August 12, 1973

Adm Moorer, in testimony Aug 9 to Sen Armed Services Com on secret US bombing of Cambodia, acknowledges that Pres Nixon personally authorized a secret USMC combat operation inside Laos 2 days after his inauguration in '69, as reptd by Govt sources; sources say similar large‐scale ground assaults, aimed at N Vietnamese supply lines and base camps inside Laos, had been repeatedly proposed and rejected by the Johnson Adm; US casualties for the 6‐wk operation, listed as only being in S Vietnam, set at 67 marines killed and 391 wounded; US operation, code‐named Dewey Canyon 1, was a tightly kept secret both in Saigon and in the US, although a large‐scale '72 invasion of Laos was given code name Dewey Canyon 2; US is known to have organized, trained and equipped a clandestine army of Laotian irregulars since the early '50s under the direction of the CIA; D S Harrington, former USMC Capt, describes heavy fighting in Laos involving 2d bn of Ninth Marine Rgt; says '2d really got hit badly'; other marines had reptd on US operation at pub hearings held by Vietnam Veterans Against the War in early '71 in Detroit; no US ground casualties in Laos were publicly admitted until Mar '70; Sen Hughes comments

At the end of the first phase of the Senate's Watergate investigation, a number of important questions remain blurred by conflicting testimony, chief among them President Nixon's role, if any, in the wiretapping conspiracy and later cover‐up. An article analyzing the hearings to date appears on Page 47, A comparison of differing answers to a selection of key questions appears on Page 46.

Aug 12: Lebanon on Aug 11 charges Israel with 'air piracy' for forcing Lebanese Middle East Airlines commercial airliner with 81 people aboard to land in Israel on Aug 10; calls for internatl sanctions against Israel; Lebanese Information Min F Shahin says consultations have begun with permanent members of UN Security Council, including US, to call council into session to consider Lebanese complaint; in note to heads of foreign missions, including US Amb W B Buffum, Lebanese Govt says seizure of airliner shows that Israel 'followed the logic of gangsters and not that of a state'; Shahin says that any veto by Security Council member of resolution condemning Israel would be surely considered unfriendly by Lebanon,' news conf; Arab League asks for expulsion of Israel from Internatl Civil Aviation Orgn; interception of plane, which was on Beirut‐Baghdad flight, was based on Israeli intelligence indicating that leaders of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, including its head, Dr G Habash, were aboard; Habash and his deputy, S Salah, through chance or foresight, were not aboard; spokesman for orgn says Habash and Salah canceled their reservations shortly before departure of plane; says 'security arrangements of the Palestinian resistance movement foiled Israel's plans to kidnap the leaders'; 3‐hr delay in arrival of Iraqi Airways flight, on which guerrilla leaders were originally going to Baghdad, may have caused failure of Israeli plan; because of delay in its original flight, Iraqi Airways chartered Middle East Airways Caravelle jet to take passengers from Beirut to Baghdad; plane's capt G Malta followed Israeli orders and landed at mil air base near Haifa, where passengers and crew were removed at gunpoint and interrogated by security officials for 2 hrs before plane was allowed to fly back to Beirut with all its passengers; passengers included Iraqi Planning Min J Hashem

Article on increasing crimes of violence in Greenwich Village, NYC, maintains problem stems mainly from influx of outsiders, many of whom apparently are narcotics addicts

Nixon Adm is considering proposal to provide subsidized housing for nation's poor that would tie housing to basic welfare reform; Govt's subsidized housing programs have been dormant since Jan 8; new housing proposals were promised to Cong by Sept 17 and HUD study groups have produced series of major alternatives which include housing allowance or supplement that could be tied in with family assistance plan to replace present welfare system, block grant approach that would allocate housing subsidies to cities and states, and reinstitution of some frozen subsidy programs, with some adm changes to eliminate abuses; Cong sources rept housing allowance alternative is preference of HUD Sec J Lynn; under this proposal, a single plan would include certificates which could be used for housing supplements, food stamps and other needs; this program and block grant approach were discussed by Sec Lynn in private meetings with group of mayors called in for consultation by HUD on Aug 9 and final decision is expected in about 2 wks; Office of Management and Budget is now completing cost analysis of major alternatives

NYC Controller Abraham Beame on Aug 11 issues 71‐page rept charging dry's Addiction Services Agency has virtually lost control of its 300 locally operated drug rehabilitation programs, many of which have consequently become fonts of waste, inefficiency and possibly corruption; rept lists scores of alleged abuses, ranging from purchase of cigarettes with public funds to payment of $40,972 for nonexistent program; finds despite expenditure of more than $100‐million, Addiction Services Agency has 'failed to stem the over‐all drug epidemic'; attributes much of alleged failure to lack of control by agency, citing its transformation from an operating agency to a funding and overseeing agency 'without any concomitant change in the structure of the agency or the personnel of the agency'; charges: employes of at least 2 drug rehabilitation programs formed real estate corps that rented facilities to programs employes worked for; overtime and supper money was allegedly abused, with 413 employes accumulating 48,919 hrs of overtime in 1 yr; agency paid $115,000 in 71 and $313,000 in '72 for per‐diem consultants, whose records fail to indicate 'when they worked, where they worked or what they did'; agency staff cars were often used for personal reasons; 'extraordinary' out‐of‐town travel included trips by agency personnel to scores of destinations and that many were reimbursed for expenses that were not personally financed; loans from various accounts 'were improperly made' to certified public accountant cos that were performing audits of agency's own programs; funds from OEO and local Youth Drug Abusers Program were 'improperly comingled'; Beame says he favors establishment of met comm on drug addiction that would become regional financing and monitoring authority for all treatment, rehabilitation and educ programs in 22‐county tri‐state area around NYC; is turning rept over to Manhattan Dist Atty Frank S Hogan and Investigations Comr Nicholas Scopetta for possible criminal action; Acting Comr of Addiction Services Agency Jay Swift denounces Beame criticism as politically motivated, old and largely untrue or misleading; says Beame is 'absolutely uninformed'; Beame illus

Two men were killed by lightning yesterday in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and a 16‐year‐old boy was fatally hurt, apparently by another bolt, four miles away. In Jamaica Bay a priest drowned when a sailboat capsized in heavy winds during the sudden storm. Page 58.

NY Times survey of meat situation in country indicates that there is no over‐all meat shortage, but shoppers and sellers rept that prices are climbing day‐by‐day; notes that soaring prices, as well as some shortages in certain cuts, are forcing Amers to eat cheaper and poorer quality of meat

Natl Endowments for Arts and Humanities is seeking combined '76 budget of $400‐million, much of it to be designated for use in Bicentennial celebrations

Diplomatic sources in Peking say, Aug 11, that Prince Sihanouk sent message to Sen Mansfield that 'peace with honor' could be attained by US if US ends bombing of and cuts off mil supplies to Cambodia; Mansfield says he has not received message; Tokyo news dispatches rept Sihanouk said that troops loyal to him will occupy Phnom Penh in the 'not too distant future'; Sihanouk, visiting N Korea, warns foreign civilians and diplomats to leave Phnom Penh or risk becoming 'victims' of fighting around the area; urges govts that have ties with Lon Nol Govt to break them or face possibility of a postwar diplomatic boycott by his Royal Natl Union govt, now functioning in exile; groups of S Vietnamese sens send wire to Mansfield asking his intervention to have US bombing of Cambodia continued until the end of '73; Sihanouk wire to Mansfield says if 2 conditions he set are met by US, he will forget the 'painful past' and establish ties with US; says US will be allowed to evacuated top‐level 'collaborators' and that lower‐level ones could benefit from an amnesty; says that if Nixon does not accept his conditions, his supporters will continue fighting until victory is achieved, even if goals takes 20 yrs; asks Mansfield to convey his message to US Cong; Saigon repts 202 S Vietnamese civilians evacuated from Phnom Penh by air Aug 9 and 10; say no more are evacuations planned; repts air space around Phnom is Penh unsafe because of congestion caused by US plane operations; Nixon confers with Kissinger; White House silent on whether conf concerns Sihanouk message

delegation of 38 South Koreans athletes and athletic officials leave Seoul on Aug 11 for Moscow to participate in World University Games beginning on Aug 14

heavy fighting reptd Aug 11 in S Vietnam central coast area between S Vietnamese defenders and Communists forces believed trying to open up corridor to South China Sea; Saigon spokesman says that despite fighting, cease‐fire violations decreased by 35% in 24 hrs ended noon Aug 11