JUROR IN WESTMORELAND-CBS CASE PENNED IT ONE DAY AT A TIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201740008-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: February 24, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/10 :CIA-RDP90-009658000201740008-3
ON PAS
_",
ARTICLE AP~'EA~ED .
WASHINGTON POST
24 February 1985
Juror in Westmoreland-CBS Case
Penned It ?ne Da at a Tim
y e
Months of Boredom Yield Fresh View of Decision-Makers
By Larry Elkin
CARMEL, N.Y., Feb. 23-Pa-
tricia Roth was an apolitical, grade-
school art teacher who found her-
self watching history played out in a
federal courtroom.
Roth, 42, was part of the jury
chat for 18 weeks heard evidence in
retired Army general William C.
Westmoreland's $120 million libel
suit against CBS Inc. about its doc-
umentary, "The Uncounted Enemy:
A Vietnam Deception."
Roth began a diary that eventu-
ally filled five spiral, notebooks.
When the trial ended last week with
Westmoreland's dropping his suit,
she made her diary available to the
Associated Press.
[Roth, who has. called the CBS
broadcast "extremely accurate,"
told The Washington Posf today
that during her first few nights as a
juror she was so .anxious, she
couldn't sleep. _
["I just paced the floor at first,"
she said. "I couldn't talk to anybody
about it, so I decided to keep the
d,ary. It was sort of my way of
keeping a handle on what was tran-
spiring aril what my feelings about
it were."
[She said she hadn't planned to
make it public, adding that she con-
sidered it just "something to show
my grandchildren." But she said
that after the trial was over; she felt
she had learned something she
wanted to share. "I lost my awe" of
the top decision-makers in govern-
ment and the news media who tes=
tified," she said.]
Here are excerpts from her di-
ary:
Oct. 9, 1984-They took us up
to courtroom 318. I could not be-
lieve how filled this place was. I was
in a state of shock when I saw [CBS
corr?spondent Mike] Wallace. He's
the only one I recognized, and
l~Vestmoreland.
Oct. 11-I wanted to bey ex-
tremely fair. I had the fear of God
inside of me, I felt that I had an j
enormous task. I was grateful for
the other jurors.. -
The lawyer for the plaintiff [Dan
Burt] took up most of the day. He
looked to me young and inexperi-
enced. He was well-versed; or rath-
er, well-prepared. He presented
segments of a newscast that was at i
issue .... He .used segments and ~ '
showed what had been cut, which '.
he tried to show distorted the issue.
It was hard to follow: -
The defense attorney [David ~~
Boles) was much more relaxed and
.slow. He very purposefully went
over' every statement, went back 1
and reviewed and made sure that
we had a grasp on what he was at-
tempting to deliver.
OCt. 15-Mr. Burt had done a
lot of homework. He seemed more
relaxed. First he introduced his wit-
ness, Dr. (Walt] .Rostow, who had
been national security chief under
.Lyndon Johnson. He did indeed
have impressive credentials. He had
a pleasant manner. I couldn't take
notes fast enough. It sounded ,as
though CBS didn't have a case..
Oct. 16-Walt Whitman Rostow
was still on the stand. Dr. Rostow,
it was obvious, refused to be pinned
down. He had these broad losses of
memory. Was 'his memory really
failing him ... ? My belief was that
he wanted to avoid giving answers.
We returned from a short recess,
and [Robert) Komez [a former
Westmoreland aide] was on the wit-
ness stand. Where Dr. Rostow had
a soft, literary way. about him,
Komer was all business.
Komer stated ,that they all, at
least in Vietnam, were well aware
of the problem with the numbers of
the ene#ny. Was the president made
aware of these numbers? It was ob-.
vious, however, that they were con-
cerned about the press finding out.
_ Oct. 17-My feelings change
with each witness and go back and
forth with what attorney has com-
mand of the floor. It seems CBS has
an open-and-closed case. On the
other hand, it appears that West-
moreland had handled his affairs on
the up-and-up, not necessarily to
the American people or the press,
but in general to his immediate .ad-
visory staff. -
I think just maybe he was doing
the job he was told to do.
OCt. 22-Mike .Wallace sits
there every day. I've seen him on
TV a thousand times. "Oh, there's
Mike Wallace," was the first reac-
tion. But it's been two weeks now.
"Big deal, there's Mike."
Oct. 23-What kind of informa-
tion is classified? If it's anything like
the exhibits .coming out .in court,
cables and letters and secret doc-
uments, you can rest assured it's
BORING. From the' ,testimony
we've heard so far, all anyone did
between March 1967 and January
1968 was to hide numbers, lie about
numbers and worry about numbers.
Oct. 30-We have been hearing
a name a lot lately, and finally he
was on the stand in ~ the flesh-
[former] Gen. Daniel Graham.
According tr? Graham, [former
CIA analyst and co-defendant] Sam
Adams was the only one who
wanted higher [enemy strength]
figures-no one else.
Nov. 1-Gen: Graham very au-
thoritatively spouted off this elab-
oraie system he designed on how to
figure out the enemy. I looked at
this man and I realized he was full of
it.... .
Nov. 15-Gen.. Westmoreland
was finally on the stand. It was
strange to see him up there after
having watched him for so long.
Westmoreland said that MACV
[his command headquarters] was
the best judge of what was happeR~~_~~.; ~~
WiWuti'vat
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i:.a 'The CIA v~-as too remote.
~'i'ashington was not sophisticated
enough to evaluate the information
accurately. Neither was the press.
This was all, of course] in reference .
to the numbers, the almighty, un- `~
counted numbers.
Nov. 16-Westmoreland made
zn extremely emotional speech
(about how good his troops were]. I
could feel tears welling up ... .
Nov. 29-We were told that the ~
general had been ill-that's why we
had been off [for two days]. I lis-
tened, I watched and I realized
something was very wrong. Either
he's still ill or he's trying to cover-.
up something. He had been on the
same question all morning. Boies
was trying very hard to get the gen-
eral to admit something.w West.-;
moreland kept denying it, kept go,
ing through long, involved explana=
tions. _ ~~,
Dec. S-Suddenly [former~de= ;
feuse secretary) Robert McNamara .
was' on the stand. I was impressed
with him throughout the day. He
never was satisfied with just being i
handed a_.document. He would ask if
he could read it in its entirety ... .
We sat sometimes for 10 or . 15
xinutes while McNamara .. pored
over documents.
Dec. 10-Dan Rather made an
appearance. He quietly came in the
door in the back .... Not a person
in the jury box missed it.
Jae. 23-[Former CIA analyst] .
.Feb. 17- ...Bob [Rosh's hus-
band] yelled from the living room:
"Westmoreland has dropped his li-
bel suit against CBS! They just an-
nounced it on NBC."
Feb. 18-Westmoreland was
claiming a victory. I got what I
wanted-a statement saying that I
was patriotic." I found it difficult to
watch.
Feb. 19-I got up at 4 a.m. The
words that we heard over and over
during the trial attributed to Gen.
Westmoreland-"What am I going
to tell the press"-were now fore-
most on my mind.
[Roth told The Post that before
the trial she had "taken it for grant-
ed" that the nation's decision-mak-
ers knew what they were doing.
["I never got involved," she said.
"I'm ai- artist. I'm less likely to be
that way from now on. I know now.
that we're all operating with the
same material .. My_ opinions
are just as valid."]
2
Geor3e Allen didn't mince words.
" his prostitution o mte igence
process was mto era e. e ,
sounded filled with emotion. One
has to go with gut feelings. Is this
man a credible witness? I think so.
Feo. 12-[Former] Col. Gains
Hawkins was called to the stand.
Without looking at my fellow jurors,
I could feel the excitement.-We've
been waiting for him.
"Did you, Col. Hawkins, ever"ask
anyone to Igwer their figures?",
asked Boies. The poor man sat fro-
zen in his chair like he was confess-
ing amortal sin to the world. His
hand started to shake. In a hardly
audible voice he answered, "I gave
orders to men-nothing justified
this-I knew it at the time. I or-
ciered them to lower the figures."
The tears had already welled up
ir, my ryes.
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