AGAIN, THE U.S. FACE IS RED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400110009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 5, 1999
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: June 20, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

FOIAb3b
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA
CPYRGHT
rtC,t Ed:1 G:t,c~r
Paco Palo' Pc-~o
}iORFOLK, VIRGINIA
LEDGER-STAR
E-106,095
JUN 2 0 1967
Again1 the U.S. 'ace is red
Once again,. the United States wid-
ens the credibility gap. Once again,
after an early denial, comes admis-
sion by Washington that our accusers
were right the first time. Seems we
did, or might well have, strafed that
Russian ship, the Turkistan, in the
port of Cam Pha.
The most blatant example of the
United States' prevarication in inter-
national affairs occurred when the U-
2 was shot down by the Russians May
1, 1960 and' we claimed that it was
merely a weather plane that had lost
its way. When the Russians finally
put the plane and the pilot, Francis
Gary Powers, on the record, faces
were red all over Washington. The
CIA simply had made up a "cover"
story and told the lie to President
Eisenhower who passed it on to the
Russians.
But the term "credibility gap"
hadn't ev_n been born then. Now it is
part of the language; and nearly ev-
ery statement having to do with for-
eign affairs-and many having to do
w i t h domestic affairs, too-are
looked at up and down and around
and about and sideways before peo-
ple will accept the official words.
In the case of the Russian ship
Turkistan, the sequence went like
this: The Russians claimed that in
bombing raids by U.S. planes, the
Turkistan had been hit. Not at all,
Washington replied; the United
States had. only two flights of F105
jets in action at Cam Pha that day,
and they didn't hit the Russian.
Maybe, we said, the Russian ship
was hit by North Vietnamese anti-air-
craft fire, and since the Russians
were said to have provided the anti-
aircraft guns, the irony was a pleas-
ant one.
But now, the Pentagon says, word
comes from the field telling of a
"third flight" that day: "The target
of the third flight was a railroad yard
at Bac Giang, about 65 miles from
Cam. Pha. As previously -reported,
there was no strafing uy the aircraft
of the first two flights, However, it
now appears that there was 20 milli-
meter suppressive fire against the
North Vietnamese anti-aircraft site
at Cam Pha by aircraft of the third
flight and that some of this fire may
have struck the Turkistan."
Now, we know as well as the next
one that from the handlers' posts in
the cockpit of war-hot or cold-the
entries must always be protected as
far as is practicable. The Russians,
having a closed society, gain the
jump on everyone else. Ours, as an
open society, is expected to answer
and to give truthful answers. This
causes difficulties sometimes.
But it seems to us that in the end
the truth has an embarrassing way of
coming out re ardiess. Wouldn'~ it be
better to approach the whole subject
of answering charges from the view-
point of saying candidly what hap-
pened, if we know? And if we do nur
know, to say that the Washington dc-
partme involved will is vestigatc
and wil. reply later -n? And
meantime, say noi:::..; that c....
turned against us as an outright lie?
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400110009-3