FORMS OF COMMUNICATION
Half a dozen days after the invasion of Laos, while the event was as yet unannounced in this country, Secretary of Defense Laird came out of a meeting with the Armed Services Committee and was accosted by the usual group of reporters: Reporters: Sir, it is rumored on all sides that we have been making plans to invade Laos. Is this true? Secretary Laird: I have just come from a meeting of the Armed Services Committee, and I wish to say our discussion of the draft was valuable and harmonious. Reporters [protesting]: That’s not the question, Sir. [Also] Izvestia has already reported the invasion. Laird [smiling]: You know Izvestia does not write the truth. [Reporters ask the first question over again.] Laird: I will do whatever is necessary to protect the lives of our boys in the fighting field. No more comment. [He walks away.] Now no one could say that Secretary Laird spoke any untruth: obviously, everything he said was…
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