Tonkin attack still questioned A strategist from the Vietnam War says the alleged second attack in the Gulf of Tbnkin on Aug. 4, 1964, never took place. By KATHY WILHELM Associated Press Writer HANOI, Vietnam When for mer Defense Secretary Robert McNamara met the enemy's leading strategist yesterday, he raised a question he'd saved for 30 years: What really happened in the Tonkin Gulf on Aug. 4, 1964? "Absolutely nothing," replied retired Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap. Both sides agree that North Vietnam attacked a U.S. Navy ship in the gulf on Aug. 2 as it cruised close to shore. But it was an alleged second attack '6O Minutes' switch may have compromised Ist amendment By FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer tobacco companies. NEW YORK Did CBS simply lose its nerve when Under the August settlement, ABC News apologized it spiked a "60 Minutes" interview critical of cigarette for charges it made on 1994 broadcasts of the news makers? And, if so, did the news media lose, too? magazine show "Day One" that the companies spike . Acting on its lawyers' advice, CBS pulled an on-the- cigarettes with additional nicotine. record interview with an unidentified former ciga- Opinion was divided yesterday at CBS News, where rette company executive who was sharply critical of "60 Minutes" was preparing what the network the industry, and substituted another report on the described as a substitute expose on the tobacco indus tobacco industry. try for this Sunday's edition of the show. The swap is "a victory not only for the tobacco CBS News President Eric Ober called the steps that industry, but any industry that could possibly find led to a replacement story "not uncommon" and said itself in a face-down position with a news organiza- the resulting piece was "a lot the same" as the origi tion," said Valerie Hyman, a faculty member at Poyn- nal.But the producer of the story, Lowell Bergman, ter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. said the decision was "not a good one for the First The "60 Minutes" move came just a few months Amendment." \ e Ip' --,N New Course, Spring Semester 1.996 '/N - 7 \-", \ _ _ The Economics of Science and Technology Policy For more information, contact Dr. Feller at 865-9561, or IQF@psuvm.psu.edu. *-94-94-94*-94-44-94-94*-94-94-94-94 two days later that led to the first U.S. bombing raid on the North and propelled America deep into war. Many U.S. historians have long believed either that the Johnson administration fabri cated the second attack to win congressional support for widening the war, or that the White House had only flimsy evidence of a real attack. McNamara was Johnson's sec retary of defense at the time, but even he admitted yesterday that the administration may have made "serious misjudg ments." For McNamara, Giap's word was the clincher. "It's a pretty damned good source," he said after the meet- Mg. As defense secretary from 1961-68 under Presidents Ken nedy and Johnson, McNamara was one of the leading propo Economics 497 C: Mondays, 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. 119 Classroom Building Dr. Irwin Feller nents of U.S. support for South Vietnam against the Communist North. But he left office convinced the war was doomed to failure, he says, revealing his change of heart in memoirs published this year. The 85-year-old Giap, wearing his olive green uniform with four gold stars on his shoulder, greeted him with an understate ment: "I heard about you long ago." McNamara laughed. "I heard about YOU long ago," he rejoined. Then they talked for more than an hour, with McNa mara frequently leaning for ward and jabbing his finger for emphasis as he talked about the lessons of history. McNamara, 79, emerged from the meeting describing it as extraordinary and saying he was struck by the lack of hostil ity. after Capital Cities/ABC Inc. settled a $lO billion law suit brought by the Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Australian HIV strain possible cure By LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. —An Australian with the AIDS virus who unknowingly infected that country's blood supply 14 years ago has given scientists stronger evidence that a live AIDS vaccine might work. The blood donor and six people infected by his plas ma have remained healthy longer than a decade and even have normal immune systems because they have a genetically weak strain of the AIDS virus, Aus tralian scientists report in Friday's edition of the jour nal Science. Coincidentally, the HIV infecting the Australians is almost identical to a manmade strain U.S. researchers have developed as a possible AIDS vaccine one many scientists fear could be deadly even though weakened. Until now, only one other person in the world had been found living with weak HIV. "The Australians provide additional information that these kinds of strains can be safe over the long run," said Dr. Ronald Desrosiers of the New England Muslims, Croats inch toward peace plan By SLOBODAN LEKIC Associated Press Writer DAYTON, Ohio In the most significant breakthrough in Bosnia peace talks so far, Muslims and Croats agreed yesterday to revive a moribund federation set up at U.S. urging in 1993 to end fighting between them. Although negotiators were not thought to be nearing a comprehen sive peace agreement, Secretary of State Warren Christopher was fly ing to Dayton today to rejoin the talks at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Sources in both delegations said a ceremony would be held today to sign key aspects of the federation accord, including agreements on the return of refugees and the con tentious issue of reuniting the southern city of Mostar. It remained unclear how the par- Primate Research Center. He developed the potential vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, "This extraordi nary experiment of nature . . . makes you think again about the feasibility of a live attenuated vaccine. "But it doesn't necessarily take us any closer to hav ing an attenuated live vaccine," he warned. "These people have been followed for 10 years. . .. You worry about what happens in 15 to 20 years." More immediately, the findings help explain why some people maintain healthy immune systems beyond the 10 years it typically takes HIV to turn deadly, wrote study author Nicholas Deacon of Australia's Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research. The Australians' HIV is missing parts of a gene called nef. Scientists believe nef spurs HIV to repro duce frantically until it overwhelms patients' immune systems and if nef doesn't work right, immune cells can control HIV just as they fight most viruses. "These data show that survival after HIV infection can be determined by the HIV genome," Deacon con cluded. ties were reacting to a new set of draft agreements on Bosnia's con stitutional makeup compiled by international mediators on the basis of contacts with the warring sides over the past nine days. The proposals were to be considered yesterday. In Washington, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns announced that Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Serb Presi dent Slobodan Milosevic jointly requested the immediate resump tion of unrestricted natural gas deliveries to both countries on humanitarian grounds and as a con fidence-building measure. The United States had said previ ously it would not support a relax ation of economic sanctions to Ser bia until a final peace agreement was reached. Burns noted that the U.S. government was recommend ing to the U.N. sanctions commit- The Daily Collegian Friday, Nov. 10, 1995- tee an exception on humanitarian grounds and pointed out that the vast majority of the trade embargo remains in place. The gas would be supplied from Russia and U.N. monitors would ensure that the Serbs don't cut off the gas supplies to the Bosnian side, he said. Earlier yesterday, Christopher said in Washington that he would fly to Dayton to get involved in the promising discussions. "I hope I'll be able to make some progress," he said. On his agenda is a territorial dis pute between Serbia and Croatia, which has threatened to use force if it the problem is not resolved by the end of the month. "It is a prob lem that has time urgency," Christopher said. He said it was a good sign that face-to-face negotiations were being held by the Balkan delegations.
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