Tuesday, November 12, 1968
Ti ;E MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Vietnam
battle
lull:
the
news today
by The Assoc ia/ed P'ess and C'ollge Press Servtice
mil1tar
By GEORGE McARTHUR
Associated Press News Analysis
SAIGON - The Vietnamese
war is once again in one of its
periodic lulls with the Com-
munist-led troops generally de-
clining battle and makingsrel-
atively few' offensive moves.
Was the lull forced on Hanoi
by military reverses or decided
as a political move in answer
to President Johnson's peace of-
fensive which began to gain,
momentum in early October?
American military officers al-
most universally believe that the
the Viet Cong's present posture.
with its main-force units fre-
quently back in jungled sanc-
tuares across the Cambodian
and 'Laotian borders, was dic-
tated by battlefield failures.
The most recent of these was
the so-called August offensive
which failed to achieve any-
thing and, according to one
ranking general, "was evidently
y orpo
planned in an unbelievable slop-
py manner."
The military intelligence peo-
ple admit, however, that their
judgments are those of soldiers.
Political influences are not their
direct concern.
The broader view of an Amer-
ican policymaking expert is that
both propositions are probably
correct. The lull was forced
upon the Viet Cong to regroup
and replenish badly battered
field ~battalions. At the same
time, with peace talks in Paris
occupying world attention, it
was to Hanoi's advantage to
give at least the appearance of
de-escalating the war.
"Hanoi isnsimply keeping its
options open right now." this
experienced political - official
said. "I'm not sure that they
know themselves what they
really intend to do."
The U.S. intelligence network
also gets political and tactical
information from the South
uitica1?
Vietnamese. For their -part, the
South Vietnamese are almost
wholly dependent on the Amer-
icans-with their sophisticated
electronic and photographic
equipment-for strategic intel-
ligence on such things as troop
infiltration and supply move-
ments in remote areas and along
the Ho Chi Minh trail.
This intelligence network of-
ten turns up "raw" information.
incomplete reports and scat-
tered documentation that can
be interpreted to fit the beliefs
of various camps.
For the moment, the U.S.
Command is acting on the para-
mount assumption that Hanoi
will do battle again and prob-
ably in a big way. It is gener-
ally assumed that the date is
not close--at least not for any
large-scale resumption of sus-
tained fighting.
One ranking officer in the
U.S. Command said: "Every-
thing I see indicates that the
enemy is doing their damn-
dest to prepare this battlefield,
to restock his ammunition
caches and prepare his logistics.
At present, however, his capa-
bilities have outrun his inten-
tions. His leadership, training
and know-how problems are tre-
mendous andthe just can't get
those things of the ground like
he used to. But everything we
have indicates he wants to at-
tack Saigon again. He knows
that Saigon is the big political
prize.
"Whether he ever actually
does attack Saigon is another
matter. We are trying to spoil
his plans every day. And he may
change his mind. That's not my
business.
-Associated Press
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PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON and President-elect Richard Nixon met in Washington yesterday
to discuss how best to avoid a "lame duck" period before the inauguration, Jan. 20. The men an-
nounced only that the Johnson administration would be allowed to speak for the next administration
on foreign policies. No questions were permitted.
CONTROLS 21 STATES:
GOP scores gains on state level
its reserved-seat
engagement. ~
WASHINGTON UP) -- Repub-
licans scored a net gain of three
and possibly four houses of
state legislatures in Tuesday's
Svoting.
Unofficial returns show that
Republicans- took control of
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THE INDEPENDENT
RADI.CAL CAUCUS
endorses:
Larry Deitch
Mary Livingston
Howard Miller
Bruce Wilson
for SGC
Vote "YES" on Referendum
state senates in Indiana, Iowa
and Delaware and won the low-
er house of the legislatures in
California,New York, Nevada
and possibly Tennessee, where
an independent will decide the
lineup.1
Democrats countered by win-
ning the lower houses of Michi-
gan. Pennsylvania and Alaska.
The overall shift9 in legisla-
tive balloting were far less vola-
tile than two years ago, when
Republicans gained 19 cham-
bers and Democrats only 1.
Elections were held for some
or all seats in 81 of the nation's
99 legislative chambers.
Democrats now control both
houses in 20 states and Repub-
licans hold both in 21. Control
is divided in seven states, Ne-
braska has a nonpartisan one-
house legislature and the Ten-
nessee situation remains to be
resolved.
The relative stand-pat atti-
tude of the voters followed the
trends of near-even balloting in
the presidential election and
the few turnovers in races for
the U.S. House of Representa-
tives.
From the national standpoint,
the shift in the California state
assembly held perhaps the
greatest interest.
Republican Gov. Ronald Rea-
gan now will have a 41-39 GOP
margin to work with instead of
the 42-38 Democratic assembly
that battled him during the past
two years.
REPORTEDLY, THE SOVIET UNION wants the U.S.
to remain in Southeast Asia even after the end of the
Vietnam conflict.
Russian and Eastern European diplomats with close ties
to the Kremlin implied yesterday that the threat of China
was a common problem to the United States and the Soviet
Union, and that U.S. troops in Vietnam or Thailand would be
welcome by the Russians.
"You must remember that both our countries face the
same threat in Asia, and you know who I mean," said one of
the informants.
However, Eastern European observers remain suspicious
that the Russians may be trying to mislead the incoming
'Nixon administration.
ISRAEL'S FOREIGN MINISTER said yesterday pros-
pects for progress in Mid-East peace talks were not favor-
able.
Abba Eban made the statement at a news conference at
the United Nations. He criticized sharply the Egyptian and
Jordanian representatives to the talks who left last week.
Along with Gunner Jarring, the Swedish negotiator, the three
men have been trying to hammer out some kind of settlement
off and on for nearly 11 months.
Jarring has tenatively indicated that he will call for an-
other session, this time in Geneva.
U.S. MILITARY AUTHORITIES in Vietnam h a v e
dismissed recently renewed shelling of U.S. Marines from
the demilitarized zone as probing incidents.
Officials in Washington and Saigon see the incidents as
tests, to see how the U.S. troops would react. The reaction was
limited to counterfire, which destroyed one of the enemy po-
sitions, and harassed another.
A major portion of the agreement between Hanoi and
Washington which led to the halt in bombing was the under-
standing that the DMZ would become neutral. The Johnson
administration, while not regarding the incidents a major
violation of this understanding, has warned that a continued
pattern of shelling will not be tolerated.
There was no indication by Washington whether or not
bombing will be renewed if the attacks continue.
A MEETING IN BRUSSELS of representatives of
NATO member nations has produced a plan of response to
any future Czechoslovakia-typelinvasions.
The meeting, which was called as a result of concern
over lack of communication and decisive plans of action dur-
ing the August invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Un-
ion, will run until the end of the week.
Under the new plan, defense measures will be put into
effect without delay in case of another outbreak. The defens-
ive aspect was especially emphasized .in the plan, meaning
NATO seen noobligation to assist a Moscow-bloc country in-
vaded by its Warsaw Pact allies.
Earlier in the session yesterday, before the adoption of
the plan, NATO's secretary-general, Manlio Brosio of Italy,
warned that after invading Czechoslovakia, the Russians may
move now into the renegade Communist bloc nations of Yu-
goslavia and Albania.
" " #
SOVIET PREMIER Alexei N. Kosygin and Robert S.
McNamara met at the Kremlin yesterday.
It appeared likely that Kosygin wanted to discuss U.S.
policy in the light of the presidential election.
The Kremlin t ok no sides during the U.S. presidential
contest, although it had earlier condemned Republican Rich-
ard Nixon. It has given hints of desire for new attempts at im-
proving U.S.-Soviet relations during the coming administra-
tion.
THE SOVIETS ESCALATED the race to the moon
Sunday with the launching of an unmanned lunar ship.
The vessel, called the Zond 6, will test systems and units
for future vessels, and carry out someexperiments in "near-
lunar space," according to Soviet news releases.
The launching has stirred speculation that the experi-
ments will be even more complex than the maneuvers of Zond
5, which seven weeks ago achieved historys first circumlunar
flight and recovery on earth.
Currently, U. S. officials are considering whether or not
to carry out a scheduled December manned flight around the
moon. A Western diplomat knowledgeble in science said it
was possible the Russians would be in a position to attempt
a similar manned flight, thus challenging the U.S. effort to
send a man around the moon first.
THE ANNUAL UN DEBATE over seating of Commu-
nist China opened today amid increased hostility toward
the mainland government.
The proposal to seat Communist, China has lost favor
each year since 1965, when the vote ended in a 47-47 tie. This
year, insiders are predicting 60-44 defeat of the proposal.
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QUESTION:
IF YOU THINK THIS AD IS. WORTHLESS
NOVEMBER 14
DRAFT CARD TURN-IN
Rally 12-1 on Diag
afterwards
* liberation classes (see the Daily for
list of locations)
" informal discussions with resistors
at 802 Monroe (basement)
TUES. and WED., Nov.11 and 12
Meeting for all men
seriously considering
turning in their card
NOVEMBER 14th
What can you do?
Answer: Nothng.
WHY? Because only the Regents
can decide how much of
your money goes to SGC
A referendum on the SGC ballot today and tomorrow asks if you want to
have a say in how much money you give to SGC.
If you vote YES, you are asking to have control over your money and stu-
dent government.
If you vote NO, you are asking that the Regents continue to decide.
U
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