December 10, 1973

Dec 10-16: GB, Republic of Ireland and moderate Roman Cath and Prot leadership of Northern Ireland on Dec 10 agree on sweeping proposals for future of Northern Ireland; historic agreement includes decision that Republic of Ireland will take solemn pledge recognizing that Northern Ireland's present status, with its link to GB, cannot be changed until majority of people in Northern Ireland decide they want change; GB will pledge that if majority in Northern Ireland should decide to join a united Ireland, it will not put obstacles in the way; pledges will be deposited at UN and will come under jurisdiction of Internatl Ct of Justice; conf agreed to establish Council of Ireland to act as link between 2 parts of Ireland; council will consist of 7 members from Irish Republic Govt and 7 members from Northern Ireland exec body; will have its own secretariat; will also have consultative body consisting of 30 members from Irish Republic Parliament and 30 from Northern Ireland Assembly; functions remain vague despite concession from Prots that council could have some 'exec' functions; conf agrees that those accused of armed violence should be brought to justice wherever they are apprehended; is hoping for common code of law enforcement; Prot repr B Faulkner succeeds in upholding Prot position on police issue; conf decides to leave police forces of both areas intact, but establishes police authority in Irish Republic that will have general supervisory and policy role, similar to one already existing in Northern Ireland; Caths had hoped to give council some authority over police in both areas in effort to curb what they believe to be discriminatory policies of predominately Prot Ulster constabulary; apparently recognize that Faulkner could not concede more on this issue without endangering his already shaky leadership and possibly producing new Prof leadership unwilling to make agreement work; delegates appear satisfied with agreement; Brit Prime Min Heath and Irish Republic Prime Min Cosgrave comment

Garage owners' reprs at Petroleum Retailers Assn conf, Miami, express dissatisfaction over daily and monthly supply situation and profit margins; cite possible natl shutdown in Jan to protest; Fla Allied Retailers Assn reprs warn of action unless Govt relief is forthcoming; reprs will discuss means of getting Cost of Living Council to raise pump prices; says profits in most areas have dipped below breakeven point; Exxon repr says there will be no additional gasoline for Christmas and New Years if dealers sell out supplies before end of mo; says corp and other major cos are closing terminals on Sundays; Petroleum Allocation Office repr G J Turetsky is hopeful Exxon will reduce its announced 14% cutback on NYC supplies; say attitude in talks is hopeful; traffic is reptd down on various rds, bridges and hwys as 2nd Sunday ban on gasoline sales is more than 90% effective; truckers continue to protest fuel prices and purchase limitations; Calif National Guard is alerted after repts 40-50 trucks planned to blockade East Los Angeles Interchange; NY Teamsters Joint Council 18 may press for contract renegotiation because speed limits and fuel shortage have decreased mileage on which salaries are based

NYS Gov Rockefeller, in recent speeches at Repub gatherings in South and Southwest, is stressing that he now is adopting conservative approach to welfare problem in state; has been referring to recipients as 'idlers, cheats and chiselers'

Army has announced plans to spend at least $200-million for production of new type of binary nerve gas, seen as necessary in improving Army's chem warfare capability; major advantage is that new gas will be easier to handle, transport and store as it consists of 2 chem agents which, when stored separately, are relatively harmless; Army admitted in Sept, in answer to questions raised by Reprs L Aspin and W Owens, that it was constructing plant at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark, for production of 1 component; although Pres Nixon renounced use of chem weapons in '69, Army contends it needs stockpile of gases to deter USSR from engaging in chem warfare; defense officials acknowledge present stockpile provides desired deterrent but explain present gases are more difficult to transport and store than binary gases; Army plans to destroy existing nerve gases at their storage locations as they are replaced by binary gases; cost of detoxification is estimated at about $200-million; another problem confronting Army is whether to conduct open-air testing of gases before they are certified ready for mil use as Cong has imposed legal and environmental restrictions on such open-air tests; Defense Dept recently rebutted Army Sec H H Callaway's statement that Army would proceed with tests

NY Times series on plumbers, secret White House investigative unit, notes Nixon Adm was upset by NY Times dispatch alleging that US arms were being shipped to Pakistan in apparent violation of Adm ban

Article on retired US Army Lt Col G K Gutterman's death; Gutterman was nearly buried in pauper's grave in Nov because NYC agencies failed to notify his family or relatives of his death; collapsed of heart attack on Nov 16 while fixing flat tire alone in Jackson Heights, Queens, several blocks from La Guardia Airport; after being discovered by detectives of Port authority police, who were leaving area but radioed Port Authority Police hq to summon ambulance, his body ended up being pronounced dead on arrival at City Hosp Center in Elmhurst, where he had been taken by ambulance; NY Times investigation into Gutterman case revealed that despite numerous identification cards, including Army identification with Gutterman's fingerprints, Social Security card, 6 credit cards and number of business cards, neither the hosp, the Queens 114th Precinct, which was called to scene of event, the Med Examiner's office nor the Port Authority police made any attempts to rept Gutterman's death to his relatives; each agency blames the other, while 114th Police Precinct asserts it has no records concerning incident; Gutterman illus; illus of identification cards he carried

Oil indus execs on Dec 9, speaking without attribution, say Sheik Yamani is more flexible on ending oil embargo than his public statements indicate; Yamani, in TV int, pegs end of embargo to Israeli withdrawal

Article on Israeli 5-man comm investigating why Israel was so unprepared for combined Arab attack on Oct 6; notes that full rept by comm is not expected for several mos, but preliminary picture of Govt's deliberations during crucial days before war has already emerged; holds that it illustrates how and why Israel's intelligence aparatus erred in its assessments, how certain key indicators were misread because of widespread assumption that Arabs would not attack and how few mins actually participated in final assessments on eye of war; claims that comm's rept is likely to have major pol ramification, noting that it could bring about resignation of Defense Min M Dayan and other mins if pointedly critical of their performance; points out that there has been 'wrangle' over whether Deputy Premier Y Allon was kept properly informed of Arab build-ups from Sept 30 to Oct 2, when Premier G Meir was in Eur; notes that Allon has denied that he received daily intelligence repts normally prepared for Meir; notes that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad denied that it has or is required to provide such information to Allon; Judicial comm, headed by Sup Ct Justice S Agranat, includes former chiefs of staff Y Yadin and Lt Gen C Laskov, State Controller Dr I Nebenzahl and Justice M Landau; comm's 1st witness was chief of Army intelligence Maj Gen E Zeira; Foreign Min A Eban is scheduled to testify on Dec 9; article lists day-by-day sequence of events from Oct 2 to outbreak of war on Oct 6; illus of Israeli POWs captured in Sinai Peninsula

The Jets lost a 17‐0 lead and a 24‐23 decision to the Eagles in a steady rain in Philadelphia yesterday. Joe Namath did not play and 31,333 paying fans did not show. In Irving, Tex., the Dallas Cowboys routed the Redskins, 27‐7, and tied Washington for first place with a game to play. Details on Page 51.

Arab oil mins, meeting in Beirut, on Dec 9 post further 750,000 bbl daily production cut, effective Jan 1, and promise quick relief from oil embargo if Israel withdraws from occupied territories; says ban on exports to US will be lifted when US guarantees Israeli action and withdrawal is implemented; promise to draw up timetable to restore oil production to Sept levels in accord with timetable for Israel withdrawal; new cut brings production down to about 15.7-million bbis daily from Sept level of 20.47-million bbls; further meeting set to hear rept of Sheik Yamani and Min Abdessalam; Kuwaiti news agency repts Eurs and Japan must take concrete action and move to pressure US if they hope to avoid impact of cut; African and Islamic nations are promised all necessary supplies, even if present production must be raised to meet demand; cut is expected to heavily effect Western Eur and Japan; meeting nations listed

Repr H T Schneebeli and Sen C T Curtis, members of Cong Joint Com on Internal Revenue Taxation which will review Pres Nixon's tax returns, say on Dec 9 that they think matter is relatively simple one that can be left largely to com's staff; 3d com member, who does not want to be identified, strongly disagrees and says com is confronted with some extremely difficult problems that might require it to hear witnesses, rather than merely examine documents; says issues before com include more than just interpreting law as it applies to Nixon's tax payments; several issues are in dispute, including such touchy ones as whether documents were deliberately back-dated to permit Pres to qualify for tax deduction that has saved him $234,000 in Fed income taxes; question is whether Nixon donated his pre-Pres papers to Natl Archives before July 25 '69, effective date of change in law that took tax advantages out of such gifts; 2d issue given to com is whether Nixon should have reptd taxable capital gain on sale of land adjacent to his home in San Clemente, Calif; Nixon's auditors, Coopers & Lybrand, apparently believe that gain of about $233,000 was involved but Nixon's tax accountant, A Blech, says there was no taxable gain and none was reptd; in all, more than $300,000 in back Fed taxes, plus interest, could be involved; issues joint com may nave to determine regarding gift of papers and capital gains tax noted; Sen Curtis says he thinks Pres acted in accordance with law; Sen Majority Leader M Mansfield says he will have to assume that what Pres has done is legal unless proved otherwise; Sen H D Scott comments

S Vietnamese troops, who reptdly recaptured Kien Duc on Dec 7, reptdly pull back, Dec 9, then make fresh assault; move made to allow air and artillery strikes at N Vietnamese pockets of resistance; map