Sunday, May 7, 1972
Barry: Don't Cut War $$
WASHINGTON (UPI) --Sen. Barry M. Goldwater told his colleagues Friday they had better reject a proposed cutoff of funds for the Vietnam War or risk giving the Saigon government a "kiss of death" and possible slaughter of some remaining U.S. forces.The Arizona Republican made his appeal for rejection as the Senate continued to put off a showdown vote on the "end the war" legislation, which would halt spending for U.S. combat in Vietnam after Dec. 31. It appeared that the vote might be delayed through early June, thereby averting a confrontation until President Nixon returns from his visit to Moscow late this month.Backers of the measure were understood to be at least six votes short of a majority now."This proposal is actually the kiss of death for almost everything we are trying to do" in Vietnam, Goldwater said in a speech on the Senate floor. "It could easily result in the collapse of the South Vietnamese and the annihilation of part of the 69,000 Americans still in that section of the world."Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, one of the proposal's sponsors, conceded voting to cut off funds at the height of the North Vietnamese invasion might not be the best time to act."Perhaps not," he said."But we are now in the eight year of the American ordeal in Vietnam. When will the right time ever come?" Church asked.He said that if the current North Vietnamese offensive fails, "then as surely as leaves wither in the fall, other attacks will follow" and that bombing of North Vietnam was no solution."Barry: Don't Cut War $$", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Sunday, May 7, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.