Congress upset by silence on Laos

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32522, 4 February 1971, Page 11

Congress upset by silence on Laos

tN.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, February 3. Irritation mounted in Congress today at the United States Government’s wall of silence on events in Indo-China, where allied forces are believed poised to widen the war in Laos. Concern at developments in the war was strongest in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, some of whose members fear that President Nixon is on the point of intensifying the conflict.

Government officials persisted in their refusal to discuss what is happening on the border between South Vietnam and Laos, where South Vietnamese troops are reported to be massed for an invasion of Laos with the aid of United States air power.

There was deep confusion and mystery in Washington because of a total blackout of information imposed by United States officials.

But the impression left by reports that have filtered out of the war zone and the hints and remarks of Washington officials was that, up to last night the thrust into Laos had not yet begun. According to some reports. President Nixon was still consulting with his closest advisers on whether to give the go-ahead for an allied drive into Laos. Nixon in meeting The Associated Press reported that President Nixon

i held an unannounced meeting late yesterday with some of his highest advisers, presumably to discuss the Laos situation. Among those attending were the Defence Secretary (Mr Melvin Laird), the Secretary of State (Mr William Rogers), Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mr Richard Helms, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Presidential foreign affairs adviser, Dr Henry Kissinger. There were no indications of any decision made during or after the meeting. N.Z.P.A.-Reuter said that an allied drive into Laos would have serious military and political risks, but some of President Nixon’s advisers are believed to feel the risks are worth taking. Not on ground

Its purpose would be to destroy enemy strongholds and cut the supply routes along which North Vietnam moves men and equipment into South Vietnam and Cambodia.

Mr Laird, while refusing to shed light on what is going on when he was approached by reporters in a corridor of Congress yesterday, emphasised that “there will be no American ground combat forces operating in Laos or Cambodia.” But Mr Rogers, Mr Laird and others have said that there are no restrictions on the use of United States air power anywhere in IndoChina. Officials who have urged an allied thrust into Laos believe that South Vietnamese forces, with American help from the air, could score a decisive success over the Communists in Laos. Testimony sought On the other hand, if the operation failed it would glaringly show up the weaknesses of the South Vietnamese and the policy of Vietnamisation, under which Americans are slowly withdrawing and leaving South Vietnam to fight the war itself.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, headed by the Arkansas Democrat. Senator J. William Fulbright, a leading critic of United States policy in Indo-China, has asked Mr Rogers and Mr Laird to testify before it early next week on IndoChina, and specifically the reports of an operation in Laos.

The New York Times News Service reported that Senate Republican leader, Senator Hugh Scott, confirmed that a major allied assault was under way in north-western South Vietnam. “The operation will run from seven to 10 days from the time it started, which was a couple of days ago,” he said. “When it is over, information can be released on it” Other Congressional sources reported that about 25,000 South Vietnamese and 9000 United States troops were engaged in the action and that a decision remained to be made as to whether the South Vietnamese units would leap-frog across the border into Laos in an effort to sever the Communist supply lines that run through the Laotian panhandle.