European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 9, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 4 the stars and stripes . Forces try building a Wall saturday september 9, 1967 meet Melvin Belli Call me Crackpot or whatever but. New York up forthe first time the United states has decided to use the ancient tactic of a Wall to try to win the Vietnam War. The Pentagon plan has added technology of the electronic age to a Battlefield tactic that dates from the Days of the roman Empire the record of Wall fortifications in modern warfare is not filled with successes an since the Advent of dynamite and High explosive bombs Fiel commanders have rarely pinned All their Hopes on the ability of barbed wire and con Crete to hold Back an enemy. During world War ii the nazi juggernaut broke through the French Maginot line with tanks and planes Riding rough shod Over a network of Pill boxes and barbed wire entanglements. Adolf Hitler s impregnable Atlantic Wall and Siegfried line with their rows of steel an Concrete dragon Teeth yielded to Allied saturation air raid Sand artillery bombardments. The most successful use of the tactic was by the ancient chinese who built the great Wall and used its 30-foot Heights to Block barbarian for centuries. The e 1,500-Milewall was wide enough for a column of troops to stand guard on the ramparts. . Forces in world Wari and world War ii made extensive use of Field fortifications but american command ers never built anything of the scope of the barricade under construction in Vietnam. Mcnamara s Wall As the american Barrier is bound to be dubbed is a far less ambitious undertaking than the Maginot or Atlantic lines. Its by David Ostrei cider value May lie in the highly sophisticated devices which defense Secretary Robert s. Mcnamara announced would be built into the barbed wire barricade along South Viet Nam s Northern Border. Mcnamara was secretive about these devices when he told about the Barrier in Washington thursday but published reports in recent months have listed . Plans for equipment using the techniques of radar infrared Light and sensitive hearing devices to detect approaching hostile forces. It is Clear that a simple stretch of barbed wire laced with mines cannot hold Back determined enemy. Infiltrators May Tunnel under it or blast through it with explosives and they can choose to go around it. Mcnamara s sophisticated devices May reduce the chances of direct penetration. The purpose of the barricade Mcnamara said is to impede the flow of North Viet namese troops weapons acid supplies into South conceded it would not Stop the infiltration. The North vietnamese have been pouring about 25,000 tons of War supplies into South Viet Nam every month for a Long period of time. According . Estimates they have kept their fighting Force of about297,000 regulars More or less constant with infiltrated reinforcements. The infiltration has continued despite heavy american air raids on the Supply lines an defoliation of Jungle cover through which the trails wind. Part of the Success of the american Barrier will depend on its length. Initial plans Are reported to Call for a stretch of about 40 Miles from the South China sea to South Viet Nam s Frontier with Laos in the narrow area Between the two Vietnam. This would help slow direct North South infiltration through the demilitarized zone. Bat i would leave open those parts of the so called to Chi min Trail that run through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam on the Long Frontier extending Down the Indochina land mass. By George Eber staff writer nag old Germany is in conversation Melvin Belli Springs from Peak to Peak like verbal Mountain Goat. For example there s a trend toward conservatism in the United states. Take our fellow in California Reagan an unprintable John Bircher make no mistake. Now there s something Bobby Kennedy Hoover Reagan Andy three mothers in Law. How s that for a jury along that line he elaborated you can be to the right and i to the left but it s hard to Tell the difference. The race Issue is another thing it s easier to draw the Battle lines Blackie and or these riots these race riots Are nothing less than minuscule revolutions. Or if it weren t for crack pot lawyers Over the past 200years, we would have had no advancement at All legally inthe area of individual rights. Question Are you a Crackpot lawyer or. Belli they May Call me what they want Crackpot or what Ever but we his office in san Francisco have contributed Smuch toward Progress in protecting the Legal rights of the individual As Belli the san Francisco at Torney who has wrestled with the establishment for 30 years and who whimsically asserts on record As avid fan of Puep magazine9 by Frances Lewine Washington a presi printing office recalls Dent Johnson s favorite morning Reading is a pulp paper Maga Zine that often caters to his key critics the congressional rec Ord. It s a Good place to find out what s being said about him and his administration. And some sources say the president is not above planting an item or Toto Tell his Side of the Story. He s so anxious to get the record every Day that a special White House messenger is Dis patched to pick it up hot off the government printing office press sometimes before Dawn. Usually by 7 ., a special White House aide is hard at work culling the pages of the record to clip items and Mark sections for Johnson s at Tention. Often after he reads the daily digest of the procedures of House and Senate speeches of members and items they have inserted in the appendix John son is on the phone to find out what his key officials Are doing to offset some criticism Correct some Blooper or promote a Sag Ging project. He has made it Clear repeat edly to Cabinet and staff that he wants them to respond quickly to congressional complaints in quiries and got into the habit of scouring the congressional record during his More than 25 years of service in when he Wall majority Leader he wanted it Early an official of the government when Johnson got to the White House he could t wait for the morning Home deliver that starts about 7 For congressmen who live in the District of Columbia. That de livery route originally included the White House until Johnson called for special delivery sometimes As Early As 6 The Job of congressional rec Ord Reader for the president shifts among White House staff members. Some agencies., which have been receiving in Tensive Johnson prodding in the Wake of criticism printed inthe record think the presi Dent has a whole task Force of readers at work. The reaction is that congressional record published under various title since about 1789, is filled with items ranging from eulogies an editorials to after dinner speeches and favorite Flower promotions. Congressmen can drop in anything that strike their fancy. Although it s an unpretentious pulp paper publication the record costs the govern ment about $100 a Page to print. Periodically there s caustic comment about absurdities some congressmen have printed. It s even been called a dumping ground for trash tripe and but it obviously has a special fascination for faithful Reader Lyndon b. Johnson. That he runs into this establishment coming out of the men s room has All the absorbing earmarks of being one of America s most notable last angry men. The 59-year-old Golden voice of tort Law slumped Over a cup of Coffee in the dark Oaken restaurant of the ancient Ger Man half timbered hotel where he has been staying during the remarkable court martial of staff sgt. Charles r. Wood the 28-year-old army Man charged with the in premed Melvin Belli. Angry Man rated murder of German Beer truck Driver Friedrich Karl Koch. Belli who had Nice things today about court martial procedures and military Justice a currently exercised roughly defined the establishment about which he feels so strongly As being led by insurance companies a lifelong Adver sary of his Banks and the american bar obviously tired from the tribulations of the trial in which he has led an assault on the medical treatment of Koch shot in the stomach by woo during a Gasthaus tussle last dec. 23, Belli maintained that the reluctance of German courts to award substantial damages in civil cases the Short changing of cripples was the result of work by the same culprits who militate against the individual in the United states. Belli is something of an Enigma in that he resents his fre quent portrayal As a circus maker of trials a flamboyant headline seeking barrister witha Knack for overshadowing the Legal Battles he undertakes. Yet he says that notoriety is needed to Call the pub Lic s attention to the injustice being wrought by the establishment " slipping into the scholarly posture he seems to enjoy assuming in and out of court when making a Point he observed that historically the priest King lawyer and military Man have represented the establishment. Singling out the Legal profession he took note of the Legal profession s segregated bars in Chicago before comment ing that Liberal Ness in the Legal profession was crumbs from the table of Louis railing on at the establish ment that mystical but to him ubiquitous reality Bell isaid that today s labor Union excesses Are born of the earlier excesses on the other among his conclusions the things happening in the . Ain t Good. But the thing happening in Law Are Belli who had remarked earlier that he was tired of discussing the Jack Ruby Case which is dead finished done said that the military courts were ahead in time of the . Civilian courts in espousing the rights of the individual a latter Day commenting on his stay i Germany during the Wood Case Belli claimed there was to much done in a closed Booth in Germany arguing that the Layman in the . Participates in his society but that there snot enough of this in Germany. Until the Layman participates he said there will be no Chance to demand such things As More substantial dam Ages awarded in civil cases and a stripping away of the protective mystique that seems Rohange Over the Legal and medi Cal professions Here. In sum the Silver thatched Man in the Horn rims and Tail ored suits is a Man with seemingly infinite capacity for rage and the Independent Spir it to promote and publicize that anger. European edition col. James w. Campbell Usa editor in chief it. Col. F. 8. Michael jr., Usan Deputy editor in chief Arnold Burnett Managlia edit Elmer d. Frank production manager Henry s. Epstein circulation manager an unofficial newspaper of and for the . Armed forces printed Dally at Darmstadt Germany Riiber the auspices of the office of the chief of Public affair. He u8areur. Military address the Star and stripes Apo 09175. International mail the stars and stripes Postrach 1034, 61-Darmstadt, Germany. Tel Gale Shell c prefix 06155 2071 j m Darmstadt air strip prefix 2376 741. New York office 641 Washington st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-5771. Second postage paid at new York . O the United states is an open society in which the people s right to know is cherished and president Lyndon b. Johnson
