THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 7 DECEMBER 1967

Document Type: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
0005974159
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
T
Document Page Count: 
11
Document Creation Date: 
September 16, 2015
Document Release Date: 
September 16, 2015
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
December 7, 1967
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24: CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 The President's Daily Brief Top Secret 7 December 1967 23 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 DAILY BRIEF 7 DECEMBER 1967 1, Cyprus Vietnam 3. Congo Greekofficials on the island are bitter over the departure of the main- land troops. The Rwandans, fed up with playing host to the mercenaries, have issued an ultimatum ordering them out within 48 hours. The Belgians in turn are now ap- parently planning an evacuation. Congolese reaction to an airlift now could well be explosive. Mobutu has been insisting on preconditions to any repatriation--payments for the damage which the mercenaries have done, and guarantees that they will not be allowed to return to Africa. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50X1 50X1 50X1 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 - 4. Thailand 5. France-Iraq The Thai Army is moving forcefully to extend its control over counterinsur- gency operations in the northeastern area bordering the Laotion panhandle. In the process, the army intends to adopt tougher tactics against the insurgents. 50X1 50X1 Iraq is to extend oil exploitation rights. President Arif has invited De Gaulle to visit Baghdad, but a government spokesman in Paris has indicated that such a visit is a long way off. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 6. Dominican Republic Colonel Francisco Caamano Deno, leader of the "constitutionalist" forces during the civil war in 1965, has disappeared. Caamano, now the Dominican mili- tary attach?n London, was last seen on 24 October in the Hague. The news of his disappearance was made public late last month. Since then, there have been reports that he has traveled to Cuba, that he is in hiding, that he is the victim of foul play by "foreign intelligence agencies," and that he is "out on a spree." Unless Caamano's disappearance is cleared up soon, an already uneasy po- litical situation will be further com- plicated. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Top Secret FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY Special Daily Report on North Vietnam Top Secret 50X1 16 7. December 1967 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50x1 Special Daily Report on North Vietnam for the President's Eyes Only 7 December 1967 I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION Economic Claims: Hanoi's latest attempt to show that bombings have not disrupted its economy is a claim of increasing output by regional industries. According to Reuters, the North Vietnamese news agency on 5 December said that regional industries under central control increased their output of some commodities by 1 to 13 percent during the first nine months of 1967. The report said that many "important industrial branches" have gradually increased in size despite the bombings. 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 50)(1 The industries cited are probably the local plants which were to be built or expanded in dis- persed locations throughout the country, according to the 1966-67 plan drafted in response to the bomb- ing. Hanoi gave high priority to these plants in order to enable regions to be economically self- sufficient and to guard against disruption of output by central plants. Regional plants may have improved their per- formance during 1967, but the implication that all is well in industry is almost certainly false. The central plants--including the handful of modern plants--have been severely disrupted by the bombings. Even if the regional plants have performed up to plan, which seems highly unlikely, they apparently have been unable to make up the drop in the supply of nonmilitary industrial goods from prebombing levels. Imports of such goods have been increasing steadily since the bombings began. * * * New Peace Proposal: The World Federation of United Nations Associations has announced a new pro- posal aimed at bringing peace to Vietnam. The pro- posal calls for the establishment of a date to end the war, the ending of the bombing of North Vietnam on the same date, and five-power talks to organize negotiations or a peace conference. Copies of the proposal dated 28 November have been sent by the association's president, Ales Bebler, to the US, North Vietnam, and the five countries named for the talks, Britain, Russia, India, Canada, and Poland. Several months ago, Bebler called on the same five powers simply to hold consultations aimed at bridging the gap between the peace conditions de- manded by Hanoi and Washington. Little response to that proposal was generated and it apparently was dropped after the Soviets voiced their objec- tion to such a meeting. There is, moreover, nothing which would indicate that Bebler's latest effort will be any more successful. -2- 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6_oxi ?3- 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 ?J?,.//? I * * * II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL ATTITUDES ON THE WAR Appeal to Senator Fulbright: Hanoi in a broad- cast on 5 December to American servicemen in South Vietnam carried what was alleged to be a letter from a captured pilot to Senator Fulbright. After recounting his capture, the pilot appealed to the senator, claiming that "many prisoners here rely upon your good will, prestige, and high position in our government to try to find a suitable solu- tion to quickly end this problem." * * * More Hanoi Thoughts on "War Crimes Tribunal": In a broadcast on 6 December, Hanoi issued a lengthy report on the outcome of the recently concluded second session of the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal. The broadcast reported statements by Americans who had attended or participated in the trial. Stokely Carmichael, called "a leader of the black people's movement in the US and a member of the tribunal," was quoted as condemning the US "for forcing black Americans to go to South Viet- nam to be used as cannon fodder," He pointed out that the American leaders had committed "double genocide, that is, the murder of the Vietnamese people as well as the black people." Dave Dellinger, another American member of the tribunal, also appealed to the world's people and the people of America "to unite their actions so as to step up their struggle against the war of aggression and the crimes of genocide committed by the US ruling circles in Vietnam." -4- 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6 Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005600270001-6