RIPPLE SALVO… #70… FM CIA TO LBJ… but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVENTY of review of a purged three year period of American history…
8 MAY 1966 (NYT)…ON THE HOMEFRONT… A cloudy Sunday headed into a rainy night in NYC…
The usual 250-page Sunday New York Times …Page 1: “President Urges U.N. Pact to Keep Moon Open To All” and says a treaty would also prevent any sovereign claim elsewhere in space. President seeks quick action and says the time is ripe for an accord of cooperation and peaceful exploration… “Tito And Nasser Ask Arms Parley” and call for first steps to be taken to draw all nations together to block the spread of nuclear weapons. Suggest active preparation for a disarmament conference and the need to take positive action to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons… “Buddhists Reaction Calm as Ky Vows to Stay for A Year,” and say they will accept that declaration as long as Ky doesn’t renege on his promise of a Fall election. A new period of turmoil was possible until the Buddhist leadership expressed ‘wait and see’ stance.”…
Page 1 center columns: “U.S. Planes Wreck Vital Span Linking Hanoi With China”...The Bacgiang steel highway and railroad bridge 25 miles northeast of Hanoi, which has been under attack for several weeks finally gave way to the Air Force bombing attacks. The bridge near the capital carried a big supply load for both rail and Highway 1A road traffic. It is one of the most important bridges in North Vietnam. F-105 pilots left the bridge covered in bomb smoke and damaged has been confirmed as “two of four spans down.” The bridge was attacked four times in April and on April 29 two MIGs that challenged the attackers were shot down. The Air Force also attacked the Thai Nguyen railroad yards. Navy and Air Force pilots flew 39 missions attacking supply lines, radar stations, and storage areas in the panhandle. One important Air Force target was Nape Pass 47 miles southwest of Vinh, an important route into Laos for moving supplies south on the Ho Chi Minh trail….
Page 2: “Women March Here to Protest Vietnam War”… More than 400 women staged a march among downtown shoppers calling for an end to the Vietnam War. They carried signs– “Bring the Troops Home–NOW!”– and marched from Park Avenue and 33rd Street across town to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. They were met by pro-Administration pickets carrying signs that said, “Bomb Hanoi and Burn Yourself.”...Small article: “Thailand Finishing Airports for B-52s” at Sattahip, 75 miles south of Bangkok. USAF fighter-bombers have been using four bases in Thailand for fifteen months, but that fact has never been acknowledged by either government…
Page 3: “Prisoner in Hanoi Backs U.S. Policy”… COMMANDER JEREMIAH DENTON, (and later, Rear Admiral and Senator) who was shot down in July while flying an A-6 off USS Independence, was interviewed by a Japanese television station in Hanoi on May 2 for world wide distribution. Commander Denton said: “I don’t know what is happening but whatever my government policy is I support it.” Denton was described as haggard and “he held his hands clenched in front of him as he stepped into the room, bowed and sat on a low chair before a microphone. A close shot showed his face drawn and haggard, his eyes appeared heavy. He had his hands clenched between his knees. He spoke slowly and rolled his eyes continuously at times staring blankly at the ceiling. He would occasionally close ;his eyes tightly when asked a question.” He said he was well treated and not brainwashed. He also said: “I don’t know anything about bombings. But what is God’s will, will be done. I believe in my government. Yes, sir, I am a member of that government and I will support it for as long as I live.”…OOOOHRAH… see Jeremiah Denton wikipedia
Page 4: “Senator Ernest Gruening Declares U.S. Is Aggressor In Vietnam”… “We are the intruder, the outsider who has barged into a quarrel between Vietnamese. We came halfway around the globe to do it, and we violated solemn treaty commitments in the process…It is painful to admit, but I can come to no other conclusion.” Page 6: “Educators Urge Options to Draft”… Peace Corps Service or the anti-poverty program requested as alternatives to the military draft… Sports page: Favorite Kuai King led all the way to win the Kentucky Derby…
ROLLING THUNDER OPS… One loss of American aircraft…
1LT JAMES EDWIN RAY from the 469th TFS and the 388th TFW was flying an F-105 out of Korat on his 13th combat mission in an attack on the Cao Nung railway bridge when hit and downed by ground fire in his attack. He ejected, was captured and interned as a POW for the duration of the war. 1Lt RAY was released from captivity 12 February 1973 and returned to duty. He retired as a Colonel after serving as the US Air Attache’ in Italy.
RIPPLE SALVO… PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEFING… The CIA provides a daily briefing document to the President every day. The PDB is classified Top Secret. In 2015 more than 2500 of these briefing documents were downgraded in whole or part (substantial redaction of sensitive security information) to unclassified and released through the Freedom of Information Act. Your Humble Host will be including pertinent portions of these documents in this daily RTR post…Here is a typical paragraph from the PDB for 5 May 1966…”Photography of last Sunday (1 May) shows at least 132 canisters for (Soviet SA-2) surface-to-air missiles lined up at an army barracks about three miles from Hanoi. (see photograph.) Nearby are two support facilities which service the missile units around Hanoi and Haiphong.” I will post the picture of this “out of bounds target” sometime in the next week, but if you want to see what LBJ saw 50 years and three days ago, go to:
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default.files/document conversions
Then ask yourself “what was our President thinking?” War is a killing business and if you aren’t into killing, then don’t go to war. And if you really care about taking care of the troops you are sending to war, then how can you not target 132 Soviet missiles (that are planned for use to kill U.S. Yankee Air Pirates), plus an army barracks, plus a missile facility in the heart of the enemy’s homeland?… When JFK saw a picture like this in 1962, the picture of Soviet missiles in Cuba and more on the way, he didn’t sit on it, he did something about it. Fortune favors the bold… war is not for sissies… that’s my view…
Also, the CIA documents in the PDB file are marked Top Secret and are a great “show and tell” for anybody who hasn’t seen how some government documents are recognized as classified, and how easily a pair of scissors can change the appearance of a Top Secret document, thereby violating the law. Why would anybody do that?… Well, if you plan to write and market books that pay in the millions, and give speeches for $200K per pop, you need some special content…why not cut and store a few thousand for those post U.S. Government retirement years as a writer and speaker?… anybody you know?…. The correct alternative: wait 50 years for the CIA to do it for everybody… anything else is greed…
Lest we forget…. Bear ……….. –30– ………..