1:04:00
but to come
to some accommodation.
1:04:02
[Man]
In the beginning of 1968,
1:04:04
General Westmoreland
needed 206,000 more troops.
1:04:09
We met hour after hour
after hour in the Pentagon.
1:04:12
And I started in and asked
theJoint Chiefs of Staff,
1:04:17
''How long do you think that
we'll still be in the war?''
1:04:20
None of them knew.
1:04:22
''Uh, do you think that
the 206,000 men will be enough?''
1:04:27
Nobody knew.
1:04:29
''Uh, might we have to send more men?''
''Well, possibly.''
1:04:33
''Well, in six months?''
''We don't know.''
1:04:35
''Ayear? Eighteen months?''
1:04:37
I couldn't get answers
to these questions.
1:04:39
By the end of that
four-day interrogation,
1:04:43
I was getting down--by the end of it--
into very serious questions,
1:04:47
''Do any of you men,
as you look at it objectively,
1:04:53
do you find any diminution
in the will of the enemy to fight?''
1:04:58
Well, they said,
''No, we guess we don't.''
1:05:01
''Are they sending the same number of men
down through the Ho Chi Minh trail?''
1:05:04
''Well, yes, and even
they might be a little more.''
1:05:08
''And how about our bombing? We've placed
great reliance on our bombing.
1:05:13
Is our bombing stopping them?''
''No.''
1:05:16
''Well, what is the amount of attrition
that our bombing's causing?''
1:05:19
''Well, maybe 10 to 15 percent.''
1:05:22
So I remember
asking one question.
1:05:25
''If a North Vietnamese field commander
in South Vietnam needed 1,000 men--''
1:05:30
They said, ''Yes.''
1:05:32
''If he asked for, say, 1,200 men,
1:05:36
1,000 would get through?''
1:05:38
''Well, that's right.''
1:05:40
''Then he'd have the thousand he needed.''
''Well, yes. That's so.''
1:05:43
Well, this type of interrogation--
1:05:46
Finally, by the end
of four or five days,
1:05:49
I must say that my thinking...
1:05:52
had undergone
a very substantial revolution.
1:05:56
* All we are saying *