U. S. REFUGEE AID IN LAOS FOUND TO HELP GUERRILLAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000200190001-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 11, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 6, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

vedfiQrelease 2002/01/02 : C1A4DR7d0 gf6Rnnn200190001-9
ro R.,.
NEW
U. S. Refugee Aid in Laos Found to Help Guerrillas ,
with the aid mission In Vien- a spokesman for aid head-
By JOHN W. FINNEY tiane relegating responsibility quarters said the primary re-
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6-The sponsibility for refugee relief
General Accounting office has
concluded that mudh of the
money allocated for assisting
refugees has been used to fi-
nance paramilitary operations
in Laos directed by the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency.
The accounting office, which
controls the disbursement of
public funds, said that almost
half the funds of the Agency
for International Development
for a village healtih program
were being used to support
military activities.
Two censored reports by the
watchdog body S natorma Edde
today by
ward M. Kennedy of Massa-
_ of the Senate judi-
ciary Subcommittee on Refu-
I gees.
The reports were critical of
the management of programs
for assisting refugees and ci-
vilian war casualties in Laos.
The accounting office said
official statistics on war vic-
tims in Laos were incomplete.
From 1967 through `1969, the
aid agency reported 12,032 ci-
vilian war casualties. The sub-
committee said there had been
30,000 casualties since early
1969
Refugee programs were said
to have been poorly managed,
ogees disappeared when they
were shipped to Laos.
Refugee villages were found
to be overcrowded, congested,
water supplies and health fa
cilities. The mortality rate in
the villages was said to be
high, in some cases 250 per
cent above standards set by
the aid agency.
Funds Used as Cover
In the opinion of the sub-
committee staff, the reports for
the first time provided official
documentation of the extent to
which refugee programs had
been used as a cover by the
C.I.A. for financing its military
activities.
At the direction of the White
House, the Central Intelligence
Agency has been supporting a
30,000-man guerrilla army of
Meo and Yao tribesmen against
the Pathet Lao and North Viet-
namese forces in northern
Laos. As part of this program,
refugee support has been given
to the dependents of the guer-
rillas.
Respandinng to the reports,
American assistance to persons
who agreed to take up arms
against the Pathet Lao."
In the last fiscal year, $17-
million was provided for refu-
gee assistance in Laos. At a
news conference Senator Ken-
nedy said about 50 per cent
had been used for guerrilla op-
erations in Laos.
As of July, 1970, there were
279 villages with more than
280,000 persons receiving ref-
ugee assistance. Of this total,
some 45 per cent, or well over
100,000 persons, were estimat-
ed by the subcommittee to be
in the category of guerrillas
and their dependents.
rested with the Laotian Gov-
ernment. He acknowledge that
some assistance went to guer-
rilla forces, but said that a
larger percentage was given to
dependents.
The sections In the reports
dealing with assistance to the
guerrillas were censored. But
the subcommittee said in a
statement that the reports doc-
umented its earlier findings
that "until relatively recent
times the refugee program was
simply a euphemism to cover
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 c c, -ti+
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THE NEW YORK TIMES DATE =' L-1 I PAGE
,,McCloskey Says U.S. Hid
Extent of Laos Bombings
By JOHN W. FINNEY
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 21- The Kennedy hearings, com-
Representative Paul N. Mc- bined with hearings by the
State y Jr. said today that the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
State Department had deliber-
- ,....,...+ +,, mittee on "how to end the
been taken by G. McMurtriel
Godley, the American Ambas-
sador to Laos, and his staff at
a dinner in the Ambassador's'
home on April 13. But the next
day, he said, "a young political
officer" in the embassy sug-
gested that he obtain a United
States Information Service re.
port on a survey of attitudes
among Laotian refugees, taker
in June and July.
war," were reviving the Viet- Mr. McCloskey made public
which American planes nod
it
l Hill
t
d
b
t
C
b
u
nom
e
a
e on
ap
o
,
bombed villages in northern a copy of the report on inter
with a new emphasis upon the
Laos. views with more than 200 refu
The California Republican, morality of American actions.
has threatened to oppose Presi- "We cannot allow the specter gees from 96 villages in the
dent Nixon for the Republican: of a highly dubious `bloodbath' Plaine des Jarres area in north-
nomination next year, made his of the future to blind us from ern Laos. The survey concluded
charge, on the basis of a recent; that is going on today-every that "the bombing is clearly the
day-in Vietnam and all of most compelling reason for
top tbeLaos, in testi monySbe-' Indochina, Senator Kennedy moving," that 75 per cent of 'h, 190 Laotians
committee on Refugees, headed,
i said. long ago -and web a are part of their homes hadtb en damaged)
by Senator Edward M. Kennedy.:
tai it-and it will continue as long by bombing and that 76 per
up charge was Ken qnedy, who as the war continues, so long ,cent said the bombing attacks
by Senator
as efforts to end that war are had taken place in 1969.
contended there was a direct
The hearing room was packed
avoided and delayed.
relationship between the growth, "No one here disagrees that
A h with Vietnam veterans who are
-
t
e m
of Laotian refugees an
; the insurgents of Indochina are
creases in American bombing! also contributing to this `blood-
in Northern Laos, starting in, ha+h ' R,,+ +ho minefi_ c- - _f
~raxly 1969.
'Bloodbath' Is Seen
Americans today is how much
longer will we tolerate policies
by our Government which
make easy the killing and
maiming of millions?"
The Laos bombing charge,
`ritich Mr. McCloskey has been
'>M[i opening a new series of
Z arings by his subcommittee,
nator Kennedy said that
American military activities in
? dochina, especially the unre-
stricted air war-were contrib- developing ever since he re-
uting to a "bloodbath" and turned last weekend from an
Associated Press
Ambassador William E.
Colby, head of the pacifi-
cation program in Saigon,
before the Senate sub-
committee on refugees.
Representative Jerome R. Wal- I
die, Democrat of California,
following the pattern of ques-
tioning the morality of United
States involvement in Indo-
china. The Congressmen spent
three days in Laos.
State Department View
In testimony last spring and
summer before the Kennedy
subcommittee, the State De-
partment maintained that Uni-
ted States bombing operations
in northern Laos were care-
fully controlled to .avoid hitting
villages. The department also
contended that bombing had
been a relatively minor factor
in generating refugees.
Mr. McCloskey reported that
much the same position had'
on Washington this week to
protest the war. Senator Ken-
edy clashed repeatedly with
William E. Colby, who is in
harge of the pacification and
u development program in
outh Vietnam, over whether
here had been an improvement
n the refugee situation.
Mr. Colby said the refugee
roblem had decreased "eiior-
ously" in the last two or three
ears, partly because of inceas-
ng security in the countryside'
nd partly because of the long-
erm efforts of the Saigon Gov-
rnment to rebuild a wart-torn
society.
But Senator Kennedy main-
tained that 150,000 new refu-
gees had been created since last
ovember, largely as a result
of United States supported mili-
tary and relocation operations
by the Saigon Government. The
refugee rate, the Senator main-
tained, was now running at the
highest level since the Com-
munist Tet offensive in the
spring of 1968.
`A Lie,' Veteran Says
When Mr. Colby observed at
one point: that "the single most
important source of refugees in
the past three years has been
the Tet offensive," goarns went
up iV mtemnofrhate Nhcdg
up from the Vietnam veterans,
and one shouted out: "That's a
lie!"
The veterans groaned when
Dennis Doolin, Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for East
Asian and Pacific Affairs, in
supporting a Colby assertion
that the military was under in-
structions to restrict firepower
so as to protect the civilian
population, said American
forces were "precluded" from
conducting "reconnaissance by
fire."
When Senator Kennedy asked
whether there might be another
definition for the tactic of firing
into an area to flush out the
enemy, several of the veterans
shouted out "Murder!" and
"Genocide!"
For the most part, however,
the veterans listened in silence
as Mr. Colby described the
progress in the refugee and the
Vietnamization programs. Oc-
casionally, however, Senator
Kennedy had to gavel them to
silence.
"?agony" among "iApplttiaed For Release 2002/01/02 : CIA-RDP73B00296R000200190001-9
growing number of civilians in
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia."
 ing" the level of civilian casual-
ties in Laos, which he said has
skyrocketed as a result of U.S.
bombing there.
The optimistic picture in Viet-
nam was painted by William E.
Colby, top civilian administrator
for civil operations in the Ameri-
can command in Saigon.
L Colby was the leadoff witness
in two days of hearing before the
Kennedy subcommittee on the
problem of refugees and civilian
war casualties in Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia.
Several other administration
witnesses are scheduled, includ-
ing Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State William H. Sullivan, for-
mer ambassador to Laos, who
will testify tomorrow, and Mon-
teagle Stearns, deputy chief of
mission at the U.S. Embassy in
Laos.
Dip Reported in Viet Civil Toll
By JAMES DOYLE
Star staff writer
The Senate subcommittee on
refugees was told today they
has been a "significant decline'
in the number of civilian war
casualties in Vietnam since 1968.
But the subcommittee chair-
man, Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., accused the adminis-
tration of "conveniently ignor-
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from the previous year and less
than half the figure for 1968.
Colby's figures indicated that
of the total, 8,607 were "friendly
inflicted"--caused by U.S. and
South Vietnamese shelling and
bombing.
Another 22,049 were "enemy
inflicted"-caused by North Vi-
etnamese and Viet Cong mines
and mortars.
The remaining 7,650 casualties
were listed as inflicted by "ei-
ther side" from grenade explo-
sions and gunfire.
Colby said the Vietnamese
government has vastly improved
its ability to care for refugees
and casualties. The United
States no longer runs the pro-
gram but simply assists the Vi-
etnamese government, he said.
5 Million Involved
volved," he said.
American military activity
"contributes heavily to this
growing human toll - more
than our government cares to
admit," he said, pointing to un-
restricted air war as a major
cause.
Kennedy said that in the past
year up to 1.5 million persons in
Cambodia, almost one-third of
the population, "have apparent-
ly become refugees and medical
facilities are overburdened with
civilian casualties."
In Laos, ? Kennedy said, "at
least 700,000 persons" out of a
population of 3 million have be-
come refugees in recent years.
"The problem has been con-
veniently ignored by our govern-
ment, and questions raised by
members of Congress and others
have gone unanswered," Kenne-
dy said.
.
Little Change Seen
figures showed that since
1964 more than five million refu
gees and casualties have been
"generated" in South Vietnam,
out of a population of about 17
million.
He noted that U.S. air strikes
and artillery fire have decreased
markedly in the past year and
this has eased the problem.
He also said the rural econo-
my has revived and this has
eased the food supply problem.
He acknowledged that "sub-
stantial social welfare needs"
remain in Vietnam and that the
war and "change in traditional
family and village attitudes and
the social disorganization in the
urban slums" has generated
"street boys, prostitutes and
other disoriented elements."
In opening remarks Kennedy
said that the level of civilian
casualties and refugees contin-
ues unabatted in the three-nation
area of Vietnam, Laos and Cam-
bodia; by "this measure we see
that the war is scarcely winding
down for the peoples directly in-
McCloskey Listed
Later today Rep. Paul N.
McCloskey Jr., R-Calif., will
brief the committee on his re-
cent visit to Laos. He has said
e will oppose President Nixon
n next year's primaries unless
dministration policy in Indo-
hina is changed.
Colby delivered 55 pages of
testimony to ? the committee,
generally indicating great prog-
ress in the handling of refugees
and civilian casualties.
He said the administration is
"in no way satisfied" with the
reliability of casualty figures
but that by any standard "civil-
ian war casualties have both ab-
solutely and proportionately de-
clined very considerably from
those of earlier years."
Decrease Cited
He cited figures indicating
that the civilian casualties in
Vietnam during 1970 amounted
to 38,306, a decrease of 14,000
"Despite official statements to
the contrary, there is much to
suggest that the basic situation
has changed very little in recent
years."
"With each additional loss we
should be reminded," Kennedy
said, "that we can not allow the
specter of a highly dubious
`blood bath' of the future to
blind us from the blood bath that
is going on today and every day
in Vietnam and all of Indochina.
dochina" contribute to the blood
bath, but argued that the ques-
tion for Americans is: "How
much longer will we fuel and
finance what our military plan-
ners so glibly call saturation
bombings, protective reaction
and close air support and other
strategic labels, devoid of much
moral restraint and responsibili-
ty, devoid of much apparent con-
cern for the plight of civilians
who continue to bear the brunt
of this endless war?"
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