BOMBS AGAINST THE PEOPLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000600140001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 184
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 4, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 27, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

DAILY. 7ORL
Approved For Release 2000/05/VJ :MZYA1R '461MT40
By Vicki Morris
hot-her fact that or that not the you purpose want of to this accept as
war is
genocide, the result is certainly genocide
part of the same genocidal policy the
American government has carried out in
Asia 'since the nuclear devastation of
? Japan."
Al Hubbard, a member of the execu-
tive board of the Vietnam Veterans
Against the. War, made this comment
leveled December 28, surrounding farm- " """"~" """ """"'?`g'r's mnun'.n ro
land defoliated. kill him. Whop the r,rarrior falls from his
The air invasion of the North was horse, you must care for him, teach him
"
never really halted, Hubbard -said. It and It send was him halsoomo.pointed out to Hubbard
merely became mat c. In provinces torthen south, closer that the constitution of the DRV guar-
te
to the Demilitarized Zone, U.S. bombers antees justice, common defense, peace,
"the words of the
fly over daily, he said, and while he was welfare preamble to and the U.S. liberty, Constitution."
there, visiting a kindergarten class, he The difference, commented Hubbard,
went through an air raid with the chil- ? th t th V'
i
dren.
He later discovered that this "gener-
osity and humaneness" has been part of
Vietnamese history for thousands of
years. In an ancient cave Hubbard-
visit-ed, on one of the islands at the mouth of
. the inlet of.Hai Long Bai, his Vietnamese
interpreter translated the following
proverb carv
th
1..-....,4..... ,.,...
d i
e ---
e
o:
n
s a e ietnamese are living the
meaning of those words while Ameri-
cans are not. ?
after his trip to the Democratic Republic "Imagine fiveyear-old kids in ' a ' One of the most significant effects of
re Vietnam in March. While Hubbard was ? school room," said Hubbard. "The air the trip was that Hubbard was able-
relating some of the horrors he had seen raid alert sounds. They grab their little make comparison between the North
as a result of the previous bombing raids straw thatched helmets and head for the Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese
on tile North, from December 26 to 30 door. Disciplined at first: Then, when from his experiences while in the Air
last year, a radio news .bulletin an- Force. He was struck by. the pride and
pounced that American ships were tail- the explosion comes, dazed and terrified happiness people in the North have in
y an awesome thing you cannot begin to their work, while in the South, he said,
lag Soviet ships on the way to North by'
Vietnam. Less than eight hours later understand, the kids run, in the wrbng people "just fuck-off," either because
President Nixon announced his latest direction and away from shelter. They they are mercenaries only concerned
"`peace" measures to mine all ports in the try to hide under the tiny straw helmets, with getting paid or because they oppose
step their backs get hit, leaving many per- the American intervention.
DRV and step up the air war on that em- manentlyparalyzed."
battled country. The 'difference in attitude was evi-
? Hubbard, a Black former Air Force As Hubbard described his experience, dent from the moment he stepped out of
he laid out
ictures of the vi
ti
f
p
c
ms o
past
pilot (1954 to 1966), is the second Vietnam
veteran to be invited to North Vietnam. raids for a four-page brochure to be put
Fie also, spent two weeks in Japan, and out by the VVAW. Some he had photo-
several days in Moscow as a guest of the graphed himself in the hospitals.
Soviet Peace Council . Nguyen thi Thau, now seven-months-
Hubbard said he spent most of his old, was three-months-old last December
eight-day stay in the DRV in schools and when a fragment from a shrike missile
hospitals in the provinces "with the went 'through her cheek and hit her
children' who were the victims - the brain. Her mother was lying critically in-
targets of those raids." jured in the next room; her father and
The type of raids made it clear that brother were killed by the same explosion.
they were intended to slaughter civilians Pictures of others had been given to
and destroy homes, said Hubbard. First, Hubbard by the War Crimes Commis-
to high explosive bomb is dropped which like Sion of the DRV Some had been killed,
terrifies and confuses people, making Nguyen van Than, three years old,
them run in all directions, he explained. and his sister, Nguyen thi Binh,, eight
at-
Then .there are the second, third and months, struck in May 1970 during an at-
tack on the Le Ninh State Farm. Some
fourth drops of pellet bombs, each con- were maimed, like Don van Son, pierced
taining thousands of tiny steel balls. through the skull by four fragments of a.
"These bombs cannot pierce cement guava bomb in Haiphong in March 1967.
or steel; they cannot; destroy bridges, Despite the bloodshed, the' people
factories, a train or a truck; they cannot seemed more determi-A th
the plane in Hanoi,.he said.
"At the airport in Saigon," Hubbard
said, "the faces?of the Vietnamese always
bore expressions of resentment, fear
and suspicion; guns and uniforms were
everywhere." On the other hand, he said,
those who came to greet him in Hanoi,
were relaxed, "actually affectionate.
Most important, there was no feeling of
fear and the only guns I saw Were in the'
hands of the people, people without uni-
forms.
"The very idea of being able to walk
into the residence of the Premier without
being checked by guards at the door; the
idea of being able to sit down and rap like
two human beings without an army of
bodyguards around was almost unbetiev-
able " 11
.
Discussions with Premier. Pham.van
Dong and the vice premier Nguyen Lung
Bang and Le due Tho, member of the
an ever to
destroy military targets," he said. "They succeed in their struggle, he said, "in- politburo who has, played a leading role
cannot destroy an thins except un rotect- in the negotiations in Paris, centered
Y P spired by an Vern ite hatred of tt;e LS. around the U.S. peace movement, said
ed flesh." imperialist government." .
The destinations reached: "But I was amazed at their ability to Hubbard. Although the Vietnamese ex-
A,hospital in Thanh Hoa, destroyed separate me as an individual Amer can pressed gratitude for the support of the
December 26; clearly marked; no evi and a former participant in the war from anti war movement, Hubbard said, they
dente of a military target in sight. were dismayed at the lack of unity.
the despised murderers of their people
A school it Huang Binh, ," The movement in the United States,
27 hit December he added. "The Vietnamese looked upon Hubbard said, could learn a valuable
~. _. _ me, particularly ac a Third world --
r ase -L0114u>V~utw-l.bs. It fa>-~vl ~i p r~ l 1`(Clly "" ` are
mime in Bo T f n, > ? than one of
't - minori ies in or Vietnam, with
t
s perp~ Lrators.
c ri2'fr c
 Approved For Release 2000/0
GU~R
I;
P80-01601 R0006001
LAOS
A heavily censored report revealed May 7 in
the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
charged the U.S. spends $100 million a year to
support a Thai irregular army of 10,000 men in
Laos. The report 'revealed that for the first
time U.S. helicopter, gunships, under U.S. army
command but apparently with Thai pilots, are
.supporting medical evacuation missions in
-northern Laos. The report was prepared by
committee members James Lowenstein and
Richard Moose after their trip to Thailand and
Laos in January. The report also noted the CIA
and Thai army headquarters in Udorn air force
base in Thailand provide contact with the Thai
irregular forces; the irregulars are trained in
Thailand by U.S. army special forces per-
sonnel; payments including bonuses are made
.by the CIAto the Thai unit at Udorn.
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 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601
TULSA, OKLA.
TRIBUNE
E -? 79,425
~..... MAY 2 2197'
t
`ACCEPT IIAIVQI TERMS'
Editor, The Tribune:
Nixon has replaced one risky policy decision
which failed with another risky and even more
dangerous one. The CIA 1969 advised the
President against a fockade, certain that it
would fail. In light of the reality that South
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos will eventually
come under the control of Communist regimes
(our top officials have already accepted this
fact), the best solution appears to be the pull-
out of American troops and the creation of a
coalition government in South Vietnam.
This way we can be reasonably certain of
getting our POWs back. But should the block-
ade fail (and the odds are against it) we prob-
ably will never see our POWs again. Therefore,
as a loyal American, I feel that our best policy
would be to accept North Vietnam's terms for
a settlement, and get our troops and our POWs
out forever. This will be a painful decision, but
under the circumstances it is the only practical
Tulsa B.H.
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 DAILY WORLD
Approved For Release 20bf /0J`r15I9.7tIA-RDP80-01.601
1
lalk ~3~
A
By JOSEPH NOt,TH-
This is the eighth of a series describing the historic visit to North
Vietnam of the. delegation of U.S. Communists led by Gus Hall, gen-
eral secretary of the Party. They were invited by the Vietnam Workers
Party. They experienced the resumption of bombings of Hanoi and Hai-
phong; later they visited key places in the land and had many talks with
Party and governmental leaders as well as. with workers and farmers.
The delegation included Gus Hall, CP candidate for the Presiden-
cy; Jarvis Tyner, CP Vice-Presidential candidate and chairman of the
Young Workers Liberation League; Rasheed Storey, chairman of the
New York State Communist Party, and Joseph,North, author of "No
Men Are Strangers" and editor of World Magazine.
Next io traveling the bomb-torn roads to South Viet-
nam to visit the National Liberation Front-as well as the
freedom forces in Laos-we did the best thing possible. by
calling on their official representatives in Hanoi located
'in the yellow stucco buildings the long-gone French ad-
ministrators had built throughout the past century.
The same buildings, but what
a difference in the occupants!
The independent flags of South
east Asia, and' the native flow-
ers brought from. their regions,
:now adorned these quarters.
We went first to the Laotian
Mission, then to the South Viet-~
namese.
True; South Vietnam and North
Vietnam are one -country, but
contemporary ?history has con-
signed one region the' (ask of
building and defending socialism
(North Vietnam), and the other
region the struggle for national
liberation (South Vietnam). The
two interlock and affect each
other's struggles. Yet one felt
shades of differentiation at the
South Vietnam mission when we
met the two NLF women and
others who had made their .way
here out of Saigon secretly, ac-
companied by a guerrilla warrior
who was decorated five times
for heroism and who was all of-
16 years old. He was wounded
and limped badly. He wore
smoked glasses,: for his eyes too
had been severely hurt in battle.
- _ -`Old friends' -
? The South Vietnam ambassa-
dor here, Nguyen Phu Seai, sat
under a painting of Ho Chi Minh.
He was in his late thirties, a
veteran of the. war,. and ' smiled
luyMnoir,~'o, LOW
his welcome when we entered
He said he knew of our . pres-
ence from "The People,", the
daily official newspaper, and
that he had known Gus Hall a
long time because he had read
Hall's speeches at international
conferences, his articles and
pamphlets.. "We know you as
old friends" he said, offering
tea and the little Hanoi bananas
and oranges.
The visit to the Laotian dele-
gation was somewhat different.
The chief authority, a tall hand-
some man, spoke in quiet, calm
tones which seemed to be the
earmark of all the Southeast As-
ians we met. He said warmly
that he remembered John Pitt-
man, our co-editor, who had
been on a political and journal-
istic mission to Laos two years
ago, and whose dispatches first
tore the veil from the CIA-
run military actions in that
country.
The ambassador told us of a
saying in his country. Since its
population is three million and
since the U.S. bombers have
dropped three million bombs on
Laos, they say, "Each Laotian
builds freedom even though he
is carrying a ton of U.S. bombs
on his back."
26 years under bombs
? For the past 26 years no day STATI NTL
passed without a raid "and many
of our people live in caves," he
said, "yet our population has
trebled since we kicked the
French imperialists out." One
guide who knew Laotian ren-
dered the Ambassador's words
into Vietnamese which was then
translated to us in English-
frbm Laotian to Vietnamese to
English. -
He said you can gauge the
way. things 'are going by such
facts as this: Before freedom,
under the French, all Laos had
one solitary doctor, and one hos-
pital. Now Laos has "30 doctors,
4,000 nurses and many medical
centers. We have in the main.-
overcome illiteracy; everybody
in the Army and all functionar-
ies are now literate." -
Before,* starvation ruled the
country. Today, despite the bomb-
ings, "there is no hunger, for.
the new government, has been
able to improve the supply by
-achieving two rice crops a
year."
Despite genocidal air attacks,
the Laotian authority said, mili-
tary victories have been contin-
ually won, especially recently
on the southern end of Route 9.
(In the next instalment, ques-
tions about Angela Davis from a
young woman freedom fighter at
the South Vietnamese mission.)
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 Approved For Release 200015 :'Fk~~j -e1601 R
.1 lie White House Classifies Coni'ess si.
L,
BY THB partment and CIA -won't 'less up to ing into two clays of secret sessions.
what. they are doing with the Thai The basic
bj
ti
o
ec
on was that Gravel
\VASIii\G'l'ON-Secrecy,leads to mercenaries. The reason is that Con- -would be violating the law by mak-
self-deception. If you want proof of `M'ess last year passed a law prohlb- jn public a document classified se
that overlooked political axlont,.look iting the use of defense funds to. ct?et. Then to the amazement of the
help third-country forces fight in senators, it turner] out that there
at the va\' we'have gotten involved. 4x11 ort f II L
o
with" :i. secret mercenary army in
It?a.ll started. not so innocently .a
decade ago when the. Central Intel-
ligence Agency recruited, directed
and supported -an army of . \leo
] p
n aottan of C.anlboclt was no law specifically authorizing
an governments
If all th
f
t
.
e
ac
s were
made public, it would he evident
that the cxccutiwe.branch was vio-'
lating the law.
It's easy enough to blame the ex-
f
it
s
usecrecy CV-
or i
ta ibesmen to?keep Lao, from going erybodybknow11 s
ding . Pros-
Communist It was like having a ]dent Nixon , who issued a new exec-
Gurkha army of 'ollr own; only no utiwe order on classification recently
one knew we had-it '.and thus nobody
cared that we. --ere getting over -1-hat the government business is
more involved in a -war in I?tos. It weighted down -v i t h.. excessive se-
'
was all going :splendidly until the crccy.?
CIA sent Gen. No and 'his For all its c'ritic'ism of the exccu-
*
the executive branch to classify in-
formation. The whole secrecy svs-
tent, it turns out, just rests on im-
plied powers assumed by the execu-
The whole security . system ob-
viously .is not going to come tum-
bling down. Nor should it. But once
C o n g r e s s starts questioning it,
maybe it will hjtgin to realize that
Gravel has a point when lie argues
that Congress also can determine
what information should be made
army on an ill-fated 'offensive. last
ti-e'hranch, Cons tens really likes se- public. Right now it's reached the
spring. The Ueo "irregulars" got crecy. At ]east those in power do be- point of absurdity: the Senate sends
cx'mn?ed up;-they had about l0~,. ca_ cause secrecy means power. "If you its debates in secret session down to
wallies. That ]night not have been
ton. had except there were no more
tribesmen to recruit in Laos. So the
CIA stal?ted recruiting mercenaries
in Thailand, only it caller} then]
"volunteers.".
No w the Senate Porcign Relations
Committee has discovered that we
have a'.lOQ mijlion an11111al commit-
ment. to finance an iu?my of ]0,000
'Thai ?.vo:unteers" fighting in Laos.
The-Thais like it because thew are
getting good pay as well as extra
military assistance froin'the United
States. Presumably the Laotians
like it becau-e the Moo and Thai can
do the fighting, But what about Con"
gross and the, poor American - tax-
payer who never linen they were
running 111) a $100 million annual.
hill in Laos? And . what about the
present moral character of it nation
that .200 years ago won its indepen-
clenc?e fighting, Hessian mercena-
ries? .
Put aside all the moral, geopoliti-
cal and financial considerations. It's
also a disturbing case of the evils of
secrecy in our government and Con-
gress. Secrecy provides a way to
subvert the conatitutional checks
and'balances on the war powers.
Oh sure, the CIA informed a few
m e 01 b e n s of the Appropriations'
Gomnlittcc. But then it intimidated
them by'explaining it was so hush-
hush they couldn't talk about it to'
the rest of Congress. After that the
privileged few didn't even bother to
raise. questions-that was until Sen.
senator Very important iii.his own Pied.
eves and in the eyes of his col- Congress ought to understand that
]canoes. it tired not be stick' a willing, 'ac-
]f you want a bewildering exam- quiescent partner in a? secrecy -svs-
ple, take the. case of Symington. One ten that leads not only to deception
day lie is deploring the executive but to the impotence of Congress.,
naries. The next day he is on the
Senate floor gUestloliing whether sc-
eests should be given to members of
Congress except those on the Armed
Services, Foreign Relations, and
Atomic Energ? committees. Sy-
mington, it should b'c pointed out, is
the only member of all three com-
mict-ees.
Or take the case of Rep. Della Ah-
zug, who had the temerity to intro-
duce a resolution demanding infor-
mation on how. mans- bombs we are
dropping in Indochina. From the
horrified look on the face of Rep. F.
Edward Hebert, the chairman of the
House Armed Services 'Committee,
you would have thought Ms. Abzag
wanted to reveal the secrets of the
A-bomb. But really his consterna-
tion was over the fact that she w'a.k
challenging the power of the Armed
Services Committee, which wants to
keep such Information locked up in'
Its own safes. ?
Maybe Sen. dike Gravel (D-Alas-
ka), with his maverick ways, is _fi-
nally forcing Congress to face up to
the problem. 1-le tried the other day
to place in the Congressional Record
a copy of it still secret national se-
curity menlorandunm that Henry
STATINTL
Stuart Symington (D-ido.l and his Kissinger had prepared back in 19W)
foreign r e l a t i o n s subcommittee on the Vietnam options open to the
started -iuur ?~S1~1 }~ 1 s,t~ e'. 1 ~!I}ttfn'` O1 ~~1n~~1601 8000600140001-3
-war in La Kt` c th 11 S1) fCfel-
 NEW YORK. U) ES
17' MAY 1972
Approved For Release 2000105/15: CIA-RDP80-01601
he; S~~th~~st
By HANS J. SPIELMANN
'BANGKOK, Thailand-The world's
attention in recent months has been
turned toward the. Mideast-Turkey,
principally-as the source of illicit
supplies of heroin. But the fact is that
the fabled. "Fertile Triangle" of South-
east Asia - Thailand, Burma and
Laos-continues to produce two-thirds
of the world's known supply of opium,
from which heroin is derived:
.The figures alone are eye-catching:
in 1970 Thailand's hill tribes con-
tributed 185 metric tons of raw
opium to the world's supply, Burma
1,000'tons, Laos 100.
It is true that most of the opium, or
about. 800 tons, is consumed by South-
east Asians from Rangoom to Hong
Kong. Nonetheless, about 400 tons
continue to leave: the area,' bound for
adtlicts around the world. The buyers,
not all Americans by any means, range
from soldiers in Vietnam to junkies
along Newt York's Eighth Avenue.
. So' vast are these suppliesO (U.S.
addicts, for example, consume annual-
ly the heroin derived from "only" 120
metric tons of opium), so limitless the
profits, that governments, armies and
revolutionary fronts have played parts
in the production' and trade throw*,h
the years. They continue to do so, and
even the United States Central Intcl-
digence Agency has had its days in the
poppy fields.
"They have been growing
poppies for 150. years."
sian- C Cdn~e~tibn
The. production- of opium only be- The Kuomintang troops also keep
came illegal in Thailand in 1958, as up political appearances, when the STATINTL
did trafficking and smoking, and the real idea is opium. They say that they
hill people really could not understand carry out pro-U.S. espionage in
that they were outlaws. Not to worry, Burma, and even claim forays into
as things developed: production went China for "anti-Communist" activities.
on unabated.
As it is now, there is a sort of Com-
mon Market in opium operative in
Southeast Asia. National boundaries
are crossed by an assortment of rogues
who, while moving tons of the stuff,
"lose" only 2 or 3 per cent as bribes
and tributes and so forth.
The.operation begins with the fields
in. the high country (over 3,000 feet
above sea level for the high-quality
poppy) of Thailand, Laos and Burma.
The hill people themselves have
neither the courage, contacts nor funds
to enter into the distribution, so they
await the sharp lowlanders., These
townsmen come around at harvest
time, looking down their noses at the
hill people whom they consider to be
inferior, and buy the opium at very
low prices.
The best buy is in Burma, where a
kilo of raw opium sells for $15; in
Laos it's $30, and in Thailand $40.
Opium is gathered in the villages
and then in ever-larger towns by
smugglers, who may be described in
the first dealings as petty, but who
become rather more than that as the
opium changes hands and the supplies
pile up.'Then highly disciplined para-
military types take over, .with tough-
ness and sure-handedness.
Among these is an outfit known as
the Shan .of Northern Burma-rela-
tives of the Thais-whose dream, at
least back in Burma, was the establish-
ment of an autonomous Shan State.
But its fi
htin
win
the Shan Libera-
g
g
g,
The:'Vietnam war and the complex
'and confusing movement of "foreign- lion Army, has generally abandoned
ers" back and forth through Southeast politics as it observed the fertile
fields of Shan asylum in northern
illi
i
h
c
t
Asia has created a boom in t
e
production. of raw opium. Today, in Thailand.
Thailand alone, it is estimated that Units of. the front transport the
half of the 350,000 hill people. in the" opium grown in Burma (and this is the
elevated areas of the north participate mother lode-700 metric tons for ex.
In growing poppies. port) to bases in Thailand. Of course,
Thirty per cent of these workers as units cross the Burmese-Thai bor-
Thirty back and forth, back and forth,
are Addicts, themselves, but they turn the talk is all politics and the dream
a tiny profit by the standards of the of statehood, but it's camouflage for
million-or-billion-dollar deals we are the real action, which is the opium.
accustomed, to associating with nar- The Shan has somewhat complex,
cotics. The average worker earns but strict, working arrangements with
about $100 a year and has, incidental- the notorious Kuomintang (whose par-
ly,. no real knowledge o what he is cut organization is Nationalist Chi-
doing. That is to say,. the hill people nese) troops of the Fertile Triangle.
do not even know that they .are pro- Sometimes the Shan and the Kuomin-
ducing, an illicit product for a? world tang trade arms and ammunition, and
market; they have been growing the medicines-often purchased from U.S.
poppies and using the opium in lieu stocks in, Laos-for opium.
of pain-killing medicines for about 150
But these units are no longer used and
supplied by the United States . or
Taiwan, as they once were, although
they maintain radio contact, with each
other.
The Kuomintang is said now to,jiave
10,000 men under. arms, chiefly in
Thailand, but in Burma and Laos as
.well.
'Frequently, Kuomintang caravans of
between 300 and 500 moh,?plus horses
and mules carrying contraband for
trade, can be seen working toward
the north of Thailand and Laos toward
Burma. They are supplied along the
way with food by villagers eager to
please such impressive forces, and
eager to make extra motey or to ac-
quire some unusual luxuries.
,Once they make their. contacts-,
either with Shan troops or with smug-
glers-the Kuomintang caravan can
pack up as much as fifteen tons of
opium for the return trip southward. It
is said that these troops and their
"allied contractors" transport between
450 and 500 tons of raw opium south-
ward each year. Their profit mark-up
is 200 per cent.
One, arrangement that-6e Kuomin-
tang and the Shan have is that each
Kuomintang convoy that goes into
certain poppy-growing territory actu-
ally controlled by Shan troops must,
pay tribute. This amounts to about
$1:50 a kilo, and entitles the caravan
to a transit letter and Shan escorts
back to territory controlled by the
Kuomintang. ' (In other areas Shan
convoys. must pay tribute to Kuomin-
tang soldiers-the reverse sltuation.)
As noted, there are. a great 'many
addicts in Southeast Asia, and the,
Kuomintang troops sell off a good deal
of the opium back in Thailand. They
get four to six times what they paid.
But most of it is headed for export-
for quick dashes across more borders,
to airports and train stations, to sea-
ports, to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong.
Kong, Vientiane and Saigon. And on
In the last five years, the Kuomin-'
tang, discovering among other things
that some of the opium it was trans-
porting was bringing in 2,00 times
more profit to the ultimate dealer than
to its troops, began processing the
opium itself. Kuomintang thereby in-
creased its own profits, never incon-
siderable, at least threefold.
years.; Approved Fir.. RAI ease 2000/05/15 CIA-RD P80-01601 R000600140001-3
continued
 Approved For Release 2000/05/##4 PA -'OT'~bff,
Is edon"m o Inali ena e?
If not, it will be alienated, and ultimately destroyed.
That is the paramount issue of the Victor Marchetti censor-
ship case. [See Marchetti's "The CIA: The President's
Loyal Tool"; The Nation, April 3.]
Marchetti, now 42, graduated from Pennsylvania State
University in 1955 with a degree in Russian studies and
history. He was recruited for the CIA by a professor, who,
.interestingly enough, was secretly on the agency's payroll
as a talent scout. In time, Marchetti was promoted to
the CIA executive staff and served" finally as executive
assistant to Adtn. Rufus L.' Taylor, deputy director from
1966 to 1969. Marchetti was with the agency for fourteen
years, resigning in the same year as did Admiral Taylor.
Obviously, Marchetti knows a lot about the CIA-that is
part of the trouble.
lie was well thou lit of b
Richard
his colleagues
.
y
Helms, CIA' director, presented him with an autographed
picture inscribed, "To Vic-With appreciation for his
support.'"' But the longer Marchetti served the CIA the
less he appreciated it and .its work. Among his reasons
'for leaving he cites "the clandestine attitude, the amorality
of it all, the cold-war mentality-these kinds of things
made me feel that the agency was really out of step with.
the times." And: "It's one of my strong beliefs that the
?CIA has to be more tightly gvervicwed by Congress. As
it, is now, the agency operates almost exclusively under
the authority of the President." Thus the CIA is one of
the factors in the 'subordination of the legislative branch
to the executive. For that matter, once it is let loose on a
project, the agency is subordinate. to the executive itself
only in a very loose sense. As everyone now knows, it is
carrying .on a war in Laos at a cost of roughly $500 mil-
lion a year, using tribesmen as mercenaries and running
its own airlines, etc. In the Kansas City area it maintains
an arsenal, with a "huge inventory" of weapons for its/
foreign operations; it has bases for training. and gthcr
purposes elsewhere in the United States.
The Marchetti case assumes constitutional importance
because Mr. Marchetti, when he joined the CIA, signed
the usual agreement not to write or talk about the agency's
activities even after he left it. Marchetti came to the at-
tention of The Nation when he wrote a spy novel, The
Rope Dancer, which had apparent reference to the CIA.
Since this was in fictional form it does not appear to have
agitated the CIA management; nor did The Nation article
which, together with some interviews Marchetti gave to
newspapers, was read by Admiral Taylor, who 'had some
reservations about accuracy but concluded that there was
nothing damaging in any of the material. But when Mar-
chetti contracted with Alfred A. Knopf to write a non-
fiction book about the CIA, the government got into
action. Although Marchetti is willing to have the CIA re-
view the book for classified material, the government went
before U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan, Jr. in Alex-
andria, Va., and obtained a temporary restraining order
prohibiting Marchetti from writing the book for Knopf-
a book of which he has not yet set down a single line.
The American Civil Liberties Union is tr in to get the
I
ernment is whether a U.S. citizen can agree to waive.his
freedom of conscience, of thought, of moral sentiment in
the manner prescribed by the CIA. The case dramatizes
the fact that the CIA is essentially an alien institution--
alien to American custom, alien to the Constitution, and
incompatible with both the forms and the spirit of democ-
racy. In. our view, Marchetti not only has the right but
the 'moral obligation to write his book, just as it was his
moral obligation to write the article commissioned by
The Nation.
A ruling to that effect by the federal courts would not
impose an unreasonable limitation on the proper and law-
ful activities of the CIA, or any other agency. It can set
up rules, office policies, and normal administrative meads
of enforcement, but it cannot compel a former employee
to waive his freedom to say or write what he sees fit, once
his employment is terminated. If an agency of the govern-
ment deems something that has been published to be in
violation of law, it may proceed against the author and
publisher, but pre-censorship is repugnant to American
institutions.
STATINTL .
restraining Apprtamede~,~ FReIease t20DF 5/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
The question raised by the action on behalf of the gov-
 LYASi1IriG'10N P05T
Approved For Release 2000/05115 M lAg DP80-01601 RO
Jack Anderson
Smugers Using
been Involved in drug traffic
''for some years.';
Yet, despite all . this evi-
dence of official Thai corrup-
tion, the United States con-
tinues to supply Thailand
with millions in American.
arms. And the Thai govern-
tnent smugly dismisses this
cglulnn's documented reports
a / 0
` DESPITE furious denials
by the Thai government, evi-
dence is mounting that mem-
bers of Thailand's 16-man rul-
ing council have .been cor-
rupted by international dope
smugglers.
As-far away as this oriental
intrigue is, it directly affects
the alarming rise of crime on
America's streets where ad-
dicts rob, house-break and
shoplift to feed their gnaw-
mg heroin habits.
,Reports from the Central
Intelligence Agency, and the
State, Justice and Defense
departments, all agree that
shore' and it ma-
tion lines with double agents that no one knew what
was r ally happening. Hitler's own risen invariably
gave him false information because they didn't like
him. Of course, tii,-y couldn't have'cnown for sure
what they were giving ;1}m since the British were
running the German spy network in England. Then
again, the Roosevelt-Churchill hotiie was tapped.
Sure, a spy can be important-but you iie:'cr knowkl
to how many people."
History proves over and over that the spy game is
a waste of time and money, says Farago. "When I
worked in naval intelligence in 1915-;7, the infor-
ination published in the New York Times was super-
ior to what was coming through our office. The
Korean invasion of June, 1950, wasn't announced to
President Truman by our vast spy network; it came
over the Associated Press wire. And, of cou>;se, the
CIA's 'secret' Bay of Pigs was one long farce, Eisen-
hower turned down the idea in September, 1960, but
Allen Dulles (then CIA head) and Richard Bissell
(then chief of staff) sold it to Kennedy. It was so
cleverly planned that virtually every major news
source from the New York Times to the Nation knew
t, ,
ilium ?
best-sell i
R-diear!W200M 5/1.5 ~601 R~0060Q
1400 1-3
~
$11'PS), T. go has spent most of his life working, in an ~ Leming (w o was t ten with British
American intelligence services and studying espion-
Intelligence and went on to write the James Bond
L
 2 G N11 "%R 1972 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601
causing more than 100 civiliari deaths But intelligence officers also report
in a short attack that seemed designed signs that the North Vietnamese would
to dramatize Cambodia's-tenuous mili-like to make a push on the old im-
tary- situation. Further terrorist at- ` perial capital of Hue, a principal tar-
he . y r tacks later in twhe week destroyed a get in 1968.
j u key bridge and sank and damaged So far, the Communists have
S ~C. vital supply shins in Pnomnenh harbor.. avoided main force around clashes
Cambodia is also undergoing a preferring to stand at a distance to
? political upheaval stemming at least fire rockets and mortars at their
ae. CC.. t..~ in n.art
from a crisis of confidence in enemies- as in Pnnrnnnnh last Tnnc-
,
its military leadership following a day, and at several Vietnamese bases
"~ serious defeat administered to Cam- just below the Demilitarized Zone and
Ii r U16 so bodian President Lon Nol's forces at Tayninh, west of Saigon last week.
i
S
h
o .. . along Highway
i,c north of Pnomr
~ mer
cans are conntinuing to
]E1ct1o13. pooh last December. withdraw troops -- there are fewer
As active as the Communists have than 108,000 in South Vietnam now,
been outside South Vietnam's borders and there will be only 69,000 by May,
SAIGON- The Americans and their son during which they normally con power. The planes are based mostly'
South Vietnamese, Laotian and Cam- centrate their attacks they have outside Vietnam, at five airfields in
bodian allies are fighting three dif- done surprisingly little inside the Thailand and on two aircraft carriers
ferent, ground wars these days. The country so far this year. That is a always on station in the Gulf.of Ton-..
North Vietnamese are fighting one, in source both of comfort and of worry kin. The only large American air base
three different places. And last week for the Americans here. "I think North left in Vietnam is at Danang. But
.American analysts here, trying to Vietnam is determined to do some- when intelligence . reports indicate
make sense of it all, were saying that thing in South Vietnam in the 1972 something big is tip, American air.
the Communists might be concentrat- dry season," said a senior analyst. "I power can be increased easily.- as
mg their attacks in Laos and Cam- think they want to have a very, very it was in. mid-February, when the
bodia because it is easier for them to direct influence on the American elec- command brought in extra B-52's and
succeed there now than it is in South toral process." a - third aircraft carrier to mount a.
Vietnam: American officials here predicted a large bombing campaign against the
`' a ? r
,-The. analysts do not doubt, how- North Vietnamese main force offen- Tot offensive that never came.
over, that an important aim of the sive would be launched in February "Whether the Communists will corn-
North Vietnamese is to affect the out- to coincide with President Nixon's mit their main-line units, I
( come of the November elections in visit to Peking. It failed to material- don't know," one American specialist
\ . the United States. "They think maybe ize and now they are saying that it said. "But they are in disposition to
that they can embarrass us as easily was suddenly called off in the mid- do so on very short notice. And their
there in Laos and Cambodia as in die of last month because the enemy buildup in air defenses along the trail
.,Vietnam," one of these analysts said realized his limitations. Now they ex- and just above the Demilitarized Zone
he other day. pest the big offensive some time next indicates they plan to do something
At week's end, the situation at the summer. "I think they'd prefer any in retaliation for which they expect
once secret Central Intelligence Democratic candidate to Nixon," an a very strong bombing reaction."
,'Agency base at Long Tieng in north- American official said the other day, The North Vietnamese are also
-ern Laos was ";fluid." The Laotian de- "and they'll try to do' what they can building three new airfields just above.
fenders of the installation, which has to embarrass Nixon on the Vietnam the Demilitarized Zone. Would they
not been a usable military base since issue and cause his defeat." use them to send bombers beyond
the North Vietnamese nearly overran The Americans' protege, President their borders against their enemies?
it. last January and forced the with- Nguyen Van Thieu, shares this view, "That," one source said, "would be an
drawal of most equipment and air- but he would prefer Mr. Nixon to any '-ntirely new phase of the war."
craft Were in disarray. Scores of them Democratic candidate. The fear among -CRAIG R. WHITNEY
had - thrown away their weapons and the Nixon Administration's representa
fledsouth; away from the fighting. tives here is that if the Communists
Clouds last week prevented the staged a spectacular offensive - by
United States and Laotian Air Force trying for example to cut the country
bombers -from hitting the enemy posi- in two in the Central Highlands re-
tions effectively;' and American of- gion - the political impact in the
ficials,here predicted that the North United States would be enough to
Vietnamese would try to push every bring about a change next November.
defender out of the Long Tieng val. All this of course is speculation, but-
ley if they could. tressed only by intelligence reports of-
To, the south, in the Laotian Pan- the movement of a greater number'
handle; the Communists have widened of North Vietnamese troops - some
their: hundreds of miles of infiltra- say 80,000 of them - into South
ti',on and supply trails and brought Vietnam than at any time since the'
in more antiaircraft guns and Soviet- great Tot offensive of Early 1968.
built surface to air (SAM) missiles Most of these reported troop move-
there than ever before. This has ham- ments of North Vietnamese divisional
pere? the American bombing effort, size forces appear to be aimed to-
now at its seasonal peak of several wards the Central Highlands, west of'-
hundreds of missions each day. the provincial capitals of Pleiku and
Kontum, on Tuesday, from one delivery forces are most vulnerable to attacks.
point on the trail, the North Viet-
namese launched scores of rockets at
the Cambodi,ArnnlritQ'VedP R,lease 2000/05/15 CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
 4.;R YORK,T1.iR5
Approved For Release 2000 1A-RDP80-0160
E nemy ill Tr g to iz
Dd o sat Key cos Base
By JOSEPII B. TREASTER
VIENTIANE, Laos. March 251 Qualified.' Americans here
North Vietnamese forces, in! Territorial Drive Seen maintain that. any North Viet-
heavy shelling beginning last) For the moment the North namese advance that developed
Saturday and followed by a se Vietnamese and the Commu- in the event that long Tieng
fell could be delayed consider-
ries of ground attacks, have nist Pa.thet. Lao are not be-
lieved to ho interested in tak- ably by a series of retreats to
driven Laotian troops off four ing Vientiane, but Mr. Sisouk, the ridges between the base
of the nine positions on the and other Laotians think t.heyl and the Vientiane plain. Many)
ridge verlooking the mountain want to occupy as much terri-i feel that this tactic should hold;
base at Long Tieng. taly this year as possible in off the North Vietnamese until;
namese have been unable to
There is a widespread feeling
occupy the positions them- in; Vientiane that 1972 could be
selves, a decisive year in the long
-American officials have struggle for Laos.
sought to discount the import- The Communist forces now
ance of Long Tieng, which is control ab,aut two-thirds of the
33 miles northeast of Vientiane 91,000 square miles of Laos,
the capital, and which served according to informed ATneri-
for years as the center for can sources. If they succeed In
secret Central Intelligence getting much more territory,
/Agency operations in northern the Vientiane Government,
J Laos. The Americans say that, headed by Prince Souvanna
many of its former functions I'houma, will have very little
have been shifted elsewhere bargaining power in negotia-
a.nd that it is no longer of tions.
strategic value. Long Tieng sits astride one
: Sisouk na Cliampassak, the! of three natural routes to the
acting Minister of Defense, and' south, the central one. In ad-
Government officials disagree. dition to physically blocking:
Mr. Sisouk said in an inter-i movement on this route. it has
view today that he believed; been useful as a base for
ta
CA BOCIIAI
4 ?Komporg.
Thom
SOUTH.
VIETN
M
A
irh
Sa l9 om_
son for Mr. Sisouk's concern.
ti the New York Timos/March 26, 1972
Laotians lost key posts
, near Long Tieng (1). Foe
struck near Dakto (2)
and shelled Tayninh (3).
the primary North Vietnamese
tbiective in attacking and try-
ing to capture Long Tieng was
to clear the way fora drive
south' to ti}~
Vientiane V
launching operations directed
at the other trails.
Since the latest North Viet-
namese attacks began at the
end of December, however, the
base has been virtually para-
lyzed, fighting for its life.,-No
aircraft have been able to use
the mile-long MacAdara. run-
way. Supplies have either been
parachuted into tehe base or,
dropped from helicopters,
i Enemy Troops Put at 7,000
Mr. Sisouk estimated that!
!there are about 7,000 North
Vietnamese in the force be-!
sieging the base. Other sources
said that perhaps an. equal
number of irregulars-Meo hill,
'tribesmen, Thai volunteers and!
lother Laotians - under the!
command of Maj. Gen. Vang j
Pao, were defending Long j
eng
These irregulars are part ofI
a force of about 30,000 who
were trained and recruited by
the United States' Central In-
telligency Agency. They are
considered to be the only viable
fighting force on the Laotian
Government side.
Both American and Laotian
officials fear that if the defend-
ers of Long Tieng were over-
whelmed the morale of the ir-
regular forces and the 58.000,
the rainy season be ms in
May and military operations in
Laos become next to impossible.;
But these Americans concede
that a collapse in morale could)
prove to he an insurmountable
problem. i
Officials currently are deny-,
in, corre~pondent's requests to:,
visit Long Tieng, saying that'
all available helicopters are
being used in the battle.
Little Ground Combat Reported.
While informed American
sources have. described the
f'ighting at Long Tieng as "in-
tense,' field reports seem to in
dicate that there has been rela-;
tively little ground combat.
Instead, the indications are
that the campaign for Long
Tieng has been largely an artil-I
lery duel, with considerable!
bombing also being done by
American and Laotian pilots,
In the last week of fig hting,i
informed American sourceS
have been able to confirm only
102 North Vietnamese deaths.
There was no total - available
for Laotian Government losses.
Two task forces have moved
out several miles beyond Long
Tieng in an attempt to cut or
at least threaten the North Viet-
namese supply lines. But so far
neither task , force has seen
much action.
Both the Americans and,
Laotians here believe that the,
odds increase in favor of the'
Governnint forces the longer]
the battle goes on because of
the chronic problems of re-1
supply that the North Vietna-
inese face.
Informed American sources
estimate that the North Vietna-
mese have .:p to five more days
before they bins to feel a pinch
in supplis and so far they have
given on indication that they
intend to do anything but press
the battle.
Today Mr. Sisouk said that
he was ready to "pay any
.price" to hold T:ono Ti-a.
STATINTL
S ff"r cr. Laosiaeniidl J teff'lbt- CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15 CIA-RDP80-01601 R
SEATTLE, WASH.
TI i'1 12 61972
E -- 24 4 , 776
S - 310,357
~~Nix n revelation
0 C e ofo
F" 4 tlil ! 3
e Q mNSmg
By SVEIN GILJE
In a rare reference to ci-
vilians involved in the Indo-
china war, President Nixon
has revealed that some 50
American civilians are miss-
ing, or held captive.
The reference came in a
presidential proclamation
declaring the week begin-
ning today as the National
Week of Concern for Prison-
ers of War and Missing in
Action.
The week will be noted
here with a proclamation to
be issued tomorrow by May-
or V. es Uhhnan. Earlier
Gov. Dan Evans "issued a
similar proclamation.
The President's proclama-
tion noted that "there are
1,623 American servicemen
and some 50 United States
civilians missing in action or
being held captive by North
Vietnam and its allies."
The proclamation did not
go into spe'cifics as to the ci-
vilians. It's known that some
civilians were captured or
are missing, such as from
the 1.970 invasion of Canmbo-
dia.
But presumably this also
STATINTL
refers to civilians missing in seven. years and 427 more
Laos, where the C; tr,~l in-,than six years.
teJl,ir, a FAxncy has been One of the men, Lt. Col.
active in the so-called "se- Jack W. Bomar, is believed
cret war" there. Civilian pi- to be dying of a kidney ail-
lots fly for Air America, ment judging from letters
which contracts with the C. his wife has received. A kid-
L. A.
Some of the men have
been held or missing for sev-
eral years.
"At the end of t h i s
month," Mr. Nixon said,
the first men to be taken
prisoner will begin their
ninth year in captivity. This
is the longest internment
ever endured by American
fighting men."
Seven men have been cap-
tive or missing more than
eight years; 135 more than
ney machine and a techni-
cian to operate it have been
offered through the Red
Cross, but there has been no
response from North Viet-
nam.
The men in the P. 0. W. or
missing categories are af;-
ing: 311 are older than ?10
years, 15 are over 50 years
and two over 55.
The week will be observed
at Fort Lewis and the - Mc-
Chord Air Force Base, as
well.
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 Approved For Release 2000T/15R OVA-RDP80-01601 R00
.": 'By D. E. lionk
Special to The Washington Post
11IONE, Laos-A scattering
of ramshackle bamboo huts
bared to the sweltering sun,
a long reel-and-white striped
barrier pole, and a wide,
dusty fork in National
JRou'4c 13 mark perhaps the
most important road junc-
tion in Laos.
Sixty miles south, through
,mountains and across plains,
is Vientiane, the capital and
entry point for the equip-
ment of war passing here.
.North, by way of the left
Cork, is Luang Prabang, the
royal capital, now cut off by
Communist - Pathet Lao
troops.
The right fork is the im-
portant one. In a day, dozens
of heavily laden trucks rum-
ble to the right through
Ban Iiouei Pomone, shift. to
a lower -year and begin the
ascent into the mountains
of northern Laos.
Twenty miles east, the.
road ends at Ban Son,
America's largest refugee
center in Laos and head-
quarters for Gen. Vang Pao
and his CIA-supported
army, now fighting desper-
ately to maintain a toehold.
Road Vital Link
"Close that road," an
American official in Vienti-
ane said, "and you can prob-
ably write off Vang
Pao." -
One day this week, there
was a break in the flow of
trucks hauling gasoline, am-
munition, food, and building
jnaterial as well as of the
buses and taxis taking pas-
sengers to and from the
town that has sprung up
around Ban Son. An am-
bush midway between the
two endsof the road halted
traffic.
Drivers waited for word
to come down by radio that
it was safe to go in.
A flatbed truck loaded
with empty gasoline drums
from Ban Son and carrying
soldiers and civilian hitch
2
hikers had been ambushed.
A taxi driver explains that
10 were dead and 30
wounded.
Ile nodded at a bundle of
U.S. 'M16 rifles in the dust
and at a cluster of young
soldiers silently watching
them. A couple of the rifles
were smeared with blood,
dried by the blistering sun.
Soldier Dead
One rifle was missing its
]land grip. "Dead," a boy-sol-
dier said, nodding his head
east, up the fork in the high-
way.
:1s the vehicles began
pulling out onto the road, a
government official re-
marked that they were fook
ish to go and that the'road
was not yet safe. He let them
go nonetheless, while the
foreigners were told to wait.
The young tribal soldiers
waiting for a northbound
taxi with their bundled ri-
fles noted our interest in the
weapons. The youngest sol-
dier dragged on one ciga-
rette after another. When Ile
spoke to his friends, in
clipped phrases in both Lao
and mountain dialect, it was
evident his voice had not
even begun to clec en with
adolescence.
None was older than 18.
Dark -skinned, shaggy
haired, dressed in greasy,
baggy combat fatigues, they
were fully equipped for war.
]land grenades dangled at
their belts. Pockets bulged
with ammunition, They
wore flack jackets over
sleveless shirts.
One of the youths asked a
taxi driver if he was willing
to take them and the weap-
ons to Vang Vien. The
driver refused.
The young soldiers were.
apparently, already here
from Ban Son before the
ambush took place. Taxi
.drivers who ferried the dead
and ' wounded into Ban
IIouei P01-none, transferring
them on to Vang Vien..
brought the rifles to the
checkpoint at the junction.
their unit had instructed the
boys to carry them to Vang
Vein.
East along the road to
Ban Son, a llue.y helicopter,
its sound distinct in the
mountain air, chattered a
few hundred feet above the
road just beyond sight, prob-.
ably searching for the am-
bushers, but already too
late,
Later, an American ex-
planined it was one of the
new Thai "irregular" gun
ships that the CIA now op-
erates around Ban Son, os-
tensibly doing only medical
evacuation.
Although the helicopters
are always standing by for
emergency needs, like the
ambush, the enemy can hear
them coming far away and
is gone before they get
there, the American said.
- "There is no answer to
ambushes along that road,
or any other road they want
to hit," he commented.
The American believes
the -North Vietnamese are
planning to seal tip the road
into Ban Son, the central lo-
gistics point for the Long
Chong area, multiplying
problems for the CIA and
Vang Pao. "It is a hell of a
smart move," he remarked.
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 TIM NEVI! YORKE
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u 5 MAR 1972
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Notes and Comment
THE President's trip to China
shows that television coverage
opens up what is virtually a new
field of action to men in power. With
television, a President can- draw eyes
away from the piecemeal,. day-to-day
unfolding of policy and focus thertt on
complex, powerful, symbolic events that
he can manipulate more, easily than he
can the world itself. It allows him to
act directly on the country's imagina-
tion, like a high priest. Major. events of
this kind, which are designed chiefly
for the sake of coverage, are more elu-
sive than events of other. kinds. It is not
only the results of an event like the
China trip that are indeterminate but
the very nature of the event. 'When the
excitement has died down, one has to
wonder even whether anything really
happened at all. As we have turned
these matters over in our mind, we
have found ourself thinking in more
than one voice-in a kind of colloquy.
The colloquy revolves around the ques-
tion of appearance and reality in poli-
.tics, and goes like this:
FIRST VOICE: The trip was the most
unreal, and therefore the most de-
ceptive, event in recent memory. It was
a circus put on to'enhance the prestige
of the participants and divert all of us
from their real actions in the world. At
a? time when action was regrured, they
gave us theatre. Instead of agreements
and. explanations, they gave us tourism
and toasts. (The news-starved reporters
raised the art of interpreting official
handshakes and official toasts to the
level of a new academic discipline.)
It was all hints and no commit-
ments. The trip fits into an ominous
new American strategy-for wide-
spread but "invisible" continued in-
tervention-abroad, with our govern-
ment phasing out the techniques that
.attract the public's attention. The
new strategy would rely heavily on
conduct clandestine wars, like the one
in L'aos), on allies and mercenaries
(like the Cambodians and the Thais),
oti donations of materiel, and on the
deployment of warships (as in the
India-Pakistan war). If troops were, to
he required, volunteers rather than
draftees might be used. At home, the
government, instead of seeking sup-
port, would encourage indifference.
Ideological passion in the public at large
would no longer he required, or even
.desired. Already', the public has dis-
covered that China is an unfriendly but
-basically reactionary power, like the
Soviet Union, and that it is as ready to
sell out a revolution (as it (lid in Bang-
ladesh and is doing in Ceylon) as sup-
port one. In -the new view, the great'
powers would command the globe like
three or four or five giant machine-gun
turrets. The China trip set the style for
the new international politics. It went a
long way toward the Sinification of the tracted hostility, and was a potential
Arnericaih public..It helped get us used , source of ultimate, global calamity,
to resting content with the 'pageantry was calmed in this country, and per-
of international relations while leaving haps calmed in China, too. Here at
the substance, to the President and a home, one can already feel a certain
few experts, who dazzle us from time lightening in the political mood. To be
to time with their startling shifts and sure, just -before the President's trip a
unexplained reversals. And while we're___.1?"tuperative chorus came out of the
watching Nixon and Mao shake hands
(live from Peking! ) our government
is underwriting murder in Southeast
Asia.
SECOND VOICE: Your distinction, be-
tween politically contrived pseudo-
events and the "realities," which is
indeed often a useful one, has misled
you this time, owing to a peculiar
circumstance. That is the strangeness-
air power.combined with electronic
battlefield devices on t,tnerC or L (to
Apprdve elea a 200
and unreality of this country's last
twenty years of relations with China,
which a high official of the State De-
partment has now gone as far as' to
call an "aberration." In those years,
it was as though the American public
wanted to keep the slate on China clear
of any information, so that the most
hysterical men in our political life
would be free to chalk up their worst
imaginings there. The President's trip
put an end to all this, and to a style
of American politics that went with
it. And doing so didn't require any
of the substance you demand. (In' the
same period, other . people fastened
their utopian dreams on China, and
their imaginings, too, have now been
undercut.) The President's trip was
a ritual, but it was a. beneficent ritual.
It was a rite of disenchantment. The
hysteria in America and China, which
was itself the wellspring of our pro-
White House accusing the Democratic
Preside ntial'candidates of, among other
things; "aiding and abetting" foreign
enemies, but even then the voices
seemed to come out of the past. They
didn't carry the tremendous coercive
weight they once had. (Which ene-
mies? Mr. Nixon's hosts, the Chinese?
The North Vietnamese? ) Our politics
used to be boxed in and confined by
charges like these. Now many men
in political life, including some of the
Presidential candidates, will be able
to act with a new sense of freedom,
and perhaps lay claim to wider, less
fearful constituencies. Whether the
President had it in mind or not, his
trip can help to liberate new political
forces here at home and to move us
into a new era..
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whether we have. really moved into a
new era or only done so on television, in
the image-world, is crucial. There is
no question but that the trip laid to rest
the American public's excessive fears of
Chinese expansionism, and this is in-
deed a considerable benefit. Unfor-
tunately; the unreal fears impelled us
into a real war and into the quasi-occu-
pation of a province of China. We paid
in real blood for our unreal fears. Ex-
cuse me. Arc pa1ving in real blood. The.
trip has given us relief from our own
overheated imaginings, but it has not
given us relief from the real war that
our imaginings impelled us- into. The
'war continues as an anachronism,
today's bombings are as pale and unrea
to us as memories. Has the government
found new uses, in new, unannounced
policies, for America's war in Southeast
Asia, now that the old uses have disin-
tegrated? If this nation has entered a
new era, it hasn't yet left the old one
behind. Everyone is yearning for the
;age of peace the President is promis-
ing. But we have to hold ourselves back
until the, old era does actually end. We
can't let ourselves enjoy in imagination
the fruits of efforts we have yet to
carry through to completion in reality.
In the present confusion, perhaps the
following would be a good rule of
thumb: No American may enter the
new age of peace until every man,
woman, and child in Southeast Asia has
entered before him.
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 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601
LOUI3'vILLt, 'KY-
-COURIER JOURNAl4
MAR 2 4 1972 '
Td -- 239,949
S -- 350,303
Courier-Journal
TV & Radio Critic
STATINTL
Chro tolo ' to -s o ; 1a CIA's 'secret nn ,
The Central ? Intelligence Agency's
"secret army" in Laos has been anything
but secret for a long time. .
It has been seen, talked about, written
about; until now, nobody has done a de-
tailed documentary film about it.
NBC's Bob Rogers has, and he'll show
it on- "Chronolog I" at 8:30 p.m. today
on WAVE-3.
Recent news about. Laos and the army
has given Rogers' report immediacy. It
also has given Rogers fits updating his
script in light of developments.
. From Washington the other evening,
he talked about the report:
Q. Did you have trouble getting in?
A. No, not too much. I think the situa-
tion is so bad that the bureaucrats who-
I can't' say they erected the wall of se-
crecy because that was done years ago,
at very hi li levels-I think they've just
decided it's counter-productive. I think
they believe the evidence is so clear
now that the North Vietnamese are in-
vading Laos that they want somebody to
go up and take a look at it.
Q. You then were almost invited in?
A. I wasn't invited in, really. The rea-
son 1 went out there, Ted (the late Ted
Yates who was fatally shot in 1967 while
he and Rogers were covering the Arab-
Israeli war;. Rogers was lying beside
Yates. when Yates was shot) and I had
dole a show years ago, called "Laos, the
Forgotten War." That was before the "se-
cret army" really got going. There were
scattered bands of guerrillas up in the
mountains, but they had never been or-
ganized.
Q. Was there a leader at that time?
A. Well, Vang Pao-has always been the
:Leader up there but at that time he did
not command the. military region. IIe's
a big man in Laos now ... I had been so
struck by those people's commitment to
the United States that I originally thought
about going out there for a look at what
night happen to them and how they were
feeling after about 10 years of fighting
on our side with the very good chance
that we were going to walk out on them.
Q. You were reasonably welcomed
then?
A. Yes, suddenly at least for somebody
they considered a reasonably objective
reporter people started talking to you.
And we got to go to some places I never
expected to get. We also got shot at a
helluva lot going to those places. But the
only ground rule we worked under was:
"Don't show the faces of any CIA men."
Q. How many CIA men did you see?
A. In the field, probably about 20, 25.
Q. You talked to at least one?
A. Yeah, he is a very senior one . . .
The CIA calls him a "case officer." In any
other war but the "secret war," you'd
cal] him a military advisor.
Q. So how have they done?
A. Well, actually they've clone a pretty
good job over there ... They were given
the job. Certain American statesmen
and/or politicians and/or diplomats de-
cided that we wanted to maintain the fic-
tion that the Geneva Accords were still
in effect. When they first event into ef-
fect in 1962, .we withdrew our troops, our
600 green Berets; the enemy did not with-
draw their 6,000 ;regular troops. There's
a strong element (of thinking) in the dip-
lomatic corps and in the administrations
that have been with us since that time
that have always dreamed than someday
when Vietnam is settled that the Geneva
Accords can go back into effect and thus
the United States cannot admit violating
them. Thus, the CIA got into this act.
Q. How is your show put together? Does
it focus on such political questions as
you've mentioned or what?
A. The first act focuses on the "secret
army." It includes the footage we ant. of
the fighting around Long Tieng when the
North Vietnamese first hit it, including
a very wide shot, if you look very closely
you'll see a small figure in a blue jacket
being knocked down by a mortar round
landing.
Q. Is that you?
A. That's me. Best shot my cameraman
ever got. Fortunately, Skyline Ridge
which is really the keystone of the battle
is just like a moonscape, so most of the
shells that hit on it are hitting clown in
holes, and you are in another hole. So,
you just get the concussion; you don't get
the shrapnel, thank Christ, or this thing
would be being done posthumously.
Q. You ever stay home any more?
A. Yeah, I'm gonna stay home tonight.
I have to because I'm so darned sleepy.
I've been up till 2 in the morning the last
two nights trying to get this, script writ-
ten and keep up with the breaking de-
velopments.... You know what disturbs
me as I,follow the news is thinking of all
those little kids I was with over there,
getting killed, because the real basis of
the "secret army" is the Dloung hill
tribe. They generally are .known as Moo,
a sort of derogatory term, like "hillbilly."
Twenty per cent of the Aloung in the
"secret army"-and the Aloung make up
about 40 per cent of the "secret army"-
are under 16 years old. In fact, that's my
show opening, standing there with an 11-
year-old carrying an M16 and saying
"This is one of our allies in Southeast
Asia."
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 37r. YO K T111 1'.C
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irfidds Build
STATINTL
Special to The N m York Times ' - . I
r gradually increasing Ni!thin . SAIGON, South Vietnam, is r heaviest rocket attack of the!
'March 23-Intelligence reports,. South Vietnam. The best analy- war on Pnompenh-they do not; enemy has been employing
are said to show that ths, sis here is that it will continue;,tntend to take over the coun-i since mid-February inside South
North Vietnamese have recent-I' to mount over the next fowl try. Vietnam is to attack the small
months. With South Vietnamese mill
13, built up airfield s in ihei. "They have found that tar- cs mud forts and 'outposts of the
Lary caeabiliti already can Me
kong Delta. American
southern part of their country gets in-Laos and Cambodia are siderable and ;rowing stronger
-and have been promising the easier to hit," one official said. !every week, the AmericansI sources say now that they ex -
Vietcong and their own troops Things have been pretty hard say, it is easier for the?Com-1 pect that tactic to continue.
that they will begin using for them here in Vietnam this !munists to demonstrate their! Yesterday, a district town
,bombers over South Vietnam. year, but they can pretty much?!otvn strength elsewhere, ! headquarters in Kienhaoa prov-
sbSetiior American analysts and tlir:
i-n a ally very tlittiell miles to "canTenibarrasshey think yheiy Saigonttwas5 attacked sinutearly;
'hare are inclined to view such .stop th ;n in Laos." !Cambodia or Loas as in Viet- morning. Nineteen Local militia-
promises as propaganda. "They . Between 6.000 and 9,000 nrm," an American official teen and nine civilians were
,would add a new dimension to North Vietnamese soldiers be- !said. "I think their plans are reported killed.
the war if it happened," one of Fan pressing an attack on the guided by their desire to have With 108,000 American.
!:hem said today. Plaine des Jarres in Northern -.a. very direct Influence on the; troops left in Vietnam, most of
But the South Vietnamese Taos last December and forced/American electoral process this! the United States effort to deny
Air Force moved half a dozen the Central Intelligence Agel year." to the enemy the supplies that.!
.F-5 fighter planes to Dunang CV in January to withdraw, In South Vietnam, American!,make that hind of attack pos
recently to be ready if North most of its equipment and heli-II analysts say' they discern an ;sible is concentrated in the
Vietnamese MG'S should dash routers from Long Tieng. thel.nnwnv natrnrn rnf chnllinacl.air and ni'er the sunny trails
south across the demilitarize once-secret base 25 miles south
;cone. of the plateau.
What. the American analysts l:
expect is a gradual upsurge of- The Attack Is Resumed
enemy military action inside,' After having effectively put
South. Vietnam - especially the base out of action in mid.
:rocket and mortar attacks - 'January, the attackers fell back.
more shellings of the Cambodi- But a week ago they began
an capital of Pnompenh, and a pressing their offensive again,
determined North Vietnamese .retaking most of the key posi-
.a.ttempt in northern Laos to Lions on Skyline. Ridge, which
push the defenders out of the 'overlooks the northern side of
rather than direct, large-scale-,,,M southern Laos where the
ground assaults, but they say North Vietnamese have brought
that the 80,000 troops of North their antiaircraft strength to
Vietnamese divisions are in the highest level of the war,
Position to he committed quick-
Iv to action. Those divisions have,
moved recently or are moving,
into the Central Highlands ands
into the jungle mountains be-.
low the demilitarized zzone.
Bitting Cambodian ,Lines
.old Long Tien," base. the narrow Long Tieng valley. , The South Vietnanlese, for
Expect Summer Offensive "Weather has very seriously i'?licir part. have been pushing
American specialists view hampered our bombing therein rout into the jungles both in,
t t n Cambodia, most re-i
the construction b the North the last few days," a military
Y Gently. with a 7,GC0-loan force
:Vietnamese of three 3,600-foot source here said ,referring to! east of the Chup rubber planta-
airfields, in addition to three both American and Laotian) tion and south of the demili-
operational? MIG airfields be-
low Government Air Force bomb-j tarizcd zone, seeking to cut',
the 20th Parallel, as part ing In support of the defenders.' Communist. , simply lines and
of preparation for something, "When the weather breaks stem an offensive before it can
for which they expect us tolthe other way ..." he began,l,start. '-,
retaliate by bombing," as one and broke off. jl They have reported that they
American put it today. "The North Vietnamese have have seized more than 1,100
Senior American officials made a strong decision to take weapons and 25,000 gallons of
here now'say that they expect.
the base this year," he said, !gasoline in base areas in east-1
+ the long-awaited enemy milt ?but that does not mean they fern Cambodia. "Each of those
tary offensive this year to come
the period from July to Sep- ,have the capability to do it." ,weapons was carried on some-j
in
inther'and from July it Sep- The American view is that body's hack all those hundreds
the North Vietnamese are di- of miles from North Vietnam.
be aimed at affecting the Unit- verting men and - materiel to An intelligence specialist said,
ed States Presidential election. northern Laos as a way, of "I think these spoiling oper-
They say that the offensive , putting pressure on the neu- ations couldn't have helped but
was scheduled to have taken lt p
place last month but that the'ttalist Government of Prince disrupt their offensive plans."
Communists decided that they Souvanna Phouma ' to with- The Communists retaliated.
draw its consent toAmerican yesterday b shelling the South
would have taken ton many, bombing of the Communist in- Vietnamese rear base at Tay-
casualties if they had ,one,
filtration network, which the ninh, blowing up five times as
through with it at that time. enemy. is widening this year much gasoline as the South
American military officers,.
and civilian analysts here say tit the southern Laotian pan- Vietnamese Army had seized
that it is clear that the primary; handle: in the two weeks before.
objective of the North Viet-,{ Doubt 'Cambodia Takeover Spel have also become
namese strategy this year, as frequent t just below the demil
The Americans feel that;itarized zone, though so far
in the past, is South Vietnam. 'while the Communists are al-
Though they do not believe anjways capable of bringing pres-
enemy offensive has yet becun.sure to bear on the ill-trained
11 df -- Cc>mm u?tY~6trdA
Manoi Reported
they have not been accom-
panied by ground attacks of
any size. '
'Idi9i~; d/diii?tl~ 'F d~tAt 1Rb90 '6-f0ft00600140001-3
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2W0ORP : CIA-RDP80-01601
(la,'
R
Tonight, NBC News' Monthly Special Reports On:
TEE VEIL OF MYSTERY shrouding 'our military role in Laos.
It's penetrated for the first time in a detailed documentary about Gen-
eral Vang Pao's "secret 'army," which is trained, advised, equipped
and financed by our Central Intelligence Agency.
VOICES FROM THE GEAFITLAND Wisconsin's-Presidential
Primary is less than two weeks away, so here's a fascinating report on
Black River Falls (pop. 3,290), an independent community of voters
who cross party lines as casually as they cross Main Street.
II IPG?VIIUG THE IMAGE Allan Gardner, an expert in politi-
cal advertising, assesses recent and current political TV pitches, then
measures them against the tube's more familiar commercials.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE Check in at a 12-room hotel suite
(in Texas, of course) that rents for. $2,500 a night, including towels.
Garrick Utley anchors the acclaimed successor to "First 'Tuesday"-
Tonigiet 830-lth3Dprn 1VBC News 4
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 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/45/J.,kc CJ-RDP80-01601
THE CI 'S
": - ' S s T A M Y"
I LAOS
Tonight NBC News' Monthly Special Reports On:
THE VEIL OF MYSTERY shrouding our military role in Laos.
Its penetrated for the first time in a detailed documentary abddut Gen-
eral Van(, Pao's "secret army," which is trained, advised, equipped.
and financed by our Central Intelligence Agency.
VOICES FROM THE HEARTLAND Wisconsin's Pr: ,itlcntial'.
Primary is less than two week, away, so here's a fascinatin~? I' of t on
Black River Falls (pop. 3,290), an independent communit, 0h,=[ens
who cross party lines as casually as they cross Main Street.
IMPROVING THE IMAGE Allan Gardner, an expert in politi-
cal advertising, assesses recent and current political TV pitches, then
measures them against the tube's more familiar commercials.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE Check in at a 12-room hotel suite
(in Texas, of course) that rents for $2,500 a night, including towels.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
 STATINTL
S 4G32 Approved For ~I0D018CiI1~~BP8~f~0~1~
fiians under Pathet Lao control. Congress-
men I:2cClcskey and Waldie found, In a U.S.
information survey initially concealed from
them by the Embassy, that 75% of the 190
respondents from 90 villages had had their
homes bombed. In addition 97% had seen a
bombing attack and 611; had seen a person
killed. Congressmen McCloskey and Waldie.
also conducted their own interviews, and all
16 refugees queried, from 7 different villages,
testified to the aerial destruction of every
single dwelling in their hamlets.
A report by U.N. expert Georges Chapelier
in December 1970 stated that in the Plafne
des Jarres "by 1969 the intensity of the
bombings was such that no organized life
was possible in the villages . . Jet planes
Caine daily and destroyed all stationary struc-
tures. Nothing was left standing. The vil-
lagers lived in trenches and holes or in
caves. They only farmed at night. All of the
interlocutors without exception had their
villages completely destroyed. In the last
phase, bombings were aimed at the system-
atic destruction of the materials bases of the
civilian society.
At one time there were more than 50,000
people living in the Plafne des Jarres. There
is virtually no life there now.
the last ground troops are withdrawn. The
Pentagon, which seems to have statistics
available for all categories and contingencies,
lacks even all estimate of the likely civilian
casualties this presence will cause. Such con-
siderations do not seem to have a high pri-
ority In current American decision making.
The so-called "gook rule" which haunted the
Calley trial has far more profound implica-
tions for i he air war.
On the afternoon that the U.S. helicopters
and attack planes accompanied the South
Vietnamese into Laos the President issued
a statement on our environmental crisis.
Within it he quoted from T. S. Eliot's "Mur-
der in the Cathedral." "Clean the air, clean
the sky, wash the wind ." It would have
been revealing for the President to have
quoted further: "The land is foul, the water
is foul, our beasts and ourselves-are defiled
with blood.
A rain of blood has blinded my eyes .. .
Can I look again at the clay and its common
things and see them all smeared with blood
through a curtain of falling blood? We did
not wish anything to happen."
Let us stop the bombing, withdraw our
troops and begin to "take stone from stone
anci wash thezu."
One village chief indicated that In 21(
hamlets not one home was left standing. In\ Mr. GRAVEL. Mr. President, I also ask
his own village 45 percent of the 2600 In- unanimous Consent to have printed in the
habitants never left their trenches. RECORD excerpts from remarks I made to
A sample of 25 villages from the Plains des the Fluid for New Priorities dinner in
Jarres revealed casualty rates of 5-10 percent New York City on January 14, 1972,
from the bombing It is estimated that 50
civilians are killed for every Pathet-Lao There being no objection, the excerpts
casualty. were ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
In 1903 Jacques Decornoy, the Southeast . as follows:
Asian -des!, editor for Le Mande traveled
through Pc;tl:et Lao controlled areas. Accord-
ing to his Interviews, 65 villages in the Sam
Neua district alone had been destroyed by
U.S. air power. Traveling through the dev-
astated areas he depicts it as "a world with-
out noise for the surrounding villages have
disappeared. The Inhabitants themselves liv-
ing in the mountains."
Such testimony is of course contrary to
our ;government's official position that "never
before has such care been taken to spare
civilians in bombing raids."
The picture burnt Into one's Imagination is
that of hundreds of thousands of Laotians
desperately huddling in caves and trenches
as U.S. planes roar overhead. Again It Is the
enormity of the suflering endured by these
poor people which blinds us to our own pol-
icy.I will rerun the picture, because we must
break through the psychic numbness we have
developed.
There are hundreds of thousands of poor
peasants. noncombatants, living under-
ground In fear of U.S. air power in Asia.
There are entire areas of former civilization
reduced to near cave man standards by the
most advanced nation in the history of the
earth. For what? no matter for what, it Is
indefensible.
At Nuremberg Teleford Taylor, chief U.S.
Prosecutor, argued that where the military
profits of any policy are dwarfed by the civil-
ian casualties, such a policy is indefensible.
The massive air war by the U.S. against the
peoples of Indochina is indefensible. Every
B-52 raid, every A-119 K stinger drop is
criminal.
The situation in Laos is, not appreciably
different from what Is currently occuring in
Cambodia. As the Senate Subcommittee on
Refugees noted, the same pattern of destruc-
tion is being repeated relentlessly through-
out Indochina. It is up to the Congress to
terminate It. The President has made it clear
that he intends to continue the bombing,
stating in. February this year, "I will not
place any limitations on the use of air
power."
-Secretary of Defense Laird has Indicated
that we Intend to maintain a naval and air
presence in Southeast Asia Indefinitely after
TiiF, CONTINUING AIR WAR,
(Excerpts from remarks by Senator MIKE
GRAVEL)
The Nixon Administration's recent re-
siunption of heavy bombing of North Viot-
nanx oncr, more raises a basic moral ques-
tion: what right do our leaders have to kill
and maim men, women, and children halfway
across the globe who pose no threat to this
Country?
As usual, the Administration Is claiming
that it is bombing only "'military" targets,
This may or may not be true. One remem-
bers, after all, that the Johnson Administra-
tion claimed the same thing.
Even If the Administration is bombing
only "military" targets this time, there can
be no doubt that it also Is causing serious
civilian casualties, In a rural country like
North Vietnam most so-called military tar-
gets such as bridges and factories are located
in and around heavily populated civilian
areas. Hanoi reports that in the most recent
raids bombs fell on a hospital, and even mili-
tary sources admit that American jets hit
North Vietnamese army barracks as they
went after nearby airfields.
The Cornell Air War Study quotes a
memorandum by former Defense Secretary
McNamara , in which he estimated that the
bombing was causing 1,000 civilian casual-
ties every week during the sustained raids
of 1967. An equivalent casualty rate in the
U.S. would be more than 000,000 per year.
Interviews with U.S. pilots indicate that
most of the bombs we drop on North Viet-
nam are anti-personnel ordnance such as
pineapple or guava bombs. These bombs con-
tain hundreds of steel pellets.
One sortie of this type of bomb sends
over half a million of these pellets snowing
over an area half a mile long and an eighth
of a mile wide.
During the Christmas raids alone it was
announced that American planes flew over
1,000 sorties against North Vietnam. It is,
therefore, not hard to believe the following
Associated Press dispatch, dated December
29,: "Hanoi claimed that in Than h Hoa
Province on Sunday the U.S. planes killed 24
civilians and wounded 47. A broadcast said
most of the casualties were caused by steel
pellet anti-personrel' bombs
workers in the fields."
bombers are doing to these people.
But It's still going on right now. This
month alone another 50,000 tons of anti-
personnel bombs, napalm, and white phos-
phorous are raining down upon not only the
people of North Vietnam, but Laos, Cann
bodia, and South Vietnam as well.
We won't be told of the victims, of course.
To the extent we learn anything it will be of
"protective reaction" strikes, "Interdiction"
missions, and the bombing of supply depots.
But there are human beings under those
bombs, and they will continue being killed
and maimed until we, the American people,
demand an end to this bombing,
In just the eight months since President
Nixon told the American people in his April
address to the Nation that "Victnamization
has succeeded", there have been an additional
1,302 Americans killed in the Indochinese
War, and 4:870 more wounded. Deaths among
allied forces In that same period have risen
15,595, and the Pentagon estimate of the
number of new deaths among those people it
chooses to call the "enemy" is 5G,030. That
last figure is no doubt conservatively low.
These numbers tell of the failure of Viet-
namization, not Its success,
An Orwellian transformation is taking
place in our military policy in Indochina,
Due to public pressure American ground
troops are slowly coming home, but they
are leaving an automated war behind. Coin-
puter technology and a 'small number of
troops manning aircraft and artillery are
creating a U.S. destructive presence that may
literally hover over Southeast Asia for years
to come, In the midst of this the public is
confused, pacified by the diminishing troops
levels, yet vaguely troubled. by continuing
reports of devastation.
In his mid-December newsbrieflng Secre-
tary of the Air Force Seamans sought once
again to play down the air war. The basic
point Seamons tried to make was that the
air war was not escalating, that in fact it had
been wound down. As such, his remarks rep-
resent a relativistic apology for the continu-
ing raids, a logic more appropriate for 1984
than 1972-the logic of permanent war.
It Is an insult to the American people
to portray the air war as fading away when in
1971 somewhere between 750,000 and 800.000
tons of bombs were dropped over Indochina.
Though down from the peak years of 1968
and 1969, this figure represents:
a) nearly 40% of all the U.S. air ordnance
expended during the Second World War,
bi nearly 80% of all the air ordnance ex-
pended during the three year Korean War,
c) the equivalent of 37 IIiroshimas, or
roughly one every nine days.
Most Importantly, the Nixon Adminlet.ra-
tion has made it clear that the bombing is
to continue indefinitely even after the last
American ground troop comes home (if he
ever does). Even If reduced by 50%% the air
war still would continue at an average level
greater than that of the Korean War.
But there are many indications that the "
reductions in the bombing are bottoming
out. Pentagon sources, for example, indicate
that. B-52 strikes, though currently down
60% from their peak in 1968, are to continuo
indefinitely at their present rate of 1,000
per month. And although tonnage figures
registered a 30% decline from 1969 to 1970,
they dropped only 23% from 1970 to 1971.
At a time when the Harris Poll Indicates
that 65% of the American people feel the war
Is "immoral", and oppose by a 57 to 29 mar-
gin continued American bombing in order to
achieve political ends, it Is Indefensible to
continue the strikes at any level.
In regard to Secretary Seamans' "wound
down war", it is worth noting that the Sen-
ate Refugee Subcommittee found that, "In
this year, 1971, more civilians are being killed
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 Approved For ReleaseVMM"TO I ,RM 6P 06001
TR E COSTS THE SAME -
I JUST SPENT THE MONEY
YOU MARKED FORTNE BOAT
ON THF- CA IA"- AND
VICE VER'~ '?
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 STATINTL
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CLEvF.LAND, OHIO
PLAIN DEALER ?
M - 409,414
S - 545,032
-- MAR 2 3 197
1 1ockbusier Tomorrow on Laos
101
By William Hickey
A television network doc-
uu~entary with the same
blockbuster potential as
CBS' last summer's "The
Selling of the
Pentagon" is
scheduled to
b e. aired to-
morrow eve-
ning at 8:30
when NBC
News devotes
a sizable por-
tion of its
m agazine-for-
mat news pro-
, grain "Chronolog" to an
examination of the Central
Intelligence Agency's secret
army in Laos.
T It e 45-minute segment
'"represents another reporto-
rial coup for NBC News' in-
defatigable correspondent
Bob Rogers and, in a larger
sense, for all. the broadcast
industry's journalistic
.forces.
Rogers' latest accom-
plishment is really not sur-
prising to those who have
followed his brilliant career
with NBC News, for they
have come' to e x p e c t
nothing short of major
scoops each time he leaves
the confines of New York
City,
Easily the outstanding
;: combat correspondent cur-
renitly working in television,
Rogers possesses a splendid
sixth sense for uncovering
the full dimensions of a
shootout, whether it be 30,-
1000 feet over the Sinai Pen-
,
c
s com-
insula or in a bunker along tribes
nosed of youn
who alw
Ameri
h
d b
,
g
ays
cans
a
een
the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and very pro-American to off- who fly everything from Pi-
t he intestinal fortitude to set their presence," he said. per Cub observation planes
put his feet where his in- What kind of a job did the t o four-engine bombers in
p
tinets lead }yi roved Fo?' ?e Se4b00/05/15 S UA,ARDPOOUO'@01R000600140001-3
pp forces, he sat .
HIS STUDY of the once
secret army in Laos is typ-
ical of his pursuit of the im-
possibly difficult story. No
one, either in print or broad-
cast journalism, had been
able-to penetrate so deeply
the CIA's web of secrecy,
concerning its operations in
Laos, but he did-and with
a camera crew to boot.
When I asked him the
other day how he managed
it, he replied matter of fact-
ly, "Mae Godley, our am-
bassador there, helped im-
measurably. He has been
trying to break down the veil
of secrecy surrounding the
CIA's activities in Southeast
Asia for a number of years
now. Once a few ground
rules were established, Such
as now showing the faces of
CIA case officers on televi-
sion, the agency cooperated
completely."
HOW DID THE CIA be-
come involved in Laos in
the first place? I asked.
"It was very simple. Af-
t e r t Ii e Geneva Accords
w e r e signed in 1962, we
withdrew all our military
advisers to the country. Tile
North ' Vietnamese, on the
other hand, kept 6,000 well-
trained forces there. They
called them border security
battalions.
"For a while the United
States lived with the fiction-
a 1 belief that NVA forces
would eventually pull out.
Of course , they didn't, so
w e began sending in CIA
" A FASTASTIC ONE. / How do the Moung feel
You've got to give the agen- ,/ about the impending U. S.
cy credit. With a bare 'land- Pullout from Vietnam? I
ful of men, they asked.
accomplished what armies
of regular soldiers couldn't.
They solidified the Meo
tribesman better use the
word Moung, for Moo is a
derisive term meaning hill-
billy, into a first-class fight-
14 g unit. At best, it was
hoped that the hill tribes
would become fairly good
guerrilla fighters, but to ev-
eryone's astonishment, they
have been slugging it out
with the best North Viet-
namese regiments for the
"They're nervous to be
s u r e , but General yang
P a o , who is their No. 1
man, told me he had abso-
lute faith in America and
knew it would never aban-
don the peoples who joined
hers in the struggle to keel)
Southeast Asia free," he
said.
How will your report be
viewed by our State Depart-
ment and the Pentagon? I
asked.
past three months and hold- "No doubt, they'll be up-
ing their own. set by the fact that I re-
"In fact, if it weren't for vealed the extent of our
operation in Laos, but. I
the Moung tribesmen and'
really don't believe they'll
the few thousand Thai vol- say much, because they
unteers, Laos would have can't refute anything we
fallen ' to the Communists have put on film.
long ago," lie said. "MY JOP WAS simply to
Well what about the Roy- show the American people
al Lao Army and the Pathet what has been going on in
Lao? I asked. Laos under the direction of
"No one over there takes the CIA for the past eight
either outfit seriously. The years? without their know-
Royal Lao Army and the ledge. While we have done
Communist Pathet Lao this, we fell that our obtec-
have one thine' in common- tivity remained on the high-
a total dislike of fighting. ?est possible level," he said.
The war in Laos is being Be that as it may, I have
fought by the tribesmen and the idea "Chronolog" is
Thai volunteers against the going to cause its first big
North Vietnamese," Rogers flap and it won't be a se-
said. cret.
NO ONE ELSE? I asked.
` 'I stand corrected. I
should have mentioned the
-CIA has an outfit called Air
whi
America
h i
 __ _ Approved For Release 200Q/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01
ST. LOUIS, MO-
POST-DISPATCH
E -- 326,376
S .., 541,868
3
TV Comment
ao ' Lo ks At
CiliA's `Bearer Army'
By John J. Archibald
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff
THE PHONE CALL FROM NBC-TV'S NEW YORK OFFICE
came at the appointed time, but the voice was not that of re-
porter Bob Rogers,. but his secretary.
"Mr. Rogers had been delayed because he had to rewrite a
large part of the script for
his part of the 'Chronolog'
show," the secretary said.
"The news this morning from
Laos made it necessary."
When Rogers called later
in the day, lie acknowledged
that he'd had to update his
report because of more recent
developments in the Southeast
Asian country. Ile had been
caught somewhat by surprise,
became until recently there
had been little or no news
from Laos, despite a heavy
United States involvement in
the fighting there.
"Our 'secret army' will be
shown and discussed on tele-
vision for the first time in 'Chronolog.' " Rogers said. The show
will be on KSD-TV tomorrow night at 7:30,
Rogers happened to be in Laos at the right moment-just
when our government decided to stop pretending that nothing
much has been happening in that country.
. "'I was there a few years ago to do an NBC special called,
'Laos, the Forgotten War,' " Ropers said, "and went back a
few weeks ago to see how the Moung tribesmen were making
out. The Moung-whom the Laotians call 'b'teo,' a word rough-
ly equivalent to 'hillbilly'-are our firmest allies in Laos.
"When we got there with our film crew, we found that the
barriers on the 'secret war' were collapsing. I don't know
,why, maybe it is dawning on our government that in a demo-
cracy you can only lie so much. Or maybe it ?^ because the
North Vietnamese invasion of Laos is so serious now that the
United States wants the world to know."
In Laos,according to Rogers, very few Americans are In-
,volved in the actual fighting. About 200 Central Intelligence
Agency men have helped train and direct an anti-Communist
force of perhaps 30,000. "The CIA men have done a hell of a-
job," said Rogers. "But the Laos forces are facing North Viet-
namese regular divisions and are being bled white."
The NBC-TV crew was given virtually complete freedom
to take pictures and interview wherever they chose. Rogers re-
ported. "We even have an interview with one of the CIA ad-
visers," he said, "although we were asked not to show his
face."
To get more realism in his film for "Chronolog," Rogers
flew in a Royal Laotian Air Force fighter plane, which was a
T-28 propeller plane used by the ,United States 20 years ago.
"I guess I'm a fatalist," Rogers said, "but I wanted to see
what it was like. The plane was so loaded with bombs and
machine guns that I almost was afraid to take my two camer-
as Whir ate. I wondered if they might be the final straw that
would overload the plane."
,Rogers doesn't conceal his admiration for the success
achieved thus far by the CIA advisers, but'their ability wor-
ries him.
"I wonder, when other Administrations realize how much
we were able to accomplish in Laos while retaining a 'low
profile,' " said Rogers, "if uor government might be tempted
to try it in other places."
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 W
Approved For Release 2000/0p/~1 p pIDP80-01601
~ a Bcorniig Stc-.zging Area .
' . AF r , .~, . r
BY JACK FOISIE
Times staff writer
I3 ANGKOK-Thailand is
gradually 'becoming the
s, t a g i n g area for most
American-directed grpund
operations in-Indochina as
troop 'withdr'awals con-
tinue, from Vietnam and
the war and political situa-
tions become more tense
in Cambodia and Laos.
This' has resulted in in-
creased sensitivity by both
Thai and American offi-
cials concerning the
American'. air. bases in
Thailand and the camps
and bases involved in
cross-border operations.
-=-an. answer''to a---news-
man's request,. American
officials disclosed t.h a t
there are 245 U.S.-militar.v
advisers in Thailand and
280 members of the U.S.
:special Forces. But other
than outlining their ac-
knowledged' training and
advising roles,- the officials
'declined' to' gb deeper into
Thai - based' -American
operations: pertaining to
the Indochina war.
Rebellious areas in Burma
also. are being penetrated
from Thai-American
camps in the western pro-
vince of .Thailand.
'Volunteers' in Laos
._T he participation of
Thai army "volunteers" in
Laos as part of -a \Vestcrn-
backed royal Lao army is
now an established fact.
More- than 5000 Thai in-
fantry, artillerymen and
airmen are in action on
f o,r e i g n soil. They are
.Americana - paid but the
?Thai government. also has
its own reason for making
the ."volunteers" available.
The .\ o r t h Vietnamese
army and its Communist
?Pathet Lao auxiliary are
('loser to the banks of the
Mekong River. than in past
dry seasons and . the. Me-
knng is Thailand's border.
'Despite contrary
evidence, both, Thai and
American officials c-o n-
tinue the pretense that, the
volunteers sign up on
their own. They are, in
fact, regular Thai units led
by their own officers and
taking orders mostly from
,Many Secret Camps the U.S. Central Intel
Officially, the role of. all ligence Agency.
American Green Berets is One of the assembly
to "train the Thais to he areas for this trans-lle-
traiiaers" in colinterinsur
kong migration is the Thai
gency Warfare, 'both of- army camp of Saritsena,
their own troops and those
of "third country" -armies outside the north central
--that is,, Laotians and town' of Phitsanulok. Air
Cambodians. America transport planes
But ` these` same Ameri= fly the men from there di=
sari officials :acknoWledge rect'ly into Laos. .
that. there are numerous In the most recent ex-
`"ec.rc't camps-they - call. planation of the Thai pre-
them "ad hoc training' Bence in Laos, a U.S. State
areas"--at which Ameri- Department spokesman
cans are located. But they last week described the
Thais as local forces eli-
will not discuss the Ameri-' gible for U.S. support.
can role in these camps. This definition is intended
It is known, however, to avoid being in violation
that. ?s o in e are b o r.d e r of the congressional ban
.raninc fronting T.,nc nn .the recruiting and pay-
spending on the Thai
army and apparently re-
flects its support of Thai
forces in Laos.
A 10-man American ad-
visory team is presently
with a Thai army "sweep
and clear". operation
aimed at driving a 500-
man insurgent band out of
and back into Laos. The
tal level and are forbidden
to. fly or drive into any
area where they might be
shot at.
Confirming this, an
American- ? Embassy offi-
cial said, "We've never
had an American combat
casualty- in Thailand and
Ave intend to keep it that
way "
end Cambodia. ''T'hey are Laos and Camhodia1cJ luL The 6,.000 other Amer!-
manned by both Thai and 5ecrecv concerning mil- can military are mostly
1
A
rm,y ostica ni
American ~r~~' dsF '},~flcac} l? C}~/b33 /'feylt p` D'R8 01 R000600140001-3
engaged in cc' 't'oss-border '"rcc a point can Air Force here and
c l a n destine operations. where a visitor with a
STATINTL
great deal of aplomb can' equip the 125,000-man
stumble into an American Thai army under the cur-
clandestine camp and stay rent $60 million military
awhile b} pretending that aid program.
he,. also, is on a mysterious This is an all-time high
assignment. . . for annual American
It happened this way,
without a lie being told.
'?ho hate guard cha?l-
lenged: ."Who are t'ob?"
The =newsman assumed a
serious, knowing look and
replied: "Don't ask me!"
For emphasis he pressed a
finger to his lips. "Oh," the
guard said, impressed, Al
Uflderstand." lie opened
the gate and directed the
visitor. to. the command
post. senior American, is Army
,
Exotic code names also Col. Charles ' G. Ray of
figure into, the secrecy. Browns Mill, \.J. who,
speaks Thai fluently.
Neppergrinaer is the name ~`. Rav said neither he nor
of a big American-Thai to- any of his subordinates
gistical base, way point for goes below Thai regimen-
weapons and supplies des-
tined for allied forces in
Laos.
Despite its various un-
publicized roles, the
American special forces in
Thailand have declined
from a high point of 369 in
1969. The reduction was
possible. after the Thai
Field Police assumed their
own training. The Ameri-
can advisory force also has
been cut hack by 25%
from its high point.
Other American military
activities have offset the
reduction.
For more than a year,
t he -" American military
strength in Thailand has
been announced as 32,200.
Twenty-six thousand are
airmen, as five big bases
in Thailand continue to be
the major springboard for
American bombing of ene-
my targets in Vietnam,.
Laos and Cambodia and
retaliatory strikes against
N o r t h Vietnam missile
and antiaircraft guns.
All-Time High Cost
 JI/AIIINIL
Approved For Release 2000/5 1 NA b --2RDP80-01601 R
1' C ~j C 1 where a Communist offensive has CLASHES fifurli i 1 lij1 recent weeks.
Cambodia's President, Lon Noi,
AROUND PNOMPENH appealed to .the public in a
radio broadcast to remain calm
land not panic after the rocket'
.Attacks, One 6 Miles From
Cambodian-Capital, Follow
Shelling That Killed 75
87 The Associated Prue
PNOMPENH, March 21 - En-
emy troops reportedly staged a
series of coordinated attacks
'around this 2capital city of
Cambodia today in the wake
of an early-morning rocket and
artillery attack that was esti-
mated to have killed 75 persons.
The Cambodian command
said that 500 enemy soldiers
had entered the town of Takh-
?maq, six miles southeast _of
Pnompenh, had killed a number
of residents and had driven off
many others.
Earlier In the day, a Cambo-
than spokesman reported heavy;
fighting in the district town of
Neak Luong, on the highway to.
Saigon, 32 miles southeast of
Pnompenh, and said it appeared
that the North Vietnamese were
trying to cut the road and move
toward' the capital.
Siege Reported to East
to
ca
eas
pemy troops were also said
lave laid siege to the district
tal of Preyveng, 30 miles
of here. Military spokes-
men here said Cambodian forces
at the Preyveng garrison were
trying to break out southward
on Route 15 to link up with
other Cambodian troops moving
north.
'The, attacks In the Pnompenh
area coincided with an enemy
offensive against the big base
at Long Tieng in northern Laos,
where heavy fighting was re-
ported for the fourth day. [Lao-
tian and Thai forces were said
to have recaptured one key
position on Skyline Ridge,
which overlooks the base, The
Associated Press reported from
Vientiane, but North Vietnam-
ese troops occupying two other
positions were said to have
kept up heavy mortar attacks
on the valley.]
There was speculation that
similar enemy attacks might
attack, the most devastating on
Pnompenh since the war began
here two years ago. Officials
estimated that besides the 75
dead more than 100 people had
been wounded. .
However, there was no evi-
dence of panic, as the city's
populace appeared to be going
calmly about its normal busi-
ness.
The President said he believed
the attack was inended to cre-:,
ate public havoc during a polit-1ically difficult period in Cam-
The New York Times/March 72, 1972
RISING ENEMY ACTION: A series of attacks on towns
near Pnompenh (names underlined on. map at left) fol-
lowed shelling of capital. In northern Laos- (map at
right), heavy fighting continued for Long Tieng base.
with capture Agency pulled out the extensive
bodia. He was speaking of hisl`vas threatened
weeklong efforts to form a new last Dece
tuber
,
Government after proclaiming States C
entral
himself President and suspend-
ing the Constitutent Assembly
March 10, hours before it was
to have finisned drafting a new
constitution.
Many of the casualties In the
rocket and artillery attack were
refugees driven from their
homes by the war. One refugee
shantytown was wiped out,
and more than 100 huts were
leveled.
A United States Embassy
spokesman said there were no
American casualties.
Cambodian officials revised
downward the number of rock-
ets that had fallen into three
sections of Pnompenh during
.the predawn attack. Spokes-
men said they npw believed
ithat about 75 rockets, instead
of the 150 to 200 reported ear-
lier, had struck the city.
Battle 4th Day at Long Tleng
VIENTIANE, Laos, March 211
(AP)-As heavy fighting was
reported for the fourth day .at
Long Tieng, American officials
here said they believed enemy
forces had sustained heavy
losses because of waves of as-
saults against entrenched de-
fenders.
Reports from the field said
Laotian and Thai forces had
succeeded in retaking one key
position on the ridge overlook-
ing the base, the headquarters
of General yang Pao and his
American supported guerrilla
army of Meo tribesmen. But the
base itself was said to.be under
continued mortar attack from
two other positions on the ridge
still in enemy hands.
Lo
Tieng, 78 miles north-'
n
ss
oveu
fl 0orrft A!I Yien 1C
the United electronic equipn}ent it main-
Intelligence~tained 'there.
IA-RDP80-01601"R000600140001-3
1/
 ST. LOUIS POST DTSPATCI
Approved For Release 2000/0v 1 v ` Ji98P80-01601 RO
AID Head
Queried On
CIA Ties
Thee letter summed up a
classified report m a d e by
James G. Lowenstein and Rich-
ard M. Moose of the Syming-
ton panel's staff. That report
has not been made public.
A top AID official confirmed
yesterday that U.S.-supported
Laotian guerrilla fighters were
receiving hospital treatment
under an American humanitar-
ian assistance program, but he
denied that any aid went for
combat operations of the CIA.
"I assure you no AID (Agen-
cy f or International Develop-
ment) funds are allocated for
military purposes in Laos," a
deputy AID administrator,
Maurice J. Williams, told the
House Foreign Ad'fa'irs Commit-
tee.
Williams said he had not seen
the General Accounting Office
Teport that Senator Edward M. .f
By a Washington Correspondent
of the Post-Dispatch
WASHINGTON, March 22 -
Senator S t u a r t Symington
(Dem.), Missouri, today pressed
an inquiry into the relationship
between the nation's economic
assistance program in Laos and
the activities of the Central In-
telligence Agency and the De-
partment of Defense there.
Symington invited John A.'
Hannah, administra'tar of the i
,Agency for International De. i
velopment, to testify at a
closed session of Symington's
Senate foreign relations sub-
committee on United States
security agreements and com-
mitments abroad.
Through the subcommittee,
Symington has been instru-
,?mental in the last three years
in calling attention to the scope,
of United States-supported mili-
tary operations in Laos.
Symington made public today
a letter asking Hannah to ap-
.pear before the panel. He
framed eight questions for Han-
nah to answer. He asked that
hiannah submit a statement to
:the subcommittee several days
before appearing.
Symington a s k e d Hannah
what assurances he had given
to Congress on the use of Han-
nah's agency as a cover for
CIA personnel and programs."
"In particular," Symington
said with respect to what is
going on in Laos, "how many
personnel and what programs
are involved; and what CIA
funds are channeled through
'AID programs and by What,
methods?
Symington strongly criticized
American policies in Laos,
Thailand and Cambodia March
1 in a letter to Senator J. Wil-
`liam Fulbright (Dem.), Arkin-
sas, chairman of the Foreign
,Relations Committee.
? At that time, Symington said
the Indochina war was increas-
ing in intensity in Laos and
Cambodia, even though it might
r be diminishing in South Viet-
nam.
(Ted) Kennedy had said showed
that AID funds w re secretly fi-
nancing C I A guerrilla fighter
activities.
Kennedy (Dem.), Massachu-
setts, made the statement last
weekend.
Will testified: "W e do
not provide funds for these puir-
poses. If a mistake has been
made, it will be rectified."
Williams confirmed, however,
the specific GAO finding, as
summarized by Kennedy, that
so-called military and pa,ramili-
tary groups got hospital and
health calre under the AID pro-
gram in Laos.
He said Laotian military per-
sonnel and theirr families got
both medical treatment at six
hospitals in Laos and food sup-
port under the AID prog'ram
along with the rest of the Lao-
tian population.
A staff member of Kennedy's
Senate refugees subcommittee
said Wi'lliams's admissions did
not go to the Senate subcom-
mittee's broader longstanding
contention that AID funds went
to such direct milita-ry purposes
as support of Laotian guerrilla
fighters and. helicopter trans
portation for them.. .
STATINTL
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 ST. PAUL PIONEER. PRESS
Approved For Release 201: IOVA-RDP80-01601 R00
Misused Aid Funds
Lack of confidence in America's ate Judiciary subcommittee which re-
foreign aid program has been evident , quested the GAO investigation.
in Congress and among the public for He said it indicates that about $2.5
some time. This skepticism as to the million a year of "public health
uses to which such funds are put will funds" intended for Laos refugee help
be increased by a report from the and administered by the Agency for
General Accounting Office showing International Development is going
that nearly half of aid funds voted by' instead to the CIA for its "private -
Congress for relief of civilian war vic- army" operations.
tims in Laos is being diverted to the While details of the operation are
L/ Central Intelligence Agency for its se- sketchy, it appears that the intent of
cret guerrilla army activities in that Congress has been frustrated in order
country. to satisfy aims of the CIA. The situa-
tion presents one more argument for
Although the report has been classi- greater congressional control. over
fied secret, a summary of some of its CIA activities. And it is one more ad-,:
dition to reasons for lack of congres-
contents was made public by Sen. Ed- sional enthusiasm for the AID pro-
ward M, Kennedy, chairman of a Sen-, " grams.
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 AfT'f IMf{rSTATINTL
to,
Approved For Release
~~ 1 A-RDP80-01601 R0
Enemy Massacres Civilians
In- Assault on Phnom Penh
From News Dispatches 1 nouncing the formation of a tion attack that killed 13
The Cambodian command new cabinet. South Vietnamese soldiers.
said yesterday that some of Elder statesman and presi- In -Laos, fighting continued
the Communist forces which around the besieged Central
attacked Phnom Penh in the dential adviser Son Ngoc Intelligence Agency base at
biggest rocket assault Thanh was named prime min- Long Cheng, with Laotian and
war also raided the homes of ister and foreign minister. Of (Thai defenders reported to;
civilians in the capital, mas- the 17 portfolios announced, have recaptured one key posi-(
sacring at least 25, including eight were given to previous ; tion on Skyline Ridge. the
women and children. cabinet members and most of 11,500-foot-high northern rim of
Among the victims were the' the 17 were familiar figures in the base. The overall pros-
manager circles. Sisowath pects for staving off the
radio managea of the hoverenmy Sirik Matak, Lon Nol's closest station, which the eneemy {North' Vietnamese assault on
troops put out of action adviser whose government Po- I the base, however, remained
briefly, his French wife and sition was a casualty of stu-.grim.
their child. dent protests against him, is'
The Interior Ministry put not in the cabinet.
the death toll from the devas- Lon Nol also said he was
tating mortar and rocket at- I setting up a government com-
tack and subsequent massa- mission to finish a new consti-
cres at 102, with more bodies' tution, a task that the Na-
being uncovered -as rescue! tional Assembly had almost
.teams searched t h r o u g h completed when -he ousted it
wreckage.. Another 200 on 10 days ago.
more were wounded, the gov- Connivance Suggested -
ernment said. Most of the vic-
tims were civilians. No Amer- Nol denounced the attack on
Scans were among them, the Phnom Penh as "barbarous,"
State Department said. suggested that it might have
Fighting Continues been carried out with "some
Fighting continued through- connivance from within" and
out Tuesday on the southeast- called on the people to remain
ern outskirts of Phnom Penh* calm and redouble their ef-
Government reinforcements forts in the war,
were sent to join a battle A South Vietnamese drive
against 'advancing Communist ;against Communist base
troops near the town of Tak camps in eastern Cambodia
Khmau, 12 miles from the cap- continued yesterday, but the
ital, headquarters base for that
Meanwhile President Lon campaign, at Tayninh, 60
Not put an end to the _coun- miles northwest of Saigon,
try's government crisis by an- I was hit by an enemy demoli-
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
 WASH 'MAR
7Z .
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R
*t C _..,DMr_ff
rig,
ni s ros.s
By Peter Osnos !government iuICCS uu liityil-ay mist troops in the region of
Washington Post Foreign Service 6 in December -,a grievous Cambodia that borders on the
SAIGON, March 21-North military setback from which:'
around Saigon is
s Vietnamese forces and their. Cambodian morale has never; cited as further evidence that
Local allies are on the move recovered. the Communists are preparing.
{throughout Indochina, focus-1 The pre dawn assault today some kind of heightened activ-
ring again on' Laos and Cam I r ity inside South Vietnam. ?.
4odia and continuing, their om-I (was much like the raid on In the Central Highlands
Vinous buildup in the northern 1: Phnom Penh's Pochentong province of Kontum, where
is(ctors of South Vietnam. i Airport in January, 1971, that the thrust of the offensive last
United Statc?-y military l; destroyed much of the Cam-
. hndian airforce- it was spec- month' had been expected,(
1
th
-
that had been hiillll sou
! SUP )rise and could have been said elements of the North Vi-1
Until tdnnr0ay@,q Fc{"' t 4f 'CMM Wr, ?e;;C.IA-RDP80-01601-R000600140001-3
Phnom Penh, Cambodia had !an. area where Saigon troops
been relatively 'quiet since recently began a multi-bat-
? ing maxirnum pre ssure on (cabinet. Tile country had no creased then resistance o
'Laos and Can.boc!i'a, (functioning government until U.S. bombing of their supply 11
In the. first round of attacks selection of a new cabinet was routes. '. '
against Long Cheng in Janu- completed today. For example, since Novem
art': the base was rendered rir- In the week that marks two ber 1, the start of the dry sea-''
tually useless as a military in- years since Prince Norodom (son, the number of anti-air-I
stallation and as regional Sihanouk was overthrown, the craft guns on the trail, accord-
;Jiea'dquarters for the Central Communists can make propa- ing to aerial intelligence, has
:Intelligence :\gency opera- ! ganda by pointing to a Cambo- increased from 340 to 600. f
tions in northeastern Laos. dian capital that is defenseless "high Threat" Areas
Equipment and support and a government that is at The Air Force used to clas-
troops .were withdrawn. Only least momentarily unstable. sift' areas in Laos as "high!
the army of CIA-backed Meo Despite the outbreak in re- threat." Now, that classifica-I
tribesmen remained. i cent days of fighting on high-! Lion is accorded to nine areas
Now, 16 battalions of North;way 1, the road that links", As to why the offensive in~
'Vietnamese troops are said to Saigon and Phnom Penh, milt- South Vietnam has so far
be threatening what remains tary sources here do not see failed to materialize, despite
of the base, and if it falls the 'indications that major new
Communists are certain to fighting is about to begin in the buildup, U.S. sources
claim a major psychological the Cambodian countryside. s )eculate that stepped up
victory. Indeed intelligence reports yombing at critical concentra-
show that elements of a North Lions and South Vietnamese
Reachable Goal Vietnamese division that had: preparations forced the enemy
From the start of this year's been camped on western side to postpone his plans.
dry-season' campaign in Laos, of the Mekonti River in Cam-i "There was a lot of second
analysts said the Communists ibodia have now crossed to guessing in February," ob-
were intent on establishing 1 the eastern side and are mov- served one officer." but I'll
Pathet Lao control once and I ing toward South Vietnam. bet anything that those troops
for all over northeastern Laos I In addition, sources said, an weren't all sent down here for-
to enhance their political posi- independent North Vietnamese nothing."
tion in any future settlement. !regiment has been spotted for
That goal now appears to be the first time operating in the
,within reac ! the
.'ward ..,from North Vietnam i t
have Crossed the Demilitarized carried out by a handful of etnamese army's 320th Di-
.Zone in recent weeks and are well-trained sappers. vision have been building
`now moving tarough South - The difference this time is iroads and tracks n the pro-
S''ietnam's Quangtri and Thu- that most of the rockets and I wince and have been spotted
-athien provinces: mortars were deliberately . for the first time to the east'.
The rate of Communist infil- aimed at populated areas , in !.? of Kontum city.
Aration into South Vietnam in an apparent effort to frighten;; The arrival of four new regi-
February, the sources said, civilians, especially refugees ! I ments inside South Vietnam
was the highest since April, from the countryside who coincides with the dramatic
1368. which was the highest of thought they had found a,' reinforcement of North Viet-
the ward s;mc?tuary in the capital. namese air defenses on the?Ho
In the meantime. the re-, The attack comes at a time) Chi ,Minh Trail and just north
ricwed offensive a. ainst Long ! whrn the Cambodians are par-I of the Demilitarized Zone.
Chc?ng in Laos n ui today's, ticuiarly vulnerable. A week; On a non-attribution basis,
shelling of P:inom'Pcch, along and a half, ago Len NorI American military sources,
with the figistin" ~n highway,, elevatrd himself to president,; produce a barrage of facts and '
1, follow th" pati,?rn set ear-1 scuttled an almost-completed figures to prove that the Com-
licr in the dry Fe: -on of plac constitution and dismissed his munists have significantly i n -
 STATINTL
vG'f?Pf9Ypd For ReI (QQV0?Wu E O} 9tB R0 a A0140001-3 S 4283
March
c
re one w ho s
against avoidable loss or to protect producers, Southeast Asia. - sador to a is
processors, and consumers against avoidable it is brought to our attention because operations, tells where the strikes will
disruption of their usual markets, or (3)
sales are made pursuant to requests re- of recent events in Laos and Cambodia. be, whether they will be on the Plain of
ceived. from other Federal agencies in ur- According to the latest reports the Pathet Jars or in the region of Long Cheng, the
therance of authorized program objcciive` _ Lao and the North Vietnamese are very CIA subsidized base which is now under
~sie e
V.S. mine production of nickel in 1968 period for the transaction of routine country, made up of kindly people-
amounted to 17,294 short tons, nickel con- morning business for not to exceed 34 those in the Pentagon, those in the ad-
tent of ore. In 1969, U.S. mine production minutes with a limitation of 3 minutes ministration; those in the State Depart-
was 17,056 tons and an Sstima.ted 18,000 tons on each Senator being recognized. ment, and those in the aid program-
in 1970. U.S. consumption of nickel was 159,- will think and think again, because this
306 tons in 1968, 141,737 tons in 1969, and is not a prime example of the Nixon
of nickel sttmstted at were 160,000 147,950 tons tons in in 1970. 1968, 129,332 Imports SOUTHEAST ASIA doctrine; It is anything but. It proves
tons in 1969, and estimated at 150,000 tons Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, there just how bankrupt the, policy of our
In 1970. Principal import sources for metal has been a good deal of talk about cer- country has been allowed become, not
are Canada, 87 percent; Norway, 11 percent; tairi issues of paramount importance at only in Cambodia, but also in the rest
U.S.S.R., 1 percent, and others 1 percent. the present time, not the least of which of that part of the world.
Method. of disposal has been the issue discussed this morn- Then there is Laos, another small
The method of disposal is set Korth in in. the need for tax reform. country with a very kindly, peaceful peo-
section 2 of the bill and provides that, un- There are other issues, such as pollu- pie, What happened there? Hundreds of
mlessay be made otherwise only after authorized by publicly law, advertising disposals tion, busing, the condition of the ghettos, thousands of Laotians have been made
for bids, except when (1) the material is crime, justice, drug control, and the like, homeless refugees and much of their
transferred to a Federal agency, (2) the all important. However, in my opinion, country has been destroyed. A clandes-
- Administrator or. General Services deter- Mr. President, the most important issue tine army under the control of the CIA
mines that other methods of disposition are now-and it has been for some years has been operating; the overall corn-
necessary to protect the United States past-is the issue of our involvement in mander is the proconsul, the U.S. Ambas-
H 41 1 dire
t
of such agencies.
In.'this instance, the General Services Ad-
ministration has advised that the entire
alltount of nickel to be disposed of will be
turned over to the U.B. Treasury.
the national stockpile was $1,162.28 per
1': short ton. The current estimated market
nrice for standard, commercial type nickel
or may not be the same quality or grade Lions to foreign lairds where they do not Peking, to put their talents and their
as the material quoted above. need them, do not want them, and should
efforts to use, so that a degree of stabil-
close to Long Chong, the CIA-sponsored M
base in southern Laos. uch could be said about what hap-
According to the latest reports the pened in these two countries in addition
constitution of the Khmer Republic for- to what happened and what is happening
merly known as Cambodia, in eff ect has in Vietnam. But it is all a tragedy as far
been overthrown and the position of first as this republic is concerned. It is the
responsibility has been taken by Lon Nol. worst tragedy in our entire history.
I think if anything is going to be
In Cambodia we are witnessing the done it is going to be up to King Savang
folly of the American desire to export its Vatthana in Laos, SRI, and Prince
ORDER OF BUSINESS
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tern-
pore. Does the acting minority leader
seek recognition? ,
Mr. PACKWOOD. I do not.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
pore. Under the previous order, the Sen-
ator from Oklahoma (Mr. HARRIS) is
recognized for 15 minutes.
(The remarks Mr. HARRIS made at this
point on the submission of Senate Reso-.
lution 282, dealing, with the plight of mi-
norities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, are
printed in the RECORD under Submission
of a'Resolution.)
ORDER OF BUSINESS
The ACTING- PRESIDENT pro tem-
poire, Under the previous order, the dis-
tinguished Senator from Wisconsin is
recognized for not to exceed 15 minutes:
(The remarks of Senator NELSON Oil
the introduction of S. 3378, dealing with
tax reform, and the ensuing discussion
by Senators TUNNEY, -A'IONDALE, KENNEDY,
and MANSFIELD are printed in the section
of the RECORD devoted to the transaction
of routine morning business under State-
ments on Introduced Bills and Joint
Resolutions.)
not have them forced upon them, ity and peace can be returned to their
Two years have'elapsed since the over- respective countries.
throw of Prince Norodom Sihanouk and Let us take a look at the statistics.
the result has been chaos. Two years la- These are not the latest statistics but
ter seven-tenths of Cambodia is under they are up to February 19, 1972. Combat
the control of hostile forces; and 2 years wounded, Americans, 302,651; combat
later, out of an estimated. population of dead, Americans, 45,650; dead from other
7 million, one-third has become homeless. purposes, American, 10,077, for a total
The not-result has been nothing but de-, of 55,727 Americans dead as of Febru-
struction and ruin. .. ary 19; 1972, and total American casual-
Thera is, of course, the makings of a ties as of the same date of 358,378.
constitutional republic, but when the As far as others are concerned, we find
constitution supposedly was to have been that the South Vietnamese have suffered
put into effect Loll Nol threw it to one death loses of 145,414 and other free
side and said he would not recognize it. world forces have suffered deaths of 4,838.
So now the constitution and the repub- It is estimated that the other. side has
lie, except in name, have gone down the suffered deaths of 796,458,
drain. Marshal Lon Nol dismissed the I ask unanimous consent to insert in
constitution as unacceptable. He dis- the RECORD a table supplied by the De-
solved the assembly and he has taken ?- ..artment of Defense, which details these
over complete control as a dictator in his casualties.
pitiful country. There being no objection, the table
RE
RD
i
th
t
d i
t
b
,
n
e
CO
e pr
e
n
o
The South Vietnamese Army, the tra- was ordered
clitional enemy of Cambodians, is once as follows:
again penetrating into Cambodia, to the SOUTHEAST ASIA CASUALTIES STATISTICAL
extent.of approximately 30,000'or 40,000 SUMMARY
troops. Does anyone remember the'inva- The Department of Defense released today
lion of Cambodia just about 2 years the cumulative casualties reported in con-
ago? Does anyone know what has hap- nection with the conflict in Southeast Asia
as of 19 February 1972.
pened since? Well, the North Vietnamese Total U.S. deaths from action by hostile
are back where they used to be, in the forces is the sum of the following categories:
area. of the Parrot's Beak. More of Cam- Killed in Action, Died of Wounds, Died While
bodia is under the control of the North Missing,, and Died While Captured. Lines I
e and their allies and more of through 4 subdivide casualties by oause or
me
Vi
t
na
s
e
TRANSACTION OF ROUTINE MORN- Cambodia has been destroyed in the category. Line 5 provides an additional break-
ING BUSINESS . meantime. down of the same totals by environment
(air or. ground). Totals are cumulative
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under So I would hope that those who are ad- from January 1, 1961 through February 19?
the previous order there will now be a vocating continued aid to this small 1972.
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 C
Approved For Release 2QQP/gR' l FS7 IA-RDP80-01601
Y fl
1PDry`1rL1d gat
By Lucia Mount
staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
Sen. Stuart Symington (D) of Missouri saw no particular reason why the
.46-page statement of the Defense Department witness should be classified as
"secret." Never a man to mince words, he bluntly suggested as much to the
witness.
Only a few hours after the Senate Armed Services Committee executive
session, the Senator had his answer in the form of declassification of the
entire statement with the exception of two sentences - and even on those,
be was told, the need for secrecy was questionable.
The debate in Washington over the executive branch's need for secrecy
Continues as 4''. orausly as it did in the days when the Pentagon papers
were published and behind-the-scenes minutes of the. administration's
India-Pakistan policy were disclosed.
Only this month, for instance, the President moved to cut the scope of
government classification by halving (to 12) the number of federal agencies
allowed to stamp "Top Secret" on government papers and by speeding up
the automatic declassification procedure.
Much of the prodding for. such change., limited as the results appear to
h " from Congress Conceding the need for secrecy in certain
m
STATINTL
e ?
some, as co
delicate diplomatic and defense matters, the legislative branch nonetheless .
continues to try to narrow the radius. ,
One of the foremost champions of the public's right to know and of a
more assertive role for Congress in foreign policy is the tall and courtly
Senator Symington. This onetime businessman, secretary of the Air Force,
and presidential candidate (1950) who now is serving on three of the Senate's
key defense and foreign-policy committees, sees the issues from a unique
vantage point.
Despite the military element in his background and his consequent service
on the National Security Council, the Senator says he thinks far too much
information is being withheld from Congress StifTer policy urged Symington argues that national security
by the executive branch, no. longer, if it ever was, a ? physical, mil
To remedy this lack of an outside check, Mary matter but also a question of having
"I 'don't get enough information on which the Senator proposes creation of a select viable economy and of - "remember, I'm
to make my decisions, and I resent that," Senate committee on the coordination of Democrat" - credibility and public faith
he conmmented in the course of a recent U.S. Government activities abroad, to over- policies of the national government.
luncheon interview. "If we could just get see the operations of such influential groups He has withdrawn his support of the w,
this passion for secrecy out of the way ... as the Central Intelligence. Agency and then Vietnam for many reasons, not the lea:
having run quite a few businesses, I have Defense Intelligence Agency. The proposal, of which are economic. Also, he sees a U.;
a difficult time voting other people's?money in the form of a resolution, is in committee. weakness for pushing people aside and sa,
in the blind. There's just no true accounta- In the meantime, Senator Symington, ing, "Let us show you hose to fight." 1
bility." who has traveled widely in the course of terms of national security, he sees Wester
Following up his words with action, the his work on the Foreign Relations and Europe and the Middle East as much moi
Senator from Missouri is trying to obtain Armed Services Committees, considers con- important to the United States.
declassification of a report recently -com-
pleted trol of the purse ,by Congress an effective Time will tell whether the Senator and.h
seurity for the Senate agreements sub and -committee on commitments nts weapon for pulling more information from colleagues succeed in' getting the inform security
abroad which he chairs. He admits that the executive branch. tion from the White House that they see]
"If we keep voting the money, we're vol- It is noteworthy that Senator Symingtc
"the going is a little heavy." secured declassification status last ?Decen
Based on firsthand. visits to Thailand, untarily abdicating our constitutional pre- rogative," -he says. "We should refuse the ber for a voluminous, two-year subcomrr.i
Laos, and Cambodia -in January by two money until we get the facts." tee report on U.S. commitments abroa(
subcommittee. staff members, the report Among its points - bound not to plea!
concludes that while the war in Vietnam Information and power are closely linked the executive branch - was the assertic
is indeed win ling down,' war in Laos and in his view. He is fond of quoting a comment that multimillion-dollar U.S. support of t Cambodia. is increasing in intensity. As made 15 years ago by the late Dean Ache- 30,000-man army in Laos could in no wa
the Senator describes it in a letter accom- son, former secretary of state, that the be considered an intelligence operation.
paning the report to Sen. J. W. Fulbright shift of power from Congress to the White .for the Senator's role in all this, Re
(D) of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate House was. the greatest change. in govern- Jas f r the Senator's
(r' of role in all i, the Se Foreign :Relations. Committee,' " We. are of. meat in this century. Jame son, notes in his book "The State'
fered nothing . . . but the prospect of more of "If that was true before Kennedy and Game tn t any argument or a State!
the same, at higher cost." Senator Syming- Johnson, how much more true is it today?,, his father "displays a solidarity of dete challen~
ton further t an w e
1446191 in his eye Gatilm s the jaw line of M
ties, such as tr-ose inaos"andamoia, t f 'l ush"more.'
f +V, lied wr- veers
.
c
so?
a e-
have strong foreign-policy ramifications and A? supporter o L
ll, now before Congress, which seeks to A formidable challenge to any administr
tinn.
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-0160.1 R
.Two years ag o, the Senate Foreign
Relations Ccmmittee learned that
Atrerican furcign-aid funds were
b iu j used to ls:ty foe the C~n1r 1
Intelli~,etice Agency's i7iiiitary opera
Lions in Laus. A few nionths later, Dr.
John I-lannah,, administrator of -.the
Agency for international Develop-
inent, told an interviewer, ."I have to
-
.admit that this is true." After repeat
. ed. protests groin senators over the
use of. AID funds by the CIA, how-
ever,Hannah wrote to Sen. Edward
Kennedy that "efectivc at the be-
.-ginning of fiscal year 1972, all of the
t1ID financing with which you have
been .concerned will be terminated."
But it wasn't. Aceord.ng to a report
by the General Accounting Office,
;.the congressional investigating body,
nearly half of the U.S. funds appro-
priated to help civilian victims of the
war in Laos are still being diverted to
the CIA's secret guerrilla army in that
country. The report,, a summary of
:.which was made public by Kennedy.
:!d.a
Saturday, showed that .about
million in public-health funds admin
istered by AID arc being diverted-
e:tc'i y:;a.r. V!t)CeO e', ccln essianal
sources indicated that another 'ac-
counting-office report, expected later-
this month, will disclose that AID'S.
refugee-assistance programs in Laos,
have also been diverted to military-
Despite administration assurances to
the contrary, then, the CIA still has'
its hand in the non-military foreign
,,.id till. Thr_e"explanations for that'
,ern nossibie. One is that AID's ad
ministrator didn't l n6v what was
going on in his own agency. Ancther
is that he delllierately misled the
Senate. The third is that the adin+n-
istr.:tion, after llrynnah's letter was
written, decided to resunie the financ-'
ing of CIA military activities with
AID funds,- but didn't bother telling;
the Senate about it., In any case, some:
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 THE MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE
Approved For Release 2000/05/15 M I*- VP80-01601 R
CIA'S hand is still in the till
T~vo years ago, the Senate. Foreign
Relations Committee learned that
American foreign-aid funds were
being used to pay for the Central
Intelligence Agency's military opera-
tions in Laos. A few months later, Dr.
John Hannah, administrator of the
Agency for International Develop-
ment, told an interviewer, "I have to
admit that this is true." After repeat-
ed protests from senators over the
use of AID funds by the CIA, how-
ever, Hannah wrote to Sen. Edward
Kennedy that "effective at the be-
ginning of fiscal year 1972, all of the
AID financing with which you have
been concerned will be terminated."
But it wasn't. According to a report
by the General Accounting Office,
the congressional investigating body,
nearly half of the U.S. funds appro-
priated to help civilian victims of the
war in Laos are still being diverted to
the CIA's secret guerrilla army in that
country. The report, a summary of
which was made public by Kennedy
STATINTL
Saturday, showed . that about $2.5
million in public-health funds admin-
istered by AID are being diverted
each year. Moreover, congressional
sources indicated that another ac-
counting-office report, expected later
this month, will disclose that AID's
refugee-assistance programs in Laos
have also been diverted to military
uses by the CIA. -<
Despite administration assurances to
the contrary, then, the CIA still has
its hand in the non-military foreign-
aid till. Three explanations for that
seem possible. One is that AID's ad-
ministrator didn't know what was
going on in his own agency. Another
is that he deliberately misled the
Senate. The third is that the admin-
istration, after Hannah's letter was
written, decided to resume the financ-
ing of CIA military activities with
AID funds, but didn't bother telling
the Senate about it. In any case, some
corrective measures are in order.
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 .i yAQ1 T-11 E0
Approved For Release 20 ,0L0A 5LSUlA-RDP80-01601 R0001MR0001-3
nompenh Is Hit by 100 Rockets;
10 Killed in Major Attack by Foe
PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Tues- ernment base at Long i icng, l
e des
i
Pl
I
n
a
day, March 21-Enemy troops just south of the
launched a major rocket attack Jarres, was reported under
od
nh
nom
-
-
p..
a/, ---
against A
- "
The at least 10 persons and set- The situation
.ting blocks of houses on fire.
At least 100 rockets struck
the capital city and its suburbs
over a period of several hours
beginning at 1:30 A.M. By 4
.A..M. relative quiet had settled
over the city.
There were reports of fight-
ing at the site of a radio trans-
mitter.
Flames from burning buildings
flit the predawn skies. Ambu-
lances drove through the streets
and rescue teams worked to
find the dead and injured. First
reports indicated that there
were many wounded.
Ten rockets fell near the
Ministry of National Defense
and set 'several homes afire.
There were no immediate re-
ports about foreigners in the
city, but the United States Em-
bassy did not appear to have
been hit.
Meanwhile, the military situ-
ation in the southeastern prov-
ince of Preyveng was described
as "serious" by the Cambodian
command after enemy gunners
hit two towns yesterday. A
South Vietnamese ammunition
I honga - .::: i" Cni1f Of
@ Tie g~? Tenkie
It
\ zrti\Dy9
Pleiku
The Now York Times/March 21, 1972
Vast fires were touched
off at Pnompenh (1). In
Laos, Long Tieng (2) was
under heavy attack. In
North Vietnam (3), a U.S.
jet bombed a radar base.
mWin ` support base at Nam
Thong, six miles northwest of
Long Tieng, and seized control
of a commanding position. on
Skyline Ridge, a 1,500-foot-
high natural harrier that over-
looks the Long Tieng airstrip.
The ridge forms the northern
defenses of Long Tieng.
By yesterday afternoon, the
informants here reported,
North Vietnamese infantrymen
had seized three Laotian heli
copter pads along the ridge.
Enemy gunners, reportedly
closed the Long Tieng airstrip
today by firing 82-mm. mor-
tars and DK-82 recoilless rifles
from the heights into the val-
ley. Other enemy units were
said to be pounding the base
with long-range 130-mm. artil-
lery from the southern tip of
the Plaine des Jarres.
The fall of Long Tieng
would be a heavy psychologi-
cal blow to the Laotian Gov-
ernment. It would mark the
farthest southward advance by
enemy forces in northern Laos
and would open the way, if the
enemy chose to take it, to push
toward Vientiane, the adminis-
trative capital of Laos, nearly
-80 miles to the south.
New Strikes In North
SAIGON, South Vietnam,
March 20 (AP)-The United
States command reported today
that the 100th "protective- re
action" air strike of the year
was flown last night over
North Vietnam.
The command said a Navy
A-6 fighter-bomber made the
attack against a radar site
about 35 miles north of the
demilitarized zone straddling
the border between the two
Vietnams.
Two other United States jet
planes raided an antiaircraft
battery and a radar site in the!
North earlier yesterday. Pilots l
said they believed the emplace
ment had been destroyed.
The United States command
dump was destroyed, six per- one official source said. Other
sons were killed and at least sources said Long Tieng, head-
24 were wounded. quarters of Gen. yang Pao and
The command said that his American-supported guer-
Routte 15,' a secondary road rilla army of Moo tribesmen,
linking the two towns of Neak- /was "all but lost."
Long Tieng, which has also
luong and Preyveng, had been served as a base for the opera
cut off, leaving Preyveng "iso- tions of the United States Cen`
dated." Efforts to open the road, tral Intelligence Agency in
30 miles southeast of Pnom- northern Laos, has frequently
attack in
m
r
ene
y
come unde
penh, were unsuccessful yes- recent years. But the assaults ~ said the North Vietnamese guns
terday, despite close American so far this year.- in Januarys had opened fire on a United
and Cambodian air support and, and again in recent days -! States reconnaissance plane be-
ammunition air drops. appear to have been carried out for the American planes fired
r
Field officers 'on the road with greater force than ever stheir
ites were said toebewtrack tracking
said they had called for help
from South Vietnamese troops
more than 50 miles away at the
town of Chipoo on Route 1
linking Saigon and Pnompenh.
before. other United States planes.
The current all-out offensive. In -other war developments;
was 'reportedly begun on Sat- South Vietnamese forces on the
urday morning by 4,500 to 11th day of " their drive to
6,000 North Vietnamese troops smash enemy base camps in
backed by four . tanks and eastern Cambodia reported that
heavy artillery. Informed i they had uncovered more large
sources said that the enemy I caches of food and weapons in
forces "first routed Laotian and an area 85 to 100 miles north po- Thai. defenders from all he east of Saigon and 10 to 15
sitions in the vicinity of tthe I miles inside Cambodia.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
Key Base Besieged
VIENTIANE, Laos, March
20 (AP)-A major enemy at-
tempt to capture the key Gov-
 ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH
Approved For Release ?0'11% : CIA-RDP80-01601 RO
-Peace Funds For War
A new disclosure by Senator Edward M. Ken-
nedy of the misuse of foreign aid funds in
Laos provides more evidence that the Nixon
Administration is determined to ignore the
will of Congress on Indochina. Despite the
fact that the Agency for International Devel-
opment assured Senator Kennedy in writing
last year that AID public health funds would
not be used to subsidize the Central Intelli-
gence Agency's guerrilla war in Laos, the
General Accounting Office has found that the
diversion of AID money for military purposes
is still going on.
Meanwhile civilian casualties in Laos, for
which the U.S. government is largely to blame
and for which AID funds are supposed to be,
allocated, are being neglected. The GAO report
to Senator Kennedy's judiciary subcommittee
on refugees said: "There is virtually no indig-
enous medical capability in Laos to meet the
immediate or long range public health needs
of the general population or to treat casualties
in war zones." Yet nearly half of the $4,956,000
in AID funds Intended for the relief of civilian
war casualties in Laos in 1972 is still being
diverted to the CIA's guerrilla war.
Since the CIA has already circumvented
previous congressional attempts to cut financing
of the secret war in Laos and since President
Nixon has said he will not be bound by a
congressional act calling on him to set a date
for withdrawal from Vietnam, this latest evasion
of a mandate from Congress is not surprising.
It only adds one more item to the long record
of deceit on the war. AID has now made its
contribution to the credibility gap and become
another agency that has fallen prey to the
corrupting influence of an immoral war that
has already thoroughly undermined American'
avowals of humanitarian purpose in Asia.
STATINTL
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 ST. LOUIS POST DISPATC3
Approved For Release 20b/'ft 1M-RDP80-01601
CIA Uses Health Aid Funds
For Combat Role In Laos
WASHINGTON, March 18 U31. ,The escalating human toll
American foreign aid health throughout the area continues
funds continue to be used secret- to be of too little concern to
ly to finance a Central Intelli- government, w h i c h bears a
Bence Agency combat role in heavy responsibility for contrib-
Laos even after officials prom- uting to the tragedy," Kennedy
ised the practice w o u I d be said.
stopped, the General Accounting The report said, "There is
medical
Office said in a report made
public Saturday night.
The document was disclosed
by Senator Edward M. Kennedy
(Dem.) Massachusetts. It said
that despite assurances to Ken-
nedy's refugee subcommittee by
John Hannah, administrator of
the Agency for International De-
velopment, AID f u n d s pro-
grammed for civilian war cas-
ualties and health care in Laos
continued to be used to support
o
ow
enough to a
military efforts.
Kennedy said much of the re- conclusions about the extent of
port was classified secret and war casualties in Laos.
that he was permitted to dis- It said that in a six-month
close only a heavily sanitized period in 1971, war casualties
treated at all U.S. AID-support-
summary. ed medical facilities averaged'
Even so, he said, the fact re- 1072 a month..
mains that "thousands of civil-
ian war casualties in Laos are
continuing to document a shad-
owy war in which the purpose
and degree of American partici-
pation are still being kept from
the American people.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
virtually no indigenous
capability in Laos to meet the
immediate or long range public
health needs of the general pop-
ulation or to treat casualties in
war zones."
The GAO report said a Fili-
pino charity called "Operation
Brotherhood" ran virtually the
only acceptable hospitals in the
country.
The GAO said available data
were not complete or reliable
reach any
it t
ll
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-
LOUIS, MO.
r - _,
S - 511. 'i6"
21
. .s
Plead= Funds For JV(u-
A new disclosure by Senator Edward M. Ken-
nedy of the misuse of foreign aid funds in
Laos provides more evidence that the Nixon
Administration is determined to igr:ore the
will of Congress on Indochina. Despite the
fact that the Agency for International Devel-
opment assured Senator Kennedy in writing
last year that AID .public health funds would
not be used to subsidize the Central Intelli-
gence Agency's guerrilla war in Laos, the
General Accounting Office has found that the
diversion of AID money for military purposes
is still going on.
Meanwhile civilian casualties in Laos, for
which the U.S. government is largely to blame
and for which AID funds are supposed to be
allocated, are being neglected. The GAO report
to Senator Kennedy's judiciary subcommittee
on refugees said: "There is virtually no indig-
enous medical capability in Laos to meet the
immediate or long range public health needs
of the general population or to treat casualties
in war zones." Yet nearly half of the $4,956,000
in AID funds intended for the relief of civilian
war casualties in Laos in 1972 is still being
diverted to the CIA's guerrilla war.
Since the CIA has already circumvented
previous congressional attempts to cut financing
of the secret war in Laos and since President
Nixon hzs said he will not be bound by a
- i; ncssir,nal act calling on him to set a date
f(,r wi,hdrawal from Vietnam, this latest evasion
of ;,. mandate from Congress is not surprising.
~t olily adds one more item to the long record
of deceit on the war. AID has now made its
contribution to the credibility gap and become
a-aother rgency that has fallen prey to the
corrupting influence of an immoral war that
has already thoroughly undermined American
avowals of humanitarian purpose in Asia.
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 Approved For Release 20QQj/0j519ZlA-RDP80-01601 R
;.,CAsonCheng Base
Reels, ref en ers Flee
-- By D. E. Ronk
Special to The Washington Post
VIENTIANE, Laos, M a r c h' that of the CIA were moved
20-North Vietnamese infan- . about 20 miles southwest - of
try Long Cheng recently.
and tanks launched a
ials have been
ffi
US
U
S
o
c
.
.
heavy attack on Long Cheng, .
downgrading the military im.
the U.S. Central Intelligence portance of. the Long Cheng
Agency base 80 miles north of said" base, insisting that since the
Coda and
base spokesmen er) shift of all command and sup-
crumbling ubase under r the he were ply operations to safer areas
on-I the base is now merely a tacti-
slau cal position rather than a stra.
Enemy forcefs were said to
have captured much of Long tegic area. Other American
Cheng Valley defense lines sources have said the down-
and the situation was de- grading is an effort by the
scribed by U.S. officials as U.S. mission to hide the signif-
"critical and rapidly deterio- icance of the partial abandon-
ment of Long Cheng.
ratino." The current assault on Long
Laotian volunteers were Cheng began Saturday with si-
said to be fleeing. in large multaneous attacks on govern.
numbers. Enemy artillery has ment positions along the Sky.
,completely closed the base's line Ridge, a 1,500-foot line
of the
ri
th
m
airstrip. along the nor
Lona Between six to eight battal- buil't' T-34 iitanks valley. Soviet
are taking
ions of irregular Laotian part in the assault.
troops, who were flown into liew Road
nu
J
the Long Cheng areas in a
Communist a rt i l ler y has
ary and' February, have muti- Comm
been un st a the base. has U.S
nied against their commander sources said they believe that
and abandoned their positions. the guns were moved into po-
Informed sources said about sitions on a new road con-
t n irregulars !
la
m
?
ti
t
se
j,
na
ie
1,VUV ao
strutted by Forth
tiained and paid by the CIA I engince_s from the Plain of The South Vietnamese coma..,,
rebelled against their com- Jars across the north side of mand reported, 64 government
wander; Brig. Gen. Thao Ly, the valley. and the gu24-hour period errilla operations that
claiming he reneged on a A U.S. embassy spokesman
promise to replace them. They said air strikes by U.S. Phan-' ended at dawn today, with 86.
forced 15 truck drivers to take torn F4 jets have "increased'i enemy soldiers slain, six gov-
'
in support o
them to Vientiane. considerably
Long Cheng's defense now Long Cheng defendersi lie
depends orb CIA-trained, D Ieo said B-52s are "probably
and Thai volunteers. The bombing enemy positions.
sources said that Laotian But military sources here
troops operating with Gen. expressed doubts that the gov-
Vang Pao's RIeo force at ernment can hold Long Cheng
Bouam Long, about 50 miles ? despite Lao and U.S. tactical
north of Long Cheng, are re- air support.
portedly balking at going into Long Cheng, one official
combat. Thai irregulars are said, is "all but lost."
said to be attempting to leave
the base.
Meo troops are reported to
have attacked the enemy from
the rear but the operation
was described by the sources
as a desperate gamble to draw
the North Vietnamese away
from Long Cheng.
Defense Network
Long Cheng is a complex
defense network encompass-
ing about 15 square miles cen-
tered around the former base
STATINTL
LAOS
Sam Neua ?
y of Jars
Sams/{bGpen"
Thoung otong
Cheng
tered a North Vietnamese flo-
tilla of 100 boats reportedly
hauling supplies along a river
in the Central Highlands,
spokesmen said.
wounded. The U.S. Command
said three Americans also,
were wounded during the pe-
riod.
American troop strength in
South Vietnam fell 5,900 men
last week, the biggest drop in
six weeks, the U.S. Command
also reported..
S. Vietnam Troops
Storm Enerny Base
SAIGON, March 20 (UPI)-
South Vietnamese soldiers and
tanks stormed a Communist
supply base in eastern Cam-
bodia today, the Saigon com-
mand reported.
American warplanes at-
tacked Communist antiaircraft
sites in North Vietnam, raising
to 100 the number of "protec-
.'he Washington Po9t
of o r bons of C~ n. ~ n?~ five rec~y~ q~ 1~a ag t
Pao. &r14ZXt~dattOlf F l loo 4~tdb~ iii ye RDP80-01601-R000600140001-3
most as many as recorded all.
last year.
Y. .........A.. .ten he4-
 WASHINGTON STAR STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/0541 QAA I RDP80-01601 R00
Laos Fig
ht Rages
SAIGON (AP)-Hard f i g h t i n g
raged today for the fourth day at the
Long Cheng base in northern Laos.
In South Vietnam, North Vietnam-
ese sappers invaded the big South
Vietnamese base at Tay Ninth and
killed 13 government troops.
Informed sources in Vientiane,
the Laotian capital, said Laotian and
Thai forces had recpatured a helicop-
ter pad on the Skyline Ridge overlook-
ing Long Cheng. But North Vietnam-
ese troops holding two other positions
in the center of the ridge continued to
pound the base in the valley below
with heavy mortar barrages.
The North Vietnamese were re-
ported using frontal "human wave"
assaults against the entrenched de-
fenders, and American officials in
Vientiane said they believed the Com-
munists were suffering heavy losses.
But few casualty figures were avail-
able.
Long Cheng, 78 miles northeast of
Vientiane, is considered the most im-
portant government base in northern
Laos. When it was threatened with
capture in December, the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency pulled out the ex-
tensive electronic equipment it main-
tained there, but it is still the head-
quarters for Gen. Vang Pao's army
of Meo tribesmen.
The Meos have suffered heavy
losses, and American officilas say the
base now is defended mostly by Lao-
tian and Thai irregulars who, like the
Meos, are financed, trained and ad-
vised by the CIA.
The sapper attack at Tay Ninh, 60
miles northwest of Saigon, came be..
fore dawn. The sappers slipped in
under cover of a rocket and
mortar barrage and hurled
satchel charges into a military
supply center on the base, kill-
ing 13 South Vietnamese sol-
diers and wounding 14.
The South Vietnamese com-
mand said damage to. the
base was light, and the defend-
ers killed. 16 of the attackers
and caputured three, along
with two rocket launchers,
seven AK47 assualt rifles,
rockets, mortars and explo-
sives.
At the same time enemy
frogmen set off a mine on a
ferry nearby, damaging it
heavily.
The Tay Ninh base is the
headquarters for the drive
which 8,000 South Vietnamese
troops are making against en-
emy base areas in eastern
Cambodia.
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 STATINTL
ved-Fot?-Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R0006
SAN FRA, 0 , CAL.. 1 ,
EXAMINER
E - 204,749
EXAMINER & CHRONICLE'
9 - 640,004
MAR 2 0 ISrZ
Laotians Mutiny
At Big CIA Base
VIENTIANE 1 L a o s.t --
About 1000 Laotian troops in-
volved in the defenses of the
C[A base at Long Cheng mu-
tinied this weekend and re-
turned to their homes in the
South, informed sources re-
ported today.
Long Cheng itself was tin-
der siege and its defense
was doubtful.
North Vietnamese troops
in strength attacked Long
Clieng today with hanks,
heavy artillery, rockets and
mortars.
Government sources ex-
pressed doubt their troops
could hold out despite assist-
ance from Lao Air force
T-28s and giant U.S. B-52
bombers.
The ['all of Long Cheng. a
big C e n t r a I Intelligence
Agency base 120 in i 1 e s
northeast of Vientiaife.conua
open the way for a North
Vietnamese drive on Vieziti-
ane itself. The base is head-
quarters for Meo Gen. Vana
Pao, whose Meo tribesmen
and Thai mercenary army is
supported by the CIA.
Vientiane
Informed sources said the
mutineers were in the Lao-'
tian special task force regi-
ments known as "Group Mo-
bile," also trained by the
CIA, and that they refused
to follow their commander,
Brig. Gen. Thao Ly,. claim-
ing he reneged on a promise
to replace them.
The sources said the muti-
neers belonged to one of two
regiments flown from Sa-
vannakhet, 175 miles south-
east of Vientiane, to Long
l Cheng. One group 01 1UW
men was at Long Cheng it-
self and second group of lo(Y0
took part in an abortive gov-
ernment offensive on the
Plain of Jars last month.
Left for Dome
The mutineers were quot-
ed as saying they were
promised they Would be re-
turned to Savnnakhet Within
three months.
When the Communists re-
newed their offensive
against Long Clieng last
weekend they saw their
chances of returning home
dwindling and forced 15
truck drivers at gunpoint to
take them to Ban Son, a sup-
ply base 2A miles southwest
"The,situation is critical,"
one official source said. Oth-
er sources said Long Cheng
is "all but lost."
The offensive, believed to
involve virtually all North
Vietnamese troops in the
Plain of Jars area, began
early Saturday with simulta-
neous attacks against Thai
and Laotian positions.
B y yesterday afternoon
North Vietnamese infantry-
men had seized three heli-
copter pads along Skyline
Ridge, 'a 1500 - foot - high
natural barrier that forms
the northern defenses of
Long Cheng.
The North Vietnamese
were reported this morning
to be ~FiTq" 82mm mort
ars
of Long Cheng.
and DK-82 recoilless rifles
They arrived in Vientiane from the ridge into Long
Saturday night and left for Cheng valley, closing the
home yesterday. airstrip
The sources said some
members of the Group Mo-
bile who were airlifted to
Bit a m Long during the
weekend for ,operations
north of the Plain of Jars
refused to leave camp.
Their status was uncer-
tain., but Gen. Vang Pao was
reported trying to moust a
diversionary move in the
area north of the plain to re-
lieve the pressure on Long
Chelig. -
A North Vietnamese force
estimated as the equivalent
of two divisions routed Thai
and Laotian defenders from
all positions in the vicinity
of Sam Thong, six miles
northwest of Long Cheng,
and seized control of a posi-
tion on Skyline Ridge, over-
looking the Long Cheng air
strip, the sources said.
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 V
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R
STATINTL
DALLAS, TEX.
NEWIMAR 1 9 1972
E - 242,928
S - 284,097
CIA's `Secret Army' Filmed
THE Central Intelligence Agen-
cy's "secret army" in Laos is
the subject-for, the first time-of a
detailed. documentary film which
'NBC News' "Chronolog" will present
Friday, at 7:30 p.m. on the NBC Tel-
evision Network.
The documentary also includes
exclusive footage of the secret
army's commander, Meo tribal lead-
er General Vang Pao, as he gives
front-line directions to his irregular
troops in their most desperate battle
to date.
It includes, too-for the first time
"This is the great untold story of ever in the press or on television-an
interview with one of the CIA's ad-
the war in Indochina," Bob Rogers, visers to the secret army,
the documentary's producer and re-
porter, says. "While the world has IN ADDITION, the film explores
been watching Vietnam and Cambo- in detail the secrecy-shrouded opera-
at Long Tieng.
_dia, the biggest battle this year-in,
Indochina is being fought in Laos
with up. to three full North Vietnam-
ese divisions committed."
ACCORDING TO Rogers, the
brunt of the fighting is being borne
by the. so-called "secret army" of
General Vang Pao, which is paid,
trained, - equipped and advised by
agents of the Central Intelligence
Agency.
"Their losses have been extreme-
ly high," he says, "but so far they
have given the North Vietnamese a
hell of a fight. I think for the first
time we've managed to penetrate
the veil of secrecy which- has sur-
rounded the war in Laos and have
captured it on film."
This inside view of the secret war
the Laos was shot last month during
the height of this year's North Viet-
namese offensive which, in -terms
of manpower, heavy artillery and.
anti-aircraft guns, has been the big-
gest ever, Rogers notes. .
THE FILM includes exclusive
footage of the secret army composed
of hill tribe guerillas and That
"volunteers" in action.
The film crew traveled to remote
mountain outposts held by the secret
army, and covered the heavy fight-
ing around the threatened CIA base
tions of Air America and its Ameri-
can pilots, whose prime role is to
render logistical support to the se-
cret army and to the thousands of
hill trjhe refugees from the North Vi-
etnamee Invasion,
There is also exclusive footage of,
and interviews with, the handful of
young American Air Force forward
air controllers who, in their unarmed
light planes, direct the massive and
controversial U.S. bombing program
in Laos.
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 Approved For Release 2000/p /1RORDP80-0160
STATINTL
KENNEDYASSCRTSi
1p05 CIVIL FUNDS
STILL CO TO C1!A1
The 'second-'-report is e*- estimated that in eacri year,
petted to be presented later 0'S500,000 to $600,000 addi-
this month .to the Kennedy ?tional. Is also> applicable to
these projects for air transport
committee by the accounting of commodities and personnel.",
office. As part of its over-all ait-'Ithat, on May 7, 1971, follow-
The accounting ofice's report program in Indochina, the`ing his protests over the use
on the "civilian health" pro- Agency for International De- of aid funds by the intelligence
grams in Laos contains a chap- velopment operates Air America a`.enc Dr. Hannah had written
ter on "assistance to Lao and charters planes from com- him that "I can rerror to you
military and paramilitary forces mercial airlines. Earlier esti- now that with one shift made
and their dependents." A sum-' mates by the accounting office early this year and others that
had the C.I.A. providing about will be effective at the begin-
;A db Senator Ken- nhnp of fiscal year 1972, all of
Tells of a Secret Report
That Practice Continues
Despite Assurances
1971
PROMISE 9S
CITED
$2.5-Million for War Relief
Is Said to Be Diverted to
a Clandestine Army
By TAD SZULC'
Spectat to The New York Times
vieW that "I just have to ad-
mit that this is true" and said
the link between had been es-
tablished in 1962.
STATINTL
mary saosthat that section "is 70 per cent of the business for; the A.I.D. financing. with which
the air support program.
classified `secret "' A comparison of the G.A.O., you have been concerned will
While the Kennedy summary estimates with the development be terminated." provided no details on' the re-agency's public. health obliga-j The accounting office re
ported, in Laos shows that about, ported, however, that under an
lationship between the Agency ',half the money is diverted for "understanding" reached be-
for International Development, the guerrilla force of the Intel tween the two-agencies on Feb.
which administers foreign aid, ligence agency. 1, 1971, the C.I.A. had agreed
" 1 I- + s ume ter.
a s
and the ' Central Intelligence
Agency, the Senator com-
.mented that "A.I.D. continued
to furnish substantial amounts
of medical support to Lao mill-
tary et al." with "little or no
The total A.I.D. commitment 111 prtnctp e o
for public health programs in tain costs" of A.I.D. support
Laos in fiscal 1972 is $4,956,000, for the clandestine army.
and the accounting office as-
sumes that nearly $2.5-million
will have been transferred to
the intelligence agency.
and use of the medical support Medical support for the C.I.A.'s
items." army is channeled by the de-
',"WASHINGTON, March 18-= Figures and other?jde!'fj velopment agency through the
Nearly half of . the United I,the G.A.O. report were made, "Village Health Project," which
States aid funds intended to available to The New York is said to include two hospitalsi
help civilian victims of the war Times today in Congressional and a a hospital nmero . small dispensaries
in Laos are still being diverted' y hospital functioning as
quarters, and they showed that s dispensary, all in rural areas.
J to the Central Intelligence last month the intelligence The G.A.O. report' said tiiit
Agency's clandestine guerrilla agency refunded to the devel-,the purpose of the "Village
army despite the Nixon Ad- opment agency $1.3-million for Health Project" must be clan=
ministration's assurances last medical assistance to clandes- sified "secret." But, elsewhere,
May that this practice would tine army activity and related; accounting office documents
be, hd-ted, according to the air support between last July 1 i stressed that the purpose was
and Dec. 31. 1"to provide essential care, to
General Accounting Office. Refund Called a First military and -paramilitaarryy
I croups, refugees and local vil-
A summary of the secret re- - .It was reported that the ac- Inge communities."
port by the G.A.O., the' Con- counting office estimated that The development agency's
gressional investigating body, these services by A.I.D. to the other public health activity in
was made public today by Sen- C.I.A. would be in excess of Laos is the "Operation Brother-
ator Edward M. Kennedy, $1-million between Jan. 1 and. hood Project," which assists in
Democrat of Massachusetts. June 30, 1972, the second part the operation of hospitals in,
The report was prepared at the of: the 1972 fiscal year for. six urban areas. This has no
which the over-all commit-' known links to the intelligence.
request of his judiciary sub- ments were made, agency.
committee on refugees. The Kennedy committee esti- Investigators in the account-
Based on the report's figures, mates, therefore, that the pres- ing office were said to have
the diversion of public health ent annual figure for the diver- found that under existing prac-
funds, which are managed by sions of public health funds to tice, A.I.D. functions'in Laos as
the Agency for International. the intelligence agency is about the medical arm for the guer-
gency 52.5-million. rills army, providing full medi-
Development, mounts to an Lastmonth's paymentby the
estimated total of $2.5-million C,LA. to the other agency was,: cal logistic. support on the
a yaar. according to the accounting of-, ground and in the air.
Another Report Expected flee, the first refund. The ac- C.I.A. use of the A.I.D. as
part p counting office estimates that screen for military operations
Congressional sources said the nonreimbursed east to in Laos first came to public at-
that another secret General Ac- AJ.D. for supporting the clan- tention two years ago. On
counting Office report -would destine army's medical needs March 4, 1970, the Senate For
disclose detail's an the continu- was about $1.6-million each eign Relations Committee said
of A.I.D.'s refugee-as- 1n* the fiscal years 1970 and that it had received ?confirma
ing use 1971. tion from the intelligences
sistance programs In Laos by 'These totals, however, were, agency of press reports con-1
the intelligence agency for the exclusive of air support for cerning the use of the other
guerrilla army, in addition to military medical aid under agency as a cover.
diversion Qt the public health the international development On June 8, 1970, Dr. John
fund agency's air technical support A. Hannah, the A.I.D. admin
. S- . . .. , _. p r The istrator, said m a radio inter-l
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 A'ASH1_~u'1ON dikU
Approved For Release 200q/%5 :'[8 -RDP80-01601
d lndo'chin'a H ald
Cd a g u 7.C,--
Problem For Moscow } r
0 ~4
By GFUIiG>; SIIER11fAN me
Dicer OLiU...--... 1 aal.uv -....---- - .
sent . a subtle but quite real
The Nixon game plan fora problem for Moscow. On the Japan-either dominate or be - if not decisive - attacks on
Vietnam settlement, say U.S. one hand, U.S. analysts find, excluded completely from In- provincial towns in the north
officials, sup p o s e s private the Russians have used all the dochina. and central parts of South
Chinese and Soviet readiness distrust engendered by Nix- According to U.S. officials, Vietnam.
to contain Hanoi in a balkan- on's visit to Peking against Nixon is prepared to make the The question is whether Ila-
dzed Indochina peninsula. their Chinese rivals. They same pitch in Moscow in May not will stick to these uncom-
Accord id to these sources, have accused China of stab- as he made in Peking in Feb- promising military tactics for
the President made limited bing Hanoi in the back. ruary-that the U.S. and, this taking the South and C- and con-
headway during his" rip to Pe- On the other hand, U.S. offi- time, the Soviet Union agree trolling Laos anambodia -
king. The Chinese refused to vials believe that Moscow is to limit their aid to Hanoi and if it finds Moscow and Peking
consider the Nixon "pitch" for equally worried about becom- Saigon. wavering in their support. At
mutual cutbacks in outside aid the moment, the most officials
ing too committed to Hanoi s No official here believes the here find is that the seeds of
Publicly to North and South Vietnam. designs on Indochina..througlr public response in tiloscow will
the Chinese have the Romanians riid other East uncertainty are c e r t a i n 1 y
an that
there.
,one bfrom e any less Should than
aid
to great lengths to real- Europeen diplomats in contact
sure North Vietnam that Nix- with Washington, the Russians cut -b a ck happen, these on was told he could make have hinted that they have no sources say, it will en an ere
.peace directly with Hanoi and desire to turn North Vietnam mal action by the outside pow-
the "resistance groups" in into an "Asian Albania on the 'era, not through formal agree-
ment. and Cambodia. southern borders of China. ? But ? underneath, officials Two principal reasons are Nonetheless, the consensus
here find, Hanoi is still sullen- given. One is the continuing here is that Hanoi is deeply
ly suspicious of this Peking cost of supporting the Hanoi worried about just such out-
line. Analysts believe the reas- war effort. Defense Secretary side pressure for a compro-
surances foresee a settlement Melvin R. Laird last week told mise settlement. Intelligence
which would combine total Congress that Moscow-the reports reaching here, plus of-
Ftmerican withdrawal with de' chief military. supplier of ficial Hanoi comment on Nix-
nial to Hanoi of the negemony North Vietnam-is spendiing on's summitry in both Peking
!it desires outside Vietnam in the equivalent of $6W million a and Moscow, show that the
Laos and Cambodia. year on the war. North Vietnamese are not at
Traditional Suspicion all certain of unyielding Soviet
Russians Worried support.
It is taken as an article of Second, and more important Hesitancy Citecl
faith in this? capital that both politically, the Russians are
history and the dynamics of said to be worried about Hanoi Specialists here go as far as
rival revolutions dictate suspi- involvement in the whole of to suggest that recent North
cion between Hanoi and Pe- Indochina which might drag Vietnamese hesitancy on the
king. For centuries the Viet- Moscow into a confrontation military front may be partly
namese have been resisting with Peking. In this view, the due to this uncertainty. Hanoi
the suzeghbor gnty to the sought by north. their Soviet Union wants to curtail has stationed seven divisions
giant neighbo Chinese power in Southeast in north Laos, opposite. the
Now, in the expert view, the Asia by bolstering Hanoi-but northern part of South Viet-
Chinese used the Shanghai not to the point of a military nam and in the central high-
communique issued by Nixon showdown with Peking. lands, and in Cambodia. Yet
and Premier Chou En-lai to they have failed to launch the
The conclusion, therefore, is all-out m litary action freely
warn :Hanoi _ that it must not that, both the Chinese and the predicted here.
Russians-for different rea- In north Laos, the North Vi-
epect neeighb ghbors tors. While VWhilinto supporting, s
the "people's independence sons-might support a settle- etnamese could certainly take
struggles" in Indochina, the. ment which would turn the the psychologically important
Chinese included a sentence three countries of CIA base
theat Long ir way the
that "Ali foreign troops should. opening y
7.,dochina~--Vietnam, Laos and plain (-,f Vientiane, and gerer-
ce withdrawn to their own Cambodia-into the "Balkans ating pressure on the Laotian
countries." for I3anoi-
Hanoi-
True, the Immediate target, of Asia." government c.~pfor
was the Unied States, but offi Hanoi would be guaranteed sponsored cials Here point out that in any Its independence-and at least That formula would have
peace settlement, this sen- the real possibility of using Laotian Premier Souvanna
tence would also apply to the its political skills and infras Phouma agree to reorganize
North Vietnamese troops cur- tructure in the South to take his government and call upon
rently in Cambodia andLaos. over Saigon. But the North the United States to stop
Also the joint Sino-American would not run Laos and Cam- bombing the Ho Chi Minh trail
endorseme t in the coirrmu- ? bodia, nor :could any of the through southern Laos; At the 000600140001-3
pique of ti wed for t ~
interrernce in other nation's e et Umon, the Um e a es, I ano n r .
affairs could also apply bility to launch embarrassing
 DAILY
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CLEVELAND, OHIO
CALL &. POST' $$
WEEKLYMARR"2g, i81c~
972!
other than securing food to adequately
The CIA-A Pusher rrest the hunger pangs. Famine coupled
TO THE EDITOR With filthy and over crowded living con-
In reading different periodicals, par-- ditions has a tendency to make people
/ticuarly one by Richard Morris, I find irritable, anti-social, immoral, unethical.
there are three communities of America; and apathetic. Misery results from
:.famine, misery, and government incom- socially introduced emotional problems
petence..Narcotics entering the black stemming from just ordinary conditions
community is one of the many in of every American ghetto: disease in-
struments of oppression that has stifled fested living quarters; rats dashing
the mental and physical capabilities of across the bedroom floor; an army of
many blac,Cs in America. roaches scurrying up the kitchen wall; a
It (narcotics) is a multi-billion dollar recently used toilet that doesn't flush;
commodity. So with the highly advanced three families in a one family apartment
technology of Amer?ca that allows uS to and a perennial shortage of money.
venture in outer-space or show full- These favorable conditions which are
length movies of the privacy of the late created by America's system of capitalist
artin L. King's sex life... Then I am democracy and racism should be dealt
convinced that there is no way the drug ? with as severely as the black pusher whc
traffic can flourish in this county without spends his prime in prisons because he's
the full knowledge of the law enfor- trying to survive. When this country
cement and political officers. deals with the CIA, the FBI, local police
When I read articles that tell me that and politicians who profit from the set`
Southeast Asia is the world's opium and distribution of illicit drugs, then I
producing giant with a yearly production can see America well on its way to
of an estimated 1,200 tons which con- eliminating drugs.
stitutes 80% of the supply to the world Yours truly,
and Burma alone delivers 400 tons of Henry Robinson
opium to the world, or that the CIA base 13409 Forest Hill Ave.
in Long Cheng is reported to be the cen- Cleveland, Ohio 44112
traf collecting point for the majority of
opium exported outside of Southeast
Asia, or even that methadone is a
replacement for heroin so the govern-
meat can reap some of the profits, then I
begin to wonder about our so-called
democratic state of order which is sup-
posed to create conditions where by my
fulfillment and progressiveness as
human beings will be recognize and
respected.
Although I am no expert on drug ad-
r. dition, as far as consumption is concer-
ned, I have been exposed to the sickness
and it has brought me to agree with-
Richard Morris, that it is conditions
within the social order of things which
turns one to drugs as a solution or
pleasure. These conditions being famine
and misery. Morris states that famine is
when the normal urge for food cannot be
sufficiently satisfied the result to the
physiogomy of the human being is
disorganization and a general lack of
initiative to indulge in any other activity
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 STATINTL
37AThY wo-ZLD
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Millions show solidarity
with Indochina peoples
Demonstrations and rallies involving millions of people in many
countries this week protested the Nixon government's escalation of
bombings and expressed solidarity with the peoples of Indochina. These'
observances of the World Wide Week of Solidarity called by the World
Peace.Council coincided with important new developments in'Vietnam,
Laos and Cambodia. The 146th session of the Paris talks on Vietnam
was scheduled today (March 16) as the Hanoi and PRG delegations
agreed to resume meetings postponed by the U.S.
In South Vietnam growing opposition to the corrupt. and repressive
Nguyen Van Thieu regime is reflected in demands for Thieu's resigna-
tion by a number of political organizations, including the "Popular
Front of Struggle for Peace," "Association of Buddhists," "Catholic
Movement for Peace." These groups denounce the Nixon 8-point "peace
plan" as a move to preserve and consolidate puppet neo-colonialist re-
gimes in the Indochina countries. Another reflection of the growing op-
position was the arrest and imprisonment by Thieu of 15 South Vietnam-
ese intellectuals, including Professors Ngo Kha and Bui Quang Phu,
composer Phan Tran and the journalist Thieu Sun. Saigon student leader
Huynh Tan Mam has been handed over to U.S. Central Intelligence Agen-
cy agents. In Hanoi a public meeting denounced Thieu and expressed
solidarity with these most recent victims of his regime.
In Phnom Penh, Cambodian university students have again opposed
former Prime Minister Sisowath Sirik?Matak as a flunkey of U.S. im-
perialism. Placards and posters calling for Matak's ouster came after
Gen. Lon Nol, the paralytic puppet who proclaimed himself President
and Prime Minister, embraced Matak.in public following the V.S. favor-
ite's resignation Sunday. On March 15, Lon Nol broadcast an appeal for
more time to replace Matak's regime. His plea was seen as a move to.
stall off further opposition until the U.S.-Saigon 50,000-man invasion
force has won control of the country.
In Laos, despite ceaseless bombings by.U.S. Air Force planes flying
from Thai bases, forces of the Laotian Patriotic Front (Neo Lao lIak Sat;
continued to ,wipe out, puppet and mercenary troops of the U.S. CIA
headquarters in Vientiane. In Hanoi, the Democratic Republic of Viet-
nam's foreign ministry said in the past few days the U.S.. Air Force has
sharply accelerated the raids on Laos, dumping thousands of tons. of
bombs on areas thought to be populated.
Meanwhile, participation in the World Peace Council's World Wide
Week of Solidarity with the Peoples of Indochina was reported in a num-
ber of countries. Protest demonstrations and rallies are being held in
Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Sweden, Britain and, the
Soviet Union. _
The Union of Democratic Women of Austria sponsored a meeting
in Vienna which sent a message to President Nixon protesting the bomb-
ing of Indochina countries, and coupling their expression of solidarity
with the peoples of Indochina with a similar expression of support for
Angela Davis. A similar telegram was sent to Nixon by the executive
committee of the British Communist Party. Swedish Minister of For-
eign Affairs Krister Wickman addressed a meeting and denounced Nix-
on's "Vietnamization" program as intended to continue the aggression.
Czechoslovak. trade unionists at a conference in Karlovy Vary said the
continued U.S. aggression in Indochina shows the aggressive reaction-
ary essence of imperialism remains unchanged.
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 ?A RING 011i POST
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S IS Which states that U.S. funds; s.
, S. ? een shall not be used in Laos for t
h i
d
r
nnihtary support of t
countries. To my knowledge it
\Tiolating is "the first introduction of
gunships.")
I
f
ti
the hell
o
n
orma
c
o o
VIENTIANE, March 15-
Thai air force helicopters,
some of them armed; are
being used in combat here in
apparent violation of the con-
gressional prohibition against
"U.S. financing of third country
forces here.
Thai pilots ase...flying both
By D. E. RonK
Special to The Washington Post
ter>i came to light last week-
an i Iaos\ end when one of the Hueys
crashed just north of Vienti-
ena Anrine a violent thiinrler.
storm, killing . at, least four
crew members."
U.S. spokesmen in Vientiane
denied categorically that the
craft was carrying Americans;
although. It was an armed U.S.
craft of a type not possessed
by the Lao military. Various
other spokesmen confirmed it
was U.S. owned, that it was,
serviced by the Air America
Corp., and that it was going
bat support missions in the from Long Cheng to Udorn,
area of the Long Cheng in"'-j Thailand when it crashed.
tary complex 80 miles north of i Heavy American participa-
here, according to knowledge-i tion in investigations follow-
`able U.S. sources. The Thais, ing the crash raised wide-
o
to Gen. Vang Pao, commander official excitement.
of the irregular forces fighting There is nothing new in
STATINTL
,are using'UH1-E (Huey) hell- spread suspicion here that
.copters on loan from the Americans were.aboard. But
nited States, the sources now, it's generally accepted
'st1Jaid, and fly from Udorn air- that concern over the loss of
:base in northern Thailand. crew and an American craft
Command of the helicopters assigned to a sensitive new
is said to lie with CIA advisors r
rarn caused the flurry of
craft are said to be controlled
through, a U.S. Air Force -
plane circling the area:
(A State Department source
said the Thai. pilots were not
under U.S. command.]
U.S. Mission. spokesmen,
while acknowledging that the
helicopters are armed, said
that 'tfiey are only flying
armed medical evacuation mis-
sions under the command of
Gen. Vang Pao. The spokes,
man will only describe the pi-
`Iots-as non-American and non-
Laotian irregular volunteers
"who are present in Laos under
'the same program that cov-
eted the -entry .of Thai sob
diers.
Informed sources said it was
unlikely that Thailand could
supply enough civilian helicop-
ter pilots for the program be-
'cause of the shortage of
trained personnel in the coun-
tey. Use of Thai military pilots
in American aircraft would
$eem 'to violate the ban
Against U.S. funding of third
Country forces here. -
Thai pilot participation in the
Laotian. war, according to
knowledgeable sources. That
pilots . have secretly been
flying AC-47 "spookie" gun-
ships and T-28 bombers on
combat missions over Laos in.
recent years. It is the type of
aircraft and their closeness to
combat that has changed.
Aside from pilots, That
troops now operating in Laos
may number as high as 10,000
reliable sources here say, with
more. expected as the current
military situation continues to,
(Sen. Stuart Symington (D- .J
Mo.), commenting. on the re-
port of Thai-piloted helicop-
ters being used in Laos, said,
!'This is but another illustra
Yopi ? of. djsregard for. the, l#w]
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Daily World Combined Services
Heavy fighting, continued yesterday in Laos and South Vietnam, while reports in-
dicated a rise in mass desertions from the Saigon puppet army.
In Laos, the major U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency base of Sam The Saigon puppet . regime's CIA. It has been reported that
Thong, 100 miles north of the' military command reported ves- about 4,000 Thai Army troops are
capital city of Vientiane, fell to terday that its troops had won a taking part in the Long Cheng
Lao Patriotic Front forces over "big victory" in the Central battle. The crash of the helicop-
the weekend. Highlands with only "negligible" ter was blamed on "engine trou-
Seven miles ft;rther south, a U.S. air support, and said their ble."
major battle was swirling around troops were fighting "the North
Long Cheng, center of Laos op- Vietnamese 320th Division, the
erations for the CIA. victors of Dien Bien Phu." How-
Giai Phong ("Liberation") ever, the "victory" communi-
News Agency said yesterday that ques sounded rather suspicious
in South Vietnam last year a to a number of newsmen in Sai-
total . of 148,000 Saigon .. puppet gon.
troops had deserted,- including As United Press International
more than 50 percent of the reported from Saigon,."the area
troops who took part in the in- (of the battle) has been a major
glorious February, 1971, _inva-- target for eight-engined B-52s fly-
sion of southern Laos. The ing their bombing missions out of
GPNA said that more than Thailand and Guam." It is known
5,000 U.S. and Saigon service- that other Saigon forces nearby
men were . killed or wounded are receiving heavy U.S. air sup-
last year during actions aimed port from fighter-bombers, heli-
at putting down mutinies within copter gunships and heavy bomb-
the Saigon puppet army, which ers.
steadily grew in number during A top Saigon puppet army com-
the year. mander in the region was fired
There were 2,730 known cases following U.S. political pressure
of entire Saigon puppet army a short time ago, and the U.S.
units refusing to obey orders to has openly tied in the Central
go? into battle, the GPNA said, Highlands "victory" campaign
indicating that there were prob- with President Nixon's "victory"
ably a great many more which prospects in the U.S. elections.
the U.S,-Saigon authorities sue- Later field reports by U.S.
ceeded in covering up. newsmen stated that the Saigon
More battles puppet troops were being led by
In South Vietnam yesterday, U.S. advisers, one of them identi-
the heaviest fighting reportedly fied as Sgt. Frederick Weekly of
was going on in the far south, on
the Ca Mau peninsula, an area' Waterloo, .Iowa, and that "a few which had been repeatedly. de- U.S. Cobra helicopter gunships"
clared "completely pacified" b from the U.S. 52nd Aviation Bat-
the U.S.-Saigon military corn talion at Pleiku. "helped out" in
,wands. the Central Highlands battle.
In nearby Rach Gia province, In Vientiane, Laos, U.S. sources
which a few months ago was admitted that a Royal Lao heli-
blanketed by poisonous aerial copter, which crashed 15 miles
spraying; the Saigon puppet north of the city on Saturday
troops lost 120 killed and -wound- killing all aboard, had contained
ed in three days of hard fight- five high-ranking Thai Army offi-
ing. ?cers.
More battles -erupted east of They admitted that the helicop-
Saigon, near the old imperial ter. had been flying' from the big
city of Hue, and in the Central CIA base area of Long Cheng to
Highlands, which U.S. B-52's Udorn' in Thailand. Udorn is a
have been bombing for the past major U.S. Air Force base in
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. "CIA.Buase in Laos Imperiled.
Vietnamese As Not Attac
By D. E. Ronk
special to The Washington Post
VIENTIANE, Laos, March
14 '-North Vietnamese infan-
trymen launched heavy
ground attacks today against
the Long 'Cheng Central Intel-
ligence Agency base 80 miles
north of here, informed U.S.
sources said.
Long Cheng is in "serious
danger," the sources said, add-
ing that the general offensive
against the base appears to be
under way at last, after weeks
of thrust, parry and counter-
thrust between the attackers
and the progovernment de-
fenders.
If the offensive succeeds, it
could -open the way for a new
Communist drive down High-
way 13 toward Vientiane. Most
sources here say they believe
the action at Long Chong may
Location of CIA base at Long Cheng threatened by attack.
well be one of the most impor-I ment's only effective fighting ley. Heavy fighting was re-
tant battles of the decade-old force. ported in the area of a heli-
Laotian war. Sources herd have suggested copter pad known as Charlie
The North Vietnamese first recently that a major attack Whiskey, which was used in
threatened Long Cheng in De- on Long Cheng would proba-) the January attacks on Long
cember, when they captured ; bly be followed by a push! Cheng to infiltrate the valley.
the Plain of Jars to the north-! down Route 13, the highway1 Skyline Ridge is a. 5,000-foot
i
east earlier
n the dry season
than usual, and began a drive
southward.
In' January". they overran
Long Cheng briefly but with-
drew. The current situation is
more serious, sources here
said, because this. time the
::ommunists have the supply
nd artillery capability to slis-
:ain an offensive to the south.
It is generally believed the
'lorth Vietnamese are at-
tempting to smash Gen. Vang
Pao's army of Meo tribesmen i fr. om 15 miles away, Conamu-
?at.het Lao. If they eliminate
Vang. Tao's army, they will
.liminate the Laotian govern-
that connects Vientiane and
J.uang Prabang.
Such a drive, the sources
say, would probably halt at
the river crossing of Ban Hin
Heup, 50 miles north of Vienti-
ane, from where new calls for
negotiations would originate.
Ban Han Heup is the 1962 divi-
sion and ceasefire line for es-
tablishment of the current
government in Vientiane.
heavy artillery barrage fired
gist troops struck along the
entire length of Skyline Ridge,
the inner defense ring on the
north side of Long Cheng val-
strip of high ground overlook-
ing the runway and headquar-
ters of Long Cheng, the base
used by the CIA to train the
Meo tribesmen in guerrilla
fighting.
[Gen. Thongphan Knocksy,
spokesman for the Laotian de-
fense ' ministry, said shelling
has made Long.Cheng inacces-'
sible except to helicopters. He
said 12 government soldiers
have been killed, United Press
International' reported.]
Sources here said an ele-I
ment of the defending force
attempting 'to make its way
back to Long Cheng from nine
miles to the east was hit by
600 North Vietnamese troops
Sunday morning.
Those defenders were be-
lieved to be part of a guerrilla
task force that Vang Pao sent
into the mountains in an at-
tempt to relieve the pressure
on the base and forestall the
Communist offensive. That
task force was i,.nsuccessful,
acording to sources here.
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 t)B,S,TII,;pxE., SUti ? STATINTL
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Laos, Still a Shadowy War
Over the past decade Americans Laos Is "going public"; in part.
may have known a bit more about ? The . partial publicity has been
events in Laos than in Timbuktu;
but not by much. Laos was a place
of mysterious activities and shad-
owy struggles, - engaged in and
waged by persons and g. cups of
no clear identities. Laos was im-
portant, of course, because it was
e "domino," in the years when the
,word was assumed to have some
sort of sense, but the degree and
character of its importance were
explained to the American public
but vaguely, if at all.
Now, we learn from a Michael
Parks dispatch to The Sun, the. long
official secrecy about the war in
Itary attaches and an estimated 300
CIA "case officers" and "field tech-
forced mainly by American con- nical representatives" amount to;
gressional interest as to what ex- the figures on American air com-
penditures come to in Laos and bat; American involvement in Lao
what the money was being used politics; the extent of thefts from
for, along with an AID require- American supplies and money.
Mont that none of that agency's What it adds up to, it seems to
us, is a slight lifting of a veil that
funds go into Lao military as- leaves Laos shadowy and
sistance or for programs of the still mysterious and that raises mare
Central Intelligence Agency. /insistently, rather. than answers,
And so some facts are coming the questions of just what our pre-
out, but others remain obscure. Mr. cise purpose is, or ever was, in a
Parks has listed them as: The ex- small country whose people have
act number of Thai "volunteers," become increasingly unconsidered
or mercenaries, present there; just by all the combatants in the Indo-
what the activities of some 100 mil- china war.
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WOW
_in Laos'
Hanoi Exhibit 1)epicts '71.-.Victor,
e The writer o} the following or pnotograpns or t'attret Lao1who would then theoretically
dispatch is a freelance journal- and Vietcong troops attending leap from peak to peak."
ist who won the Pulitzer Prizes planning sessions before the By the end of the month, he
in 1970 his disclosure of battle, moving supplies along
for f continued, all the hilltops had
the Ho Chi Minh Trail and at-
lai
the M
y
massacre.
By SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Speclai to The New York Times
HANOI, North Vietnam, March) housing many seemingly un-
d
d
amage
artillery pieces and
11-The defeat of South Viet-I
namese troops during the Laos thousands of neatly stacked
disappointment to _ American i the museum are a number of
military planners, but it has
been widely described in Wash-
ington as only a setback?alona
the battle of Route 9, as it Is
known here, is presented as
an epic, turning point in the
Indochina war and a heroic
offensive at the tune of Tet,
the Lunar New Year.
troops, supported by a vast ar-
ray of United States aircraft,
bled Within Weeks
tacking in Laos. been seized and the paratroops
There are also scenes of de- had retreated.
serted Vietnamese fire bases During the second stage, from
March 1 to March 23, Mr. Thu-
yen continued, Tchepone was
abandoned as an objective and
the main South Vietnamese
forces were reassembled at Ban-
personnel carrier, two heavy border. The museum official,
tanks that appeared to be in who said he did much of the
perfect condition and a dam- research for the exhibit, ex-
aged but largely intact helicop- plained that three brigades were
ter gunship. All had United grouped there.
States markings and all were "On the one hand," he said,
said to have been captured dur- "they could not reach their ob-
ing the Laos operation,
In the museum are dozens of
smaller arms, including Ameri-
can-made mortars and grenade
launchers, as well as displays
of Vietnamese identification
cards and uniforms.
A large poster apparently pre-
pared by the Third Brigade of
a South Vietnamese paratroop
division bears a greeting to for-
eign correspondents. The North
Vietnamese said the poster had
been made in advance for press
namese forces were sent fleeing
in full retreat within weeks.
permission to observe the bat-
tles in. Laos' and officials dis-
couraged interviews with par-
ticipants. But there is no such
reluctance here. Last summer
the National Military Museum
in Hanoi was converted into a
capture of Tchepone.
First Stage of the Battle
Tran Manh Thuyen, director
of the museum, described the
three main states of the battle
as seen by North Vietnamese
analysts.
The first stage, he said
through an interpreter. lasted
from Feb. 8 to Feb. 21 hd in-
volved attacks on the South
Vietnames- rills that were car-
ried by h. iiccoter onto hilltops
along Rout^ 9.
"This was a new tactic used
by American planners," Mr.
Thuyen said, "using the high
ground to airlift puppet troops)
The museum features a large
simulation of the scene at Ban-
dog, complete with helicopters
that crash and burn, during the
three-week siege.
Mr. Thuyen said the South
Vietnamese were forced to dig
deeper and deeper foxholes un-
der heavy artillery barrages
from their foes and could not
rally despite waves of B-5h
bombings and close helicopter
support. The South Vietnamese
supply and equipment loses
were extensive, Mr. Thuyen said.
The widely circulated photo-
graph of soldiers clinging des-
perately to the skids of an evac-
uation helicopter was promi-
nently ci:.:talaved in the museum.
played under the new Vietnami-
zation formula" - using South
Vietnamese troops and Ameri-
can support and firepower-"in
such a major fashion."
A ranking Vietcong official in
Hanoi similarly described the
battle as a sign that "basically
the Vietnamization policy has
failed."
"Of course," he continued,
"it doesn't mean that Vietnami-
zation has-failed completely yet
but that from now on the
United States policy only has
to fail."
Whether that judgment is
right 'cannot be assessed ade-
quately from here, but there is
no question that every Govern-
ment official interviewed in
An informed Western diplo-
mat explained that the battle
came at a "critical time for the
North Vietnamese-it was their
test case against Vietnamiza-
tion."
Results Widely Reported
The diplomat, a longtime ob-
server in Hanoi, said that the
battle came in the aftermath of
the joint allied offensive into
Cambodia in the spring of 1970,
the heavy bombings of North
Vietnam in the early fall and
the November raid on the Son-
tay'prison camp.
Results from the front in Laos
were widely reported in Hanoi's
newspapers and a film strip
was shown on the state-run
helicopter pilots were 'forcedjopera tions in February, 1971.
namese killed or wounded dur- -t that North Vietnam played
Ing the two-month operationmajor pole in the battle.
more than half the original at-
tacking force. The statistic isl
far larger than the official to-i
tal, although some 'roughly
to apply thick grease to their
skids to make it more difficult
to grab hold.
The third and final stage de-
scribed by Mr. Thuyen came at
Khesanh, in South Vietnam,
where the American and South
Vietnamese forces eventually
withdrew under heavy shelling,
again leaving equipment behind.
The North Vietnamese claimed
a- toll of 23,400 South Viet-
equivalent fi?ures v: ere reported;
unofficially later.
Other Claims by Hanoi
= Other North Vietnamese
claims, which were of course
impossible to - verify, . included
230 personnel carriers; tanks
and other vehicles destroyed or
captured; 72 cannon destroyed:
more than 700 helicopters and
airplanes shot down, and four
supply dumps destroyed.
"According to our estimates,"
Approved For Release 2000/05/15a ` y i 00600140001-3
Indochina theater. It was the
lira t1^!e the forces were Prn- .
diers in the ditches along Route
9 as supply trucks rolled past
only a few yards away with
South Vietnamese troops abroad
them," the diplomat related.
"It was fantastic!"
The museum exhibit con-
stantly-speaks of Vietcong and
Pathet Lao troops as doing the
actual fighting, but no foreign
.erver disputes the obvious
 T $U.(
Approved For Release 2000RDP80-01601 R
. -1? W 1 tAR
Laos's public secrets ? .
.' a a.
STATINTL
U.S. now tedds tdee traatPi,
By MICHAEL PARKS
Sun Stall Correspondent
Vientiane, Laos-After a dec-
ade of official American secrecy,
the war in Laos is going public.
United States Embassy offi-
cials here say that the broad
outlines of the American in-
volvement in the war with the
the hiring of foreign mercenary
troops. but not
2. The activities of the more
than 100 military attaches and
the estimated 300 "case offi-
cers" and "field technical rep- The American establish-
resentatives" the Central Intel- extent's increasing acknowledg-
ligence Agency has here. ment of U.S. activities here is
This information would pro- attributable primarily to this
h
t
i
"
ave
on-
We
vide proof for charges that the budget limitat
o :? doing," says a U.S. Air Force
ist Pathet Lao and
u
Co
d
h
hi
n
mm
o
ng we
e account for everyt
United States is violating t
North Vietnamese are known Geneva accords that neutral- now," one American officer officer stationed here.
now although many specifics ized Laos and banned foreign complained-and to the preced- Laotians bitter
__
. ..
d ?....
ilita
er_ .., o
al debate and
niter
n
am
ry p
n
Groups of newsmen have
toured formerly top-secret bas-
es with the chief U.S. intelli-
gence agent as their guide.
Open-about raids
The frequent B-52 bomber
raids ever northern Laos now
are acknowledged and their tar-
gets identified. ? A substantial
part of the American war budg-
et in Laos now is open to
congressional and public scruti-
3. The number of American
fighter-bomber strikes and B-52
missions flown in northern
LV111111ILUOG, YY111L.11 Lilij~GLGU ++~' er its sponsor, Senator Stuart
legislative interest. Symington (D., ?Mo.), also has
But there are a number of stirred bitterness among the
Laos, which would show an I indications that the current rate Lao.
increase in the number of B-52 i of spending here exceeds that "I don't car. if the Amer!-
raids and a 60 to 70 pet cent I allowed on. an annual basis by I cans want to tell the whole
decline in those by the smaller
planes since 1970.
Carrots, sticks
4. The inducements and
threats the U.S. Embassy uses
l+y"Some people, have gotten the I factions to keep the "neutral-
feeling that the intensity of the' ist" government of Prince Sou- Shuffling the count
" says) vanna Phouma, the premier, on "Washin
ton just asked us
increasin
h
g
g,
ere is
war up
a senior American official. "Ac-I an even keel as the country is how many bombs and bullets can.#oreign aid program, not to
r that hasI
ds for Lao
f
d b
un
y a wa
we used. They are figuring liow ~ use any agency
tually what is increasing is our devastate
I I t An with the t o for CIA
ce
l
"We "are just letting people!
know what is happening here.
After all, the North Vietnamese
war up here is increasing," says!
qi senior American official.
"After all, the North Vietnamese)
are the aggressors, not us."
A more cynical European dip-
-llomat takes a different view:
"The Americans have, it is
true, told in general terms what
revealed only 50 per cent of the
facts, many of which were
they omit the details.' Many of
the details are important
Such details include:
L. The exact number of Thai
itary assia on
increasing y ess much they cost," said a top; mi
Lao. official. programs.
5. The thefts of supplies and U.S. '`The cost can be figured lots Many of the recent disclo-
money by Lao officials from I of ways. Do you include han-~ sures here , have been anti-cli-
acknowl-
the U.S. . em programs, es s in dling and transportation costs? matic, simply official acknowl-
order to Uto k keep eep good r igreelatlat in ions Do edgements of what already was
order include development widely known.
with the Vientiane government. Costs? g "Do you include pay for the When correspondents were
The American hierarchy here
to the headquarters of the
world exactly what they are
doing here, but we can't fight a
war counting each bullet and
bomb and rifle," said Sisouk
Na Champassak. the acting I
Laotian defense minister.
American officials here area
also under orders from the U.S.
Agency for International Devel-
Thai volunteers. in the Lao or Laotian
and the Nixon administration in the Thai aid budget? Do you Laotian irregulars at Long
these pgtolt may never address include costs already in the Cheng, described as the CIA's
these 'points, budgets at the bases in Thai- top-secret command post for
A first accounting land? .... I guess the answers years, they were disappointed
depend on how much we to find most of the radio and
But" further details are ex- spend." electronic gear gone.
petted to become public when pOfficials here say that the 11 But American agents werel,
the administration makes its Nixon administration might seen wandering nonchalantly
first six-month accounting of seek a supplemental appropria- around directing air strikes-
ea under the Laotian tion, but wants to avoid a con- just as everyone knew they did.
wa r r bditures budget.
The accounting was ordered gressional clash over the war A British correspondent taken,
b Con ress as art of legisla-, in an election year. up to the Plain of Jars to cover;
Y g p American military-aid admin- 3 government operation camel
lion limiting American military istrators in 'Laos, however, back wondering why he had.
and economic assistance to have exceeded their budgets al-. been barred from covering pre-
Laos to $350 million in the 1972 most every year, sometimes by vious operations.
fiscal year. almost 100 per cent. "Lord only knows what they
This re resents a potential ti, ht the were hiding " he
u
'
is supporting in Laos, how they
were recruited and what they
are paid. The number reported-
ly is being doubled to 12,000. ?
Disclosing any information
about the Thais, American offi-
cials here q~tr~y t
to substan i etT Charges hit
the Nixon administration is vio-
latine a coneressional ban on
g y ,
p Ironically, Congress
s spend- d
jump of $65 million over lash ins limitation is likely to result said.
year. The limit does not include; - Y Top U.S. officials here say
in more American air strikes in
t> its io `tfV>sr`f.`~ ;vivlii h 1-'~ ?R 4"~`"a,&ater and
l'bom s an ue used in these,
hand estimated at between $"i. emmnlete information about the
billion and $2 billion annually 15350 million_ -- ""I military situation to corre-i
Congress and that the Nixon
administration, rather than
seeking legislative approval for
increased spending, will at-
tempt to camouflage the higher
costs through accounting gim-
"What you are' going to see,
come April, May and June
when the money runs short, is
a lot of American pilots doing
the job Lao pilots have. been
 STATINTL
C, '7' 'r'`' ' EIS
.li A;.6 41 #MI ~7 4l~.1
Approved For Release 20q0~0#f' i1;JklA-RDP80-01601 RO
ustralian
anderer . Oani y.,
Jungles With.Pathe-t Lao.-
V
By D. E. Ronk
j
Special to The Washington Post
VIENTIANE, March 9 -
"'When two soldiers wearing
Pathet Lao uniforms
stepped into the trail to stop
me,. I knew the worst had
happened. I had taken a
wrong turning at the wrong
time.- A month later I know
'different. It was a wrong
..turn in the right direction."
John Everingham, 22, of
:Brisbane,. Australia, has
made many wrong turns
during the four years he has
known. Laos. In the past it
was usually just a matter of
retracing. his steps back
along the narrow, steep
-paths that criss-cross Laos'
mountain country, going
back to ask a Meo or Lao
villager the way.
-.But on Feb. 7, it .was dif-
ferent. The two Pathet Lao
soldiers were not hostile,
they simply would not allow
film to turn back. They
beckoned and prodded him
deeper into the mountains,
where he would spend the
next four weeks as an "hon-
ored captive" of the Commu-
nists. This week, soldiers
`guided him to the outskirts
of Luang Prabang, the Lao
royal capital 130 miles north
of here, and told him to go
'home. The following day he
arrived in Vientiane.
Everingham is six feet tall
and weighs almost 200 lbs.
He Is a former weightlifter,
now an . adventurer and
free-lance photographer
with a special desire to
know, understand and pho-
tograph. the embattled Meo
tribe of Northern Laos:
In four years he has
come to be famous here -for
long treks into the wilder-
ness, unarmed, guarded
mostly by his flowing yellow
hair, tiny goatee and sheer
"The first, four days were
the worst," he recalls. "It
minutes, but there wa's a'giit"
reaction to the quiet hostil-
ity whenever we moved into
a new area on the march
away from Luang Prabang.
All the people thought I was
in American pilot or spy
they had captured.
"Everv,I!1e wanted to tell
me how his village had been
oombed. I was lectured by
women, children, , officers,
everyone, about the bombing
of their village and the
spookies," the aerial gun-
ships that spew machine-
gun bullets into suspected
enemy troop concentrations.
"But I was never physi-
cally harmed, nor did any-
one 'try to hurt me. They
just glared until I explained
that I was not a pilot, not an
American. Of course they
usually did not understand
what either an Australian or
a journalist is-they did un-
derstand photographs and
many asked me to photo-
graph the bombing."
From the first meeting on
the trail Everingham's pap-
ers and camera had been
held by the guards. After a
Say and a half march south
from Luang Prabang he was
placed in what he calls a "jog
cabin jail" to wait for clear-
ance of his papers by offi-
cers at another camp. Two
days later a Pathet Lao offi-
cer appeared and released
him into what he calls "open
custody."
Apologetic Officer
Everingham speaks Lao,
and when the officer ap-
peared "he was most apolo-
getic that they had- jailed a
non-American and a photog-
rapher. He gave instructions
to stay close to the camp
and allowed me open cus-
tody, which meant I could
wander around unguarded."
Later, "we moved deep
into Pathet Lao territory,
going east toward 11oung
Soui," the old Laotian neu-
"T" really-' learned what
war was there," Everingham
says. "On the first day we
were bombed, injuring one
soldier, then strafed by
spookies and Spectres," the
latter being a C-130' cargo
plane outfitted with ma-
chine guns.
In the area near Muong
Soui, where he was being
held captive and through
which he had passed under
guard, "I saw no traditional
Lao villages," Everingham
says. "All of them had been
bombed and the people
where living in the .forest.
The people and soldiers
were safe . because they
could hear the planes long
way off and get into their
tunnels on mountainsides."
Everingham says he was
most surprised about the in-
effectiveness of bombing on
the roads in the area.
"A couple of times' I was
taken on truck rides along
Route 7, which cuts across
northern Laos near Muong
Soui. When a bomb hits
dead center in the road
they just drive down into
the crater and up the other
side. When a landslide is
made, the driver gets out.
sets up about seven small
TNT charges and bam! It is
blown away. I had always
assumed it took an army of
people to keep roads open
under the. bombs. Nothing
like it." ? r
Friendly Vietnamese
At one point, marching
east toward Muong Soul, Ev-
eringham saw the only
1 orth Vietnamese he would
encounter, a group of eight
resting in a village in Pathet
Lao uniforms and armed
with Russian-built AK47'ri-
fles. "All the time we were
there they showed great de-
ference- to the - officer in
charge of me. They were cu-
-which is something. They
asked about Saigon, about
Australia. No military ques-.
tions, no hostility."
"There was no shortage of
anything as far as I could
see and while in there we
ate wonderful," he says.
Chinese canned pork
luncheon meat, pork egg
rolls and fish, all promi-
nently marked with their
Chinese origins, were given
to him in abundance, Ever-
ingham says. , yz
Crdllat slrU11g11ULU OU 11111C3 friendly than the Laotians
was not tlt~t r~tx~Fe~ea~0 iiihe
5 : CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
afraid afte
 5IAIINIL
Approved For Release # M-IMM-01601 R000
Curbing The CIA
Very quietly - and very properly -
curbs have been placed on the Central
Intelligence Agency.
This super-secret arm of the United
States government too often has been
engaged in practices which, when re-
vealed, have shocked the American
public. CIA activities in Southeast Asia
have attracted widespread criticism.
For most Americans, the cloak and
dagger work of the CIA smacks more
of totalitarian regimes, of banana re-
publics, than of an open and free de-
mocracy.
Attached to a foreign aid authoriza-
tion bill last month were the first con-
. trols placed on the Central Intelligence
.Agency in a quarter of a century. Con-
gress passed the bill and President
Nixon signed it.
Under these new controls the CIA
will have to answer - well, at least
partly - to Congress. It will have to
submit quarterly reports to Congress
on its operations in Cambodia. It also
will have to report on its "foreign aid"
programs. However, it is not expected
to have to spell out details.
It is the CIA which pays the Thai
mercenaries to fight in Laos. Under the
new controls, such pay cannot be above
the salary scales of the U.S. military.
As further curbs, there will be a reduc-
tion in military personnel working for
the CIA, and the agency has been in-
cluded in a $341 million ceiling placed
on aid to Cambodia.
The controls can be considered
hardly more than minor restraints, but
Congress, by acting, has demonstrated
it is not entirely happy with, the Central
Intelligence Agency. In that attitude
Congress is reflecting the feelings of
the people.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
 BALTIMORE SUK . -
Approved For Release 2000/0vg/' ~ 6R RDP80-01601 RO
recise
:tare, people are not sure. It
may be it, bu. iness rival.'.', Approved For Release 2000/05/15.: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
.
"Besides, everyone . would
know we did it,`? an American
here said recently. "With a
Ij'eported shif ti ng attention STATINTL
Cr, ? ?
111 Laos from Communists. to opium
By MICHAEL PARKS The . American Embassy, The law prohibits the process-
Sun Staff Correspondent which for years had condoned ing and transportation of hero-
Vientiane, Laos - American!sI and indirectly helped Laotian in, opium and related drugs,
intelligence agents here are;, traffic in heroin, morphine and and the cultivation and use of
turning their attention from! opium as a part of the war opium, a traditional crop
Communists to drug runners, against the Communists, has among hill tribes, is restricted.
{ according to informed sources. now brought in a task force of A second law, passed recently,.
The United States Central In-' U.S. Customs and drug officials bars unauthorized importation
telligence Agency has been giv- to help the Vientiane govern- +,of chemicals used to refine op-
en a top-priority assignment, ment enforce its first drug law.: iurn
American officials say, of dis-i Their budget may run to $1 The U.S. efforts are directed
covering the routes used to million a year.
g I The less at stopping the cultivation
,Smuggle opium from northern Customs officials are
tighten inspection opium than. in reducing the
-Burma through Laos to Thai-I helping ti oft large volume of drugs flowing
land and in ointin opium re- . cargoes on domestic and inter-
i p g national air flights, the rinci- through Laos to Thailand. Cam-
fineries in the area. P bodia, South Vietnam and Hong
One result was a mysterious pal avenue for the drugs to Kong.
fire that destroyed a key ref in- move from northern Laos down Details of the budget for the
ery for turning opium into hero-! to Bangkok, Thailand. anti-drugs program, which is
in last year. Some of the inspections onp being coordinated with similar
A recently reported series of flights of Air America and Co efforts in neighboring'countries,
ambushes on n mule trains and! ~" eff
caravans bo mule fl tinental Air System planes, are still being worked out, but
he
which are under contract to the U.S. officials frequently men
Burma and Thailand are also ! U.S. Central Intelligence Agen-1 tion $1 million as the total
attributed by knowledgeable ob- 1 cy, are too cursory to be effec-j annual cost.
servers here to the American tive, and some planes still es- I -"`
anti-drug campaign. cape inspection completely, asl
Knowing smiles . do most military flights.
In addition, private planes
When questioned directly, still land at Vientiane's airport
about the fire at the refinery from Thailand and Cambodia to'
jnear the Laotian town of Ban pick up mysterious cargoes and;
Houei Sai or the caravan raids, fly off again, having avoidedf
l American officials only smile both Customs inspections and
knowingly and shrug their filing of flight plans and mani-
shoulders: fest by bribing the airport offi-
Other intelligence sources re-
1 cials with $200.
port, however, that some of the! Americans here hope that ,
small guerrilla teams that used pressure from the prime minis-
to probe China's Yunnan prov- 'ter, Prince Souvanna Phouma,
ince for the Central Intelligence and his intelligence chief, Ge+t- I
Agency have been shifted to era! Khamou, will reduce this!
tracking and occasionally wt-? traffic.
tacking the opium caravans. An agent from the U.S. Bu-'
Last summer, American offi-
cials were discussing the possi- ous Drugs has been assigned to
bility of bombing an opium re work with General Khamou and
eery at Houei Tap, near Bane ouei Sai coordinate the American and
.
"There are so many bombing . Lao efforts.
sorties that one could easily go' with ethe Laodnatioi al police
astray, if you know what I have also been ordered to press
mean," said one U.S. Embassy ;for enforcement of the new Lao
official.
Eventually, officials here now drug law, enacted under U.S.
l
t
summer.
as
-say, bombing was discarded pressure
 Approved For Release 2000/09/4 M-RDP80-01601 R
f 0
Heo,trifluesmen, ight on
By Daniel Southerland
With the support and advice of the U.S.
Staff correspondent of Central Intelligence Agency, the Meo have
The Christian Science Monitor been the 'most effective fighters against the
Ban Xon, Laos North Vietnamese in all of Laos. But forced
One hears so much about the low morale marches have taken a heavy toll among
of the Meo tribesmen in Laos that one ex- them.
pests to see nothing but sullen faces here, Children cared for
But there is incredible strength- and
somethimes laughter--in the faces of the And, having fought for more than a
Meo whom the war has deposited here. decade, their casualties in battle have been
Incredible, too, is the daily effort that is horrendous. For a population estimated at
made from this American-run relief center
to keep alive 120,000 refugees, half of them
Meo. Scarcely a minute goes by, it seems,
without a small aircraft Lifting off the run-
way with a load of rice for refugees living
near scores of scattered drop zones and
.landing sites in north-central Laos. -
Two companies, Continental Air Services
and Air America, provide the airplanes, un-
der a contract with the U.S. Government.
The pilots are tough, well paid, and expert at
zooming in on small landing strips slashed
at haphazard angles into the jungle and
mountains.
Despite its importance as a refugee sup-
`ply center, Ban Xon is r :.''' ?,:.'e? The
Americans who work here fly up every
day from Vientiane, 70 miles to the south,
300,000, the losses have been so serious -
and the advance of the North Vietnamese so
unrelenting - that some observers have
been asking how much longer the Meo will
be able to maintain their present way of life
in their beloved mountains.
Fortunately for their children, there is vir-
tually no such thing as an orphan among the
Meo. Even if both'parents are killed, some-
Dne will take care of the child.
If the child is a male, he stands a good
chance of becoming a soldier when he grows
.ip, and a Meo is considered a grown man at
the age of 14 or 15. According to one esti
mate, about 20 percent of the Meo soldiers
now are under 15 years of age.
"They have a fatalistic attitude, and they
rlhake the most of moments of pleasure," he
said. "They can laugh and joke. But the
joking doesn't necessarily reflect their real
feelings."
"There's hardly a family in this country
that hasn't suffered a loss because of the
war," said Mr. Williamson, a veteran of 11
years' work with the refugees in Laos.
"If every family in the United States lost
somebody in a war, how would our mo?
rale be?"
and return to Vientiane in the evening. Why did he join?
It's. not safe to stay here overnight.
When a 13-year-old Meo soldier named Je
A year ago, the North Vietnamese at- Yang was asked why he joined the Army,
tacked Ban Xon, burned warehouses and he and his comrades laughed. They'd ob-
vehicles, and killed 14 persons. But Ameri-
can relief workers with the U.S. Agency viously never really thought much a out the
for International Development, who are matter. There's been a war on for as long
dedicated to the Meo and speak the Meo as they could remember, and it was simply
language, note with pride that despite the expected that they would join the Army.
attack, the Ban Xon center didn't miss a ,We are attacked, and we fight," said Je.
,single day of operations. Yang, who is expert with an M-16 rifle.
The airplanes distribute salt and. canned Much older men fight, too. Vang Yee
.meat and a daily average of 44,000 pounds Vang, 50, said thaf he had fought for many
of rice to refugees in the area. If the refu- years - until a bullet wound in the leg
gees are on the run because of North Viet- stopped him at the age of 44. But retirement
namese pressure, they can get blankets, from the Army has not given him a peace-
clothing, straw mats, and cooking pots. ful life. He said that the war had forced him
Thanks to the relief program, there is no and his family to move seven times in three
starvation among the Meo. But North Viet- years.
namese attacks have driven the Meo farther Ten moves for family
and farther to the south, to the point where A Meo who works for the U.S. Agency for
they now are threatened. with being forced
out of the mountains into the lower altitudes, International Development mission said that
which they find unbearable. his family had been forced to move -10
The Meo, the largest ethnic miniority in times in only half as many years.
Lacs, migrated into Laos from southwestern "Certainly these people, more than any
China in the 19th century, They practice aother people I've known, can. put up with
slash-and-burn system of agriculture on thetremendous suffering," said Jack William-
mountain slopes and like to live above the son, head of refugee affairs for the AID
3,000 foot tep tj q~j ~ . ~li ~d 2(?O1 (`/05/15 : CIA-RDP80-01601 F+ 000600140001-3
feet, is a hot a, u a y a
 STATINTL
RE.
pure CLAND, 0
OREGONIAN
.. 245,132
407,186
Morse stresses nation's need for f 0e press
The American press must
be kept free 'and must be
kept competitive if self-gov-
ernment by a free people is
to continue to exist,- former
U.S. Sen. Wayne Morse said
Thursday.
Speaking to a radio sales
seminar sponsored by Tack-
er, Inc., at the Ramada Inn,
Morse said too many consti-
tutional guarantees are
being transgressed by all
three branches of govern-
ment.
Noting the press has
served as a potent check and
balance in America since its
beginning, Morse added that
the press is undergoing a-
technological revolution be-
yond the wildest imaginings
of Thomas Jefferson's day.
A candidate for the Demo-
cratic U.S: Senate nomina-
tion in the May primary,.
Morse scored a trend toward
press monopoly.
He said it could be as dan-
gerous in the long run as
possible restrictive actions
by government.
"To put it another way,
what I am stressing is that
competitior, although fre-
quently economically waste-
ful, is essential to maintain-
an an open society. It is es-
sential to political freedom,"
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Morse declared.
"There is no substitute for
the full disclo,3ure of the pub-
lic's business," Morse said.
Americans must retrieve
constitutional rights "which
'five as a people through our
officials of government at all
levels are permitting to be
eroded away under our very
noses."
"You are for down the
road toward executive su-
premacy in the United
States," Morse ?said.
If the 75 persons at the
luncheon were asked 10
questions about what is reap.
ly going on in American for-
eign policy, ? "you'd all
flunk," he 'said. "So would
the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee."
Citing Laos as an example
of a secret policy managed
by the Central .Ii teiligcnce
Agency, Morse said, "We're
'cendi+Gting one war crime af-
ter another."
The most dangerous trend
in the United States today is
government secrecy, Morse
said. "If you want to remain
free, you'd better. stop it."
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 SOVIET 11TER ATIONAIL AF'FA]TcS
Approved For Release 2000705/115 : C?A-RDP 1
LAOS
Patriotic Front's Successes
WORLD / ORLD attention continues to be focussed
V on Laos, which lies in the very heart of
the Indochina Peninsula.
Over the last 26 years, the Laotian people
have been waging a persistent struggle for
-their country's freedom and independence. The
defeat of the US aggressors and their puppets
by the Laotian patriotic forces in the Xiengk-
houang area, the Valley of Jars, and the Bolo-
ven Plateau in December 1971 is fresh proof
that US adventurist plans in respect of Laos
have no prospects before them. In 1972, the pa-
triots are still in complete command of the si-
tuation and continue to press their enemies
and hit them hard. This is seen from the Janua-
ry offensive against Long Cheng, the US mer-
cenaries' chief base.
Striving to turn Laos into a springboard
for a drive against the national liberation move-
ment of. the Indochinese peoples, Washington
has entangled the country in a web of economic
and military aid, and flooded her with various
"advisers", now numbering 12,000. The US
Central Intelligence Agency maintains an invi-
sible presence in all government. establishments
at Vientiane, builds secret airfields and bases,
and prepares and carries ofd subversive acts.
The 30,000-strong "secret army". of General
Vang Pao is also a CIA creature, which needs
$250 million a year to keep. This is the army
on which Washington puts its stake in carrying
out its "Vietnatnisation" policy.
To achieve its aims in Laos, the USA has
been making use of more than 20 battalions of
Thai mercenaries, who act on the principle: kill
everyone .and burn and destroy everything in
sight. But there is more to Thailand's participa-
tion in the undeclared war against the Laotian
patriots: it also provides the Pentagon with
bases for the air war against the Laotians.
Aerial warfare is a special aspect of the
US aggression against Laos. The US military
dropped their first bombs on her peaceful vil-
lages in May 1964. Since then, the US air force
has become much more active. Over the last
three years alone, it has dropped about 3 mil-
lion tons of bombs on Laotian territory. The
civilian population is being bombed with frag-
mentation, napalm and pellet bombs, and other
latest "achievements" of the US arms industry.
US bomber and fighter aircraft take part in all
the operations launched by government troops,
Vang Pao's bandits, other numerous mercena-
ries and the CIA. Hundreds of planes owned by
the Air America and the Continental Air Ser-
vices are engaged in ferrying troops and deli-
vering arms and ammunition.
At present, Washington's policy in Laos has
shown some new tendencies. There are plans to
increase-at least - to double-Vang Pao's
"secret army" by including fresh detachments
of Thai mercenaries and subversive groups from
the Khtner-Krom nationality, recruited by the
CIA in South Vietnam.
In February 1971, Washington made its first
attempt to use the army of the puppet Saigon
regime in extending its aggression in Laos.
Southern Laos was invaded by over 40,000 US-
Saigon troops under air cover from US helicop-
ters and B-52 bombers. What is more, US diplo-
nmacy and the CIA have been trying hard to
forth another military bloc: the Saigon-Pnom
Penh-Bangkok-Vientiane bloc. This would
amount to Laos's membership of SEATO, the
bloc being used by Washington in its aggres-
sive Southeast Asian policy.
But neither bombs, shells, nor political guile
on the part of US imperialism and its stooges
can break the people's will. Led by the Patrio-
tic Front of Laos, which was set tip IG years
ago, the courageous people have been inflicting
one defeat after another on the aggressors and
their accomplices. Over the last 17 years, the
Laotian patriots have killed a large number of
US officers and men and something like 200,000
mercenaries, captured or put out of action about
64,000 weapons, and shot down over 2,200
aircraft.
The Laotian Patriotic Front is in control of
two-thirds of the country's territory. In the libe-
rated areas, the foundations of a future demo-
cratic, neutral and independent state are being
laid. For example, despite the barbarous US
bombings, the three-year national development
plan for 1968-1970 was successfully carried out.
In agriculture, the line is to set up collective
labour groups, and the area tinder rice and other
agricultural crops has been enlarged. Over
1,200 hydro-installations have been built, which
have helped to irrigate 20,000 hectares of rice-
fields. Some 2,500 kilometres of new roads have
been laid. Thus, the victories on the battle-field
have been backed by successes in labour.
On the whsle, the events in late 1971 and
early 1972 have shown the Laotian patriotic
forces' firm resolve to liberate the country from
the US aggressors and their henchmen. The
sympathies of the whole of progressive mankind
are on the side of the fighting Laotian people.
Y. MARUNOV
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 3 MAR 1972
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Outmajjned Laotians netreat
From Drive on Plain 6f Jars'
By D. E. Ronk
Special to The Washington Post
VIENTIANE, Laos, March
2-A major Laotian force of
irregulars and guerrillas is re-
treating under heavy pressure
from North Vietnamese artil-
lery and infantry on the south-
ern end of the Plain of Jars,
according-to reliable reports
reaching Vientiane from the
scene.
The retreat ends a spoiling
action ,Chat began two weeks
ago in an effort to protect the
Meo-CIA base complex at
Long Cheng by secretly send-
ing 3,000 to 4,000 guerrillas be-
hind enemy lines. Their objec-
tive was to cut supply routes
and silence the heavy artillery
that has been pounding the
government forces.
North Vietnamese gunners
and infantrymen have hit the
south end of the, plain. Far
outnumbered, the battalions,
were forced to retreat, touch-
ing off a general exodus.
Qualified military observers
here who only last week were
cautiously optimistic on the
chances of the operation's suc-
cess, noted that the guerrilla
troops would have had to strad-
dle Communist supply lines for
at least four to six weeks to
claim any success for the oper-
ation.
Continued construction by
the North Vietnamese of a
primitive road north of Long
Cheng, driving toward the vil-
lage of Sam Thong eight miles
to the south, continues to
worry U.S. military observers
here.
The road can accommodate
counterattacking guerrilla
force far harder than was ex-
pected and the troops have
had difficulty moving' as
planned. Sources here report
that Communist forces far out-
number the pro-government)
troops in most engagements,
and are inflicting large num-
bers of casualties.
More important, however,
these sources say, is the gener-
ally low level of morale
among the guerrilla units,
some of which are reported re-
fusing to move except in the
presence of their commander,
Gen. Vang Pao.
The retreat to Long Cheng
is believed to have begun on
Tuesday when, according to
informed U.S. sources, two
heavy attacks were launched
against pro-government forces
camped near Route 4 at the l the big 130-millimeter guns, 1
which devastated Long Cheng
in January and are now being
used with great effect against
the progovernment troops on
the Plain of Jars. It now ap-
pears that despite the efforts
of the spoiling action over the
past two weeks, the Commu-
nists are again Poised to strike
at Long Cheng witl'their guns
and'a road over which to move
them.
Match 3. 1912 The Washington Po"
Map shows Plain of Jars and Long Cheng, to which
Laotian troops are retreating under attack.
STATINTL
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JJE1 ALt-AVSP T 2
SEMI WEEKLY -35,000
WASHINGTON, D.C.--lf, and we have every reason to believe it's true, the charges made
In the March, 1972 issue of "Earth Magazine
" that th
CIA i
,
e
s now, and has been in the
post, dealing in the d:pe traffic, it's deplorable. Drugs and its danger was brought to the at-
tention of the American people of the National HERALD-DISPATCH newspapers in 1960. We
pointed out in our initial drive against dope, the fact that it destroys American youth.
Hence, if the CIA as charged and documented by "Earth Magazine" is dealing in the
dope traffic, they are singularly destroying a whole generation of American youth. Dope des-
the brain cell, it renders the individual, regardless of race, creed, or national origin, use-
less and powerless to think clearly. Dope, as it was fed to American soldiers in Asia is despicable
and deplorable. In Asia America's finest young manhood was destroyed before being sent into
battle in a senseless, useless, racist war.
In the article titled "The Selling of the CIA" text by Morton Kondracke, offers 'documen-
tation, photographs of former CIA spies. The spy was quoted, and we have no reason to believe
that Earth is lying on the CIA, that its history is a sordid one.
The HERALD-DISPATCH has been aware for a number of years that the CIA has had
stooges in the universities and colleges throughout the nation where they recruit brilliant young
students. These students were used as spies to overthrow the African and Asian countries, to
murder, assassinate, and destroy people.
"Earth" cites facts that the CIA is involved in the opium traffic with the "fertile tri-
angle", in the border areas of Laos, Burma, Thailand and the Yunnan province of southern
China. They say, "about twenty-five percent of the heroin sold in America comes through this
Southeast Asian channel. Ironically, the American taxpayer foots a six billion d liar a year bill
for running the dcpe-the CIA, an organization which answer t nosy, is intricately ii
Q0i6#~O
Appr
ved Fo
a-hAD~966~hbZ6
A
lI~
Q
o
r
~
t
I
E
states. U.S. tax mane
 'AIR WAR Ss TTMUNN 11
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.CIA and Mercenary ms's r Forces
CIA and local Asian air forces are playing a growing role in the air war as the Administration
seeks to minimize overt American involvement. There is abundant documentation pointing to the
participation of these air forces in opium smuggling as well as in combat. (See Ramparts, 4/71 for
a ftiller account.)
Local.Asian air forces--supplied, maintained and directed by American "advisors"-are doing
an :increasing amount of the bombing. The size of the Vietnamese Air'Force (VNAF) has increased
dramatically, and the Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF), the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF), and the Cambo-
J.
n n o1 n nou UllUhl? on IIIesa a 1111111 ei 111111 u 11111 ei I ieee?6oiIII iIll 11111111 11 egYCfi Geui ifie iii a?a 1011111 lri ill Ill 6 hheioif7E@e
dian Air Force at slower rates. Although all the aircraft are piloted by Asians, Americans do
everything else, from directing bomb loading to spotting for strikes.
Air America'and Continental Airlines, privately owned, profit-making companies, operate
under CIA direction and wage much of the supportive air war in Laos and Cambodia. The "charter"
companies' planes perform troop transport and supply functions, spot for bombers, and engage in
rescue operations for downed pilots. Air Force helicopters, helicopter gunships and giant.
C-130 cargo planes are "rented" to Air America for $1 a year in Laos..
ASIAN AIR FORCES
'American aid toVNAF, FY 1970-72:.$922 million
American aid to RLAF, FY 1970-72: $128 million
(Do.D, CR,. 8/3/71)
"The Nixon Doctrine . was premised
on the assumption . . . of increased U.S.
military assistance."
(Undersecy. of State U. Alexis J.ohnson, FY
1972 DoD Authorization Hearings).
"An important factor in carrying out the
Nixon Doctrine will be-our military assistance
program. We are requesting 48 million for de-
velopment and 70.4 million for procurement of
the International Fighter. In addition, we
are requesting 10 million for initial spares.
This aircraft is needed to provide an air de-
fense capability for [our] Asian allies."
(Secy. of Air Force Robert C. Seamans, FY
1972 Senate DoD Appropriations Hearings)
Sen. Symington: "Are we going to continue to
put these billions into Southeast Asia? Is
that the overall plan in the U.S. today?"
Secy. Seamans: "For the forseeable future we
are going to continue to spend sizeable dol-
lars in Southeast Asi.a."
(ibid.)
VIETNAMESE AIR FORCE
"South Vietnamese military officers con-
tinue to deal in large quantities of heroin
in
and to transport it around South Vietnam
military litary aircraft."
Robert H. Steele, House Subcommittee on
(Rep. Europe, 7/7/71)
. Fixed Wing Heli-
Year Attack Air.cr, copters
1 69 approx. 100 approx. 125
1/72 (total FW & heli. 750+)
.1/73* 300-400 500-600
*projected
(1969 and 1973 figures, Cornell study.
1972 figures, DoD)
VNAF PERSONNEL
1968: 20,000 .(slightly under)
1972 (Jan.): 45,000
1973*: 50,000
*projected
(Ibid.)
VNAF ATTACK SORTIES
Year Indochina Laos Cambodia.
1968 2,250/mo. none none
1970 3,150/mo. none 820
1971* 3,490/mo. 40 1,100
*as of July, 1971
(Cornell study)
"Mr. Seamans acknowledged that the Viet-
namese 'will never be able to build the capa-
bilityto do all that the United States Air
Force has. been doing in Laos. The Vietnamese
Air Force . . . does not possess either B-52s
or F-4s, the jet planes that do most of the
trail bombing, and there are no plans,' Mr..
Seamans said, 'to give it any. g
"The South Vietnamese Air Force is the (Craig Whitney, NYT, 12/6/71)
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(Michael-Getler, Post, 1/14/72)
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
"VNAF is being geared to fight a war
where it will continue to have complete air
superiority." [This superiority will appar-
ently be provided by U.S. aircraft operating
from Thailand and carriers in the South China
Sea.]
(Brig. Gen. Kendall S. Young, chief Air Force
officer for Vietnamization)
Gen. Ryan: "They will not be able to supplant
the complete U.S. Air Force in South Vietnam."
Son. Case: At any time?"
Gen. Ryan: "That is correct."
(Gen. John D. Ryan, Air Force Chief of Staff,
Senate FY 1972 DoD Appropriations Hearings)
ASIAN BLOOD, AMERICAN MONEY
"Lao T-28 bombers have attacked towns,
Saravane being a well-known case in point. . .
Laos Air Force pilots are . . . paid a bonus
For each sortie so that there is an incentive
not to adhere strictly to the rules of en-
gagement [forbidding random bombing]."
(Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staff
Report on Laos, 4/71)
"There is a growing concern of the ten-
il:,ncy of Laotian air force pilots from Luang
'.?ahang and Long Cheng to dump their bomb
_)ads on unauthorized targets, which is con-
rirmed by U.S. military personnel. Only
minutes after taking off the pilots reported-
I-, hurry home to reload--and. collect a dollar
bonus for every-sortie they fly. The indis-
criminate bombing is causing loss of life on
the ground and forcing villagers to flee
their homes."
(D.E. Ronk, Far Eastern Economic Review,
9/4/7:1) -
"The VNAF bomb villages indiscriminately.
I'grey don't care where they bomb. A lot of
times they'll wipe out a village because they
or their commander has a grudge against it,
maybe it wouldn't make the proper payoffs."
(Ronald Ridenhour, former G.I. whose insistent
prodding broke the My Lai story, in a PAW
interview)
CIA AIR FORCES
"There is a large U.S. civilian (para-
military) fleet operating in Laos run by Air
America, Continental Air and Lao Air. Trans-
port . . . under contract with AID, although
funds are provided by AID, the DoD, CIA, and
the State Department. The funding arrange-
ments are worked out in Washington."
(Foreign Relations Committee Staff Report on
Laos, 4/71)
"Air America-is under the management.of
George Dole, a CIA employee. . . . He is
looking to the future, carefully developing
heerunsifoo ?L. s th g t~h ~/15
Transport. . .'. The sole purpose for the
existence of SAT is that the agency be ready
for the contingency that some day it will
have. to ferry men and material to some Latin
American country . . . without of course
having to contend with the Congress or any-
body else."
(Victor Marchetti, highest ranking CIA
official to "go public," a former participant
in CIA daily staff meetings chaired by
director Richard Helms.)
Inventory
20 helicopters
12 C-123s*
7 C-7As*
10 Porters
7 C-46s-
1 Volpar
Estimated Cost
FY 1970: $23 million
FY 1971: $26.2 million
'Personnel
Air America: 276-415
.(Senate Foreign Relations'Committee
Staff Report on Laos, 4/71)
"The CIA has changed its rules in an
attempt to stop the use of-its private air-
line, Air America, for transport of drugs
[opium and. heroin] in Laos. Although only
two months ago CIA director Richard Helms
adamantly denied there had been any agency
involvement in this traffic, he is now said
to have told a secret Congressional hearing
that there was involvement but it has stopped."
(Flora Lewis, Post, 7/23/71)
"The CIA has involved us in this covert
operation, an opium war. The clandestine yet
official operations of the U.S. government
could be aiding and abetting heroin traffic
here at home."
(Sen. John Tunney in a campaign speech before
the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce)
"John E. Ingersoll, director of the
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, in
-testimony before the House Select Committee
on Crime, said that middle-level government
officials and military men throughout South-
east Asia were deeply involved in the traffic
in opium, the product from which morphine and
heroin is refined."
(Felix Belair, NYT, 6/6/71) M n
CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3 ,~t?.i r.L .d
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
.T E T hind hdoch1NA WAR .
A HANDBUOK PREPARED BY
PROJECT AIR WAR AND THE INDOCHINA RESOURCE CENTER
MARCH 1972
COPYRIGHT 1972 BY THE
INDOCHINA RESOURCE CENTER
1322 18TH STREET, N. W,
WASHINUTON. D,C, 20036
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IS GRANTED
TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. PLEASE CREDIT AND
FORWARD PQ COPIES FOR OUR FILES.
PRICE: $1.50; 10 or more, $1.00; Add 20% for shipping.
Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
C.0rt,inV,ed
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000600140001-3
Project Air War and the Indochina Resource Center are projects of the Indochina
Education Council which was established by agencies of the United Church of Christ,
the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., and the United Methodist Church to
help meet the crucial need for informing the American people about the ongoing.
war in Indochina.
PROJECT AIR WAR is one of the major
information centers in the country
studying and analyzing the ongoing
war, a conflict which has escalated
in the air.even as U.S. foot-soldiers
have been withdrawn. The Project
provides both authoritative statis-
tical data about today's automated
war and a tragic picture of what life
.is like for hundreds of thousands of
Indochinese peasants living under
constant bombing.
Project material has already appeared
.in The New York Times, Washington
Post, Time, Poston Globe, St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, San Francisco Chroni-
cle, Congressional Record, CBS and
NBC: national news, the Mutual Radio
network, transcripts of Congressional
hearings, and a wide variety of other
publications.
Project staff members speak at com-
munity meetings, college campuses,
acid academic gatherings; are called
upon frequently by congressional of-
fices and media representatives for
background information; and work
closely with several national peace
q co ups .
The INDOCHINA RESOURCE CENTER serves
as an independent clearinghouse for
information on contemporary Indoc.*hina.
The Center incorporates nine general
sponsors from the academic community
and sixteen academic associates who
provide a wide range of inputs.
The Center provides reliable, up-to-
date information from specialists on
the social, economic, cultural, polit-
ical, and historical realities of
Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. This in-
formation, which is often otherwise
unavailable, is made accessible to
Congress, journalists, peace groups,
and others concerned with Indochina
through the Ewice-monthly newsletter,
Indochina Chronicle, in books and
articles, as well as,by direct con-
tact. The.Center also provides dir-
ect answers to specific requests,
sets up briefings and seminars,
and is currently developing a series
of audio-visual exhibits on Indochina
for loan.
"There was a pagoda on the hill right next to my village. The airplanes shot
it and started a fire. Two monks were killed there together. On account of
the war. The planes thought that there were soldiers in the pagoda so they
shot it. But there weren't any. Only the monks died.
?--from Voices from the Plain of Jars, ed. by F. Branfman, Harper and Row,
1972. Original collection of essays and drawings by Laotian peasants.
?ima+ 1n
our C::-` ~.
1C' fYM Aw.lYea KT. 1SA
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 EARTH
Approved For Release 2000/0x- (l*2RDP80-016
~['.YJnK va.Y-e.ww ..ri+J.rr w+.. WU. :~..:v.-1- s.. ~w't..[~ ~tn._....,.,.aw,_...a~.w__..-r.4?.~e. __# M-r..
y, d.+~+.w~i.a..F.::7JC~-.:.:. .-f.'t...~. .....:..;rk?.r..+:.extsrt.r....ih%:.t xxfair,J[wr~t.a.L.x3e:.Ai..[~....s;t~:i.: a~w. r1t ~,.;v;
S~.?.w'w:.it:.8.~,:+...c.:*u...::.?*D.w.s~ r?t.F.~3+w.:aarrE..::.-...u~+w.Mwa:...,..w.u:.?~~ws.~.?.a:.".ii.t.~'ta..a;.-~*=t:-...+s~.+ww.....,..t+.
.4t-'S..' exw.ae 3,:l.E../'..r.Y :...Mb-s4..4i~r~..4i~.rar :unt.ain m en to fight ti nher the brave but brill:,I (.en. Van!,, Pao.
I'i w(r Matt :I,000 :;rnviw'." I\nrlr r;uni rhriwti
b(rw (1I.^ irl:,'irIu, nc,tinl: li:r Iut}'uui:tl..i,i, uae "lurl.tt
Iir'.r;.iuit tit ni an(I 11 it- pnlihe to k(v?p the t.ruopa iii
"U.S. dollars have ntacl(' Vnnr; f'ao ;t bower in
],tts," Aridt'r::on said. I he cites a confidantial
report by the Arnet?ican AinIcnssatlor, describing
Laotian Premier S(mvanna l'houma's dependence
on two generals, Quau Ratliikoum and, Nang
I'ao. According; to the Earth magazine article,
Gen. Quan is said to have admitted in a recent
interview that he was "the real boss" of opium
operations in Laos.
A former Green Beret, Sgt, Paul Withers,
testified about the opium traffic at the Winter
Soldier Hearings in Boston last October. His
comments are 'reprinted in a booklet entitled
"The Opium Trail" published b
the Commi-
y
,ttee of Concerned Asian Scholars. Withers testi-
fied that he worked under CIA direction in Pak
Seng, Laos. IIis'mission was to ]lire and train
local people to fight as mercenaries against the
Pathet Lao guerillas. One of the main tasks
was to buy up the entire local crop of opium.
About twice a week, Withers said, a plane from
a private airline hired by the CIA would arrive
with supplies and bags of gold dust. He gave
the gold to the villagers in return for. their bags
of opium which were then loaded on the plane.
The opium was flown to relay centers and pro-
cessing plants in South Vietnam.
The CIA has been carrying on a "secret war"
in Laos since 1962, at a cost to taxpayers of
$500 million a year, according to Victor Mar-
chetti, a'former top-ranking CIA official,
interviewed in the same issue of Earth magazine.
This is just one of many examples of the clan-
destine activities the CIA engages in, in an ef-
fort to bolster corrupt regimes sympathetic to . .
American, business interests. The price of our
continued support for these corrupt reg Ines is
not only the taxpayers' money, but the lives of
thousands of young Americans "strung-out" on
heroin.
David Duboff
NI':WI'AI'I':It
Some newspapers rrlprr sent only tlw. larrlc banking,
22 Whittier Street, Lynn, Masi. Phone: 599-b86 7 - teal estate and r?anulacturing Jnr.?rr?,1?., bua they never
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Fee-.die 1"ciiparbauni
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CIA&wBacked Ldotyanc ac e"
r- ~ . 0 ~ , .0 _M_ . - UM .
an.09 S:Bed GE
vy Laurence Stern bal guerrilla army organized Haze Hurts using newly supplied Soviet
130 ngest rangder artillery cannons, pieecce
Washington Post Foreign Service and financed by the Central "Yes, we have American lo
- LONG CIIENG, Laos - Intelligence Agency and J longeest range
air strikes. But look at that on either side in the war,
The little twin engine Piper fleshed with Mleo, Yao. as haze." He raised one hand to with devastating effect.
groped through the smoke well as highland Lao volun- simulate an airplane and They are employing Soviet-
haze that blotted out the teers, conscripts and con- held out the other hand to supplied tanks as mobile
craggy terrain just south of fused-looking children. represent the ground. "The gun platforms.
the Plain of Jars. Kayak ar,'1 The Greek and airplanes can't see and if' To bedevil American air
"It's pretty had today," the flight .a-w are part of they come down too far for reconnaisance, the Commu-
said the Greek, "but we're the low profile American support operations, they ei-
_____ .__. .._ gists not only have suc-
flying by timed distance so Pnese,icv uiat provides inc
we don't have to see the guns, ammunition, helicop?
ground to know 'where we ters, transports, air strikes,
are ... Wait a minute." He m e d i c a I evacuation-in
leaned forward and shouted short the wherewithal-that
to, the pilot, "there's Peter give the ``friendlies" their
Nob over on the right." plausibility as a military
The silhouette of a nob- force.
shaped mountain outcrop-. Though much of the se-
ping-poked up through the
haze and the plane took a
steep clip toward a towering
ridgeline which marks the
vague boundary between the
North Vietnamese infantry
and the American-supported
Laotian irregular army
Which have wrestled to a
temporary standstill just
northward.
"That's Skyline Ridge,"
said The Greek. "The North
Vietnamese have their anti-
air on the other side."
Another sharp clip and
role in Laos has been lifted
here under investigative
prodding from Congress and
instructions from the admin-
istration, there are still re-
minders that American par-
ticipation is somewhat of a
political liabilty.
"You can take all the pic-
tures you want of'the Lao,"
I was counselled, "but
please, we don't want any
photographs of Americans."
I agreed and complied.
On the ground, Gen. Vang
Pao the
suddenly a valley popped mander of the irregulars,
into view, dotted with greeted his visitor with a
shacks, roads and a tiny air surprisingly shy smile and
strip. The shacks were handshake. His two visiting
mostly deserted by the vii- sons, Van Su, 3, and Cha
lagers who fled last month's Leune, 4, clowned and
North Vietnamese offensive romped with their father's
and are still hiding out some staff officers to his unal-
15 kilometers southward. loyed delight.
"Long; Cheng,' announced Vang Pao is famous for
The Greek. his tough, soldierly talk, but
-In the seat behind us,- today he reflected the seri-
Kayak looked up from his ousness of the state of af-
book. He is a tow-headed fairs in the Plain of Jars.
American with an earnest "The North Vietnamese
face who might pass for a have artillery and they have
scout leader in his' olive tanks. Their artillery is big-
twill uniform were it not for ger than what we have here
the ammunition and rifle -they have a 27 kilometer
and the .45 revolver that he range and ours is 15 kilome-
wore along with it. ters. Out there on the Plain
The two Air American pi- of Jars we have no artillery
]lots skimmed the Piper at all. We have very few
Baron nimbly downward people and not enough ma-
ther crash in the moun- ceeded in camouflalging
tains or can get shot down." their guns, but have fash-?'
The upper hand smacked Toned dummy replicas of the
flatly against the lower guns visible from the. air
hand which trailed toward and can simulate secondary
the floor. explosions with gunpowder
5~
did
c
'
a
s
an B
The Ameri
- firecrackers.
very good job for us. We The enemy, declares U.S.
had our last B,52 strike just Ambassador G. McMurtrie
last week out along there.' Godley, is a very formidable.
He gestured beyond Skyline individual. Godley, who
Ridge. "May-be we will have monitors the military con-
to call for more B-52 strikes. flict with a fervor that has
be the best thing would earned him the nickname
be to get talks started again "Field Marshal Godley,"
among the nations that par- concedes that the enemy's
ticipated in the Geneva Con- use of artillery and mortars
ference. We must have the is uncanny.
neutralization of Indochina. At Long Cheng one day
They must get together alid last week there was a con-
talk just once amore." tinuous shuttling of Amen-
In the past 10 years, the
fighting has decimated the can helicopters, C-123 trans
ranks of Vang Pao's i?teos. ports, observation craft and,
His guerrillas once were al- Laotian-flown T-28 jets over
most 100 per cent Meo. But the 2,200-foot airstrip.
now they comprise less than Outgoing artillery pounded
50 per cent of the force. The persistently at fixed targets
Meo mountain people have on the other side of the
borne the brunt of the fight- ridge.
in.,, and civilian casualties- The C-123, a faithful work-
as well as the dislocation. horse that must land and
"We have some irregulars take off on abysmally short
up here now f.rom Saravane runways, is the key to the
in the south._But they can- mobility of men and sup-
not walk in the mountains. plies for the irregular army.
They slow down our opera- Conspicuously posted inside
tions. A march that should the planes are signs'in Thai,
take three days takes them Laotian, Vietnamese and
nine days." He shook his English warning that "the
head sadly. transportation of opium and
other narcotic products is
World's Best absolutely forbidden on this
By the admission of some aircraft." The signs also ad-
of the highest-ranking Amer- monish that all passengers
icans in Vietnam, Vang Pao's are subject to search and re-
guerrillas are facing in the moval by the Air America
Noth Vietnamese units crews if they are found to
across Skyline' Ridge per- he carrying opium.
haps the best light infantry.hracing for Attack
along the hilltops to the teriel. It is getting very dif- in the woAlthough ld' road and About the strip there
:landing strip of Lon ficult to hold the situation." r b h are was evidence of the most
Cheng, theAt p1tmve drftor Release 2000/05/1 5 tfA-KV~8o .e16011 b6 3't'40Y31J1aiese
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DA Y TROJAN
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RICK GU TART
1ppy
Not long ago the counter-culture's own superstar, Allen Ginsberg, appeared on
the Dick Cavett Show. After first chanting a Hindu psalm for some two minutes
(watch out, Dick, your ratings are slipping), Ginsberg began weaving an enchanting
web of mystery, high intrigue and crash exploitation-a tale of the CIA's involvement-
in the heroin trade of Southeast Asia.
In a straight forward manner Ginsberg told of a cocktail party, a la radical chic,
which he attended with the CIA's chief, Richard Helms. It seems the two -made
a friendly s,; c ex. Ginsberg accused the CIA of maintaining an open market for opium
(from which heroin is derived) at Long Cheng, a CIA-built stronghold in Laos. Helms
denied this, and so they made the bet. If Ginsberg lost,. he was to turn over his
Hindu scepter. If, however, Ginsberg's accusations were correct, Helms was to
meditate every day for a year-a thought as frivolous as watching Richard Nixon
turn on for a national television audience.
As Ginsberg was rapping this bit of people's folklore, he was all the time waving
that very same Hindu scepter, as if he was exorcising the evil powers-that-be with
-a -magic wand. ? . ' .
The rest of Ginsberg's story is history-past and future-as set out boldly in
the May, 1971 issue of Ramparts.
Such an open market for opium, in the true capitalistic sense, does in fact exist
at Long Cheng-with the open blessings of the powerful, clandestine CIA. This much
has been told by as many as eight journalists who have managed to slip past the
ultra-high security structure of Long Cheng, as the Far Eastern Economic Review
reported last year.
Carl Strock, one.of the reporters, gave an eye-witness account tells of "American
-crews loading T-28 bombers while armed CIA agents chatted with uniformed Thai
soldiers and piles of raw opium stood for sale in the market (a kilo for $52) ..."
Where much, if not most, of this money earned from opium goes is towards
the support of "friendly" capitalistic governments in Southeast Asia. For example,
Newsweek has said that General Ouane, former chief of the Laotian general staff,
,'was forced into a premature retirement due to excessive exposure of his role in
the opium trade. General Ouane, who, the New York Tomes said, "has Over denied
allegations that he is in charge of the opium traffic in Laos," even confided to news-
men that supporting opium traffic is a "good thing." Not only does this occupation
provide the Meo tribesmen with a livelihood, Newsweek reported Ovane as saying,
but it keeps them from the control of the Communist Pathet Lao. It is by now common
parlor talk that these same Meo tribesmen are equipped and instructed for warfare,
in a most thorough manner. by the "freedom-loving" CIA.
Although not as clearly documented, there is a preponderance of evidence of
dealings in opium traffic at the highest level of South Vietnam's government. In
a broadcast reported by the N.Y. Times, NBC charged President Thieu and Vice
President Ky with profiting from the drug traffic, and the Vietnamese police were
accused of pushing illegal drugs (note the parallel with New York City). In that
same broadcast NBC reported that the biggest pusher was said to be Thieu's.closest
'adviser and special assistant for military and intelligence affairs, Lieut-Gen. Dang
Van Quang. All NBC's charges were attributed to "extremely reliable sources."
So much for a mere spattering of the suspected truth. What all this suggests,
incredible as it might seem, is that the United States government, directly or
indirectly, is supporting a procedure which results in the heroin addiction of hun-
dreds of thousands of American citizens.
We should all know that Nixon has proudly proclaimed a "most significant"
deal with. Turkey, a country which, according. to Nixon, exports two-thirds of the
world's heroin. This fact is somewhat contradicted, however, by a -report by the
UN Commission on Drugs and Narcotics. Referred to by both Ramparts and Ginsberg,
this report stated that since 1966, 80% of the world's 1,200 tons of illicit opium comes
;not from Turkey, but from Southeast Asia.
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little on the side-but his government will be
a lot easier to swallow. And if a truly fair
distribution of the subsidy largesse Is beyond
)Its immediate grasp, the practical implica-
tion for the average ' man is that he had
'_ ' het:ter get In there and scrap.
U.S. AID PROGRAM IN LAOS
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent that a most interest-
ing article on Laos, written by Mr. T. D.
Allman, and published in the New York
Times of Friday, February 25, 1972, be
printed in the RECORD. I urge Senators
to read the article carefully. It is highly
educational and should be considered in
relation to the U.S. aid program in Laos
and very likely elsewhere.
There being no objection, the article
was ordered to be printed in the REC-
ORD, as follows:
? , 'IN LAOS AID MARCHES ON
I asked if the k1 would have any value if
the program ran out of money. Yes, he con-
ceded, if the dollars were cut off the kip
would not be worth the paper on which it
was printed. -
Now, three and a half years later, things
are a little changed in the Na Hai Diao
Compound. A.I.D. headquarters has vacated
the ramshackle building and settled a few
yards away in Vientane's most unusual inde- -
structible building.
With the devaluation of the dollar and
the anti-A.I.D. vote in the Senate, A.I.D.
has learned that empire has its financial
limitations.
Following the Senate vote, the U.S. Em-
bassy devalued the kip by 20 per cent. Un-
less Congress has a change of heart, or-the.
rich Japanese and Europeans pay more to
keep it up, the kip will be devalued again,
or be left to find its own value, and A.I.D.'s
most cherished program will be gone.
The new A.ID. headquarters gives the
impression of eternity, if not grace. It has
no windows at all, not even a painted-over
one, throughout its three stories.
'n ?aarw f
and the United States for the long term.
I am delighted to ask unanimous con-
sent that Senator HANSEN's remarks be
printed in the RECORD and to accept
their support for my resolution.
There being no objection, the address
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
WHAT's NEW IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
(Remarks by CLIFFORD P. HANSEN, U.S.
Senator, Wyoming)
It is an honor, a great pleasure, and a very
timely privilege to have this opportunity to
talk to the business leaders who comprise
the Chamber of Commerce in The Oil Capi-
tal of Canada.
Canada and the United States are bound
together by many interests-in historical
kinship, in our economic interests, in our
political idealogios which value foremost
the individualism and initiative of our
people:
We are bound. together in a mutuality of
interest involving our joint security.
We are partners in freedom, and no two
Nations have pursued their individual and
joint commitments to freedom in closer
proximity, with better cooperation, for longer
years,. in greater harmony, with better fruits
to show for the effort.
I am pleased and proud that present U.S.-
Canadian relationships, our historical ties,
and cultural and ethnic commonalty have
meant a great deal to our two countries.
There is evidence that we are continuing
to establish mutually beneficial trade rela-
tionships, including auto and coal produc-
tion and electrical power generation.
We must work to build on these on-going
programs in order to establish a freer flow
of commerce and exchange of technical and
professional talents.
In this atmosphere of trust and coopera-
tion, we can speak openly and candidly to
each other. In that spirit, I would like very
much to share with you some of my think-
Ing on a very complex challenge in which
the United States and Canada share a vital
interest. That, stated simply, is the proposi-
(By T. D. Allman) Locals call the new building "the white
VIENTIANE, LAOS.-Some time ago, I had? ---cube," "the cinder block." but most often
my introduction to the self-perpertuating "the windowless building." Its number on
interregnum of suspended time, space and the embassy roster is 500-will they change
perception occupied by the United States the number with the devaluation to 600, I
Agency for International Development, and could not avoid wondering, and then per-
its sister agencies, Clandestine Client State haps to 1,000, to keep up with the kip? The
Division, When I paid my first call on the building, A.I.D. officials say, cost only $394.-
genial, perennial' A.I.D. director in 'Laos, 000, and, one said, "will pay for itself in re-
Charles Mann. ' . duced air-conditioning charges." Unofficial
His office then was located in a small, mis- estimates by local contractors put the build-
leadingly ramshackle building in the Na Hai ing's cost at millions. The air-conditioning
-Dino Compound in suburban Vientiane. The runs off A.I.D.'s private generators; the U.S.
compound is a self-contained cantonment Mission consumes more electricity than the
which shelters, besides A.I.D. headquarters, rest of the country combined. The A.I.D. tel-
the centers of the C.I.A. bombing and mili- ephone directory contains more entries than
tary advisory efforts in Laos, a swimming the Laotian Post and Telegraph telephone
pool, supermarket, American bar and res- book, but the A.ID. switchboard, preoccu-
taurant, movie theater, popcorn machine pied with internal communications, still
and microwave tower, all encased In a six- cannot be reached from an outside line for
toot chain link fence and patrolled by units most hours of the day.
of the U.S. Embassy's 500-man strong, blue- The new windowless building is off-white,
uniformed private army, eyeless, bomb-proof, impregnable to climate
The most noticeable thing, upon first visit, and' contains its ewn furnace for destroying
about the compound was that in a country secret documents. Hundreds of bureaucrats,
where every house is open to catch the faint-
est breeze, each American building was
Sealed off, windowless. When the buildings
did have windows, they were painted over in
white, locked, barred and curtained from
the inside.
In Mr. Mann's office, there were no win-
dows at all, just a series of maps, displaying
neat arrows, insignae, code keys and statis-
tics showing the visitor exactly what was
happening in Laos from the vantage point
of A.I.D. activities to command.
Mann, whose ability to attune A.I.D. ac-
tivities to the requirements of U.S. interven-
tion had made him A.I.D. direector in South
Vietnam, Cambodia and the Congo, did not
discuss' his organization's activities as a
front- for the C.I.A. I had been told. in
advance.
However, his conversation-his talk, an
explanation of how the U.S. supported the
kip, the Laotian national currency, at a
steady rate of 500 to the dollar was interest-
ing enough. I was able to discern that the
kip operation essentially consisted of ex-
changing annually $20 to $30-million for
valueless kip, and burning.the collected kip.
The program acted as a straight-forward
giveaway. It moved the Laotian economy no
closer to self-sufficiency, indeed perpetuated
dependence on the United States.
As a result, the country was flooded with
imported -consumer goods: "re-exportation"
of some of them on the black market kept
the business community content; there was
little' inflation. Laos, Mann seemed to be say-
ing, for obvious reasons preferred living at
a standard it could never by itself afford to
the evils of Communist aggression.
their maps and coffee-makers, presumably clvn UL uIULIIIniuuig un aueyuuu: secure.
could subsist within it, never leaving, for supply of the basic energy fuels that are so
years. fundamental to our security, and to the con-
,-- tinued economic progress of our industrial-
ADDRESS BY SENATOR HANSEN
BEFORE CALGARY, ALBERTA,
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Mr. CURTIS. Mr. President, on Feb-
ruary 15, the distinguished Senator from
Wyoming (Mr. HANSEN) addressed
the Chamber of Commerce of Calgary,
Alberta, Canada.
Senator HANSEN paid tribute to the
high degree of good relations which
have always existed between the govern-
ments and the people of Canada and
the United States. He discussed the in-
creasing importance of the need for en-
ergy supplies to support the growth of
both nations.
Senator HANSEN illustrates the de-
pendence of the Canadian crude oil pro-
duction on United States markets and
compares this to Canada's embargo, last
November, on further natural gas ex-
ports to the United States. This, he ob-
serves, could affect United States con-
tributions to both oil and gas explora-
tion in Canada.
It was exactly this disparity of treat-
ment which occasioned my introduction
of Senate Resolution 208, on December
6, 1971, proposing studies to reach satis-
factory trade relations between Canada
ized societies.
An adequate energy supply means, basi-
cally, a capability to produce and deliver
the oil and gas required to meet the rapidly
accelerating demands for these fuels in the
years just ahead.
To fulfill these needs will require a vigor-
ously healthy and expanding petroleum pro-
ducing industry both in the United States
and in Canada. More and more, the hard
dollar decisions by management as to
whether to explore and develop turn on the
energy policy decisions ny Governments.
This Is true whether the Government Is in
Washington or in Ottwa-in Alberta or in
Wyoming. In 1970 the world petroleum in-
dustry spent $21.5-billion in capital invest-
ment, but the expenditures for production
were only $7.2 billion, and for exploration
only $1.3 billion.
All other expenditures for processing, mar-
keting and transportation were up from, the
previous years' level, while production and
exploration expenditures were down. The
funds spent on exploration and production
represented the lowest proportion of capital
spending on record. This does not bode well
for the seventies when we know that we
must more than double the capital expendi-
ture's of the sixties to find enough oil and
gas to meet the growing demand.
However, rather than talk in terms of our-
growing needs for oil and natural gas. it
Is more accurate and realistic to talk in
terms of our growing needs for liquids and
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i
I
unaer. J
by Wilbur L. Jarvis
Uncommon Sense
by James MacGregor Burns
196 pp. Harper & Row $6.95'
Most Americans would count common
sense and practicality as among their
cardinal virtues. They would attribute
much of the nation's progress to a tough-
minded approach to national problems,
to the application of common sense, to
the rolling up of sleeves and getting the
job done -But in his new book "Uncom-
mon Sense," James MacGregor Burns, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and the
Woodrow Wilson professor of govern-
ment at Williams College, asserts that
more. than common sense has been nec-
essary throughout the history of the
nation, and that certainly more than
common sense is needed to cope with the
problems of this decade. It is, he con-
tends, a time for uncommon sense.
He also observes that much of what
has been regarded as practical progress
has been more illusory than real. Too
often we have not really solved a prob-
lem-we have simply muddled through a
trying situation, temporarily relieving the
pressure on us, but leaving the basin
problem to be dealt with again 'and
again. "The history of this nation," he
writes, "is studded. with actions that
seemed wholly practical,and beneficial
at the time but, In the long run, left a
The failure Is rooted in a
thinking. We confuse the means
SIAIINIL
=r- our-"most cherished values, as the Su
preme Court, for example, has beeq'
doing front the values of liberty and
equality in recent years. We then, to the
degree possible, reorganize our means to
fit our ends rather than the reverse."
way of
with the
ends, elevating the former to the status
of the latter, -And in our confusion we
have assumed that the exercise of power
is in conflict with principle: 4 'The re-
sponsible wielder of power is expected to
obscure values rather than Illuminate
them, to adapt principle to practice
rather than practice to principle."
As an example, he points to the way
we practice foreign poiiry: " . . . self-
righteous crusades that have sought to*
establish American interests abroad In.
the guise of spreading and defending
democracy.
"At the same time, our means have
often contaminated our prime values.
The cynicism and opportunism that em-
braced Franco, that failed to take a
strong stand In the United Nations
against anachronistic colonialism, that
avoided significant action against South
Africa, that would use almost any mili-
tary means to win victory in ? Southeast
Asia, that permitted the creation of a
secret CIA army in Laos-these cannot
defend ` Temselves with an appeal to
liberty and equality. Thus the pragmatic
approach to our foreign policy has at the
same time subverted our most enduring
principles and weakened American pres-
tige and power. In short, it does not
work. It is unrealistic." ?
The author finds confusion of means STATE N
little comfort In other parts of "Uncom-
mon Sense." They are described as
with ends across the political spectrum.
Though America's "young revolu-
tionaries" . might agree with the indict-
{ npent of our foreign policy, as quoted in
a preceding paragraph, they will find
f'cloudy or confused about means" and
"vague to the point of being cryptic
about their ends." Neither they -nor the
black militants" "subject themselves to
the discipline of hard thought," with the.
result that "revolutionary sentiments in
this country .. , take on a mindless and
even banal quality. And ?a blatantly un-
democratic one."
As a critic. of the American system,
Professor Burns is more than an erudite
fault-finder. He prescribes remedies for
the ills he diagnoses. He has anticipated
that his fellow citizens, stung by his
discerning analysis and assessment that
the American system Is failing, could
well ask: "What would you do about It?"
His book gives his answer. Not only
would he have us rethink our ends and
reorder our -priorities; he would have us
recreate the national government. He
would strengthen the presidency, and
within the executive office he would set
up task forces to provide continuous
priority operations. And he would extend
the task force concept into the states and
localities through the establishment of-
"presidential" agencies throughout the
country. They would be several hundred
in number, and they would "work direct-
ly under the supervision of the president
and his executive office, bypassing de-
partmental and bureau levels if neces-
sary. "
Each agency would be headed by a
single person directly responsible to the
Professor Burns appeals for a-realism president. and he would be armed with
In our political works that is beyond powers delegated by the president. The
"some early concrete satisfaction for ? a' agencies themselves would have real
residue of principles violated, hopes de- specific person or group." He calls for a o . and while ? they would try to
feated, a tAr9Ma6keF'O"o e1 se' Q51MsinCW Od1r168~0 Q1P4QQQJ 4erwise in-
ur system
duce state and local agencies to do what
 1 yoix TIMES .. STATINTL
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aos,.
.I.D. Marches On
.13y T. D. ALLMAN
VIENTIANE, Laos-Some time ago,
I had my introduction to the self-
perpetuating interregnum of suspended
time, space and perception occupied
by the United States Agency for In-
ternational Development, and its sister
agencies, Clandestine Client State Divi-
sion, when I paid my first call on the
genial, perennial A.I.D. director in
Laos, Charles Mann.
His office then was located in a
small, misleadingly ramshackle build-
ing in the Na l-[ai Diao Compound in
suburban Vientiane. The compound
is a self-contained cantonment which
/ shelters, besides A.I.D. headquarters,
J i the centers of the C.I.A. bombing and
I' military advisory efforts in Laos, a
swimming pool, supermarket, Ameri-
can bar and restaurant, movie theater,
popcorn machine and microwave tow-
er, all encased in a six-foot chain
link fence and patrolled by units of
the U.S. Embassy's 500-man strong,
blue-uniformed private army.
The most noticeable thing, upon first
visit, about the compound was that in
a country where every house is open
to catch the faintest breeze, each
American building was sealed off,
windowless. When. the buildings did
have Nirldows, they were painted,over
in white, locked,, barred and cur-
tained from the inside.
In Mr. Mann's office, there were
no windows at all, just a series of
maps, displaying neat arrows, insignae,
code keys and statistics showing the
visitor exactly what was happening
in Laos from the vantage point of
A.I.D. activities to command.
Mann, whose ability to attune A.I.D.
activities to the requirements of U.S.
Intervention had made him A.I.D. di-
rector in South Vietnam, Cambodia
and the Congo, did not discuss his
organization's activities as a. front
for the C.I.A. I had been told in
advance.
However, his conversation - his
talk, an explanation of how the U.S.
supported the kip, the Laotian na-
tional currency, at a steady rate of
500 to the dollar was interesting
enough. I was able to discern that
the kip operation essentially consisted
of - exchanging annually $20 to $30.,
million for valueless kip, and burning
the collected kip. The program acted
as ? a straight-forward giveaway. It
moved the Laotian economy no closer
"A.I.D. has learned
that empire has its
financial limitations."
As a result, the country was flooded
with imported consumer goods; "re-
exportation" of some of them on the
black market kept the business com-
munity content: there was little in-
flation. Laos, Mann seemed to he say-
ing, for obvious reasons preferred liv-
ing at a standard it could never by
itself afford to the evils of Commu-
nist aggression.
I asked if the kip would have any
value if the program, ran out of money.
Yes, he conceded, if the dollars were
cut off the kip would not be worth
the paper on which it was printed.
Now, three and a half years later,
things are a little changed in the Na
Hai Diao Compound. A.I.D. headquar-
ters has vacated the ramshackle build-
ing and settled a few yards away in
Vientiane's most unusual indestructible
building.
With the devaluation of the dollar
and the anti-A.I.D. vote in the Senate,
A.I.D. has learned that empire has its
financial limitations.
Following the Senate vote, the U.S.
Embassy devalued the kip by 20 per
cent. Unless Congress has a change of
heart, or the rich Japanese and Euro-
peans pay more to keep it up, the kip
will be devalued again, or be left to find
its own value, and A.I.D.'s most cher-
ished program will be gone.
The new A.I.D. headquarters gives
the ifnpression of eternity, if not
grace. It has no windows at all, not
even a painted-over one, throughout
its three stories.
Locals call the new building "the
white cube," "the cinder block," but
most often "the windowless building."
Its number on the embassy roster is
500-will they change the number
with the devaluation to 600, I could
not avoid wondering, and then perhaps
to 1,000, to keep up with the kip?
The building, A.I.D. officials say, cost
only $394,000, and, one said, "will
pay for itself in reduced air-condition-
ine '.harQes." Unofficial estimates by
local contractors put the building's
cost at millions. The air-conditioning
runs off A.I.D.'s private generators;
the U.S. Mission consumes more
electricity than the rest of the country
combined. The A.I.D. telephone direc-
tory contains more entries than the
Laotian Post and Telegraph telephone
book, but the A.I.D. switchboard, pre-
occupied with internal communica-
tions, still cannot be reached from an
outside line for most hours of the
day.
The new windowless building is off-
white, eyeless, bomb-proof, impreg-
nable to climate and contains its own
furnace for destroying secret docu
merits. Hundreds of bureaucrats, their
maps and coffee-makers, presumably
could subsist within It, never leaving,
for years.
T. D. Allman is a journalist who has
worked in Laos for several years.
STATINTL
LO self-suffice n dee etu d
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 STATINTL
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MONTGOMERY, ALA.
ADVIa 1 1972
M - 61,769
S - 80,831
funds through hidden channels.. Cambodia and requires'CIA ar s
rd
A favorite method is for another transfers to be counted against the
agency's budget to be kited by.a military aid appropriation. The
certain amount, then that amount CIA is reported to have
is decl~ red surplus and warehouses filled with arms at
transferred to the CIA. various points in Southeast Asia
In this manner, only a handful of for distribution?to anti-communist
people know what has occurred, guerrillas.
most. of them in the Executive The CIA will be forbidden to pay
branch. There is an oversight foreign troops - such as the 4,800
committee of the Senate made up "volunteers" in Laos -more than
of senior members of the Armed their counterparts in the U.S.
Services and Appropriations armed forces. The bill specifical-
Agency gets a large chunk of its $341,000,000 ceiling on aid
THE CENTRAL Intelligence it includes t h eIA in t
A Light Checkrein On The CIA
Committees, plus four members of ly places the CIA under existing
the Foreign Relations Committee. restrictions on giving arms to
As chairman of the Armed forces in Asia.
Services Committee, Sen. John
Stennis of Miss. presides over the It will require quarterly reports
group, which is supposed to to Congress on Cambodia and
monitor all CIA activities. Last annual reports on foreign aid. CIA
year the oversight committee assistance will. be included in the
didn't meet a single time. totals, although,it will probably not
The Foreign Relations be pinpointed.
Committee members on. the These regulations will increase
contend oversight panel are angry. They congressional supervision over-
world activities around the wars, but the language is
world have a decisive effect on the shadow not so tight as to prevent some
conduct of U.S. diplomatic policy. circumvention, if the CIA. is
They have taken action to by- supported by the White House.
-pass Stennis and to gain some
measure of control over CIA funds, The National Security Council,
personnel and activities by writing the President's consultative
new curbs into the foreign aid committee to which the CIA
authorization bill. reports, has the final decision on
The bill, signed by President the agency's activities.
Nixon the other day, requires for
the first time a reduction in However, the new controls
military personnel working for the should require the CIA to think
CIA in activities similar to the twice before committing the U.S.
assistance and advisory groups to clandestine wars, as it has done
now operating in Cambodia and all too often in the last several
Laos. years.
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 Approved For Release 2000/05/15 -: CIA-RDP80-01601 R00Q?pr1l114XL01-3
COLUMBUS, GA.
ENRUIRFEB 18 1972
M - 32,231
fle Keeps on Fighting
This world can be too. bland have been going on so long
a place if we let it, and that is and implacably. His unique
why we are glad that up in method of solving the political
the mountains of landlocked difficulties of leading a tribe
Laos, there is yet a man. who's with six major clans has the
not quite out of, the mould of charm of swashbuckling sim-
the times, Maj. Gen. yang Pao plicity to it, for example. .
of the Meos. He simply married a- wife
He is an ally of America, in- from each of the tribe's subdi-
volved in fighting for inde- visions - six of them - and
pendence for most of his adult acquired a family of. 27 chil-
life, a soldier, a tribal peer of dren to cement his political re-
the primitive Meo, and a kind lations with family relations.
of peppery joy to have in the
bland personality stew we be- He has been fighting Com-
wailed in the beginning. munists in Laos, and fighting
He talks a b o u t his war for independence and the Meos
against the North Vietnamese people there, since 1946 when
and the Pathet Lao Communists he was 16. He is .fighting now,
like this: with North Vietnam's dry sea-
son offensive there costing him
"Win? Not sure. But we 1,000 of his Meos fighting men
fight, sure." and threatening his mountain
Why? headquarters. He is a unique
individual, but he is hardly in
"Hanoi wants to take our
country." a unique situation, and the
moral involved is that without
Surrounded' by the clandes-
tine the United States, he would CIA aid of America, with have been dead and his people
a d v i s e r s and assistance, he taken into the drab, anthill or-
{commented like this: ganization of Asian-style com-
"Americans are not aggres- munism.
sive people. They help us de- Communism can't abide the
at-
'end our country but not to at- existence of a man like yang
tack anyone else." Pao of the Meos. He is too,
He is a most unlikely charac- effective an enemy and he has
ter for this time, most unlikely too much individual character.
of all to find him in Laos, We should continue to help
which is an unlikely place in him because they hate him so
'almost every way for war to much.
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 STATINTL
Approved For Release 20Wv 4'6S-DP80-01601 R
18FEB1972.
a0s Aita~ks on
a ill n o".
elieve Long Ch
By D.1v Ronk ville valley area 10 to 15 miles4 taken up by its troops over the
Special to The Washington Post
east of the plain where CIA- 15ast two weeks. The attack
VIENTIANE, Laos 1 eb. supported intelligence patrolsplan appears to have been ac-
,17-A Laotian task force has say they have located enemy
mounted a major counter-of- supplies for the current push ; complished.
fensive into the Plain of Jars against Long Cheng and Sam To maintain secrecy before
area 100 miles northeast of Vi- Thong. the attack, even supply drops
entiane in an effort to relieve Other objectives of the task PI to most of the task force were
heavy enemy pressure on the force are supply routes run? suspended during the entire
Long Cheng Sam Thong defen- ning southward across the period. Some units were sup-
.-sive line, highly reliable plain from .its northeastern I~ plied with food by quiet-flying'
sources in Vientiane say. I corner and the artillery posi- Air America planes but only . ~/
A force of several thousand, tions on the southernmost Ii with limited amounts. Ammu-
eung ahd lowland I end. nition resupply was not re
Mco, Lao, 111
Lao gars was ' secretly l The Laotian task force is quired,? sources say, because of
maneuvered into attack posi- the first major offensive ac- lack of contact with the enemy.
tions around the upland plain lion by progovernment troops Reliable sources here say
during the past 11 days, and is in the Plain of Jars since corn- that command of the opera-
now attacking enemy troop I munist forces captured it from tion was given to Gen. Thao
concentrations and supply.) General -yang Pao's army in Ly, commander "of irregular
points in the area 20 ?miles;!iate December after 48 hours forces in southern Laos, who
northeast of Long Cheng.li of battle. From the plain the is considered a highly compe-
Sources here describe the of-' communist force then moved tent soldier by most observers
fort as designed to break up a, against the strategic Long' here. Aside from the Meo vet-
'major offensive threat by! . Cheng base, forcing its evacu- . erans at Long Cheng, Thao
against the Laotian govern- CIA and Vang Pao's pro-gov- are considered the' best in
ment's northern front. ernment Meo Army Commu- j Laos. Thao Ly may join his
The precise location of the mist forces briefly occupied troops on the plain soon,
task force's various elements Long Cheng itself in mid-Janu sources here say.
and the results of early action ary, but were forced into the
are not available here because hills between the base and To protect Long Cheng it
the attacks have undoubtedly tary observers here feel wil be from southern Laos, including
disrupted any intentions of another major assault on the a substantial number of Thais
the North Vietnamese to., base. The base area is the ke were flown into Long Cheng
launch heavy attacks on Long y Sam Thong. Most of the so-
Cheng and its sister village of to the Royal Lao government's called Thai irregulars in Laos
Sam Thong. entire northern front. -upwards of 9,000-are be-
An estimated three regi- ~lieved to be among those now
A number of attack posi- meats of North Vietnamese, or holding'
o,
l
tions have been established about 6,000 infantrymen, are ding the northern front.
across the southern end of the believed poised to the north r here are no Thais with the
30-square-mile plain since the-and east of Long Cheng and operation onto the Plain of
irregular force began- moving S am Thong. :'Jars, ~iformed sources here
out from Long Cheng on Feb. From 10 to 12 130:lMM field 'say.
6? guns, with a range of 17 miles
1Among the military objec- are in Although information place the east the operation was kept in the
he
tives, according to reports in,Long Cheng. These are the e highest secrecy, at least four
Vientiane, are limestone eaves'torces that the operation into.
In. the deep Xieng Khouang- the Plain of Jars is attempting newsmen in Vientiane learned
to disrupt. The task force's in. about it the day military
tention disrupt.
was to forces left Long, Chen" when
prepare in se- 11Ieo tribesmen in the capital
cret for simultane
Approved For Release 2fl@D/t16/16ctb~9tMt001-3
soldiers involved the z}ewsmen
withheld publication of the
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-0160' (Td6b940001-3
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
OBSERVER
M -..174,906
S - 204,225:
(The Congress And. 'CIA Controk
The Central Intelligence Agency, a the amount of arms it can distribute i
many years, is going to have to join the One objective of the Foreign Rela-
Uflon at last. tions Committee was to curb CIA activity
The Senate Foreign Relations Com? in Cambodia, where the c o m m i t t e e
mittee put its foot down recently and feared the agency might generate anoth-
slspped some new controls on the CIA er war, as it helped to do in Laos. Thus,
when it prepared the foreign aid authori- aid to Combodia is limited and the CIA
zajion bill. President Nixon signed the bill must make quarterly reports on that
E last week. country to Congress.
The new limitations are not air-tight.
The controls mean the CIA will be More are probably needed. But the Con-
limited in the number of military person- gress has at last put a firm hand on the
, nel It can use for its projects; in how reins for the first time since the CIA was
;`much it can pay foreign troops; and in created in 1947.
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 STATINTL
c cod@d For Release 2000/05/15 : 'CIA-RDP80-01601
tiv".
.PTITs x.19
IN
3r}b,~37, - +. ... .. .
Q- C G) hu IF'
L
By SIIERLEY UIIL
Press Politics Editor
There may be more activity 1
on the ouis c than on the
inside at the Republican Na-
tional Convention in August,
but any demonstrations will be
peaceful, Dr. Benjamin Spock
predicted here today.
The widely recognized pe-
diatrician, running for the
presidency on the People's
Party ticket, said anticipated
protests in San Diego are
"well along, is plannings."
wPermits Sought
He said -youth groups evc I
now are negotiating with offi-
cials there for permits and
other arrangements necessary
to conduct "nonviolent" dem-
oiistrations at:the convention.
"It won't be a civil disobedi-
ence type of thing," he ex-
plained. Instead, he insisted, it
will be an orderly. attempt to
"keep the pressure on" in
als and peace. ~....a~"~~ C II L y)
forces." +a :n
Spock said he Is not aware of
what might occur at the Dem- He also would withhold eco-
ocratic convention in Miami icomic support from the Thieu
tt: , a L .,t 1, Aecrr;hpd tha government.
m
a
y (
e
go as "infinitely worthwhile." rageous'. for presidential as-
sistant H. R. Haldeman and
"They radicalized tens of others to impute treasonous
millions of young people," said ' motives to war critics.
Spock. "It was brutal ... "The American people voted
America will never be the for his (Haldeman's) boss be-
same." cause Nixon promised a quick
Spock, one of the godfathers end to the war in Vietnam," i
of the youth protest move- said Spock. "I hope American
went,. was in Pittsburgh to people won't be intimidated by
rustle up not. only interest in that kind of rubbish."
bis candidacy, but also signa-
tures on petitions, required to In response to questions,
outlined his platform, includ- ~t7akland.
ino' an immadiinta halt in
Ienges. will atte s YfA-RDP80-01601 8000600140001-3
Approved For Rel&s.'C~`
At 'a news conference ? he
1
4 F ;C
s : _ L AIX.d -
DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK
Won't be "intimidated."
withdrawal of "troops, coerce. .
ilit
nary andlpara
r
C
.
Spock said he Is dedicated to
the U. S. and, "It's our overn-
relations with other. nations." ,
and, said Speck, it probably He speaks at 8 p. m. today
will be necessary to collect at Lawrence Hall, Point Park
put his name on the ballot.
March S Deadline
The: peoples Party needs
36,000 signatures by March 8,
 Approved For Release 2000/05/15: CIA-RDP80-016
YORK, PA.
FEB 17 197Z
M - 33,894
,_ rsontheCIA
Through the efforts of a handful of
U.S. senators, controls have at long last
been placed on the operations, cost and
personnel of the Central Intelligence
f Agency. These curbs are contained in
i tt oreign aid authorization bill signed
i last week by President Nixon.
Credited with providing the controls
are Senators Clifford Case of New
;.Jersey, Frank Church of Idaho and
Stuart Symington of Missouri. All are
members of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. Together with-
J-Sen. William Fulbright, committee
chairman, they have protested in-
creasingly that Congress has too little
knowledge of the CIA's activities,
particularly in Southeast Asia.
According to the New York Times,
'Senator Case urged last summer a
tightening of restrictions over the
Defense Department's use of its funds
overseas and over its power to transfer
"surplus" military material to other
:.U.S. agencies. Senator Case, the Times
said, insisted that the CIA be included
lest U.S. involvement in Cambodia
develop surreptitiously, as he said it
had in Laos.
"would prevent the circumvention of
congressional intent in funding of
activities such as the Thai troops in'
Laos through the CIA rather than!
through more open government
agencies."
A number 'of senators, particularly
those serving on the Foreign Relations
Committee, have complained over the
years regarding the lack of
congressional knowledge and control
over military action abroad. The
disastrous "Bay of Pigs" invasion of
Cuba soon after John F. Kennedy
assumed the presidency in 1961 was one
of the major 'operations planned
secretly by the Central Intelligence
Agency. Since'then the agency has
been blamed or received credit for
masterminding various coups and
revolts in various parts of the world.
The CIA, by the nature of its in-
telligence work, must indeed have
privacy. But when it comes to involving
the nation in military operations
abroad, and otherwise affecting
foreign policy, the CIA should be
responsible to Congress as well as the <
President for its actions. The curbs
that were placed on the agency last
Such restrictions, the senator said, week area start iu that direction.
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 ~ YOR} TULES STATFNTI
Approved For Release 200f0%l51RlA-RDP80-01601 R
Bombing Is Linked to High Infil tra Lion ?Ra te-
wIiITNEY
GItAIG R
.
By
Special to The grew York Times Laos. tserore the raids were base area and infiltration routes ,Three North Vietnames0 ~ regi-
SAIGON, South Vietnam, Feb. halted at 6 P.M. in South Viet-lout of it were a principal target ments already in that area are
R5--High.ranking sources re-Inam for the 24 hour allied Tet of the bombing.. hought to be trying to move
cart that the decision to bomb truce, the Air Force and Navy! The North Vietnamese 28th, closer to Hue.
port had flown 242 strikes. 66th and 95B regiments are be- Despite all the 'reports of
Communist base areas at t ie North Vietnamese troop move-
border of Laos and South Viet- according bombing was be- be- and nearby ndbe inKontum the baro area ments, the only significant up-
liarn was based on intelligence cause the Nixon Nixoon n Admi Adminihestration, along with nine e independent pendent surge in fighting occurred last reports showing that more wanted to take no chances on battalions. The 3,700-man 320th week where in Communist Binhdinh forces, P Provovincce,
e
North Vietnamese troops were the embarrassment of a major North Vietnamese- Division is wehreg three Nnist rs
I in-
nony south this month than offensive Peking while if t it the
rechave entlyarrfved regiments, launched a series of
could President in the base area to
in any previous month. . was vent one b bombing, shelling and ground attacks.
The sources said that Amer; Y Enemy Forces Listed' Far to the south, in the Me.
(can' intelligence estimates of Not Just 'Tourist Trip' Three days ago three North kong Delta, which has been
troop 'infiltrations from North An exceptionally well-in- Vietnamese prisoners captured: relatively calm for three years,
Vietnam and along the Ho Chi formed analyst said: "We have n Kontum told interrogators a North Vietnamese regiment
Minh Trail toward Communist discounted a major effort dur-i they were from the 304B Divi-, has been reported infiltrating
leg Tet and think it will come' lion. It is believed here that' into Dinhtuong Province west
base areas below the demili- later. We don't really think they they are part of a regimental- 0f Mytho.
tarized zone and in the. Central will do it before Nixon's visit, size force of about 1,500 mend A more immediate target is
Highlands indicated that 30,000 and think they would not beIthat is named after the moreiithe base at Longtieng, in north-
enemy soldiers would have infil- terribly interested in giving] famous and older 304th Divi ern Laos, supported by the Cen-
trated into South Vietnam by Nixon talking points in Peking; sion. tral Intelligence Agency. It was
b staging a bi offensive while: That unit is believed to be nearly overrun by three North
the end of February. Y g on the move into the western'
he is there." Vietnamese divisions last month
American intelligence officials ?We think the final plan has part of the demilitarized zone; and most senior officers here
?. have also reportedly predicted not yet been determined," the in preparation for possible at-? expect them to, put heavy pres-
that by the end of April 70,000 source added, "but that in the tack on the South Vietnamese' sure on the Laotian and Moo
to 80,000 North Vietnamese sol- meantime the enemy is getting artillery bases called Sarge and defenders again soon.
dfers will have moved south his troops in position. They Fuller, which were attacked last Officials here also expect re-
aren't sending these guys down June when the weather was dry newed attacks in Cambodia,
-more than in all of last year here on a tourist trip there. which has been relatively quiet
--bringing the enemy's esti- , The North Vietnamese 308th
Senior officials say that since December.
mated main-force strength in American inteligence officers Division has also moved south If I were in the enemy's
South Vietnam to 120,000? to have not found major evidence from the central provinces of shoes, I think I would have to
130,000. - of Communist infiltration into North Vietnam closer to the make some big effort before
demilitarized zone, the Ameri- standing down for extended ne-
considered conclusive. Some areas in Cambodia. The intellconclu data are not the Saigon odia. This from is true, base can sources say, probably to gotiations on a final settlement,
they say, eevn though South act as a reserve for the 304th and this is probably what he is,
Gaut"b predictions have not been borne and also to guard against a getting ready to'do now," an of
Y reports from the field, Vietnamese forces withdrew South Vietnamese attack across ficial said. "But I don't expect
but some American officials from Cambodia last month to
bore believe that the reports free airborne strategic reserves the zone up the coastal plain that final push now."
reflect a clear determination by for possible deployment to the into the north.
Central Highlands, where a The North Vietnamese are
the North
major Vietnamese effort under in - principal enemy action is ex- also reported to be building up
take military effort their antiaircraft defenses in
the South. .the southern part of their
Secretary of State William
F. Rogers and the Army Chief
of Staff, Gen. William C. West-
moreland, have predicted an of-
fensive timed for the Tet Lunar
New Year, which began today,
or for President Nixon's visit
to Peking, which begins Mon-
day. .
The intensive American bomb-
ing, halted temporarily today
for the Tet cease-fire, began
Thursday with the sudden de-
ployment of the aircraft carrier
Constellation to join two others
In the Gulf of Tonkin and with
the reinforcement of the Stra-
tegic Air. 'Command's Pacific
B-52 fleet.
The bombing campaign,
which directed almost a thou-
sand fighter-bomber strikes and
75 B-52 missions principally
against two North Vietnamese
base areas near the Ashau Val-
ley and w e s t t tR
highlands, wa qua ly inten-
sive just across the border in
While the best estimate of country, not only with antiair-
the American intelligence com- craft guns but also with more
munity is reliably reported to surface-to-air missiles than
be that a major countrywide have been there. The enemy
offensive will not get under has also moving some
way immediately, local Viet- 130-mm. artillery pieces -closer
tong units are. said to have to the DMZ, according to
been ]issued impressive orders
that give them wide latitude American sources; with their
but urge a three-phase political, 17-mile range tney outaistance
military and diplomatic often- all but the most powerful Viet-
sive this year. namese artillery.
However, the intelligence "They obviously contemplate
data appear to indicate that
some attack will be made soon
on South Vietnamese bases,
border camps and cities in the
Central Highlands, probably
west of Kontum and Dakto
around Fire Bases 5 and 6 and
the Benhet ranger camp.
Those positions, which were gists in the western mountains
also attacked heavily lastl10f the two northern provinces:
March and April, are close to
a major North Vietnamese base
area known as No. 609, in the
jungles and hills of the region
& lnAMA
. ital
cap
Cambodia come together. The'the im.pcria
doing something for which
they expect a heavy bombing
reaction," an official said.
Advance reconnaissance ele-
ments of another division,
324B, are believed to have
of South Vietnam and to be
moving into a base area, No.
611. The second of the two
zones hit by the intensive
bombing, it is in western Thua-
RSP
thiMAL
$iue.
000600140001-3
 S 1600 Approved For Re~Y~ ~ ~ 1~r DP$~ 601 R00
cost of $19.8 million. The 418-foot vessel is
scheduled for completion in 27 months.
Now If Congress will cooperate, the Wicker-
sham's last two years in Alaska service should
be good ones. The outlook is favorable that
the waiver finally will be granted.
HELP YOUNG AMERICA WEEK
-Mr. EAGLE- TON. Mr. President, in the
State. of Missouri, the first week of Feb-
ruary was declared "Help Young Amer-
ica Week."
The purpose of this special week was
to promote the strengthening of ties be-
tween business, youth, and parents. This
goal Is most commendable.
The sponsors of this project have con-
tributed $20,000 to each of the five most
active nationwide youth organizations In
America as a part of this program.
Through the fine work of the Boy
Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of Amer-
ica. Girls and Boys Clubs of America as
American radicals, representatives of the
PRO and the DRV have expressed their
desire to see Nixon defeated in the 1972
election. Undoubtedly they know a major
liability to Nixon would be a new
NLF/NVA offensive throughout Indo-
china. A major attack, suggestive of the
1968 Tet offensive, would shatter the illu-
sion that the North Vietnamese military
strength has been crippled by the bomb-
ings, or that indigenous revolutionary
cadres have been rooted out by pacifica-
tion programs. Restraint on their part
makes sense only if they have some rea-
son for believing Nixon will actually
withdraw after the 1972 election and halt
all U.S. bombing and end de facto sup-
port for Thicu. No evidence suggests
Nixon would do this. Wisely, the Viet-
namese insurgents have never relied on
the strength of the U.S. antiwar move-
ment in planning and executing their,
struggle.
Third. The recent heavy air bombard-
"Help Young America" will be re^chc: