ONE TUNNEL FINALLY ENDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100033-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: February 21, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100033-9
WASHINGTON POST
p? 21 February 1985
MARY MCGRORY:
One Tunnel RaIiy Ends
T he surrender of retired general But he is not self-righteous about it.
William C.' Westmoreland in what I ' left my integrity in the same damn Hawkins would have persuaded the
Thas been called "the libel case of place he left his honor, over. there in zealots that the two would repeat under
the century" has made the news media Vietnam. I helped a oath what they had said on the air.
joyful and has lifted a black cloud that fraud." p trate.a gigantic Hawkins remembers a telephone
sat on their heads for the last four For him the appearance in the conversationawith Burt, in which "he
months. But nobody could be happier at cou
-screamed at me that CBS has
d
accuse
rtroom ended an episode Thathad
the outcome than the chief witness 6"?" -' I.:_ r-- , " -__ _ - _ __ Westmoreland of rreasnn " Nn.v4;ne
former intelli ence officer Gains B:' until Jan. 23,.1982 when,,, at the ur in suggested that" and referred him to a
Hawkins of West' Pintcer, s. `. o ormer Central Intelligence Agency local attorney for.any further
Hawkins was the principal reason ' ' analyst am Adams, he appears "on t conversation.-
that the general ran-up the white flag -. CBS documentary "The Uncounted The damn flag of the First
five' days before his $120 million lawsuit Enemy: A Vietnam eception a r: Amendment still stands," said Hawkins,
was expected to go to the jury, carried around the guilty secret of the . who can take;much credit today for the
The earlier testimony of Hawkins' cooked numbers, the deliberate ? - fact that it does.
superior, retired general Joseph A. misrepresentation that estmoreland -? - _- _
d
ertook to Please his ~.. ,
McChristian,?who told of. un
Westmoreland's rejection of a report .. commander-in-chief, President Lyndon'.''
putting enemy strength Johnson, and to keep him and the
gth at 500,000 as
a Political bombshell," had been - C20-try--persuaded that there was light
:=' =
damaging. Hawkins' testimony was at the end of thetunnel
devastating. Not only did he recall the < I m a free man at last, -Hawkins said
gist of what he and Westmoreland said ' by telephone. "The monkey is off my
?
to each other at a critical briefing in "W back."
May, 1967, he also told of subsequently e were in a damn swamp over
giving an order that he considered there, Hawkins said. "We were up to
improper to make further cuts in the' - our asses in alligators. That's
troop-strength something the countiv was entitled to
estimates..
... ! know. Putting a ceiling on those figures
Hawkins, 65, a dumpy, balding
'
'
,
meant we didn
t know what we were up
former high school English teacher,
who is director of a nhome, was against-meant almost six more years -.
who
the of war, almost 20,000 more lives. The
by far most director o a nursing u beguiling and= statute of limitations never runs on a
compelling figure to take the stand in,
"
fraud like that.
the long proceedings. He is one of those Hawkins has his own heroes out of
southerners who comes on all rambling the CBS ordeal. One is Adams, who has
and folksy-humorous but who turns out been crying in the wilderness for almost
to have an awesome command of the 20 years about the deception and is
English language and a firm grip on the , regarded by the intelli ence - i
concepts of honor and duty.
establishment as a crank. Hawkins sees
His first emotion on he'aring-of-the him as "the conscience of every
cease-fire Sunday night was relief. He.,:- . intelli ence officer in the service."
was facing more cross-examination-b3''_. George Crile, the CBS producer who
Westmoreland's attorney, Dan Burt. has been taking his lumps from the
But Burt's failure to find a crack or - trade, also gets a medal from Hawkins.
contradiction in Hawkins' account led to "He was the catalyst; he was the one
the general's decision to negotiate.a-_ with the damn gall to-put that story out.
settlement. Westmoreland, in the great I think the journalists who criticize him
Vietnam tradition of self-delusion, ' might be a little bit envious."
labeled his surrender "a victory," even The Westmoreland lawsuit was a
though he got not one dime of the right-wing crusade. The conservative
money or one syllable of the apology he Capital Legal Foundation may have put
had demanded from CBS. the general up to it. Former general
Hawkins calls the outcome an utter Daniel Graham, who is engaged in the
defeat for Westmoreland." space defense scheme called "High
Frontier," encouraged him. The-briefest
exchange with McChristian and
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504100033-9