July 25, 1972

Egyptian Pres Sadat on July 24 blames USSR's 'excessive caution' as ally for his decision to demand departure of Soviet mil personnel, speech, Central Com of Arab Socialist Union; says he will not permit complete rift to develop between him and Soviets; rejects suggestion that he turn to US to compensate for his difficulties with USSR; denies there had been contact with US before he announced ouster of Soviets on July 18; emphasis of speech is that Arabs now stand alone; illus of Sadat

US Sen, July 24, approves, 50-45, Cooper amendment to mil aid authorization bill providing for withdrawal of all US forces within 4 mos if US POWs are released, then reverses itself by killing the overall bill; defeat of bill seen as clear retaliation by Nixon Adm forces for the addition of the amendment; Adm-Sen conflicts over various end-the-war amendments revd

Sen McGovern says that as Pres he would not resume the bombing of N Vietnam even if there were difficulties in obtaining the release of POWs after all US forces had been withdrawn, news conf, July 24, Custer, SD; says residual force he had promised to leave in Thailand as continuing pressure on Hanoi to free the POWs would be more of a gesture than anything else; says that although he has not had any private assurances from Hanoi that he will be able to keep his pledge, he has talked with them on 2 occasions in the last 2 yrs and he is willing to stand on the assurances he has given that 'we will have both the soldiers and the POWs home within 90 days'; says that Nixon for the last 3 1/2 yrs has been 'begging' Hanoi to release the POWs and bombing at the same time; says he does not think the two go together; thinks that if bombing is stopped, the POWs will be released; notes that other side has cited 2 US conditions US has to meet: to stop mil involvement and to cut off aid to Pres Thieu, after which they will release POWs; urges test be made of that stand

sources involved in investigation of June 17 raid on Dem Natl Com hq reveal that B L Barker, said to have led raid, placed at least 15 phone calls to Pres Nixon's re-election campaign orgn; 9 calls were to unlisted number shared by G G Liddy and G J Sedam Jr in offices of Nixon com lawyers; Sedam denies any knowledge of calls, July 24 int; says he shared office with Liddy until March 27, when Liddy was reassigned as counsel to com's finance arm and moved to new offices in com hq; says he (Sedam) then succeeded Liddy as com gen counsel; J N Mitchell dismissed Liddy on June 28 and resigned himself as Nixon com dir on July 1; J W McCord Jr, who was arrested in raid, was dismissed immediately as Nixon com security coordinator; other 6 calls placed by Barker were to disconnected number from which callers are now directed to Nixon com finance office; dates of calls listed; Govt sources rept some progress in investigation of raid but still no motive; significant shift in assessment of case seen from earlier view that McCord was only Repub involved to current theory that no one in authority at Nixon com ordered break-in

Sec Gen Waldheim, in July 24 news conf at UN after Eur tour, says he has arranged solution of UN's immediate financial problems but that long-range problem of UN debts remains