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