MCNAMARA: I KNEW VIET WAR COULDN'T BE WON
Document Type:
CREST [1]
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160028-2
Release Decision:
RIFPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
August 12, 2010
Sequence Number:
28
Case Number:
Publication Date:
December 7, 1984
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160028-2.pdf [3] | 46.77 KB |
Body:
Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP9O-005528000707160028-2
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USA TODAY
7 December 1984
G~6
McNamara:
I knew Viet war
couldn't be won
He testified he doubted
NEW YORK -Former Sec-
, retary of Defense Robert Mc-
Namara Thursday broke his
16-year public silence on the
Vietnam War -saying he long
doubted the USA's ability to
win it.
"I reached the conclusion
the war could not be won mili-
tarily. Ibelieve Imay have
reached it as early as 1965;'
said McNamara, testifying as a
character witness for retired
Gen. William Westmoreland.
Westmoreland, who headed
U.S. forces in Vietnam, is suing
CBS for 5120 mI11Ion over a
1982 documentary, The Un-
counted Enemy: A Vietnam
Deception, that said he misled
President Johnson with deflat-
ed IIgures of enemy strength.
McNamara, a principal ar-
chitect of the American war
strategy, was responding to ac-
cusations by CBS lawyer David
Boles that he portrayed the
USA's chances of wfnning the
war differently to the president
and the public.
in
1967 that bombing North Viet-
nam would lead to the war's
end or a negotiated peace.
McNamara, 68, said the war
could oNy be won with a mili-
tary-political approach. He
said that the political track in-
cluded negotiations between
Henry Kissinger, then a private
citizen, and North Vietnamese
President Ho Chi Minh.
McNamara said he was
skeptical of the enemy stretgth
figures and often differed
sharply with Westmoreland
over the war but he endorsed
Westmoreland's character:
"My opinion then and today
was that he Ls a person of tre-
mendous integrity, with whom
I had major policy disagree-
ments, aperson who served his
country well, and whom I have
the highest regard for."
McNamara declined to ap-
pear on the CBS documentary
because, he said, "I didn't be-
lieve the data had been fated.
I didn't believe that Gea West-
moreland would try to con-
spire to deceive the pres[dent
and me."
Approved For Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP9O-005528000707160028-2