Blast from the Vietnamese Past- War in Vietnam -winding down

Date:   12/30/2005 7:30:57 AM ( 19 y ago)

Nixon Orders a Halt In Bombing of North Above 20th Parallel; Peace Talks Will Resume Jan. 8

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Action Is Sudden
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Kissinger Will Renew His Efforts With Tho, White House Says
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By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The New York Times

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Washington, Dec. 30--The White House announced today that President Nixon had ordered a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam above the 20th Parallel and that Henry A. Kissinger would resume negotiations for a Vietnam settlement with Le Duc Tho in Paris on Jan 8.

The announcement of the renewed efforts to seek a negotiated settlement, ending nearly two weeks of heavy bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, also said that the technical talks of lower-level American and North Vietnamese experts would resume on Tuesday in Paris.

Gerald L. Warren, a deputy White House press secretary, said in answer to a question at a White House briefing for newsmen that "as soon as it was clear that serious negotiations could be resumed at both the technical level and between the principals, the President ordered that all bombing be discontinued above the 20th Parallel."

Cause Is Unclear

It was unclear whether the impetus for the new round of negotiations had come from Hanoi, reeling under B-52 raids, or from Washington, which was possibly looking for an excuse to suspend the latest raids because of increasing foreign and domestic pressure.

News of the renewal of the peace efforts came without much advance warning. The White House telephoned newsmen at home shortly after 9 A.M. and told them that there would be a special briefing at 9:45.

There already had been some news reports from Saigon suggesting that a halt in the bombing had been ordered, but those reports did not make clear whether it was a temporary halt--just for the New Year's holiday, similar to the 36-hour Christmas pause-- or a more permanent halt. The announcement today did not specify any length of time for the halt.

After the White House briefing, the Defense Department disclosed that all bombing and all naval shelling of the North Vietnamese heartland, the area north of the 20th Parallel, had actually ceased last night, Washington time.

Mr. Warren refused to discuss how the latest development had come about. Previously, North Vietnam had said that it would not enter into further negotiations until the situation "reverted to that existing on Dec. 18"--the date when Mr. Nixon ordered the raids north of the 20th Parallel. Administration officials had said that the raids would continue until Hanoi agreed to engage in "serious" negotiations.

Panhandle Not Involved

Bombing will presumably continue in the North Vietnamese panhandle region, between the 17th and 20th Parallels.

It was not clear whether resumption of negotiations between Mr. Kissinger, who is Mr. Nixon's chief foreign policy adviser, and Mr. Tho, the Hanoi Politburo member charged with the private negotiations, presaged a successful end to their meetings.

Neither is it clear exactly what differences remain between Hanoi and Washington, and whether either side has altered its position in the last two weeks. When Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Tho broke off their negotiations on Dec. 13, they agreed not to make public the details of their talks.

The talks have had dramatic ups and downs since Oct. 26, when Hanoi disclosed that a nine-point draft agreement had been reached and Mr. Kissinger said that "peace is at hand."

On Oct. 26, Mr. Kissinger said at a news conference that additional talks were needed to wrap up final details of the agreement, which Hanoi had insisted should be signed by Oct. 31. Negotiations resumed in Paris on Nov. 20, recessed on Nov. 25 and began again on Dec. 4.

The negotiations broke down on Dec. 13, with Mr. Kissinger charging three days later that Hanoi, for unspecified reasons, had decided to procrastinate at the bargaining table, refusing to agree to the final details of an accord that he said was 99 per cent complete.

Hanoi denied that it was to blame for the delay and said that he breakdown was due to the American effort to reopen issues that went to the heart of the agreement, such as seeking language that would force Hanoi to recognize implicitly the sovereignty of the Saigon Government over all of South Vietnam.

On Dec. 18, Mr. Nixon ordered bombing raids resumed throughout North Vietnam. Such raids had been authorized last April following North Vietnam's spring offensive against South Vietnam, but on Oct. 22, in appreciation of Hanoi's "goodwill" at the negotiating table, Mr. Nixon suspended raids above the 20th parallel.

The latest raids, however, included round-the-clock flights of B-52's over the Hanoi area, the first time these strategic aircraft, which can carry up to 15 tons of explosives, had been used near populated areas. The Pentagon has announced the loss of 15 B-52's and 12 other aircraft since Dec. 18 and the loss of 93 airmen killed, captured or missing.

These raids led to charges from Hanoi that civilian targets such as homes, schools and a hospital had been destroyed. Considerable concern about he raids was expressed in other countries.

Moreover, several members of Congress, alarmed at the renewed bombing raids, had threatened to force an end of the war by withholding funds after Congress convened on Wednesday. Today's announcement would appear to ease Mr. Nixon's problems with Congress, although the Administration will be under some pressure to explain in detail what has happened in the past few weeks.

Mr. Nixon himself has not said anything about either the status of the negotiations or the bombing raids. His spokesmen have also said little, with the exception of Mr. Kissinger's news conference of Dec. 16.

But it was clear that the bombing seemed to have two primary missions: To convince Hanoi that it was not serving its interests by holding up signing of an agreement along terms suggested by Washington, and to destroy Hanoi's capacity to mount significant military attacks in case the talks proved unsuccessful.

In its statements over the past 12 days, Hanoi has insisted that it would not be coerced by the latest raids into accepting the American terms for an agreement, but it has also stressed continually that it would be willing to resume negotiation as soon as the bombing north of the 20th Parallel ceased.

Mr. Warren, at the White House, began the briefing today by announcing that Mr. Kissinger would resume talks with Mr. Tho and Xuan Thuy, the chief Hanoi negotiator in the Paris talks, on Jan. 8. He added, in response to a question that William H. Sullivan, Deputy Assistant of State for East Asian Affairs, would return to Paris to head the technical talks on Tuesday.

The disclosure about the bombing halt came in answer to questions. "The President has ordered that all bombing be discontinued above the 20th Parallel as long as serious negotiations are under way," Mr. Warren said.

He then indicated that the raids had already stopped when he said that "as soon as it was clear that serious negotiations could be resumed at both the technical level and between the principals, the President ordered that all bombing be discontinued above the 20th Parallel."

The press secretary would not amplify on what "serious" meant. Hanoi has always insisted that it was negotiating "seriously."

Mr. Nixon was at Camp David, the Presidential retreat in the nearby Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. Mr. Kissinger was vacationing at Palm Springs, Calif., but was in daily telephone contact with the President, Mr. Warren said, and was expected to return to Washington soon to begin a concentrated series of consultations prior to the renewed talks.

Mr. Kissinger had indicated on Dec. 16 that, aside from Hanoi's dilatory tactics, some key issues remained unresolved.

These included the American desire for some wording acknowledging the sovereignty of South Vietnam and differences over the composition of the international supervisory group that would monitor the cease-fire.

The United States wanted a 5,000-man force, able to move freely, but Hanoi, according to Mr. Kissinger, wanted to limit that force to 250 men, with severe restraints on its movement.

Mr. Kissinger has said that after an agreement is reached between Washington and Hanoi, Saigon would be asked to join in the signing. Saigon has publicly demanded that any accord provide for the withdrawal of Hanoi's 145,000 men from the South; Mr. Kissinger has said that the United States would not back that demand or give Saigon a "veto" over an accord.

This is strictly from memory- but I believe it restarted but this was the closing chapter to the years in Vietnam

Wonder what Iraq will look like in hindsight?

~9th~





 

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