Word: wheeler
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...light of these new doubts, the impending showdown at Khesanh raises the disturbing spectre of nuclear warfare. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee early this month. General Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated the problem bluntly. If faced with a choice between losing Khesanh and using nuclear weapons, Wheeler reportedly said, the Pentagon would recommend "bringing in the nukes...
...Wheeler's statement immediately touched off a spate of "inside" reports, purporting to prove that nuclear warfare was imminent at Khesanh. Claiming that nuclear weapons were already being stored in Thailand, a University of California professor said last week that "for the first time since World War II, the United States is planning to use nuclear weapons in combat...
...look for Khesanh offers limited encouragement, but the prospects for long-term avoidance of nukes in Vietnam are slim. General Wheeler said two weeks ago that he "doesn't think nuclear weapons will be necessary to defend Khesanh"; but implicit in that statement is the rationale that somewhere else the military might consider them necessary. And if the battle of Khesanh does not end the war, experts see two ways that the "necessary" time could come...
...approved by President Johnson, and so far he has given no hint that he would approve. Johnson has reportedly assured Russia's Premier Kosygin that the United States won't use nuclear weapons, but the White House has been deliberately cryptic in publicly quelling the rumors that followed Wheeler's statement. When asked about nukes at a press conference, the President would only say that he "was not aware" of any Pentagon request for them...
...worldwide reaction indicates that the plan may be backfiring. Many European nations have taken up the cry of Belgium's Paul-Henri Spaak, who begged the U.S. to "save the world from holocaust" by holding back on the nukes. China has taken a more disturbing step: a week after Wheeler's testimony, Chou En-lai promised to send some of China's new nuclear weapons to Hanoi if necessary...