THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 22 SEPTEMBER 1970

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005977694
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 22, 1970

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The President's Daily Brief
22 September 1970
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To ecret
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
22 September 1970
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
The situation in Jordan is discussed on Page 1.
Elements of the Cambodian task force on Route 6 are
attempting to outflank enemy forces blocking the
road. (Page 4)
In Laos, government forces have recently mounted a
series of attacks against enemy-controlled routes
in the panhandle. (Page 5)
President Tito has proposed a government reorganiza-
tion that would substitute a collective leadership
for the present one-man presidency. (Page 6)
The Soviets
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? Communist insurgents in Thailand have killed three
high-ranking government officials. (Page 8)
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JORDAN: Current Situation
Lake
Tiberia
Israeli mil
reportedl
traffic
oving north
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Syrian r or!
Canal .
moving t?ward arash
0 SYRIA
ar'a
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Nablus
WEST BANK
(Israeli - ccupied)
rusalem
Ma'daba
Bethlehem
Hebron.-.
eersheba
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JORDAN
Israel apparently has gone into a high state
of alert as the situation in northern Jordan con-
tinues to deteriorate.
heavy military traffic moving north
from Tel Aviv, including tanks, Hawk missiles and
155-mm. artillery. A large number of buses, at
least some of which were seen to be carrying troops,
were also spotted on the Hadera-Afula road. The
attache speculates that the Israelis may be deploying
to the Golan Heights area. All troops observed ap-
peared to be equipped for combat.
Israeli newsmen on the scene reported a major
battle Monday night around Irbid involving heavy ar-
tillery and bombing by Jordanian aircraft.
-
Syrian forces in the Irbid-Ramtha-Dar'a triangle
yesterday morning included some 250 tanks and sub-
stantial quantities of artillery, considerabl out-
numberin Jordanian assets.
Irbid, Ramtha, and Mafraq were in the hands of the
fedayeen, with Salt, AjDun, and Jarash under Jorda-
nian Army control. Syrian armor has been spotted
moving south of Hawara toward Jarash, however.
last night, tanks were still battling at Mafraq,
and the Jordanian 40th brigade, supported by other
units, was expected to begin shelling again.
1
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Fighting broke out again in Amman this morning.
A curfew, which was
to have been lifted in Amman between 0600 and 1800
Amman time, was reimposed in at least one area of
the city. Yesterday, King Husayn
ordered the
army to cease firing on the fedayeen; sporadic
rfighting continued, however. th
earlier yesterday e Jordanian Army made a
lo
ig effort to clear the remaining fedayeen strong-
holds, apparently with some success. Zaid Rifai,
the King's confidant, told an embassy officer that
the Jordanian Army caught four or five top Fatah
leaders and destroyed over 200 fedayeen bases in
Amman.
An emergency Arab summit conference is sched-
uled to begin in Cairo today, although the list of
participants is not clear. A Jordanian request for
a postponement was rejected. Jordan apparently in-
tended to send its ambassador in Cairo, but later
press announcements indicated that Prime Minister
Daud was to attend. Jordan intends to insist that
the sole topic of discussion be Syria's invasion,
but this will be difficult to achieve, particularly
given the likelihood of Yasir Arafat's presence.
Nasir and Arafat presumably hope to arrange an early
compromise solution that will relieve Nasir of pres-
sure from radical quarters to intervene, and give
Arafat a political victory over King Husayn. Syria
might also prefer a negotiated settlement.
King Husayn, however, thus far has shown no will-
ingness to accept half-way measures. Yesterday, in
his first public address since the beginning of the
crisis, he was brief and uncompromising, calling on
the army to rally against Syria's invasion. The
Jordanians might be prepared to accept a mediated
solution that accorded with their national interests,
but it seems unlikely that today's meeting will come
up with this type of proposal.
(continued)
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The Soviets continue to warn both publicly and
privately against Western intervention in Jordan.
In the main, however, their admonitions have been
temperate and cautiously worded. This, together
with the lack of suggestive Soviet military move-
ments, indicates that Moscow does not at this time
contemplate direct military involvement should West-
ern intervention occur. The Soviets would instead
probably confine themselves to some demonstrative
move, such as repositioning elements of their Med-
iterranean Squadron, as well as undertaking a massive
diplomatic propaganda offensive against the inter-
vention.
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Current Situation
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CAMBODIA
Three paratroop battalions from the stalled
government task force thrust northeast from Route 6
yesterday in an apparent effort to outflank enemy
forces blocking the road at Tang Kouk village. The
operation was mounted during a visit to the task
force by Lon Nol. His trip by helicopter to the
battlefield area coincided with an announcement
that the government had replaced the task force
commander, another indication of the importance
Lon Nol attaches to the operation and of his im-
patience with its failure to move ahead. Late press
reports indicate that Cambodian troops pushed into
Tang Kouk early today after meeting little resist-
ance along the way.
/two battalion-sized Communist units have
crossed the Mekong, north and south of the gov-
ernment force, and apparently are moving westward
?toward Route 6. These may be elements of the
Viet Cong 272nd Regiment, whose headquarters re-
cently returned to the west side of the Mekong,
north of Kompong Cham city.
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_ Government Moves Against Enemy Supply Lines
Ban
?Tournlane
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
LAOS
Government forces have recently mounted a series
of guerrilla attacks against the Ho Chi Minh trail
and other enemy-controlled routes in the panhandle.
Small teams of Laotian irregulars operating south
of Chavane along Route 96 during the past week have
been setting mines and ambushing North Vietnamese
patrols. Farther north along the same route, gov-
ernment forces have been involved in at least one
firefight about 18 miles southeast of Ban Bac. So
far the teams involved in these raids have reported
only limited opposition.
To the west, at least five battalions of ir-
regulars are moving toward Route 23 in an attempt
to cut that road. Two battalions, totaling about
600 men, are now located within ten miles of Ban
Toumlane; since 12 September they have clashed on
several occasions with small Pathet Lao and North
Vietnamese units. A third battalion is reported
to be moving east along the south bank of the Se
Bang Hieng River, where the Communists have recently
established a logistics control unit. To the north,
two additional battalions have been working their
way eastward along Route 9 since early this month
and are now reported to be within ten miles of
Muong Phine.
The Communists are unlikely to allow these
incursions to go unchallenged much longer.
The North Vietnamese have brought several
thousand new troops into the panhandle
from North and South Vietnam this summer,
presumably to ward off operations of this
sort. In addition to striking back against
the government guerrillas, the Communists
may also launch some major attacks of their
own in the western part of the panhandle--
Paksong appears to be a prime candidate--
in order to force the Laotian military back
on the defensive.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
YUGOSLAVIA
President Tito has proposed a government reorgan-
ization that would substitute a collective leadership
for the present one-man presidency. Speaking in Za-
greb yesterday, Tito said that the collective body
would comprise people with the greatest "respect" for
the Yugoslav system.
The proposal clearly is on Tito's own ini-
tiative and not due to pressure. It is the
latest in a series of moves on the govern-
mental level which Tito set in motion ear-
lier this year in an effort to come to grips
with the problem of succession. Although
Tito did not say when or how the proposal
would be implemented, we do not expect the
reorganization to take place prior to the
visit of President Nixon.
At the party congress last year, Tito set
a precedent for collective leadership by
setting up a party executive bureau of 15
leading officials including himself. This
body, dominated by Tito, provides the nu-
cleus of party authority. The current pro-
posed constitutional change in the st-ructure
of the state's top executive echelon is
likewise unlikely to diminish the pre-
eminence within the government which flows
to Tito from his stature and prestige within
the party.
Tito's latest proposal comes at a time when
Yugoslavia is drawing closer to the West,
and it may well be designed to give the
government apparatus a more democratic ap-
pearance. It will also provide Tito with
a hand-picked group of associates to whom
he can further entrust some state functions.
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SOVIET UNION
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GULF
OF
TONKIN
Area of insurgent activity
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NOTE
Thailand: Communist insurgents on Sunday am-
bushed and killed the governor and police chief of
Chiang Rai Province, as well as the intelligence
chief of the Thai 3rd Army--the highest ranking of-
ficials yet killed by the insurgents. Their deaths
may spark more intensive counterinsurgency operations
against guerrilla strongholds in this area. Thou-
sands of army troops and border police have already
begun a search for the killers.
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Top Secret
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