CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE, 26 MARCH 1970

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• Publication Date: March 26, 1970
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March 26, 1970 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE S 4649
Each one assured the committee that
he had objectively reviewed the record
of the nominee and had reached the con-
clusion that he was unqualified and they
were opposed to him. Mr. President, is
there anyone so naive that he would be-
lieve that the opposition to this man is
based on any rational or objective
foundation?
These witnesses concentrated primar-
ily on the school desegregation cases
handled by Judge Carswell. This fact in
itself clearly demonstrates their lack of
objectivity, for Judge Carswell has dealt
with a number of different kinds of cases
and yet they were not mentioned in the
testimony.
The basic belief of the ultraliberal is
that if a law is bad it is not to be obeyed.
This sort of premise leads directly to the
destruction of our republican form of
government and ultimately to anarchy.
The criticism of those who oppos
Judge Carswell is based on the pre ' e
that a judge should not support or ey
a law which in their opinion is b but
should go beyond the law and t ough
the process of opinion writing estroy
the existing law and impose in i place
his own brand of law.
Judge Carswell's treatments of the -
sues before him have been in accordance
of the law as it was at the time the mat-
ter was in his court. In this context I
call attention to an article that appeared
in the New York Times written by Fred
P. Graham. The article is a lengthy one
and I ask unanimous consent that it be
printed in the RECORD at the conclusion
of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without'
objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 2.)
Mr. THURMOND. This article bears
witness, as do the decisions of Judge
Carswell, to the fact that Judge Carswell
understands and practices the proper
role of a jurist as it should be practiced in
our system of government; namely, that
he is to apply the law, not as it should be,
or used to be, or ought to be, but as it is.
Mr. President, look at the record. This
man is no zealot and yet he is accused of
being a racist and of being incompetent
by some people who are zealots. The
ultra-liberals have come here mouthing
the pretty platitudes of the left, both old
and new, but after one removes the slick
veneer from his pious pronouncements of
objectivity it is readily obvious that they
simply oppose anyone who will not rule
their way in every case, every time, even
if it means complete disregard of the
rule, letter, and spirit of the law. The
opposition posed by these individuals is
purely political and without substance.
Mr. President, this man is qualified,
both as a student and practitioner of the
law. The Senate has confirmed his
nomination to high Federal positions
three times, two of which nominations
were to the Federal bench. In doing so,
this body has gope on record as approv-
ing his qualifications to sit on the Fed-
eral bench.
Some time ago, the ultra-liberals in
this country decided that Congress would
not go along with all of their ill-con-
ceived visionary schemes, so they turned
to the other branches of Government and
found the courts most vulnerable to their
arguments. They have enjoyed a virtual
monopoly on judicial appointments until
this administration, and they have re-
acted by vicious and unwarranted at-
tacks on President Nixon's appointments.
The American judicial system is the
backbone of, our Republic, because the
court is the place where the citizen can
redress his grievances, sue his Govern-
ment, and right his wrongs without force
or violence. To undermine the court is
to undermine the Nation, and to destroy
the court is to destroy the Nation.
So we come to the crux of the matter-
if Carswell or any other strict construc-
tionist is denied a seat on the Court, it
will remain outside the constitutional
boundaries t?y`our forefathers; but
if Jud arswell is confirmed, then a
bal a will be effected on the High
unal, and the system of checks and
glances will again function within the
constitutional framework.
Mr. President, we must look to the
dangers of refusing confirmation. Con-
gress legislates; the Executive legislates
through executive orders, regulations,
and bureaucratic fiat; and the Supreme
Court has taken upon itself to legislate.
Where, indeed, is our system of checks
and balances? It appears that it is dor-
ant, but it must be revived and renewed.
only way to resurrect these checks
and b noes is to balance the court, and
it will re a the placing of a strict con-
structionist h as Judge Carswell on
the Supreme 't to accomplish this
purpose. By confi ' g Judge Carswell,
we shall accomplish ore than fill a
vacancy on the Supreme ourt; we shall
by that action reaffirm ou belief in the
American system of checks a d balances.
Mr. President, I support th confirma-
tion of Judge George Harrol Carswell
to be Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court and I call on my colleagu s to sup-
port President Nixon in his cho a of this
able and dedicated American.
EXHIBIT 1
JANUARY 24, 1970.
Hon. F. BRADFORD MORSE,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR BRAD: Although I realize that you will
not be called upon to vote on the confirma-
tion of Judge G. Harrold Carswell, I am writ-
ing to you to share information which may
be of some interest to those who will be re-
quired to decide how'to vote on the matter,
You have no doubt read that Judge Cars-
well served in the United States Navy during
World War It. He and I reported for duty
aboard the U.S.S. Baltimore early in 1943
at the Fore River Works in Quincy, Mass. We
were both newly-commissioned ensigns, and
we were put in the junior officers bunkroom
tobether with about twenty other civilians-
in uniform.
The Baltimore shook down in the Carib-
bean, then went to the Pacific and operated
as part of the fast carrier striking force
screen, participating in all the invasions of
the Central Pacific campaign, Gilberts, Mar-
shells, Saipan, Guam, Iwo, Philippines, Oki-
nawa-interrupted only by a return to the
West Coast in August, 1944 to pick up Presi-
dent Roosevelt and take him to Pearl Harbor
to meet with General MacArthur and Ad-
miral Nimitz.
George Carswell and I were aboard all dur-
ing that period, until he was detached in
February, 1945, to attend staff school, and I
was aboard until May, 1945, when I was or-
dered to Japanese Language School. We were
promoted to junior grade lieutenants and
moved out of the J.O. bunkroom and into a
cabin for two officers, where we were room-
mates for about a year. We had a chance to
learn each other's views during a period when
we were both under a good deal of combat-
generated emotional pressure. I think that
under such circumstances a lot of basic
human values become evident, and during
that year we talked about everything under
the sun-education, politics, philosophy, sex,
history, movies and anything else that came
to mind.
During all that time, I never heard George
utter any point of view that could be de-
scribed as racist or illiberal. His attitude was
a truly, humanistic and liberal one in that
he reacted to people as individuals and not
as stereotypes. This was especially apparent
in his behavior toward black sailors. At that
time Navy policy was segregationist, and
black sailors afloat could only serve in the
wardroom mess as stewards mates. There
were other officers of Southern origin who
were outspokenly antagonistic to the stew-
ard's mates for racial reasons, but George
Carswell was always pleasant and consider-
ate to all. Our Gunnery Officer, Comdr. Trues-
dell, felt that the steward"s mates ought to
be given the opportunity to serve in a more
meaningful capacity, and saw to it that their
station at general quarters was to man a bat-
tery of 20 millimeter anti-aircraft guns.
While other officers questioned the desira-
bility of this, George Carswell was enthusi-
astically in favor of it.
I remember that once during a shore ex-
cursion in the forward area George and I to-
gether encountered for the first time a black
petty officer, evidence that at long last the
Navy was beginning to move away from its
segregationist policies, and George could see
the wisdom of that too.
In view of the attacks on Judge Carswell's
legal philosophy by civil libertarians, and es-
pecially in view of the pro-segregationist
views expressed in his campaign for election
to the state house of representatives from a
rural constituency in Georgia in 1948, which
he recently has firmly and, I am convinced,
sincerely repudiated, I am cure that members
of the Senate must be subject to pressure to
vote against his confirmation to the Su-
preme Court. At the same time I am sure
that the Administration would welcome an
expression of regularity and support by an
affirmative vote.
My own position is this: I have no axe to
grind for or against whatever position Sena-
tors may take, but I hope that you may find
useful the opinion of a concerned constitu-
ent who happens to have had some extended
personal conflict with Judge Carswell. My
opinion is that Judge Carswell was not and
is not a racist or a bigot. He is a warm,
friendly, outgoing person, extremely intelli-
gent, and about as liberal, as the Southern
milieu into which he was born could produce
at that time. I have no fear of his subvert-
ing past actions and decisions of the Court
should his appointment be confirmed. While
I do not think that his elevation to the Court
would warrant the probability of his devel-
opment into a liberal of the Hugo Black
variety neither do I believe that we should
fear tie emergence of a modern Roger B.
Taney. Out of personal knowledge and affec-
tion for George Carswell as I knew him dur-
ing the war, I am happy to be able to give
some justification for a favorable considera-
tion of his appointment.
Sincerely yours,
ALLAN L. LEVINE,
Executive Vice President, Towers Mo-
tor Parts Corp., Lowell, Mass.
EXHIBIT 2
CARSWELL'S CREDO Is RESTRAINT
(By Fred P. Graham)
WASHINGTON, January 20.-Judge G. Har-
rold Carswell, President Nixon's new nominee
to the Supreme Court, has a virtually un-
blemished record as the type of "strict con-
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S 4650 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE 4arch 26, 1970
e laws he
a
i
i
structionist" that Mr. Nixon promised to
appoint when he campaigned for the Presi-
dency.
In speeches across the country, Mr. Nixon
promised to name men to the high court who
would "interpret" the law, not "make" it.
In 11..years as a 1~'eederal District judge in
Taf&hassee, Fla., and in six months as a
member of the 'Hntted States Court of Ap-
peals for theF`Ifth Circuit, Judge Carswell
sprinkled the lawbooks wih opinions on mat-
ters ranging from civil rights to the legality
of Florida's poultry law.
Thloughout these opinions runs a con-
sistent tendency to view the law as a neutral
device for settling disputes, and not as a
force for either legal innovation or social
change.
AN IRONIC COMPARISON
An ironic byproduct of this consistency
is that Judge Carswell's judicial record is
more conservative than that of Judge Cle-
ment F. Haynsworth Jr., who was defeated
for confirmation to the same seat by liberal
forces that branded him as a conservative
who was "not a contemporary man of the
times."
Judge Haynsworth was ahead of the Su-
preme Court in devising fuller review for
state prisoners in Federal habeas corpus
proceedings, and occasionally anticipated the
high court in ruling in favor of Negroes in
civil sights cases. -
An exact comparison with Judge Carswell
Is difficult, as the new nominee served as a
trial judge much of the time, and most of
his opinions dealt with day-to-day issues
rather than sweeping constitutional matters.
But the lawbooks contain at least 25 ap-
pellate opinions he wrote when he sat, as
District judges frequently do, on the Court
of Appeals.
These opinions reveal a jurist who hesi-
tates to use judicial power unless the need
is clear and demanding; who finds few con-
troversies that cannot be settled by Invok-
ing some settled precedent, and who rarely
finds the need to refer to the social con-
Met outside the courtroom that brought his
ers who were too strict or too lenient."
Some civil rights lawyers who have ap-
peared before Judge Carswell have charged
that his tendency to issue declaratory judg-
ments rather than injunctions-to hand
down limited desegregation orders rather
than sweeping ones-was a convenient use
of judicial self-restraint to cloak segregation-
ist sympathies.
Leroy D. Clark, a professor of law at New
York University, who formerly headed the
operations of the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc., in northern Flor-
ida, asserted in an interview today that Judge
Carswell had repeatedly delayed school cases
by failing to rule until pressed to do so,
and then by often issuing decisions that were
palpably wrong and quickly reversed.
"We would have a hearing and it would
take several months for him to rule," Mr.
Clark said. "I would have to file a motion to
ask him 'would you please rule?'-which is
outrageous.
"It was my view that of the Federal District
judges I appeared before, Harrold Carswell
was clearly the most openly and blatantly
segregationist. He was a clever and an intelli-
gent man, so that when he was wrong on the
law it wasn't because he didn't know what
the law was-it was because he was biased."
* * * wrote a political science dis-
sertation in 1968 that analyzed the civil
rights decisions of the 31 Federal District
judges appointed to posts in the Deep South
between 1953 and 1963.
When she ranked the 31 judges in terms
of the number of times they had ruled In
favor of Negro plaintiffs' position, Judge
Carswell ranked 23d. Her study showed that,
of his civil rights decisions to be appealed,
60 per cent were reversed.
In most of these cases, Judge Carswell
would have had to move beyond clearly
settled precedents to rule in favor of the
civil rights position. When these precedents
have existed. He has struck down segrega-
tion in crisp forthright opinions.
In 1965, he declared that the barber shop
in Tallahassee's Duval Hotel had to serve
Negroes under the public accommodations
provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He brushed aside a barber's assertion that
he was not covered because 95 per cent of the
customers were local people and not guests
in the hotel. "From a reading of the act it
is clear," Judge Carswell observed, "that
relative percentages of local, as compared to
transient, customers may not be used as cri-
teria to determine coverage."
PROSPECTS BRIGHTER
,
mum w
g
n
comply with the m
dissented, saying: "It is my view that the
injunctive power of courts should never be
invoked lightly, nor should it be converted
into a mere ministerial function triggered
automatically upon the finding of an infrac-
tion of the law."
Judge Carswell's opinions tend to be
bloodless documents:, setting out the facts
and the precedents, then briskly coming to
a conclusion that Is said to be within the
precedents.
He is not given to broad statements of his
philosophy, but his creed at this point in
his career seems to have been summed up
in one statement from an opinion he wrote
shortly after he became a judge in 1958:
"Established law, with its imperfections,
must nonetheless be applied as It is and not
on the predilections of the court."
WHY THE LONG DELAY IN RELEAS-
ING THE LAOS TESTIMONY
Mr. SYMINGMr. President, it is
now more than 5 months since the Sub-
committee of the Foreign Relations
Committee on U.S. Security Agreements
and Commitments, Abroad completed its
hearings on Laos.
The record of those hearings remains
classified top secret at the insistence of
the state Department. That record con-
tains a great deal of information about
U.S. activities in Laos which the Ameri-
can people should know and have a right
to know. Repeated attempts on the part
of the subcommittee to persuade the
State Department to declassify portions
of the record, however, have been to no
avail.
We want it to be clear, Mr. President,
that we have never suggested the entire
record should be published. I agree it
contains some material which should not
be published. But it contains a great deal
of material which should be published
if the American people are to maintain
that proper confidence in their Govern-
ment.
Almost daily the press makes more
revelations-or raises more questions-
about what is going on in Laos, and in
Thailand as it affects Laos.
The Washington Star, in a dispatch
by Henry S. Bradsher from Udorn, Thai-
land, March 15, described how the air
war in Laos is run out of seven bases in
Thailand, sometimes with unmarked
planes.
The Washington Post on March 16,
in a dispatch by T. D. Allman from
Vientiane, reported in detail 1}ow 12
Americans were killed 2 years ago de-
fending a secret air navigation facility
at Phou Pha Thi, Laos.
The Washington Star on March 17, in
a dispatch by Tammy Arbuckle, de-
scribed the evacuation of Sam Thong,
Laos, by Air America. This story went
on to say that there have been approxi-
mately 70 Americans in the Sam Thong-
Long Chien area armed with M-16 rifles
and captured Communist AK-47 subma-
chineguns.
In a dispatch from Vientiane March
20, the Associated Press reported that
two Thai battalions have been flown to
Long Chien in U.S. civil aircraft to help
defend that Army base from an expected
North Vietnamese onslaught.
On March 23, a story from Bangkok by
Jack Foisie In the Washington Post de-
ATTTIVDE OF RESTRAINT
This attitude of restraint has generated
friction only in the field of civil rights,
where Judge Carswell's policy of sticking with
settled precedents until change came from
higher courts had the result of allowing dila-
tory school officials to delay segregation.
An example was provided when parents of
Negro children in the Pensacola area sued to
break up the segregation of faculty and staffs
in the formerly an-black school. Although
the higher courts had not said in so many
words that faculty, as well as student, segre-
gation must end, lawyers for the Negroes
argued that these courts could not have
meant that the newly integrated schools
would be staffed with all-black and all-white
faculties. Judge Carswell ruled otherwise.
"The Brown cases," he wrote, referring to
the Supreme Court's landmark school de-
cisions of 1954 and 1955, "hold that the segre-
gation of white and Negro children on the
basis of race denies to Negro children equal
protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution." He put the
word "children" in italics, and went on ? to
state that these decisons and subsequent ones
by the Fifth Circuit did not reach the ques-
tion of faculty desegregation.
NOT DIRECTLY AT ISSUE
"This court can not indulge in a presump-
tion that these Federal courts decided the
points of law asserted by plaintiff by infer-
ence," he said, because staff members' rights
were not directly at issue in those cases.
Finally, he declared, students have no
standing to intervene in such matters: "Stu-
dents herein can no more complain of injury
to themselves of the selection or assignment
of teachers than they can bring action to
In 1960 when Tallahassee Negroes sued to
desegregate the counters, waiting rooms and
restrooms in the city-owned airport, he did
not hesitate to order desegregation.
Even though Judge Carswell's civil rights
record may be fully as objectionable to civil
rights forces as that of Judge Haynsworth,
the new nominee's prospects for confirma-
tion seem much brighter, partly because he
has not antagonized organized labor as
Judge Haynsworth had.
Federal District Judges rarely rule on labor
cases, which are usually appealed from the
National Labor Relations Board directly to
a Court of Appeals.
Tom Harris, the official of the American
Federation of Labor and Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations who led the successful
attack against Judge Haynsworth, said to-
day that Judge Carswell "doesn't appear to
have a significant record on labor cases." He
said the AFL-CIO had no plans as present to
oppose him.
The few labor opinions that Judge Cars-
well has written reflect his reticence to use
judicial power and his tendency not to ex-
tend the judiciary's power.
SOME DISSENTING OPINIONS
In one decision, when a three-judge Court
of Appeals ordered a soft-drink company to
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 March 26, 1970 ' ' CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE S 4651
scribed other Thai activities in Laos. Ac-
cording to this story, two Thai artillery
battalions were used in Laos last year
under American auspices during the de-
fense of Muong Soui. Further, accord-
ing to Mr. Fioisie, Thai pilots have flown
T-28 bomber planes, and, Thai observers
fly in spotter planes to direct artillery fire
and bomber strikes.
On March 22, the Associated Press had
the Thai Premier himself admitting that
some volunteers may have gone to Laos.
On March 23, the Christian Science
Monitor stated flatly, "A Thai artillery
battalion is operating in Laos with the
support of the United States."
And finally, on March 25 a story
from Vientiane in the Washington Star
described in some detail an American-
directed secret army which operates all
through Southeast Asia.
I ask unanimous consent that the full
texts of the newsstories to which I have
referred may be printed in the RECORD at
the conclusion of these remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. SYMINGTON. Mr. President, I
again urge the State Department to
agree to telling the American people the
facts. What the Thais may or may not
be doing in Laos is a matter between the
Thais and the Laotians-unless the
United States is paying for it, in which
case it becomes a legitimate matter of
public concern for the citizens of the
United States.
The President himself stated it best
in his televised address of November 3
last year:
The American people cannot and should
not be asked to support a policy which in-
volves the overriding issues of war and peace
unless they know the truth about that policy.
EXHIBIT 1
[From the Washington Star, mar, 15, 1970]
UDORN AIR BASE IN THAILAND U.S. MAINSTAY
IN LAOS FIGHT
(By Henry S, Bradsher)
UDORN, THAILAND,-When President Nixon
admitted. nine days ago the well-known fact
that the U.S. Air Force is flying combat sup-
port missions for the government of Laos,
he did not mention where the bases are.
The biggest of them is on the southern
edge of this dusty northeast Thailand town.
The 36 F4D Phantom supersonic fighter-
bombers stationed at Udorn fly day and night
to 'attack North Vietnamese forces in Laos.
They also escort Udorn's unarmed RF4C
Phantom reconnaissance planes over Laos
and North Vietnam. They are authorized to
attack antiaircraft weapons in North Viet-
nam if fired on-or perhaps if they only ex-
pect to be fired on; Secretary of Defense Mel-
vin R. Laird refused to clarify this point
when he was in Saigon last month.
The Udorn base is also busy with heli-
copter units, C47 "Spooky" gunships and
some other ground-support firepower planes,
not all of which are marked with U.S. Air
Force insignia, and shuttles of supporting
transport planes.
And sharipg the 10,000-foot runway is Air
America, the airline created, by the Central
Intelligence Agency to provide logistical sup-
port for Lao government forces.
The base is officially, known as Udorn
Royal Thai Air Force Base, and the 6,500
U.S. military men here are guests of the
Thai government.
The official base commander is Thai Lt.
Col. Jaru Sanguanphokai. He commands a
Thai Force squadron of propellor-driven
T28s stationed here.
U.S. officials are careful to avoid anything
which might imply Thailand lacks control
of Udorn or the other six air bases used
by the United States in this country. They do
not want to give offense that might, among
other things, become a cause for Thailand's
restricting American activities. .
But at the moment the Thai attitude
seems to be the opposite.
Rather than being worried about Ameri-
cans exceeding their authorization here, the
Thai government fears that public opinion
in the United States-or at least senatorial
criticism-might cause a restriction of air
operations over Laos from Thai bases.
Thailand wants a maximum U.S. air ef-
fort to check the North Vietnamese dry-
season offensive in Laos. Laos lies just across
the Mekong River from Thailand and this
country sees itself threatened.
ANXIETY NOT RELIEVED
The current lull in the offensive while the
Lao Communists propose peace talks has not
relieved the anxiety in Bangkok. One top offi-
cial there described it as "a diplomatic offen-
sive to go with the military offensive."
Thai concern over Lao air war criticism in
the United States means a continuation of
the sensitivity which always has marked U.S.
Air Force operations here, but for a reversed
reason.
Originally, the United States was secretive
about its Thai operations to avoid embarrass-
ing the government in Bangkok. Although 80
percent of the U.S. air strikes against North
Vietnam were flown from Thailand, this
country did not want to appear too com-
mitted to Washington.
In the case of Lao operations, there also
has been the same consideration which long
kept Washington mum about American ac-
tivities. That was the theoretical neutrality
of Laos under the 1962 Geneva agreement.
HISTORY OF BASE
Those who get Thai government permission
to visit the U.S. Air Force at Udorn-not an
easy thing to do-are given a history of the
base which only begins in 1964. -
In May 1964, the State Department con-
firmed that U.S. reconnaissance flights were
being made over Laos at the request of the
Lao government, then as now fighting North
Vietnamese troops.
A few days later, after a fighter-bomber
had been shot down, the State Department
confirmed that armed escort was being flown
for the reconnaissance planes and the es-
corts were allowed to shoot back if fired
upon.
For six years that was the official explana-
tion of Phantom fighter operations over Laos
from. Udorn and other American planes' Lao
operations from other Thai bases.
INTERDICTORY MISSIONS
But on March 6 Nixon said that in May
1964, U.S. planes "began flying certain in-
terdictory missions against invaders" of Laos.
That means bombing North Vietnamese.
The United States, he said, has continued
"to fly combat support missions for Laotian
forces." The North Vietnamese offensive has
caused and increase in missions, making
Udorn busier than it has been since the
bombing of North Vietnam ended In 1968.
Nixon's statement has not yet filtered down
through channels to provide a more compre-
hensive explanation of what goes on from
Udorn. U.S. officers here are cautiously non-
committal and they let visitors look but not
talk to people.
The 1964 date is deceptive.
A plaque on the wall of the U.S. consulate
here marks eight years of Air America op-
erations from Udorn-March 1961 to March
1969.
This base was obviously a key point in U.S.
support for Lao anti-Communist forces long
before Washington was asked in 1964 to help
the government legally established in Vien-
tiane by the 1962 agreement,
That long support from here reflects long
Thai concern over the danger of Laos fall-
ing completely under Communist control.
On April 1, 1961, the Chinese Communist
newspaper, People's Daily, complained that
"the United States has built an Air Force
base capable of handling large aircraft at
Udorn in Thailand, only 50 miles away from
Vientiane across the Mekong River .
It was to Udorn that U.S. Marines, heli-
copters and weapons were rushed in 1962
when the North Vietnamese rout of Lao
forces at Nam Tha, in northwest Laos, pan-
icked the Bangkok government. The Marines
later left.
GUERRILLAS TRAINED
The Air America date of March 1961 is
about the time the first U.S. Special Forces
teams went into Laos to train Lao guerril-
las-what have become today the "secret
army" of Gen. Vang Pao. These guerrillas
could not exist without Air America's aerial
support.
Recently Air America advertised in the
Bangkok Post for Thias to work in Udorn
at a long list of jobs, mostly technical ones
like aircraft mechanics. Two job listings,
however, were "stock control clerks with mili-
tary supply experience" and "supply store-
keepers with military warehouse activities
experience."
U.S. military supplies trucked from ports
on the Gulf of Siam are flown by Air America
to hazardous little air strips In the Lao
mountains.
The separately fenced Air America part of
the air base has a wide variety of planes,
from small liaison craft to four-engined
transports. Some are marked "Air. America,"
some have no markings.
USED TO TRAIN PILOTS
A few unmarked T28s are used by Air
America to train Lao Air Force pilots. T28s,
slow old planes originally built as trainers,
are used by Laos to bomb enemy positions.
The Lao T28 operations have to be co-
ordinated with U.S. Air Force strikes In Laos,
which are ordered from-Saigon. Udorn is a
link in the control system, which ends with
U.S. Air Force officers stationed at Lao T28
bases up and down Laos.
Udorn is the headquarters for the 7-13 Air
Force, which directs all U.S. Air Force ac-
tivities In Thailand.
It comes under the 7th Air Force at Sai-
gon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base for operational
matters and under the 13th Air Force at
Clark Field, the Philippines, for logistical
support.
The Al. Skyraider prop-driven fighter-
bomber that was shot down over northern
Laos Tuesday, and announced as part of the
post-March 6 policy of reporting American
losses in Laos. came from Nakhon Phanom
Royal Thai Air Force Base.
Located on the Mekong River border with
Laos 80 miles east of Udorn, it is directly
linked with Udorn operations.
On five-minute standby at Nakhon Pha-
nom is a team of two rescue helicopters,
a transport plane to refuel the copters in the
air and direct them, and four Als to provide
covering fire during a rescue. Such a team
brought back Tuesday's downed Al crew.
Last August and September, when the U.S.
use of That bases was being much discussed
in Washington to the displeasure of the Thai
government, a reduction of American activity
here was envisaged. Vietnamization seemed
to make it possible.
But at the moment there is no indication
that Udorn or the other s'ix bases will slow
down. While Vietnam was the consideration
then, Laos has been added now as a main-
perhaps the main-factor.
Under a Sept. 30 agreement, 4,500 U.S.
military personnel have been. withdrawn from
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thei 48,0,00 then in Thailand. A total of 6,000
is scheduled to be gone by July.
Officials say the 6,000 are mostly Army con-
struction troops whose job is done but In-
clude some Air Force units flying obsolescent
support planes.
Any further reduction would Jegin to cut
into U.S. capabilities to support the Lao and
South Vietnamese wars. And the mood of
worry over Laos in Bangkok makes that seem
as undesirable for the Thai government as
it seems from here to be for Nixon.
So the hot, now dusty but soon muddy air
base here at Udorn is likely to go on making
the claim of being the busiest in Southeast
Asia.
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 16, 19701
12 AMERICANS DIED IN Loss OF SECRET LAOTIAN
OUTPOST
(By T. D. Allman)
VIENTIANE, March 15.-More than a dozen
Americans were killed in Laos two years ago
when Communist troops overran a secret
American installation that assisted U.S.
bombing of North Vietnam. The incident
has been kept a secret.
In his March 6 statement on Laos, Presi-
dent Nixon said, "No American stationed in
Laos has ever been killed in ground combat
operations."
The sentence, although carefully phrased
to exclude casualties in the American air war
in Laos and U.S. military personnel who have
fought in Laos from U.S. bases in South Viet-
nam and Thailand,` failed to cover scores of
Americans performing military and military
supported functions on the ground in Laos
who have been killed in combat with North
Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troops.
[Speaking with newsmen Friday. White
'louse spokesman Ronald L. Ziegler said
there were "some" U.S. casualties in Laos
besides the announced death of Army Capt.
Joseph K. Bush Jr. Without saying how
many, Ziegler said "some of the casualties
would be U.S. civilians, some would be U.S.
military."]
The most costly of these engagements, ac-
cording to long-time Laos residents, occur-
red just two years ago, when more than a
dozen Americans were killed defending an
American radar, reconnaissance and rescue
base in extreme northeastern Laos that
guided U.S. aircraft to their targets and
electronically released their bomb loads by
radio.
The installation was ,called Phou Pha Thi.
Phou Pha Thi is a 5,860-foot-high mount-
ain, 190 miles norteast of Vientiane and
about 160 miles, west of Hanoi, in Lao's Com-
munist-dominated Samneua Province
("Phou" is the Laotian word for mountain).
Phou Pha Thi, one of the highest and most
isolated mountains in the hilly northeast,
lies within 15 miles of the North Vietnamese
frontier In a province that was granted to
the Pathet Lao in 1954 as a regroupment
area.
Phou Pha Thi, like most of the mountains
of northeast Laos, is largely limestone. It
rises up sheer on three sides, The fourth side
also steep but negotiable, rises more than
1,600 feet from a valley.
The mountain was controlled by Meo par-
tisans of the CIA-organized Clandestine
Army until March 1968.
In August 1964, following the Gulf of
Tonkin incident, according to reliable Ameri-
can sources then working in the Air Force,
U.S. aircraft completed surveys of northeast
Laos with the principal objective of finding
areas close to the North Vietnamese border
that could be used to support the American
bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and North
Vietnam itself.
STARTED IN 1964
Although foreign military intervention in
Laos was prohibited by the 1962 Geneva a0-
cords, the sources say construction of the
Phou Pha Thi installation was begun in late
1964.
The mountain had obvious strategic ad-
vantages. It faced a narrow valley where a
700-foot-long dirt landing strip was built.
Its proximity to North Vietnam and its
commanding heights made it ideal for radar
guidance systems and as a base for "Jolly
Green Giant" rescue helicopters, which were
used to save American pilots downed by anti-
aircraft fire in North Vietnam.
The base, as described by a variety of
Americans and Laotians here who visited it,
was like something out of an Ian Fleming
novel.
Exotic telecommunications equipment, in-
cluding radar nets, dotted Phou Pha Thi and
several nearby hills. American Air Force and
CIA personnel used the valley landing strip
as the base for American-led teams of Meo
mercenaries entering North Vietnam on spe-
cial harassment missions.
These teams were also used to attack the
Pathet Lao administrative headquarters and
Samneuu town, 23 miles to the east.
REMOTE-CONTROL BOMBING
The radar was used to pinpoint exact dis-
tances between Phou Pha Thi and targets in
North Vietnam, and guide the planes there.
This sophisticated installation was consid-
ered essential for bombing in bad weather
and at night.
The main American headquarters was in a
deep limestone cavern near the mountain's
summit.
Inside the cavern were control consoles for
the electronic equipment and a situation
room. Living quarters were in a nearby con-
crete bunker.
The entire complex was ringed with Clan-
destine Army positions, directed by Ameri-
can personnel in cooperation with Meo offi-
cers paid by the CIA.
Into the Pha Thi runway, civilian Ameri-
can pilots, employed by Air America, the
charter airline that acts as the U.S. logistics
arm in Laos, would fly supplies, electronic
equipment and arms.
Unmarked, armed helicopters transported
Laotian soldiers and U.S. personnel on mis-
sions. Short take-off and landing aircraft
based at Pha Thi were used to link scores of
other "friendly" positions deep in the Com-
munist hinterland.
JUST VISITING
Some of the Americans there would fly
into North Vietnam just so they could say
they'd been there, one witness said. There
was a Philippine cook who made steaks and
ham sandwiches. he added.
This American use of Laos to support the
bombing of North Vietnam quickly became
intolerable to Hanoi. Several attacks at Pha
Thi failed in 1965 and 1967.
"The place was impregnable," said one
American. "To get up three sides you would
have needed to be an Alpine expert. On the
fourth was a lot of American hardware and
Vang Pao's Meos."
On Jan. 12, 1968, four Soviet-manufac-
tured single-engine biplanes of the North
Vietnamese air force attempted to destroy
the base. The planes were AN-2s, vintage
Soviet aircraft that can carry some 10 pas-
sengers at a speed of less than 200 miles an
hour. The aircraft are used by Aeroflot for
crop dusting, rural transport and passenger
service in remote areas of Siberia.
An American civilian, who was at Pha Thi
at the time of the only confirmed North
Vietnamese air attack in the history of the
Laotian war, related:
"JUST WACKY"
"It was just wacky. We saw these four in-
credibly slow-moving old planes coming out
of North Vietnam. It was like something
out of the First World War. The Viets were
trying to shoot machine guns out of win-
dows. The AN-2 has no bomb bay and they
were going to push explosives out of the open
door. Everybody saw them coming, so the
Air American helicopters took off at once
and, being much faster, ran rings around
the Viet planes. The Air America guys fired
M-16s at the planes right on tNe border. One
of the planes, crashed inside Laos.
"Another went down about two kilometers
inside North Vietnam. The other two got
away. It was like a joke."
The wreckage of one plane eventually
carried to Vientiane, where it was exhibited
in front of the That Luang Monument, Vien-
tiane's most important religious shrine, as
evidence of North Vietnamese military ag-
gression in Laos.
TAKEN BY COMMUNISTS
Two months later, however, in March 1968,
Phou Pha Thi was taken by Communist
troops. During the dry season of 1966 and
1967, Laotian troops, with American support,
had re-taken large areas of Pathet Lao ter-
ritory, including Nambac, a valley town 65
miles north of the royal capital of Luang
Prabang.
In early 1968, the North Vietnamese re-
took Nambac and pushed into other gov-
ernment-held areas, such as the Sedone Val-
ley in South Laos, where an American
strategic-hamlet program had been started in
an attempt to deny the valley's rice harvest
to the Pathet Lao who, it was believed, were
passing it on to North Vietnamese troops on
the Ho Chi Minh 'trail.
The 1968 Laos offensive, which corre-
sponded to the Tet offensive In South Viet-
nam, also saw increased Communist aLta,?k,
in Samneua Province.
After several North Vietnamese at`a-k;
at Phou Pha Thi in February 1968, a Com-
munist assault there finally succeeded. Sev-
eral guarding positions fell early in March,
and some U.S. personnel were evacuated.
On March 10, 1968, the landing strip wa^
lost, cuttin Pha This only link with the
outside world. North Vietnamese troops then
fought their way up the exposed side of the
mountain, advancing in some cases in hand-
to-hand combat, and attack.
Inside the limestone cave and concrete
bunker, again according to American sources
familiar with the incident, were between 12
and 21 Americans mostly U.S. Air Force per-
sonnel, a number of Laotian officers and some
100 Meo troops.
FOUGHT TO LAST MAN
"They fought to the last man," said c -0
American. "They were all killed on March 11,
inside that grotto. An enormous amount of
electronics equipment was lost, too."
The U.S. government never has acknowl-
edged officially the deaths of these Americans,
nor the fact that Laotian territory within a
few miles of North Vietnam was used to sup-
port the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.
The incident, however, has been- common
knowledge among long-time residents of
Vientiane for two years, It was never fully
reported before in the press and was fading
from memory when President Nixon's state-
ment raised the question of American ground
combat deaths in Laos.
The number of Americans killed at Phou
Pha Thi is not exactly known. Pathet Lao
broadcast in March 1968 claimed the total
as 21.
The Pathet Lao repr-sentative in Vien-
tiane, Col. Soth Pretasi, said in an interview
this week that the number was 19. Several
American and Laotian sources also have given
the number killed s,s 19.
"SUBSTANTIALLY CORRECT"
An American official, while refusing to con-
firm or deny the account of the fall of Pha
Thi as reconstructed here, has said the Pathet
Lao account "appears to be substantially
correct."
Other well-informed sources have said the
total of Americans killed at Pha Thi was
"13 or a little less."
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The above version of the incident was cor-
roborated in cross-interviews with American,
Laotian, European, and Pathet Lao sources.
In an Interview yesterday, an authorita-
tive North Vietnamese diplomat said, "If
Laos Is to be neutralized and have peace
again, it must be in such a way that its
neighbors will not be threatened and be able
to coexist peacefully with Laos."
Other Communist sources have indicated
that North Vietnam, as the part of any
overall Laos settlement, regards guarantees
that Laotian territory will never again be
used to attack North Vietnam, the sine qua
non of permanent peace.
The U.S. government and the government
of Prince Souvanna Phouma see things dif-
ferently. They point out that the Ho Chi
Minh Trail has been used by North Vietnam
to attack South Vietnam since the early
sixties, that an estimated 50,000 North Viet-
namese troops are in Laos, and that the
North Vietnamese recently attacked the Plain
of Jars.
"SERVED ITS PURPOSE"
"There's no use being a bleeding heart
about Phou Pha,Thi," said one of the Ameri-
cans who provided some of the above details.
"The North Vietnamese have used Laos. So
have we, Phou.Pha Tin served its purpose,
and Hanoi will have no right to complain
un til'it begins to practice what it preaches."
Although Laotian .government troops
briefly reoccupied Phou Pha Thi in December
1968, the mountain never again has been used
to support the U.S. war effort in Vietnam.
Nineteen days after the outpost fell, Presi-
dent Johnson announced the halt of bomb-
ing of North Vietnam north of the 19th
Parallel.
REDS CAPTURE LAOS OUTPOSTS OF GUERRILLAS
(By Tammy Arbuckle)
VIENTIANE.-North Vietnamese forces
launched new thrusts in northern Laos to-
day directed at the outer defenses of U.S.
and Meo guerrilla bases in Sam Thong and THAI TROOPS SAID To HELP DEFEND LAOS-BUT
Long Chien, 100 miles north of Vientiane. ZIEGLER INDICATES INVOLVEMENT AT BASE
(Wire service reports indicated that some Is "VERY LIMITED"
Americans-perhaps a dozen-were being VIENTIANE, LAOS, March 20.-Two Thai bat-
evacuated from Sam Thong.) talions have been flown to Long Cheng in
Meo guerrillas in the hills around Tha U.S. civil aircraft to help defend that Army
Tam Bleung, 5 miles northeast of Sam base from an expected North Vietnamese on-
Thong, woke up this morning to find North slaught, well-informed sources said today.
Vietnamsee troops occupying Tha Tam air-
strip. In Washington, Ronald L. Ziegler, White
The Communist forces took Phou Pa Xai House press secretary, confirmed some Thai
Outpost a few miles east of Sam Thong after involvement, but said the report that two
a brief fight at 4 a.m., the Lao military said. battalions were involved was "grossly exag-
A Communist commando squad threw gerated."
satchel charges at a U.S. generator outpost Mr. Ziegler first said he would not tom-
s miles southeast of Long Chien. ment on the report, but added: "I will say
Reliable military sources said seven bat- that the report is grossly exaggerated. i
talions of Hanoi's 316th Division were in- am not going to comment on the very lim-
volved In the advance on Sam Thong. This ited Thai involvement in Laos." He said he
means between 2,000 and 3,000 troops, would leave that to the governments of Laos
Air. America today evacuated more than and Thailand.
200 government wounded from Sam Thong Long Cheng, 90 miles north of Vientiane,
hospital as a precaution in the event the base appeared in peril after the North Vietnamese
falls. Fifty-six of these were seriously seized three hill top positions and advanced
wounded troops from this morning's fighting to within a mile of the base, the informants
which was described by the military as reported.
"spotty." This report came just about the time a
In Washington, the State Department said pro-Communist Pathet Lao emissary ar-
the American Embassy had reported that the rived in Vientiane from Hanoi bringing a
"Military situation is serious" at both Sam peace plan for Prince Souvanna Phouma, the
Thong and Long Chien. Premier. The Pathet Lao emissary, Col.
The Communist thrust against the U.S.- Pradith Thiengtham, is expected to see the
guerrilla-bases represents a new Communist Premier tomorrow.
move in the Laos war. FIVE-POINT PEACE PLAN
Previous Communists attacks have been The Pathet Lao recently unveiled a five-
confined to retaking areas held by the Com- point peace plan and announced that Colo-
mun.ists when the 1962 Geneva Accords were nel Pradith, an aide to Prince Souphanou-
signed The Sam Thong-Long Chien thrust vong, nominal head of the Pathet Lao, would
mean's that the Communists are attacking carry details to Vientiane.
arena held by the government in 1962. The plan calls for an end to all U.S. bomb-
Meo refugees today were reported to be log in Laos, Including the Ho Chi Minh sup-
waiking into. Sam Thong from fallen out- ply trail used by the North Vietnamese in
posts, eastern Laos, a cease-fire, a consultative con-
There have been approximately 70 Ameri- ference of all political parties, creation of a
cans in the Sam Thong-Long Chien area, in-
cluding one woman.
The figure includes eight workers, for the
U.S. Agency for International Development,
12 Air America employees at Sam Thong and
between 40 and 50 others-CIA and military
advisers, interrogators and Air Force men.
The Americans are armed with M16 rifles
and captured Communist AK47 submachine-
guns.
Long Chien houses sophisticated American
communications equipment.
The North Vietnamese military aim-if the
present thrust continues-would be to smash
the U.S.-supported Meo guerrillas headed by
Gen. Vang Pao. With American backing, Vang
Pao has held off the North Vietnamese for
eight years with the loss of at least 15,000
men on each side.
Informed sources said the thrust is timed
to coincide with the Communist call for po-
litical talks with Premier Souvanna Phou-
ma's government.
"It's part of the Communists' old talk-
fight policy," sources said, explaining that
the destruction of Vang Pao would so seri-
ously weaken the forces of neutralist Sou-
vanna Phouma that he would be forced to
make concessions to the Reds at the bargain-
ing table.
The Pathet Lao have offered a five-point
peace plan but have not yet sent an emissary
to Vientiane with the proposal.
The Pathet Lao radio said today, however,
that the emissary has left "the liberated
zone" but gave no destination for him.
If the North Vietnamese take Long Thien,
they will be within 20 miles of an American-
built road leading to Vientiane, the admin-
istrative capital. -
Also, the troops of Gen. Kouprasith Abhay
at Sala Phou Khoun, 150 miles north of here,
will be cut off by road from Military Region
5 including the capital defense for which the
general is responsible.
S 4653
demilitarized zone for the conference, and
a provisional coalition government.
The informants, in a position to know,
said the Thai battalions were flown from
Thailand bases in planes of Air America,
which is chartered by the U.S. Aid agency
in Laos. (The airline is also beloved to have
close ties to the Central Intelligence Agency.)
A Thai battalion normally has a peak
strength of 500 men. This was the first re-
port of any sizable Thai force entering the
conflict in Laos. There have been numerous
reports, however, of small groups of Thai
advisers working with the Laotian forces.
The sources said anti-Communist demon-
strations in neighboring Cambodia, topped
by the coup Wednesday that deposed Prince
Norodom Sihanouk as chief of state, en-
couraged the royal Laotian government to
stiffen its stand against the Pathet Lao and
their North Viethamese allies.
The sources did not know precisely how the
Thais fitted into this situation, although
they noted that Thailand has recognized a
potential threat to its 'borders in the North
Vietnamese drive through Laos.
The sources explained that Lao officials ini-
tially had ordered their forces to pull back
from Sam Thong, a key supply base 10 miles
northwest of Long Cheng, in the face of the
North Vietnamese advance. The officials had
been considering abandoning Long Cheng as
well until the Cambodian events occurred.
In addition to the two Thai battalions,
hundreds of other reinforcements have been
sent into the Long Cheng-Sam Thong region.
These include regular Laotian Army troops
and American-trained- Laotian special forces
troops.
The advance on Long Cheng was reported
to be by company strength units although
the North Vietnamese are believed to have
about 4,000 troops in that area.
Laotian Air Force T-28 bombers made 15
raids a mile from the eastern end of the
Long Cheng airfield after a North Vietnam-
ese force was detected there moving toward
that headquarters of Gen. Vang Pao.
Col. Thongphanh Knoksy, the Defense
Ministry spokesman, denied that the North
Vietnamese actually had captured Sam
Thong Wednesday, as reported by well in-
formed sources. In any event, the U.S.-main-
tained supply base was abandoned by offi-
cials. A pilot flying over the town yesterday
reported it appeared deserted.
[From the Washington Post, Mar. 23, 19701
THAIS LONG INVOLVED IN LAOTIAN FIGHTING
(By Jack Foisie)
BANGKOK.-Thai military involvement in
Laos may be "very limited," as presidential
press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler cautiously
allowed Friday, but it is not new.
Under American auspices, two Thai artil-
lery battalions were used in Laos last year
during the defense of the northern road
junction town of Muong Soul.
Thai pilots have flown T-28 bomber planes,
although now the pilots may be almost en-
tirely Laotian.
Thai observers fly in spotter planes to
direct artillery fire and bomber strikes on
the enemy. They are valuable because of
their ability to speak Lao (which Is similar
to the Thai language) and English.
There are Thai "liaison officers" in every
Lao military region. Their function is ob-
scure but likely to be connected with the
allied trail watching teams that range deep
into the area of enemy infiltration routes
through Laos into the South Vietnam war
arena.
For this highly paid and dangerous assign-
nient, Asians are used because the presence
of white faces would quickly be transmitted
to the enemy. Besides Thais, trail watchers
Include Nung tribesmen from South Viet-
nam, Filipinos and Chinese. Laotians gen-
erally do not serve because of the danger of
including enemy agents.
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There are estimates that as many as 5,000
Thais may be involved, in some, role, in the
Laotian war; but most long-time observers
think the number is lower, and that the level
fluctuates greatly.
In a sense, the United States counts on
the Thais as a strategic ground force re-
serve in Laos, When the war beats up, Thais
are flown in.
Almost without exception the Thais ar-
rive in American aircraft, are armed and
trained by Americans, and are paid-in-
directly-by Americans at scales much
greater than regular Thai army pay.
What may be new about Saturday's fly-in
of a new Thai contingent to Long Tieng is
that it indicates a tipping of the scales with-
1n Thai top-level policy bodies for larger
and possibly more open involvement in the
Laotian war.
Thailand has a' growing insurgency in its
northern regions adjacent to Laos and there
is ample evidence that insurgents are moving
into Thailand from Lao bases.
[From the Baltimore Sun, Mar.23, 1970]
CIA AIDING LONG CHENG DEFENDERS-100
AGENTS SAID To BE INSTRUCTING MEOS FOR
LAOTIAN OPERATION
VIENTIANE, LAOS, March 22.-The American
Central Intelligence Agency, the United
States Army and neighboring Thailand are
directly involved in the defense of the
threatened Laotian base at Long Cheng, in-
formed sources said tonight.
They said as many as 100 CIA agents,
working under the cover of the U.S. Embassy
and the U.S. Agency for International De-
velopmnent, are taking part in the secret op-
U.S. PLANE IS DOWNED
The U.S. Command said Sunday in Saigon
that a U.S. Air Force OV-10 Bronco was shot
down and destroyed yesterday over the Plain
of Jars north of Long Cheng, but the pilot
was rescued with no reported injuries. The
twin-engine armed reconnaissance craft was
the eighth U.S. plane lost over Laos since the
command began reporting air operations.
there March 10.
Speaking with newsmen at Bangkok Air-
port after seeing off Indonesian President
Suharto, Mr. Kittikachorn said the reason
Thai volunteers were going to Laos was
"probably because Laos and Thailand are
neighbors and both countries' people have
blood relations. The volunteers may be
cousins or brothers of Laotians."
Pressed on whether the airlift of Thai
troops had taken place, he said: "There may
be some truth in it." But he added: "As I
said, these men may be volunteers."
He also said some Laotian soldiers have
"received training in Thailand and returned
to Laos to be advisers and instructors in
the Laotian army."
Gen. Surakit Mayalarb, the Thai army
chief of staff, said no Thai troops had been
sent to Laos.
General Surakit was reported to . have
flown secretly to Laos two weeks ago for
talks on the military situation with the
Laotian premier, Prince Souvanna Phouma,
and his generals.
Vang Pao, the guerrilla general, was in
Vientiane today with other top Laotian mili-
tary commanders to discuss the deteriorating
war situation with Mr. Phouma.
eration, training Meo tribesmen as guerrillas [From the Christian Science Monitor,
in both Laos and Thailand. Mar. 23, 19701
It is known that U.S. Army officers directed
a massive airlift of both Laotian.and Thai
reinforcements into Long Cheng, which is
the headquarters of Gen. Vang Pao's Ameri-
can-trained army of Meo guerrillas and is
under heavy North Vietnamese pressure. It
is located 80 miles north of the capital, just
below the Plain of Jars, now held by the
North Vietnamese,
"SOME VOLUNTEERS"
In Bangkok the Thai premier, Field Mar-
shal Thanom Kittikachorn, denied today
that two Thai army battalions were sent to
reinforce Long Cheng but admitted that
"some volunteers" may have gone there.
Estimates in Bangkok of the number of
volunteers, reportedly being trained by U.S.
Special Forces teams, range from 300 to
12,000. The figure mentioned most often is
5,000.
Sources in Vientiane said as many as 400
Thai troops, including an artillery detach-
ment, were flown into Long Cheng, mostly
from bases in Thailand.
They added that the United States has
been prodding the Thai government to give
Laos more support, both economically and
militarily.
AERIAL OBSERVERS
Americans listed in official records as Army
attaches constantly fly over Long Cheng as
aerial observers, gathering intelligence on
which to base tactical ground and air opera-
tions.
Sources said these Americans never re-
main at Long Cheng overnight, but commute
daily, leaving Vientiane early in the morning
and returning by dusk. It is a 45-minute
helicopter flight each way.
"We wouldn't want the Communists to
capture any Americans. or find any Ameri-
can dead on the battlefield," one ,ppurce ex-
.
plained. Most enemy attacks on Long Cheng itzer operation when the decision was con-
are launched under the cover of darkness. sidered to bring the Thais In. Second, it was
North Vietnamese hit the base with rocket thought that, as artillerymen, they would
fire today for the third successive day. About prove to be less visible during the fighting
a dozen rockets exploded in the predawn than would infantrymen confronting the
darkness, sources said, but first reports indi- enemy directly. Finally, they could serve as
cated no casualties or damage. ground forces if absolutely necessary.
SINGLE THAI BATTALION IN LAOS
A Thai artillery battalion is operating in
Laos with the support of the United States.
The presence of the Thai artillerymen has
been a closely held secret of the governments
concerned. Hints of its presence in the bat-
tle zone came Friday in wire dispatches from
Laos referring to "two That battalions" in
the area of the beleaguered support base at
Long Cheng. Apparently the perhaps 300
artillerymen were confused with a larger
force. The confusion may have been abetted
by the presence of a Thai general with the
artillerymen. Normally, a battalion would be
under the command of a lieu-tenant colonel.
Sources here disclosed, however, that the
U.S. has not so far favored the insertion of
more Thai forces than the single artillery
battalion.
Because of the delicacy of the situation,
American funds to support the That artillery-
men have been provided separately from
other, more obvious funding for the war in
Laos.
The Thai battalion has been flown in and
out of Laos from time to time, most recently
a week or so ago.
It was not immediately clear why the
original decision was made to use the Thais
in Laos with American support. The use of
the combat force was, of course, a violation
of the Geneva agreements. But the violation
of those agreements has been a fairly regu-
lar occurrence since the North Vietnamese
decided to initiate the campaign against
Laos and the Americans reacted.
Sources here say that the artillerymen were
more desirable than Thai ground forces for
several reasons. First, they are a 155 mm.
howitzer, battalion, and there were no Meos
(hill tribesmen who live along the border)
or Royal Lao forces trained in 155 mm
how-
When the decision was made to send the
Thais in, the Thai Government was inter-
ested in demonstrating support for the Royal
Lao Government. Laos separates Thailand
from North Vietnam and acts as a buffer. The
Lao Government, which does not possess an
extremely capable army, was eager for the
help and the United States was willing.
At this moment, the disclosure of the Thai
presence does not seem likely to alter the
course of the war. It is apparently not a pre-
lude to anything more. Indeed, according to
present plans, the artillerymen are to be
withdrawn from the battlezone around mid-
year to be replaced by Lao forces newly
trained in the use of medium artillery.
[From the Washington Star, Mar. 25, 1970]
DIRECTED DY THE UNITED STATES.-"SECRET
ARMY" ACTIVE AROUND SOUTH ASIA
(By Tammy Arbuckle)
VIENTIANE.-The Thai troops who have
joined the fighting in Laos are part of an
American-directed "secret army" which op-
erates all through Southeast Asia.
Making up its units are Cambodians, Viet-
namese, Chinese and Laotians, as well as
Thais and various hill tribes, such as the
Meos who have been active on the Plain of
Jars.
Its operations extend into northeast Bur-
ma, China's Yunnan Province, North Viet-
nam, South Vietnam, Cambodia and Thai-
land-all part of the guerrilla war fought by
both Communist and anti-Communist forces
for many years in this part of the world.
For example, Haw tribal agents working
for the Central Intelligence Agency cross
into South China from Laos and Black Thai
tribesmen cross into North Vietnam from
Laos.
These tribes liveon both sides of the bor-
ders, the Haw in northern Laos and Yun-
nan, the Black Thai in Laos' Sam Neua Prov-
ince and North Vietnam's Dien Bien Phu
Province, making their detection difficult.
The pro-American guerrillas have killed
Communist leaders, destroyed key links in
Communist communications and logistics
and, tied down large numbers of Commun-
ist soldiers in defensive actions.
In Laos the secret army has wiped out
Communist headquarters and taken over
prison camps and rescued inmates.
On one occasion in South Laos, a guerrilla
group In one night operation wiped out a
prison camp controlled by Pathet Lao guards
and rescued 59 prisoners, crossing back into
Thailand before the Communists could strike
back.
The Thai force at Long Chien, which helped
yesterday to clear a ridge overlooking the
base, may be listed as the secret army's latest
success.
About 1,000 Thais were reported yesterday
to have joined Gen. Vang Pao's army of Meo
tribesmen at Long Chien. Reports from the
area today said a North Vietnamese attack
was beaten. back and some positions pre-
viously lost to the Communists had been
retaken.
Thais have long operated in Laos. In Febru-
ary 1967, reporters saw Thai commandoes
at Nam Bac, a Lao government base 60 miles
north of the royal capital of Luang Prabang,
not far from the Hanoi-Peking borders.
The Thais stood out like a sore thumb for
they spoke in a Bangkok dialect.
When questioned closely they admitted
they were from the Thal military.
The secert army operations in Southeast
Asia are directed by small groups of effi-
cient Americans working out of offices under
cover of organizations in various cities in
the region.
Laos, bordering on all the Southeast Asia
nations, is ideal for 'these U.S. operations.
And the secret army concept fits neatly
into the Guam doctrine.
Americans take care of the leadership,
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 March 26, 197'0
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE S 4655
training, Planning and logistics. The Asians
do the bulk of the fighting..
RECESS SUBJECT TO THE CALL OF
THE CHAIR
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. Pres-
ident, I ask unanimous consent that the
Senate stand in recess subject to the call
of the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
objection? The Chair hears none, and it is
so ordered.
Thereupon (at 2 o'clock and 58 min-
utes p.m.), the Senate took a recess sub-
ject to the call of the Chair.
The Senate reassembled at 2 o'clock
and 59 minutes p.m., when called to or-
der by the Presiding Officer (Mr.
HUGHES).
ORDER FOR TRANSACTION OF ROU-
TINE MORNING BUSINESS ON
TUESDAY NEXT
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. Pres-
ident, I ask unanimous consent that, im-
mediately following the remarks of the
able senior Senator from Ohio (Mr.
YOUNG) on Tuesday morning next, there
be a period for the transaction of rou-
tine morning business, with statements
limited therein to 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
objection, it is so ordered.
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. Pres-
ident, what is the pending question be-
fore the Senate?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ques-
tion is on the adoption of the conference
report on H.R. 514, Primary and Secon-
dary Education. -
ADJOURNMENT TO TUESDAY,
MARCH 31, 1970
Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. Pres-
ident, if there be no further business to
come before the Senate, I move in ac-
cordance with Senate Concurrent Reso-
lution 59, that the Senate stand in ad-
journment until 12 o'clock meridian on
Tuesday, March 31, 1970.
The motion was agreed to; and (at 3
o'clock p.m.) the Senate adjourned until
Tuesday, March 31, 1970, at 12 o'clock
meridian.
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