LAOTIAN QUICKSAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000700060001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 74
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 20, 1999
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000700060001-0
ALBERTA
JOURNAL
E - 142,051
FEB28 ells''
Recent fighting on the Laotian
'lain of Jars has all the ingred-
ients for another Vietnam: North
7 Vietnamese regulars; . their pro-
._ es, the Pathet Lao; the Royal
Laotian Army; CIA support, and
United States aCvisers.
As Republican SenaLor Charles
ucC. Mathias Jr. of Maryland said,
Laos has become an arena for the
reoctition of the mistakes of
America's Vietnamese involvement.
Hopefully, this will not happen.
President Nixon should make good
his promise to withdraw militarily
from Southeast Asia. His country
got itself involved, by degrees, in
Vietnam and the result has been a
moral, political and military disas-
ter.
And the people of Southeast
Asia, particularly the Laotians and
Vietnamese, would probably much
better be left alone. Th j have
been pawns in big power chess
games-played by Moscow, Peking,
Hanoi, and Washington-far too
long.
War has been a way of life for
most of the inhabitants of tie form-
er French Indochina: Japanese oc-
cupation during World War II; re-
turn of the French; war between
the French Foreign Legion and na-
tionalistic - communistic guerrilla
units, and finally in the '50s, Amer-'
ican involvement.
Peace is unlikely to come to
these hapless people until 911 ok+-
side powers withdraw the
military hardware and political ir.
fluence. The people in that part of
the world mus#`be allowed to de-
termine their own destiny, the
strong communistic nationalistic
bias notwithstanding. It's chancy at
best that others will not interfere,
but they most assuredly will if the
`U.S. is involved supporting a re-
gime which cannot support itself.
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GR7 1S3ORU, N.C.
NEW S
M - 83 , 477
s-1qj~~ 281970.
vement
T.
senators to Russians by Ambassador 'Harriman in
S
ht b
U
.
y
.
answer soug
their. questions about American involve- 1962, which envisioned a three-way coali-
r}ient'.in .Laos, following a battlefield ca- tion between three royal princes - one
tastroplle for . government forces there non-Western, the other non-Communist,
and ,the: attendant statement of the U. S. and the third non-everything (otherwise
ambassador there that he has "lost any known as neutralist). The accords, as you
interest': in .helping out. the press whatso- might expect, are non-functioning.
ever'." in reporting it, is easy.
Laos' is a non-war; the U. S. is accord- What bother U.S. senators about the U.S.
?
Ingly pursuing a policy of non-involve- policy of non-involvement in Laos are
persistent rumors of non-identified activi-
ment. in it. ? Small wonder if the ambassa- ties b the,. IA in the northern part of the
dor is non-interested. The senatorswould y
know, if they did their homework,-that in country. The U. S. embassy in Vientiane,
President Nixon's 119-page "state of the the Laotian capital, boasts no fewer than
72 military' attaches, and the senators
world" message to Congress February 18 naturally wonder what non-activities they
Laos was non-mentioned. Just as in the are there for. There are persistent rumors
recent budget message, the cost of the war also that the U.'S. pays the bill and maps
in Vietnam was non-mentioned,
has oned, although suddenly strategy for a so-called "clandestine army"
it does not follow:that it of 30,000 men somewhere in Laos, but
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 'qt'r' t\Go' II Approved For Release 2007/10/23: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000700060001 -0
- 461,357
a 3 1 170
'disturbing
U'se"".." role, in L.aos
By John S. Krill ;17.t
`tainous little
.'concern US to-
-.dry,is the pos-
sihility of U.S.
F military inter-
vention in
Laos a. moun-
"What should ~
- 4:
thing like Ibis:
Some nine years ago - Jan.
8, 1561, to he precise - I was
? for tactical air support to Lao- forts: to disengage from Viet-
The Southeast Asia, Treaty, flan forces. gage
Organiziftion has charged that *U.S. helicopters are being nam, be warned that Laos con-
troops from North Vietnam used . to transport Laotian tains the same ingredients of
have Oiltrated Laos. ;forces from one scene of- corn-
"Gredi, Britain and. France, hat to annther_ It was a somnolent Senate,
Knight both signatories to the SEATO: U?.S. advisers are all but run- ,~ remember, that condoned our
_- country about
I__ _~_.....
_.._ . ? ,,~;~n
ent
t Vi .
g
apme
no
in
otia
the size of Idaho which lies ue- '
g
? ^- ?~ /fiani in the days when s irited
- rushing to the defense of Laos. are Central Intelligence Ahem y p
ht'. v estamd.th.,,two Vietnams States ;will be expected to act. AmericanJEmbassywithinno , the tragic consequences of a
on the L.1sl, "Oii'r military involveixlent, cent sounding titles. full scale war.
"Since 19ri'(mark-the date),.-, there would be, as President- oThere are 2,150 Americans in In the light of correspondent
the United States has given. I elect Kennedy stated ,,in the Laos, 830 of them in official McCartney's revelations, we
~. ._~: - - .: ..,? , campaign, `'The wrong war at government positions. The U.S. think the President now has an
1t'he wrong place and at the, has lost at least 100 pilots 'on obligation to take the Ameri-
wrong ? time' - u n s o u n d , Laotian missions and about 25 can people into his full con-
Imilitarily, unnecessary to our other Americans have been fidence on the Laotian situa-
security and unsupported by killed in line of duty. . tion.
our allies. And we applaud the Senate
I "No Russian soldiers died in THIS SUMMATION of U.S. Foreign Relations Committee
Korea and none will die in' engrossment shows -a marked for' demanding that the truth
Laos if we are silly enough to similarity to the Vietnam War be told as it is without further
get caught in a conflict where buildup in 1965 and 1966. fraud or deception.
there is no chance of winning So the disturbing question .? v
decisively and achieving per.- `arises as to whether the Nixon PRESIDENT NIXON was,'
I manent peace in that region." administration is 'actually right in vetoing-the $19.7 billion
NEARLY A DECADE has' escalating military activities in health and education money :
!,elapsed since that warning was' Laos while de-escalating the ' bill, a measure that would {
(first printed, a period in which warn in Vietnam. have compelled him to spend
Vietnam and not Laos was to Senate Foreign Relations $1.2 billion more than, he'had
P provide the setting for a bloody Committee c h a i r m a n J. requested of Congress.
war in which more than 4Q,000 William Fulbright maintains Q ~, 1
l Americans have died. the government is "hiding the BACK IN Jack Kennedy's
Yet we have never been idle extent of our involvement in' day, the President hit the
hn Laos despite reassurances .Laos . . . its cost in money" ceiling when U.S. Steel raised
from Sec. of State William P. and lives." prices in violation of what JFK
Rogers that "we are not going.,. Senators Fulbright, Mans- thought was a gentleman's
to fight any major wars on the field and Symington -a r e agreement to hold the line.
mainland of Asia . We arc bristling over the State Now Big Steel has done it .
not going to send. American Department's withholding of again. No breach of faith, un-
troops there." secret evidence on Laos which. derstand, but prices are going.
As revealed by J a m e s was given to the committee in up "along with the industry." .,
McCartney of the Knight four days of testimony last Oc- When steel goes up, so do the
newspapers, here is a brief tober. . costs of thousands of other,
1 summary of American activi? These senators are properly.'. manufactured items in every-'
sties in.Laos: indignant over a vastly enlarg- day use. Inflationary? Of
f' a The U.S. Is p r o v i d i n g ed American participation in course.
massive air support to the Laos without public announce- ? It must be a sign of the,
!,,royal Laotian army now com-,. merit or Senate approval. . times that nary a protest has
bating the,Communists,Having. been burned once in been heard.
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$300,000,000 to sustain Lootian ?United States bombers from Vietnam campaign promises of
Independence and keep Laos both Vietnam and Thailand are 1964, they are no longer In a
out of the Communist orbit. attempting to interdict infil- trusting mood and in fact
"The forces which hope to trators into South Vietnam on suspect the. worst,
dominate Laos comprise the the Ho Chi Minh Trail which
Pathet Lao, a Communist travels through Laos. .. , , WHILE THE NATION is
.S. fighters are being used' disposed to be patient with the
guerilla mov~ment and the *U
ii Communist. of North Vietnam Nixon administration in its ef-
 ri il'TLY 170RLD
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Daily World Foreign Department
and Quang Binh provinces.
day, the DRV charged, and three u.5, planes were, snov., uown over na , L
Waves of U.S. bombers attached the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on Wednes
Colonel Ha Van Lau, deputy"
DRV negotiator, just before en-,
tcring Thursday's session of the''
Paris peace talks, said he would
deliver a stiff protest to the.U.S.
side "against this very serious
act of war."
In a Thursday broadcast,- the '.DRV's Radio Hanoi said: "The
Americans blatantly sent numer-
aircraft to violate the air
ous
space of the DRV, dropping
bombs and machine-gunning pop- ' x .
ulated areas west of Ha Tinh and r:..
Quang Binh provinces."
tual criminal cases (theft, muir- Court of. Review in Washington,; ; agency, whose name he did not
der, etc.) involving army per-.'.'revealed that the CIA and -U.S ,,reveal, was engaged in the same
sonnel. But the two agents' mis- "."Special Forces" used the so -.',``type of operations in Cambodia
sion was to uncover American .called "Free Cambodia" (Khmer as the Special Forces.
newsmen's sources of information Semi) movement for secret op-.'So far as is known, the Daily
In South Vietnam. This would ' " erations in Cambodia, Laos and ..,,,World was the first U.S. news-
appear to place the mission witty South Vietnam. The sworn testi ,.paper to charge, nearly 'a year
in the province of the army Coun- ' .., mony was given at the 1968 trial 'ago, that.the'"Khmer Serei" was
ter-Intelligence Corps (CIC):.or, . of Green Beret %Captain' John J. a front. for the CIA.
press cards by the U.S. command. .'sweeping repression unleashed t what the "Khmer Screl" was, he
The agents were Identified, by;: by the Thicu-Ky clique against;;;;- replied that it "is an organiza-',
the Defense Department as meni- Saigon opposition forces. :?tion which plans the political'
,-hers of the army's Criminal In- CIA front in Cambodia g .overthrow of the Cambodian gov-
vestigation Division (CID). This week, motions filed by de-", ernment." McCarthy said that a
`? The CID generally handles ac-. 'fense lawyers before the Military+:.-~,U.S.' government Intelligence
Embassy and the Saigon govern-',~, Later, the U.S. command in The McCarthy case' recalled
ment disclaimed any involvement Saigon announced it had revoked ?the arrest last year of eight
=in the U.S. military command's '.the press credentials of two Sai-."Green Beret" officers, includ-
attempt to infiltrate the Saigon... gon government agents who sim-'' . ing, the commander of the Fifth
press 'corps with military Intel I- '.:~ilarly had tried to:, infiltrate the~'t Special Forces Group, on charges
ligence agents. ',:`corps of 'U.S. and foreign news- "of having murdered one of their
The two agents, Howard Ileth- men, on the same mission as',;South Vietnamese agents. '
t cox and William T. Tucker, pos* their U,S. counterparts, These "I", Trial records disclose that
ed as newsmen and were issued ', events follow on. the heels of ,.';,,:when Capt. McCarthy was asked'
In Saigon, meanwhile, the U.S. ",U.S. Command," he said. Vietnam.
earlier had been shot down by ",,he knew nothing about any such `.'.and also a member of Detach-
.what the U.S. command called 'case. "We have mutual under- ment B-57, Fifth-Special Forces
Thunderchief based in Thailand, gime spokesman insisted, adding.'::::-. member of the "Khmer Serei"
ter which was trying to pick up ,the central Intelligence Agency McCarthy, Jr.
two American pilots "near the (CIA). '4; McCarthy was convicted at the
Laos-North Vietnamese border."'? "This is an amazing thing for 19611 court-martial of killing a
shot down a U.S. rescue helicop'? ,`q,
DRV anti-aircraft fire knocked
down three planes and damaged
others, Radio Hanoi reported.
U.S. sources in the Saigon mil.
itary command reported that on
Wednesday, MIG jet fighters''.;.
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Z% 3 JAN 1970
'as was North Vietnam two'years;-;supportand logistics. system.
By 1IUGO NILE :: .- .. ..;