SPECIAL DAILY REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02406643
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 1, 1967

Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 CO2406643
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
ecret
1 December 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
1 December 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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French Journalists' Impressions of Hanoi: The
French News Agency correspondent in Vientiane has told
US officials that French TV journalist Francois
Chalais, who recently returned from North Vietnam,
had gone to Hanoi seeking only the sensational. The
thesis of his 22 December French TV presentation is
said to be that military damage to North Vietnam is
slight because bombs are not hitting military tar-
gets. Chalais' camera crew reportedly photographed
the aftermath of the bombing of a "defenseless" vil-
lage, the destruction of a Catholic church, and the
use of antipersonnel pellet bombs.
Pro-Communist French journalist Gerard Chaliand,
who left Hanoi on 10 November, had a different im-
pression of the North Vietnamese capital, according
to the correspondent in Vientiane. Chaliand con-
cluded that North Vietnamese agriculture had not
been extensively impaired but that the bombing had
seriously affected military installations, trans-
port, and industry. The journalist had "considerable
doubts" about the ability of the North Vietnamese
population to continue resistance.
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on McNamara: A Hanoi International Serv-
ice broadcast in English yesterday asserts that the
reported "dismissal" of Defense Secretary McNamara
is "another proof of the deadlock" of the US Govern-
ment's war strategy in Vietnam and of the "sharp
contradictions among the ringleaders of the US ag-
gressors." Hanoi claims that the "dismissal" will
be a "personal disgrace" for Secretary McNamara,
as well as "a setback for the whole Johnson clique
in their obdurate pursuance of the war of aggression
in Vietnam." The broadcast also claims that McNamara's
departure will make the picture of the "US war"
gloomier than ever, The broadcast closes by stating
that the Hanoi army daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan has pre-
dicted that whoever the new Defense Secretary is,
"he will certainly invite ignominious failure on
himself should he follow the beaten track of crim-
inal aggression."
Stokely in Denmark: According to a report from
the US Embassy in Copenhagen, Stokely Carmichael
briefly attended the tenth open session of the
Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal on 29 November.
He was reportedly warmly welcomed by the first wit-
ness of the day, North Vietnamese Minister of Health
Pham Ngoc Thach, for his fight against racial dis-
crimination in the US and for creating solidarity
between American and Vietnamese people. Carmichael
departed for Oslo on the 30th promising to return to
Copenhagen on 1 December.
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Hanoi Comment on Westmoreland Program: North
Vietnam's army daily published a lengthy and scorn-
ful commentary on 26 November refuting point by
point General Westmoreland's four-phased program for
victory in Vietnam, The main theme is that West-
moreland's assertions are false and that the "de-
feated general" is being used not to fight the war,
but to fight US public opinion.
The daily acknowledges that in phase one US
intervention saved the South Vietnamese "puppets"
from defeat, but asserts that this paved the way for
an even bigger "strategic defeat of the Americans."
Even in phase one, says the daily, the US suffered
because the South Vietnamese were unable to carry
their share of the load, and because the "develop-
ing people's war" forced the allies to split up into
smaller units. Above all, the US failed to achieve
its "number one strategic objective of breaking the
backbone of the Viet Cong." This failure, said the
commentary, brought about the defeat of all the
tasks which Westmoreland had set for the first phase.
Regarding the second phase, the commentary
says that Westmoreland's report shows the "Ameri-
cans are retreating," while Communist forces have
not only preserved their units, but have also de-
veloped these units into division-sized ones. It
claims the US was dealt an "unexpected strategic
blow" in 1966 when it had to divert troops to the
Demilitarized Zone area to cope with the Communist
offensive there.
In describing the current situation, the com-
mentary quotes an unnamed US journalist as saying
recently that the Communists have the initiative and
are capable of engaging in coordinated actions on
a nationwide scale, US strategy, the commentary
claims, has gone from crisis to stalemate, and the
winter-spring campaign is proving that the US mili-
tary situation has deteriorated and that US strategy
is deadlocked.
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