CBS CONSULTANT 'PROUD' OF DOCUMENTARY
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150090-4
Release Decision:
RIFPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
August 13, 2010
Sequence Number:
90
Case Number:
Publication Date:
January 15, 1985
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150090-4.pdf | 51.46 KB |
Body:
Approved For Release 2010/08/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150090-4
r worARM . _ -I USA TODAY
AcTiCL , - r
Cif
15 January 1985
CBS consultant `proud' of documen
By Bruce Frankel Lions by Gen. William West- was. defamed by CBS'. charge
Special for USA TODAY moreland helped lose the war. that he ordered intelligence of-
In some of the most compel- IIcers to minimize enemy troop
NEW YORK - Former CIA ling testimony yet in West- strength to make It appear,, the
analyst and CBS consultant moreland's $120 million libel. US.-was winning the war."
.Samuel A. Adams testified suit against CBS, Adams, 51, "We, in Intelligence; I
Monday he was proud of a 1982 also said he was "satisfied" the thought, had tried to cool the
Vietnam documentary be- -' broara dcastwas accurate. American public," said Adams,
cause It'explained how .decep- 3 Westmoreland claims he a defendant and CBS' first wit
ness called. "We tried to fool
the Congress and the adminis-
tration ... but we ended up, I
think, in fooling ourselves."
The documentary, The Un-
counted Enemy: A -Vietnam
Deception, was "Important"
because it explained. "in' part
how we came to lose this war,"
he said.
In questioning Adams, CBS
lawyer David Boies gave the 12
jurors their first look at the
broadcast in its entirety.'.
Asked why Westmoreland
would deceive President John-
son, Adams said: "What was at
stake was basically our policy
in Vietnam If we believed our
enemy was twice as big, we
had to do something about it."
.The choices: mobilize the re-
serves or begin. withdrawing,
he said.
Adams told the jury of a visit
to the Vietnam Veterans Me-
morial in Washington last year.
Of the more, than 45,000
Americans killed in combat
whose names are engraved on
the wall, Adams said he won-
dered "how many were killed
by people who were not listed"
in the official estimates CBS
claimed Westmoreland al-
tered. -
"I said to myself, a third -
maybe half,'.'. Adams said.
Approved For Release 2010/08/13: CIA-RDP90-00552R000707150090-4