NATION/WORLD
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Tuesday, September 22, 1992
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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Nixon cabinet members believe POWs left behind
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Two of Richard Nixon's Pentagon chiefs told a congressional panel yesterday that the government believed U.S. airmen were left alive in Laos and not returned at the end of the Vietnam War.
Testimony by Melvin Laird and James Schlesinger, both of whom served as President Nixon's secretary of defense two decades ago, supported conclusions by leaders of the Senate investigating committee that not all U.S. servicemen came home at the war's end.
"I think it's quite extraordinary when two former secretaries of defense both give evidence documenting that they had information, or they believed personally, that people were alive and not accounted for in Operation Homecoming," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., head of the Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs.
"They have acknowledged publicly that there was evidence people did not come back who should have, that they were held prisoner to the best of our knowledge," Kerry said.
Laird and Schlesinger appeared as the panel began the first sworn, public questioning of the highest ranking officials of the Nixon administration about their efforts to win release of American POWs as they negotiated an end to the long, bitter war in Southeast Asia.
Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security adviser and secretary of state who conducted the negotiations with the North Vietnamese, was to undergo questioning today.
Laird was Nixon's defense secretary from 1969 to 1973. He then moved to the White House as a presidential adviser to help Nixon battle the growing Watergate scandal. Schlesinger was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and became secretary of defense in 1973.
Both testified that downed U.S. airmen were contacted on the ground in Laos by U.S. forces in numbers greater than were ever accounted for. During the peace negotiations with North Vietnam, U.S. officials were given a list of only 10 prisoners in Laos.
"It is evident that the Laotians gave no true account of the Americans in the war," he said.
Schlesinger said.
Schlesinger speculated that some might have been executed.
Asked directly if the United States left men behind, Schlesinger said: "As of now, I can come to no other conclusion. That does not mean that there are any alive today."
Laird testified that the Pentagon had solid information, such as letters, eyewitness reports or direct radio contact, on about 20 U.S. airmen who survived downings in Laos. Laird said he notified Nixon of these estimates in late 1972. Only 10 were released the next year.
Nixon, in a televised address to the nation on March 29, 1973, declared that as a result of the Paris peace accords with North Vietnam, "All of our American POWs are on their way home."
Documents released by Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., showed that as many as 350 U.S. personnel were missing or captured in Laos.
Committee members have asserted that evidence shows that statement was false and that its acceptance as fact severely damaged subsequent efforts to unearth the truth about missing U.S. servicemen.
Bush endorses U.N. peacekeeping agenda
The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — President Bush offered U.S. support yesterday to strengthen international peacekeeping and urged overhauling foreign aid programs to move away from Third World handouts.
"We propose to alter fundamentally the focus of U.S. assistance programs to building strong, independent economies that can become contributors to a healthy, growing global economy," Bush said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
He did not offer to commit U.S. troops to the widening peacekeeping operations of the United Nations in the post-Cold War era, nor did he directly commit fresh U.S. funds.
He enthusiastically endorsed the call by U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for a new agenda to strengthen the United Nations' ability to prevent, contain and resolve conflict worldwide.
About 40,000 troops are serving in U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Bush also backed an indefinite extension of an interna
tional agreement that would block the spread of nuclear weapons.
At home, he proposed transferring funds from U.S. foreign aid programs to create a $1 billion fund that would support U.S. businessmen in providing expertise, goods and services in countries converting to free-market economies.
The program would create about 40,000 U.S. jobs, the White House estimated.
If Bush wins re-election, his call for expanding foreign aid could lead to a bipartisan effort. A prominent Senate Democrat, Patrick Leuhy of Vermont, has proposed reelection in 2014 and won by a large margin four years, and several senior House Democrats have called for it.
Since World War II, Bush said, foreign aid has served as a Cold War weapon — and he said it would still serve security interests.
"But foreign aid, as we've known it, needs to be transformed," he said. "The notion of the handout to less-developed countries needs to give way to cooperation in mutually productive economic relationships."
The Marine Corps band to be exact There's no group like it. Sharp. Precise. An instrument of perfection. That's because the men and women who play with this talented group are Marines.
Join a talented band of men.
And that means you march to the tune of a different drummer. Because you are different. You have to be, to be one of the best. If you'd like your talents both seen and heard, see your local recruiter. 1-800-MARINES.
The University of Kansas Theatre for Young People
Presents a Charming Fairy Tale for Children and Adults Alike
Based on James Thurber's Fantastic Tale
Book by Fred Saroff
Music and lyrics by Mark Bueci and James Thurber
The University of Kansas
BUSINESS CAREER FAIR
11th Annual
All KU students interested in business careers are invited.
Tuesday, September 22, 1992
1:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome Transportation provided. Buses will run from Summerfield and Stauffer- Flint every half hour.
Investigate Internship Possibilities
Match career goals with available jobs
Talk with company representatives
All majors are invited to attend
Over 80 companies represented
Hallmark Cards, Inc.
- Proctor & Gamble - Finance
- Sprint Publishing & Advertising
Metropolitan Life
Metropolitan Life Mission Marrall Day
Marion Merrell Dow
- Big 6 Public Accounting Firms
THE BUILDING BLOCKS TO A SOLID FUTURE.
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