Friday, June 2, 1972
Thieu Speaks In Hue
HUE, Vietnam (AP) --South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu clambered onto a captured North Vietnamese tank Wednesday, peered down the muzzle of a mortar and promised "We will recapture Quang Tri."Speaking at an impromptu news conference in the Hue Citadel, the President said no agreement on Vietnam had been reached during President Nixon's summit meeting in the Soviet Union, but he added:"We hope the ease of tension between Washington and Moscow will eventually help to reestablish peace in Southeast Asia. But still it is only a hope."He also indicated he still believes a military decision must precede any negotiated settlement in Vietnam, saying "The conference is still dependent on the battlefield."Thieu said the North Vietnamese offensive now beginning its third month is bogged down by logistics problems, but he predicted the Communists still will try to capture Hue."Sure they intend to attack Hue," he said. "Not only with the troops they have now in South Vietnam but they will try to reinforce with another division."The attempt is one thing. What they are capable of is another. As they reinforce, they will have even more difficulties in logistics."Thieu added that the situation around Kontum in the central highlands has improved because the two North Vietnamese divisions there "are much weakened" and have not launched any recent large attacks.The president flew here after a visit to Kontum Tuesday, in which he flew by helicopter into the city while Communist rockets were exploding a few hundred yards from the division headquarters which he visited to promote a division commander and confer with officials."Thieu Speaks in Hue", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Friday,