That information was not submitted to the Senate subcommittee. They concealed that information. They testified that bombing could not be identified as the cause of any refugees when the report says clearly that the bombing was the cause. I cannot understand the discrepancy which exists between the State Department testimony and the Department of Defense testimony that they hit a few villages by mistake in the last 7 years. as compared with the testimony of hundreds of refugees that their villages were destroyed by bombing. If they had said that they had experienced battles taking place between tanks and artillery and infantry assaults and so forth. that would be one thing. But the villagers from the Plain of Jars did not talk of their villages being destroyed by infantry warfare that raged across the Plain of Jars. although they were under Pathet Lao domination for a period of 3 or 4 years. The description of the infantry fighting in this area is not that of combat between two mechanized armies. but it is skirmishes between small units on both sides by people who went around the Plain of Jars rather than who fought through it. That is the information I have.. In any event. there is no testimony by any of these refugees. the hundreds of interviews and reports by American Government officials of the USIS that in any of these situations that their vilCXVII1558Part 19 lages were destroyed other than by bombing. So on what basis does the gentleman proceed to suggest that these villagers are not telling the truth and that their villages were destroyed by artillery and by infantry when you consider the fact that they have described so faithfully the type of bombs that were used. the types of aircraft that were used. and the bombs that specifically are the kinds of bombs that we use in that area?
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refugees