office. I honor, country' that made me pursue
d working
"
h
d
it,
e sai
, citing the motto of the
By PETER W. KAPLAN vas scantly an the rope an
"I figured it was the best I could seven days ' a wee1L And I - just lived' United States Military Academy, from
get, " Gen. William. C. Westmoreland ; 'with ~' a"o'rk.. which he graduated and whose'Super-
get erda of the out-Of-court set- But he said he was "tnily shocked" intendent he was.
y y by the CBS documentary-
It was in essence an -Maybe it ,.' he said, "like they were
tlemeat of his libel suit against CBS. was my neivetb," he said, "but it just try- It It lookedmake me out to be the second
_" apology. One never occurred to me that they'd do Benedict Arnold, and I felt l had to de-
does not have to use the wa?d. One --that. I figured I was just an old sol- fead_mysArnol -
apologizes in other ways .ft
"If CBS had apologized in the first " The fad that we as a nation didn't I He said that be had received some
place," General Westmoreland said, win the war," he went on, "made a lot first--hand evidence that the suit, he
"`none of this would have happened." of people loot for aP goats. And , said, had already had had an effect on
some of the military did the same." 1 ! television itselt
`An Apology' 'Be pointed to the testimony against ' - "Senior officials at CBS, and at other
networks," he said, "have approached
General Westmoreland character-. him by some of his former intelligence
ized the statement that both he and the oflioers as as ezample, and be de- me and said: `You have contributed a
network's representatives signed as scribed the appearance of Gen. Joseph { service. We have been more truthful,
`an apology." He said, it gave him the A. McChristian, who testified against - more careful because of what you have
satisfaction he had been seeking since him, as "inexplicable to me." -' doneGeneral Westmoreland declined to
the beginning of the dispute with CBS '`M - -a erwo;k officials'
that began with the broadcast in 1982-of man," General Westmorela~ said, .1 . w eiveve the had names of the e n n
a documentary, "The Uncounted "and a very ambitious person..-He was congratulated
$. awarded two Distinguished Service He's Happy it's Over A -
culmined d with a Vietnam Deception, and Medals, and I gave both of them tdhim? ., Yesterday, sitting with a glass of
culminated j Vietnam statement yes- Coca Cola in his hotel room, General
tetchy stating the n and faithful respect I' promoted him to -major genera. I Westmoreland said, "At the age of
for the genera's "long g and gave him very good efficiency reports, 171,maybe I can start living and close
did not' believe the settlement of the where along the line, _he developed a starting it up again
, lawsuit had ended the dispute between, vendetta. And I can't explain it. I just "I am going to eajoywhit maybe the
himself and CBS: can, t captain it last few years I have," he said, stand-.
"Is this my last battle?" he said yes-j- "Ii I had known about this, ' be said, ing ug;"`tmless CBS decides to be'my
terday as the late afternoon sun filled referring to his subordinates'. sense of perpetual tormentor "
the hotel room in which he has lived. suppressed dissent- because of dis- His wife, Ritsy, walked into the room
during the trial that began in October. agreement over troop estimates, "I and told the general that it was time he
would have jumped on this immediate-: take a bath. r. .
"It maybe wishful thinking, but I hope l y what I probably would have - "You have to take a bath," she said,
so. But I know full well CBS may stoke done y e I would have gone to Gen. "and a nap. You're going on televi-
back." Creighton Abrams and said we've got sion.11
The general's conversation ranged an unhappy fellow here, he's unhappy "Well, I'm not taking a bath until to.
from assertions of betra sal by his for- with some of the decisions of his boss, night," he said. -
met subordinates, to perceptions of would you dig into this and get back to "You'll want to take a bath so you
himself as a victim of television, to a me immediately. ~:. can think clearly," Mrs. Westmore-
land.
parallel with Mike Wallace, the CBS "A bath," General Westmoreland
correspadeat, whom General West-, said, "is not going to help me to think,
clearly.",
moreland portrayed - like himself -'
as a man who paid less-than-necessary "You're going on television, Westy,' y
attention to the performance of his Mrs. Westmoreland said. "You'll want
to think clearly. .. . ,
duties. General Westmoreland laughed.
Approved For Release 2010/08/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150031-9