NEW INDOCHINA PARLEY URGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210092-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2014
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: March 14, 1970
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified and Approved For Release @-50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210092-6
14 MAK IU/V
? Sen. Robert C. Byrd, (D-W.
`Va.) called yesterday for re-
convening the 1954 Geneva
conference to deal with the ov-
erlapping crises in Laos, Vet-
nam and Cambodia.
It is "sheer folly," said Byrd,
"to think we could settle the
current hostilities in Laos
without mentioning Vietnam."
Similarly, he noted, the spill-
over of the Vietnamese war.,
into' ,Cambodia shows the in-,
ter-relationship of tensions?
throughout what was formerly -
French Indochina.
The Nixon administration ? S.
has made a "commendable po-
litical gesture" in trying to re- :.
open discussions on Laos
through the 1962 Geneva ac-
cord on Laos, said Byrd, but ?
. ?
the focus is too narrow.
The earlier, 1954, conference
ended the French Indochinese ?
war in Vietnam, Laos and,
Cambodia. Byrd told the Sen... ?.
ate that "We in the Western ?
world have long labored under
the mistaken belief that the'
problems of Southeast Asia.
can be attacked by Laotian,
Vietnamese or Cambodian so- ?
lutions."
Sen. J. W. Fulbright (D-
Ark.), who is challenging ad-s
ministration policy in Laos,
told newsmen he is now con-
vinced that CIA operations
there are a result of long-.
standing U.S. policy estab-
lished by the National Secu-
rity Council.
Fulbright 'spoke to reporters
after the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, which he
heads, heard testimony behind
closed doors from Richard
Helms, director of the Central
Intelligence Agency. Fulbright
'said he continues to be dfs-
United 'Press International
CIA Director Richard Helms (left) Is greeted by Sen. LW, Fulhright..,-
?
in paramilitary operations. State :William P. Rogers, Ken-
But the decision to use the nedy said that over the past,
CIA in that covert capacity,in few months, "Reports indicate
Laos, he said, was not made the number of refugees in I
by- the CIA itself. Laos has escalated to at least
U.S. policies in Laos were one-quarter of the country's
challenged yesterday by Sen. population."
Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), In a long questionnaire to
chairman of the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Refugees, Rogers, Kennedy ? asked a de:
from: the standpoint of their tailed,.. series ? of questions
impact on ;the civilian popula- ab6u.t, the ' cast, concepts and.
tion. . '",. ? operation OfU S policy :in
turbed by the use of the CIA In 4. lellet? to ..'SecietarS, of Laos which affect civilians ,
?
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210092-6