Friday, May 5, 1972
'Battle Is Being Lost', Stennis Says Of Viet
WASHINGTON (UPI) --Chairman John Stennis of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday that maximum U.S. airpower has failed to save South Vietnam from defeat by the Communists and it may not survive without reintroduction of American ground troops.In a grim account of the fighting given his colleagues, the Mississippi Democrat said that despite American airpower the "battle is being lost ... there is a crisis there now of the greatest kind."Stennis said he was not suggesting return of U.S. combat troops, nor did he think President Nixon was considering it.But he said the Saigon forces are sustaining "crushing blows," and it "will be awfully hard for them, without assistance from our ground troops, to recover from these crushing blows."Stennis predicted the "crucial point" in the fighting would come within days when the battle is joined for the city of Hue in northern South Vietnam.Stennis spoke during debate on pending legislation that would cut off funds for the war by the end of this year.Urging rejection of the legislation, Stennis said, "I hold no word for the President on a personal basis. But I tell you we are playing with fire here. It could set off doubt and uncertainty among our adversaries and confound our friends. The timing of this matter is just as bad as it could be.""Battle Is Being Lost, Stennis Says of Viet", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Friday, May 5, l972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.