THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 MAY 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993275
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: May 1, 1972

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NA,
The President's Daily Brief
1 May 1972
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
I May 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS.
In South Vietnam, the situation at Quang Tri City
is critical, and Communist pressure is increasing
in the central highlands and in areas north of
Saigon. (Page 1)
Chinese news media have denounced the President's
speech of 26 April, but still appear relatively un-
alarmed over the Indochina situation. (Page 2)
Photography confirms the arrival of a Soviet G-class
ballistic missile submarine in Cuba on Saturday.
(Page 4)
The joint communique following Egyptian President
-Sadat's trip to Moscow reflects Arab frustrations
over the impasse with Israel. (Page 5)
The preliminary Indo-Pakistani talks apparently
made at least some progress toward resolving issues
arising from the December war. (Page 6)
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
SOUTH VIETNAM
The situation at Quang Tri City worsened over
the weekend, and reports this morning indicate that
government defenses are collapsing. A North Viet-
namese force of up to eight regiments, supported by
artillery and armor, surrounds the provincial capital
and the city has been under artillery and rocket fire.
Shelling has destroyed a large government ammunition
depot inside the town, and a truck convoy attempting
to bring in ammunition over Route 1 from the south
was ambushed. Flying weather remains good, but in-
tense Communist groundfire has made it difficult to
resupply the city's defenders by air.
At least some of the North Vietnamese forces
in Quang Tri Province appear to be bypassing the
provincial capital and heading south toward Hue.
A headquarters element of the 304th Division has
been detected in a recent movement into Thua Thien
Province.
At least some combat units of the 304th
presumably will follow the headquarters
element. It.is.not likely, however, that
the Communists will make a major shift
in their forces without first capturing
Quang Tri City-
. In the central highlands, at least?two. regi-
ments of the North Vietnamese 320th Division have
skirted the government's new defense line near Vo
Dinh and are now within easy striking distance of
Kontum City. Apparently as a result, the South
Vietnamese_are abandoning this line and pulling
back closer to KontUm City. The airfield on the
city's outskirts has come under shelling and .a
strong assault on the provincial capital is expected
soon
To the north of Saigon, Communist forces con-
tinue to shell An Loc and to hamper the South Viet-
namese relief column pushing north from Chon Thanh,
but fighting in the area is declining. Taking ad-
vantage of the fact that government troops are still
pinned down around An Loc, enemy units are increasing
their activity in adjacent areas. They conducted
several ground probes during the weekend in Tay Ninh
Province. Elements of the Communist
divisions have been detected moving from Binh Long
into Binh Duong and Phuoc Long provinces, and enemy
infantry, units and tank columns have been observed
crossing the border from Cambodia on Route 13 and
Route 1.
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CHINA-US
On Saturday, the New China News Agency carried
an account of President Nixon's speech of 26 April,
and yesterday People's Daily ran a "commentator"
article on the subject. Although relatively moder-
ate in tone, the two items nevertheless contain the
most extensive direct attacks on the President since
the current North Vietnamese offensive began. Both
accuse the President of "blatantly" claiming that
the fighting in South Vietnam is the result of a
massive North Vietnamese invasion. Nevertheless,
People's Daily, while declaring that such claims
are "slander," and that continued bombing of the
North indicates Washington has "broken its promise"
to end the war, carefully attributes these particu-
lar sins to the "US Government" rather than the
President himself.
Unless the Chinese wished to ignore the
President's speech entirely, they could
hardly refer to it without such attacks
on it. The lack of extreme vituperation
in both articles, as well as the delay in
commenting on the speech at all, suggest
that Peking has taken pains to couch its
criticism in relatively noninflammatory
terms. In other respects the two items
contain standard Chinese rhetoric on the
war, reiterating their support for the
Vietnamese people and familiar Communist
formulations for ending the war.
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WEST GERMANY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
USSR CUBA
A Soviet diesel-powered ballistic missile sub-
marine arrived in Cuba's Nipe Bay shortly after day-
liaht on 29 April. Photography
confirms that the submarine
class, which can carry three 700-nm SS-N-5
This marks the first visit by a Soviet
missile submarine to a port outside the
is a G-II
missiles.
ballistic
USSR.
The G-II was escorted into Nipe Bay by the
Kotlin-class destroyer that has been in Cuban waters
since 5 March along with an F-class diesel-powered
torpedo attack submarine that is currently in the
port of Mariel. The G-II and the Kotlin joined the
Ugra-class submarine tender that arrived in Nipe
Bay on 28 April after a direct transit from the
Black Sea.
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EGYPT-USSR
The joint communique issued after President Sadat
ended a two-day visit to Moscow clearly reflects
Egyptian frustration over the Zack of progress to-
ward resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute. It reiter-
ates the support of the two parties for the UN reso-
lution of 1967 on the Middle East, and asserts fur-
ther that, if a political solution continues to be
thwarted, the Arab states "have every reason to use
other means" to regain the occupied territory. Un-
like the communique issued after Sadat's visit to
Moscow last February, this one does not bring up
the Jarring mission.
The joint statement does not specify any new Soviet
military commitments to Egypt, reporting merely that
there were discussions aimed at "further increasing"
Egypt's military potential and "strengthening the
military cooperation" between the two. The defen-
sive nature of the military aid provided by Moscow
is not stressed as it was in the previous communique.
Even without specific new commitments, Sadat's visit
may help to reassure Egyptians that the gravity of
the Middle East situation will be fully recognized
during the coming US-Soviet discussions. For those
Egyptians who regard political efforts as futile,
the communique also holds out the prospect that
eventual resort to a military solution is not being
entirely ruled out.
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INDIA-PAKISTAN
The four-day preliminary discussions between
Indian and Pakistani representatives that were con-
cluded on Saturday apparently made some progress
toward resolving the issues arising from the Decem-
ber war. Their joint statement, released after the
talks, announced plans for a meeting in New Delhi
between Prime Minister Gandhi and President Bhutto
in late May or early June. The representatives
agreed on an agenda for the summit which
includes the issues of troop
and prisoner exchanges.
disengagement
Pakistani Foreign Office spokesmen have stated
publicly that Islamabad would not object if Prime
Minister Mujibur Rahman joined the summit talks.
The Pakistanis may hope that a construc-
tive atmosphere at the conference will
encourage Dacca to drop its plans to try
Pakistani prisoners as war criminals in
Bangladesh. Dacca has yet to show any
willingness to back down on this issue
and has insisted that Pakistani recogni-
tion must precede a Bengali-Pakistani sum-
mit.
Before leaving Pakistan, India's principal ne-
gotiator, D. P. Dhar, held a private session with
Bhutto. Bhutto later described the encounter to
Ambassador Farland as "frank and open" and, although
complaining about India.'s-"patronizing attitude,
said he was hopeful that-negotiations-would be
fruitful. Bhutto is under few illusions about his
power position vis-a-vis the Indians, "who hold all
the-cards" and who, he charged, were conducting "sub-
versive--activities" in the troubled Pakistani prov-
inces-of:Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier.
Nevertheless,-he hopes that he can delay considera-
tion-of Kashmir--"the major bilateral problem"--
until such issues as the restoration of diplomatic
relations have been -resolved.
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NOTES
Laos: Government forces regained control of
Skyline Ridge overlooking Long Tieng on 29 April.
About 100 irregulars with:air support cleared the
two positions that had remained in enemy hands at
the center of the ridge. North Vietnamese opposi-
tion'was relativelylight, strengthening indications
in recent intercepts that the Communists are with-
drawing some of their forces from the area in prep-
aration for the coming rainy season.. They situation
elsewhere inLaos remains relatively quiet.
Turkey: Prime minister - designate Suat Hayri
Urgupulu appears confident that he can put together
an acceptable government within a day or two. A
political independent who served as prime minister
for nine months in 1965, Urgupulu plans an "above
parties" cabinet chosen from the four principal par-
ties represented in parliament. Although Urgupulu
complained in 1970 of US pressure on Turkey to re-
strict opium poppy cultivation, he has since been
silent on this issue and has been generally friendly
toward the US.
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Top Secret
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