Expanded U.S. Offensive In Vietnam Recommended

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31614, 27 February 1968, Page 22

Expanded U.S. Offensive In Vietnam Recommended

(N.Z.P A.-Reuter —Copyright) WASHINGTON, Feb. 26. The United States should make the maximum use of its military capability in an expanded offensive in Vietnam, a House of Representatives subcommittee on defence has recommended.

The committee found on the basis of information supplied by military officials representing various defence agencies, that President Johnson should consider partial mobilisation, stepped-up bombing of enemy targets, and increased weapons production. The , committee’s findings echo the recommendations of the chairman of the parent House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee (Mr L. Mendel Rivers, Democrat, South Carolina). Mr Rivers has lashed the Administration’s conduct of the war and urged a call-up of the reserves, expanded bombing and sealing off the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong. At a press conference subcommittee members charged that the Administration was ignoring the recommendations of the Joint-Chiefs of Staff The sub-committee chairman (Mr P. Hardy, Democrat, Virginia) said he “had the fond hope and strong expectation” that the incoming De-

fence Secretary (Mr Clark Clifford) would be more receptive to the suggestions of the joint chiefs and commanders in the field. Mr Clifford will succeed Mr Robert McNamara, who leaves on February 29 to become President of the World Bank.

The sub-committee stopped short of advocating the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam, but the ranking Republican member (Mr C. Halleck, of Indiana) claims “the use of tactical nuclear weapons would have saved a lot of American lives at Dak To.”

The committee did not rule out the tactic of pursuing enemy forces beyond the borders of Cambodia and North Vietnam, but said the decision on how far to go would have to be made by military leaders. The committee’s findings were based on a six-month investigation which included testimony from members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defence Intelligence Agency, and the several military departments.