More U.S. troops to quit Vietnam

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32902, 28 April 1972, Page 1

More U.S. troops to quit Vietnam

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, April 27.

President Nixon last night ordered the withdrawal of 20,000 more United States troops from Indo-China by July 1 amid indications that he expects the resumed Paris peace negotiations to produce results.

Mr Nixon, in a televised speech broadcast as the North Vietnamese offensive in South Vietnam continued, said the United States was going back today to the suspended peace talks in Paris “with the firm-expectation that productive talks leading to rapid progress will follow through all available channels.”

He did not explain what the “available channels" were, but his foreign affairs adviser, Dr Henry Kissinger, referred to reports that Le Doc Tho, a member of the Politburo in Hanoi, was returning to Paris, thus opening the way for further secret negotiations on the war. Dr Kissinger, who last year slipped into Paris on 10 occasions to hold secret talks with the North Vietnamese, told reporters at a briefing that the Communist official did not travel for trivial reasons.

He appeared to hint that s had been given some en-

couraging indications when he paid a secret four-day visit to Moscow last weekend. The President’s remark about expecting productive takes was based partly on the military situation and partly on "the diplomatic activity going on,” said Dr Kissinger. Referring to the Paris peace talks, from which the United States walked out on March 23, President Nixon emphasised the first order of business at the sessions would be to get the Communists to halt their invasion of South Vietnam and to return American prisoners of war held in the North. Mr Nixon quoted the American commander in Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams, as saying that several more weeks of very hard fighting were ahead in Vietnam, but that if the United States continued to provide air and sea support the Communists would fail. Mr Nixon said that the troop withdrawal programme could continue without detriment to his over-all goal of ensuring South Vietnam’s survival as an independent country. BOMBING ATTACK The United States bombing attack against North Vietnam and Communist forces in the South had been directed only against military targets supporting the invasion launched by Hanoi through the Demilitarised Zone, Mr Nixon said. “The attacks will not stop until that invasion stops,” he declared. The withdrawal of another 20,000 men from Vietnam will reduce the total force there to 49,000 men by July 1, a reduction of half a million since Mr Nixon became President in January, 1969. The new withdrawal rate of 10,000 men a month represents a slowing of the programme, which earlier this year ran at a rate of about 23,000 men a month. Dr Kissinger said that the new rate had been determined months ago by the Administration and had not been cut because of Hanoi’s new offensive. In what was regarded as an attack on Congressional; critics of his war policy, Mr Nixon said that his pro- . gramme was designed to , bring about a secure peace in ( Indo-China and to tell the j world that the United States ( intended to honour its commitments. .

The first reaction from Congress was on previously defined lines—criticism by the doves and praise from the hawks. Senator Frank Church (Democrat, Idaho) said: "It the Nixon Vietnamisation policy means we must interpose our Air Force and Navy to shield South Vietnam against each new attack from the North, then when will our pilots and sailors ever be freed from the bondage of this war.” Senator Jacob Javits (Republican, New York) said that the United States could not continue to underwrite the South Vietnamese Government. He demanded a complete United States withdrawal.

TTie Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Gerald Ford, said that the President’s announcement that he would continue withdrawing troops filled him with great confidence in Mr Nixon’s leadership and the wisdom of his Vietnam policy.