LETTER TO THE EDITOR THE NEW YORK TIMES FROM W. E. COLBY

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP80R01720R000700080002-1
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RIPPUB
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K
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date: 
June 28, 2004
Sequence Number: 
2
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Content Type: 
LETTER
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PDF icon CIA-RDP80R01720R000700080002-1.pdf213.42 KB
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Approveor Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP80R720R000700080002-1 Washington, D. C. Z'Uulu The Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd Street New York, New York 10036 Dear Sir: di Binh- The Times' lead editorial of August 6 entibtlle'"Bloo dbpath o nh. .. " makes a misleading analogy between inn province and an allegation communist public executions in. Bidexecuted" by the South Vietnamese. that "9820 civilian Communists were The source of the latter is given atestimony tal en by the HousesFore gn mittee last year, which is presumably that was thecoour e of most e Committee- Operations and Government Information on Government Operations. Since I ti tics in those hearings and was a principal that thisltestimony reportedr editorial writer's totally inexact statement the ?execution" of civilian Communists. The specific number of 9820 covered the year 1970 and the first ed in two months of 1971. These figures were updat this te my o nytesti only to cover the additional months through May. In stim, he Communist stated that the Government of Vietnam's campaign against the or killed. infrastructure was measured by members captured, raled Of those killed, I indicated that almost in 90 fighting were killed in the course of military actions and the remainder ghting off arrests by police or had e d cur other forces. While I said that some unjustifiable over the years abuses I plainly pol ted in the fight against Viet Conn terrorism oout that the instances of abuse were small in asserted that the total ditor list of ose totally ignored this testimony when he reported as "killed" were "executed. " Approved For Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP80R01720R000700080002-1 Approved Pis Release 2004/07/08: CIA-RDP80R01 bR000700080002-1 We who have worked with the Vietnamese to help them to defend themselves against Communist terrorism and military assault are well aware of the costs that all Vietnamese have paid. It does them a dis- service, however, to change verbs in the manner of your editorialist and to ignore evidence such as the Binhdinh refugee's statement quoted in your August 10 issue that "Our presence here shows our choice" of which Vietnamese government he preferred. Sincerely, W. E. Colby Former Deputy for Pacification, Saigon Approved For Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP80RO172OR000700080002-1 l(iC ..rx,i. CacccutiOil O an eSr.l_Ieci 250 ;.o i~~ On others by Co-,..a mist forces C::.::1"'"T ?-: ..,.a i!!'.x .t;1'1 ~- 7', . ?Sa'. ., ,I I?- ~ :iO? _ SJ:.uii1 OF C;: 1 to th bloo y iL'.,.Oiy Oi LL 'iiet', :i 1 w:?-. ~,... ~.,,. ?..Ll; ,s, repo to l Jy a Led irce?li~ Ic:: officers in GC- :.c'.-s D' int,- iv;e',is by a limes w'