BOMBING OF THE DIKES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300350029-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: August 3, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 RO
BROCKTON, MASS.
ENTERPRISE-TIMES
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Bombing of the Dikes
DESPITE ALL CHARGES that the dikes of North
Vietnam have been deliberately bombed by 'planes of. the
United States, logic compels us to believe otherwise. If this
country were engaged in a deliberate attempt to destroy the
2,500-mile-tong,network of earthern dams, some still.un-
repaired after last year's extra-high water, the damage to
the dike system would be astronomically greater than all
evidence at the moment indicates that it is.
And,since the Rev. Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, Secretary
General of the World Council of Churches, and Kurt Ward-
heim, Secretary General of the United Nations, both admit
that their information to the contrary from Hanoi is "pri-
vaxe and unofficial," the. IA report that American bombing
has caused scattered damage to dikes at 12 different loca-
tions is quite credible.
The president has often conceded, as have other mill:
tart' spokesmen, that there has been some inadvertent dam-
age-to the dikes. Furthermore, the U.S. Defense Department
has insisted that far worse damage to the dikes was caused
byIast year's floods than by this year's bombing.
The whole issue can be placed in some sort of per-
spective by the observations of syndicated columnist Joseph
Kraft,, now in North Vietnam to assess the outlook for
peace in the wake of President Nixon's recent diplomatic
moves.
"Everything I have done in North Vietnam has been
arranged by hosts," he admits. "They establish the emphasis
of my coverage. They decided whom I saw and did not
see....
"There is no doubt that the dikes have been hit by
American bombs. I have seen with my own eyes two un-
doubted examples of such hits. Indeed, given the number
of_,American sorties (about 200 a day. recently) and the ex-
tent of the dikes open (about.2,000 miles), it would be re-
markable if there were not some.hits on the dikes."
And that's what. we believe. -
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300350029-3