Friday, May 12, 1972
Democrats Pushing New End-War Legislation
WASHINGTON (UPI) --Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee agreed Wednesday to rally behind new legislation to get America out of the Indochina war, but some complained it lacked a cease-fire provision that would end fighting among the Vietnamese.While students protested the war outside the House chamber and a small clique of House Democrats drafted a resolution to impeach President Nixon, the committee's Democrats agreed to push legislation that would order an end to U.S. military involvement and a withdrawal of all American forces from Indochina by Oct. 1. The withdrawal would be subject only to a release of all U.S. prisoners of war, a verified accounting of all missing U.S. servicemen, and the "safe" departure of remaining troops.But three or four of the 14 Democrats voting within the committee reportedly opposed the measures, mostly because it did not include a cease-fire as a condition for withdrawal.Rep. Lester Wolff, D-N.Y., who unsuccessfully sought to add such a provision, said a cease-fire would halt "all the killing" among the Vietnamese.Rep. Donald Fraser, D-Minn., argued, however, that insisting on a cease-fire would enable South Vietnam to veto U.S. withdrawal plans and "unnecessarily complicate" any agreement with the North Vietnamese.After about 500 black youths from a nearby high school began an antiwar rally on the House steps, Speaker Carl Albert, acting on the advice of Capitol Police, "reluctantly" ordered that the visitors galleries in the House chamber remain locked when the House convened at noon.State Republican leader Hugh Scott, meanwhile, told reporters he did not think President Nixon would accept legislation cutting off funds to conduct the war.Expressing belief that Nixon would veto such a measure, Scott said Nixon feels the measure would encroach on his powers as commander-in-chief and would hamper his ability to "wrap up the last tag ends of the war."However, he predicted that the measure would pass the Senate if it is conditioned on a cease-fire and the actual physical release of U.S. POWs beforehand -the two conditions under which Nixon has said he would withdraw all U.S. forces in four months."Democrats Pushing New End-War Legislation", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Friday, May 12, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.