THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 5 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974311
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 5, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005900120001-9
The President's Daily Brief
Top Secret 5 March 1968
23
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DAILY BRIEF
5 MARCH 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Panama
The Communists launched rocket
and mortar attacks against several tar-
gets in northern and central South Viet-
nam the night of 3-4 March. There were
only a few follow-up ground assaults,
and allied casualties and damages were
insignificant.
The heaviest concentration of at-
tacks came in the three southern prov-
inces of I Corps. The two northern
provinces--Quang Tri and Thua Thien--
were relatively unscathed, but Communist
military preparations are continuing
there. The Communists are building
their forces around Quang Tri city and
Hue, and there are reports that tanks
and large quantities of ammunition are
'being moved toward Hue from the A Shau
Valley.
The shaky compromise worked out
yesterday between the two factions is
holding up so far.
The legislature went into recess
this morning after appointing a three-
man commission to look into the im-
peachment charges that have been levied
against President Robles. This was
part of the deal worked out yesterday
by the two sides under National Guard
pressure. The commission is supposed
to declare that the charges are un-
founded, and Robles, for his part, is
to appoint a new, "nonpartisan" cabinet
and amend the electoral code.
The legislative commission has to
report back within ten days, and it may
do so as early as today. If everyone
plays the part assigned to him in this
complex scenario, a donnybrook between
Arias and Robles supporters may still
be averted.
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3. Eastern Europe Communist leaders in eastern Eu-
rope are having their troubles.
4. Warsaw Pact
5. Greece
While Czech Premier Dubcek tries
to counter efforts by Novotny conserva-
tives to rally the workers against
Dubcek's "intelligentsia," the Gomulka
regime in Poland finds itself on the
verge of a confrontation with dissident
intellectuals.
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We even have signs of factionalism
within the rigidly Stalinist regime in
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Albania.
The country's
top
for
sus-
leadership has
almost a month,
been out of sight
which leads us to
pect that the purges may be reaching
higher into the hierarchy.
Wednesday's meeting of pact lead-
ers in Sofia seems likely to produce
another collision between the Soviets
and the Rumanians, this time over the
draft nonproliferation treaty.
The Soviets, whose delegation will
be led by Brezhnev, Kosygin, and De-
fense Minister Grechko, very badly want
unanimous endorsement of the draft by
pact countries. The Rumanians are
still holding out. They criticize the
draft's failure to place limitations
on nuclear powers or to provide guaran-
tees to non-nuclear countries.
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6. Soviet Union
7. Egypt
8. Berlin
9. Britain-USSR
Nasir apparently feels he must do
something about the unrest which led to
demonstrations in February. He is try-
ing the tried-and-true expedient of
blaming the demonstrations on "counter-
revolutionary elements." He has even
implied that the US may be behind these
elements. This ploy is unlikely to
placate many Egyptians, whose unhappi-
ness is rooted in Egypt's defeat last
June.
The Soviets have an air/ground
military exercise scheduled for Wednes-
day in the Berlin area. The exercise
could interfere to some extent with
allied access to West Berlin, and there
could be some low-level overflights of
the city. This activity may be intended
to coincide with the current Bundestag
committee meetings in West Berlin.
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Top Secret
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?
Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secret
16
5 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
5 March 1968
I., NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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II, NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Assays the US Position: Senator Robert
Kennedy's remark about the South Vietnamese Govern-
ment as a "government with no support" was featured
last Friday in another of Hanoi's lectures on why
the US cannot win. All this came in the Vietnamese
language broadcast of an article by military theore-
tician Chien Binh.
Binh's thesis essentially was that the Tet cam-
paign put the US on the defensive and the Americans
cannot recover no matter how many more troops are
brought in. Interwoven through this was a recita-
tion of the theme that the Thieu government was col-
lapsing (here Senator Kennedy was quoted). Aside
from the senator, Binh buttressed his arguments with
liberal citations from Western press items opposed
to the war or pessimistic as to its outcome.
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Top Secret
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