Word: pow
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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While the U. S. may not obtain the release of the POW's, the cessation of our use of CBW might convince the other side to fulfill our demands on prisoner treatment: i. e., international inspection of prisoner camps, release of sick prisoners, and complete lists of and expanded mailing privileges for prisoners...
Nixon is taking a calculated gamble by encouraging the families of prisoners to organize and become more vocal. Under Johnson, Defense Department officials urged prisoners' wives to be loyal to military tradition by waiting in silence. They recognized that, once loosed, the POW question could quickly inflate into an emotional issue beyond the control of the Administration...
Nixon is no less aware that he may be sowing the wind by allowing the plight of the POW's to dominate the nation's attention this winter-but he expects that the North Vietnamese, not his Administration, will reap the whirlwind that results. The tear-jerking Christmas-in-Hanoi campaign is, in fact, part of a shrewd double-bladed political defense he has constructed to still domestic protest and free his hand further for acts of aggression against North Vietnam...
...Administration is attempting, as one spokesman puts it, to "put the monkey on Hanoi's back," because it cannot regain the POW's by negotiation and maintain its plans for perpetual war in Asia...
This could become a political liability for Nixon in 1972-if he allows the people to connect his obstinate refusal to negotiate with the continued captivity of the POW's. The solution is simple: put the blame on Hanoi...