ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997 TAG: 9703270054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
As he faced re-election in 1972, then-President Nixon lashed out at the Pentagon for failing to follow his orders.
In an angry 1972 memo, President Nixon complained bitterly of his commanders' conduct of the war in Vietnam. He said they had played ``how not to lose'' for so long that they had forgotten how to win. He also accused Pentagon brass of ``deliberate sabotage'' of his orders.
The memo, released Wednesday by the National Archives, cast light on Nixon's frame of mind at a time when his re-election was approaching and he was under heavy criticism for failing to end the war.
``All that we have gotten from the Pentagon is the runaround and a sometimes-deliberate sabotage of the orders that I have given,'' Nixon wrote.
He called the psychological warfare carried out in Vietnam ``nothing short of disgraceful,'' adding: ``We finally have a program now under way, but it totally lacks imagination, and I have no confidence whatever that the bureaucracy will carry it out.''
The memo, one of a series critical of the military in that period, was among papers previously withheld from the public. It was addressed to Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security adviser at the time, and Gen. Alexander Haig, Kissinger's deputy.
``I want you to convey directly to the Air Force that I am thoroughly disgusted with their performance in North Vietnam,'' the memo said. Nixon criticized as ``pusillanimous'' a policy of not flying bombing runs at times of low cloud ceilings.
``I do not blame the fine Air Force pilots who do a fantastic job in so many other areas,'' he said. ``I do blame the commanders who, because they have been playing `how not to lose' so long, now can't bring themselves to start playing `how to win.'''
Nixon said he wanted Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., commander of American forces in Vietnam, to know of ``my utter disgust.''
Nixon praised Americans fighting in Vietnam for their bravery but called the military leadership ``a sad chapter of the proud military history of this country.''
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB