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US missions 'illegal'
WASHINGTON, Thursday
(AAP). ■— US troops had
violated congressional bans for
two years by fighting 32 combat
missions in Laos and 31 missions
in Cambodia, Senator Harold
Hughes (Democrat) said yester
day, Associated Press reported.
The ground operations between
1970 and 3972 had been "called
'slam' missions, for search, locate and
annihilate", and were "clear viola
tions of the law", Senator Hughes
said in a Senate speech.
His remarks were made before a
508-page transcript of the Armed Ser
vice Committee heaving into secret
US operations in South-East Asia was
issued.
"The evidence now available
strongly suggests that he (President
Nixon] violated the law by permitting
ground combat troops to enter Cam
bodia and Laos", Senator Hughes
said.
He said he was dismayed that the
Defence Secretary, Mr Schlesinger,
had decided, after a six-month delay,
"not to declassify the remaining docu
mcnts provided to the committee . . .
while I am not, of course, at liberty
to release these documents myself, I
believe it is appropriate to say that
they contain new and significant
information, some of which is differ
ent from previous explanations and
testimony".
The senator, who is leaving his seat
at the end of the year to turn full
time to lay religious work, said US
soldiers had begun border-crossing
operations into Laos in 1965 and into
Cambodia in 1967.
Congress forbade such missions in
1969 for Laos and Thailand and in
1970 for Cambodia.
Nonetheless, Senator Hughes said,
quoting a Defence Department White
Paper on the controversy, 16 platoon
sized operations had been conducted
"in'Laos in 1970 „nnd 16 more in the
months between January, 1971, and
April, 1972. There were , also three
multi-platoon operations in Laos in
1970 . . .
,'In Cambodia, there were 22 pla
toon-sized operations after January 1,
1971, plus nine multi-platoon mis
sions", he said.
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