0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
The only contingency plan on hand was
for the renewal of bombing of the
North, an action backed strongly by the JCS, Though unpopular to practically
all concerned,
thete were few alternatives to the bombing cf the
North left to pursue, The President and his National Security Adviser
resistec such a decision, and instead they began to examine benefits to be
derived from the bombinc of the North Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia
the sanctuaries shown S~(see in Map 7-1).,
President Nixon, who had been in communication with DRV
(sete dacuaring
pehownins aapred-o)e
officials during his administration's transition period, ,!a5 angered over
the enemy's offensive, which had produced a large number of US casualties.
After brief deliberations, he opted to secretly bomb Cambodian sanctuaries
within five miles of the Vietnamese border.
Critics 11Z/ sibsequently saw the secret expansion of
1the war into Cambodia during that period as setting in train a course of
events that was to destroy that "neutral" and "peaceful" country. in his
memoirs, Mr. Kissinger 114/ pointed out that Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia
did not protest the bombings Hanoi did not crotesL. tnem; in fact, its
delegation in Paris accepted a US proposal for private talks on March 22
within seventy-t,•o hours of the request. And the PRC and USSR rade no
public Drotestacions to the bombing -.aids,
Secretary of Defense Laird reported that MACV Commander
General Abrams credited the bombing of the Cambodian sanctuaries by US B-52
bombers (code name "Menu") ".s one of the most telling operations in the
entire war,"l_5/ it disrupted enemy logistics, a*Gorted several enemy
offensives and reduced the enemy threat to Saigon.116/
2) The Fight Fo, the Plain of Jars-1970
In early 1970, Laos briefly became the focus of LIS
concerns during a North Vietnamese cffensive which threatened to overrun
northern Laob.
The prospect of this happening portended grave implications
for the security uf neighboring Thailand as well as South Vietnam.
!anoi was 'ighting essei.tially two wars in Laos, ooth
for the purpose of hegemony in Indochina. In the South the DRV fought to
maintain the Ho Coi Minh Trail, which was their key link to the battlefields
of South V;etnam (see Map 7-2). ind ir the North, they supported
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