THE
Summer Daily
Vol. LXXXII, No. 47-S
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, July 25, 1973
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
P reichman:e sberg
break-i Ilwas lgal
President willcha e nge subpoenas
WASHINGTON UP)-John Ehrlich-
man told t h e Senate Watergate
committee yesterday that-President
Nixon believes the Ellsberg psychia-
trist break-in was "well within both
the constitutional duty and obliga-
tion of the presidency."
And the White House announced
yesterday that the President will
challenge subpoenas which demand
that he produce tapes and docu-
ments directly related to the Water-
gate scandal. A spokesman, however,
refused to speculate on Nixon's ac-
tions if courts rule against him.
EHRLICHMAN, formerly the Presi-
dent's top domestic adviser, acknowledg-
ed in testimony that he had approved a
covert operation to examine the medical
files of Pentagon Papers figure Daniel
Ellsberg, but that he did not have a
break-in in mind.
Ehrlichman's statement about Nixon
contradicts the President's own remarks
of May 22, in which he said he would have
disapproved any illegal means of obtain-
ing information by the hush-hush White
House unit investigating the 1971 Penta-
gon Papers case.
Ehrlichman testified that last March,
some weeks before he quit amidst heat
of the Watergate scandal, he had been
reviewing the Ellsberg matter with Da-
vid Young, a member of the secret White
House investigating unit called the
p-mbers.
EHRLICHMAN was asked if he had in-
dicated to Young that Nixon had known
about the break-in or felt it was a proper-
ty legal matter.
"I may well have," he said: "In that
period of time I did have a conversation
with the President about this."
Ehrlichman did not acknowledge any
prior approval of the September 1971
break-in until after close questioning by
committee yesterday. During his testimony; he said the Ellsherg break-in was
within "the constitutional duty" of the President, contradicting Nixon who said on
May 22 he would have disapproved of any illegal actions.
Hijackers ca ptured following
5day chase across Europe
Sen. Ervin
committee chief counsel Samuel Dash and
examination of a memorandum.
AND THEN, while conceding he had ap-
proved "a covert operation be undertaken
to examine all of the files still held by
Ellsberg's psychiatrist," he maintained
he thought "that one way or another this
information could be adduced by an in-
vestigator who was trained and knew
what he was looking for."
But, said Ehrlichman, "if you are ask-
ing if this means I had in my mind there
would be a breaking and entering, I cer-
tainly did not."
The approval on the memo said the op-
eration was okayed "if done so not
traceable.
EHRLICHMAN explained this as mean-
ing, "I was not keen on the concept of
the White House having investigators in
the field and known to be in the field. I
don't think from a public relations stand-
point, from a public policy standpoint,
th t is a desirable situation."
Ehrlichman opened his testimony to
the Watergate Committee with a declara-
tio of innovence and attributing blaime
for the cover-uap primarily to Joho Dean.
Ehrlichman denied that he assured Her-
bert Kalmbach, Nixon's private attorney,
of the propriety of raising funds last sum-
mer for Watergate defendants and their
lawyers.
KALMBACH testified last week that
Ehrlichman gave specific assurances. And
Kalmbach reiterated the point in a tele-
phone conversation with Ehrlichman this
spring which Ehrlichman recorded and
later had to yield to the Senate commit-
tee under subpoena.
But Ehrlichman insisted Kalmbach did
not ask him for reassurance, and that
Ehrlichman's own information on the
money-raising plan had come from Dean.
Committee Chairman Sen. Sam Ervin
(D-N.C.) grilled Ehrlichman on his testi-
See EHRLICHMAN. Paee 10
BENGHAZI, Libya (P') - The four men
who hijacked a Japan Air Lines 747 Jumbo
jet and blew is up at the desert airport
here were#arrested by Libyan authorities
yesterday at the end of a marathon flight'
across Europe and the Middle East.
The 137 passengers and crew who had
been their captives for 31/ days have been
taken to a resort hotel for rest.
Palestinian guerrilla groups elsewhere
in the Middle East condemned the hijack-
ing that began Friday in the Netherlands.
They announced "a detailed investigation"
of the entire matter.
The hijackers, identified here as three
Palestinians and a Japanese, were under-
going questioning by Libyan officials last
night after being seized as they ran from
the jetliner after it landed in this Libyan
resort on the Mediterranean.
After the plane landed here yesterday
morning, its emergency chutes spilled out
from the fuselage and everyone on board
came sliding down. Two minutes later a
resounding blast ripped through the air-
craft. The passengers and crew ran in
one direction and the highjackers in ano-
ther.
Libyan troops seized the hijackers be-
fore they could leave the airport.
Forty-five minutes later the plane's fuel
tanks ignited and three more explosions
erupted in a spectacular fireball. As col-
umns of oily black smoke, more than a
mile high, blocked out the early morning
sun.
Japan Air Lines in London said it would
send two planes to Benghazi today to pick
up the passengers and crew of the hi-
jacked aircraft.
The plane was hijacked a half-hour
out of Amsterdam on Friday at-the start
of a flight to Tokyo over the North Pole.
It was forced to fly to the Persian Gulf
sheikdom of Dubai, where it remained on
the ground until Monday night.
The hijackers then commended Capt.
Kenzi Konuma to fly to Damascus, Syria,
for refuelling and then on to Libya.
The passengers were driven from the
Benghazi airport. to the city's largest hotel
where they will remain as guests of the
Libyan government.
See SKYJACKERS, Page 10