European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 25, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Page 4 the stars and stripes monday september 25, 1967 abm defense gives time to improve icbms Washington up the administration s decision to build a thin anti ballistic mis Sile defense Means that the United states will have More time to develop a new Genera Tion of icbms. The defense department has been studying a top secret re port known As Strat a which analyses Many possible icbms systems for the 1980s.the report explores the pros and cons of placing icbms underground on ships in containers under the sea or at the Bottom of the great lakes on Railroad cars or in air planes. Though the report is still be ing carefully studied the urgency of selecting an icbms sys tem to succeed minuteman Iii has been reduced. Defense Secretary Robert  said in january that a new Long Range missile system was under study and that contract definition Here they . Marines hit the dirt As North vietnamese mortar shells whistle around an outpost near con Thien below the Doz. Leathernecks in the area have lost about 40 dead and 600wounded in the last two weeks up invade Doz general hints Marine says u.8. Fire not enough Dong a South Vietnam up a top . Marine commander said saturday american firepower could never destroy the communist guns bombarding Leatherneck outposts in the Northern part of South Vietnam. He said the american military was deluding itself if it thought this was possible. In an interview at this Marine Headquarters just South of the demilitarized zone do Brig. Gen. John Metzger indicated that the North Vietnam Ese probably would try to in Vade South Vietnam in an at tempt to overrun the american fortress at con Thien. Metzger seemed to be hinting he thought the Only Way to Stop the North vietnamese assaults was an Allied ground invasion into the Doz. We Are deluding ourselves i we think that because we Are firing 5,000 rounds or putting massive air strikes in that we Are destroying everything inthe area he said. It in t  Metzger assistant commander of the 3rd Marine div was reflecting the sentiments of Sev eral american Field command ers in decrying the effective Ness of current tactics against the 35,000 North vietnamese troops believed massed in the six mile wide Doz. The area has been the scene of heavy artillery duels be tween american and North vietnamese forces since sept. 1, and . Casualties have been rising steadily despite one 01 the most intense bombard ments in the history of War. Thousands of american Artil Lery shells and rockets have been unloaded on the Doz and giant Strat fortresses have flown hundreds of saturation bombing raids in an attempt to wipe out North vietnamese gun emplacements. Proof claimed of Norse first los Angeles up two californians have claimed that 11 mistakes or misspell Ings in cryptographic letter ing on the famous Kensington Rinestone found in Alexandria minn., were part of a cod which proves norsemen beat Christopher Columbus to the new world by hundreds of years. Or. O. G. Landsverk of Glen Dale and cryptographer Alf Monge of Santa Rosa disclose their findings at a news con Ference last week Here and Ina Book. Monge was unable to attend the news conference be cause of illness. These mistakes or mis Spellings have confounded scholars for years said lands Verk but once the code was broken they Are really  landsverk said that what scientists thought were errors by the Rune master or person who inscribed the data on the Rock really were ingenious methods of concealing important information. Lie said Rune masters frequently used a kind of chess game in which they tried to make it difficult for anyone to translate their work. Monge who with landsverk coauthored Norse medieval cryptography in runic Carv Ings said in the volume that the norsemen made a practice of pursuing the Art of constructing  world War ii cryptographer Monge said that by these methods cryptogram they managed to conceal secret Mes sages and a secret Date within the visible part of the  the Gist of the findings by landsverk and Monge was that the Date of the Kensington Rinestone was May 7, 1244 making Columbus visit to America 248 years behind the norsemen , an expert on Norse explorations in America said he was convinced beyond a Shadow of a doubt that the findings of himself and Monge would withstand the closes scientific scrutiny. We Welcome All investigations of a  the North vietnamese fire continues and Metzger said there is absolutely no Wall of steel that is going to Stop it. They Are willing to pay the  the Marine commander said the North vietnamese have at least 100 guns trained onion Thien the sandbagged Bas Tion Only a few Hundred Yard South of the Frontier. He said North vietnamese troops apparently were assembling for a major assault on the outpost. Units Are coming Over five and ten at a time he said. The communists think that there s nothing that s impossible if they re willing to pay the Price Metzger added. Loss of the outpost would open a main infiltration Avenue into South Vietnam. Con thie sits astride a Hub for trails used by the communists to pour Menand supplies into the South. The listing of specifications for engineering development could take place in fiscal 1968. Pentagon sources now say this probably won t happen Al though research will go for Ward. The soviet Union is building its offensive missile forces. It has about 500 icbms now an May have 1,000 to 1,500 in the 1970s. The russians Are Harden ing their icbms Sites by Dis Persing them and putting the underground and they Are also building at least a limited anti missile defense. All of these moves aimed atthe 1970s, have been taken into account in . Plans to modernize the minuteman icbms and Polaris submarine missile forces in coming years. These plans include a new minuteman Iii penetration aids to get the missile through soviet abm defences and a submarine Poseidon mis Sile with penetration aids. These Are deemed adequate i Russia s offensive buildup Fol lows expected lines. But military officials have also looked at the possibility of a faster soviet buildup which could take the form of More missiles greater accuracy or multiple warheads which would Shower out of one icbms and hit separate tar  of these particularly greater accuracy could in crease the vulnerability of . Minuteman missiles in their underground silos which Are not immune to a direct  in turn would erode the . Ability to deliver a crush ing counter blow against rus  the United states waited until the 1970s to see what the russians did it would be too late. Therefore a decision had to be made this year. One . Option was to in crease offensive Power faster than originally planned. This could have meant More missiles or a new missile system per haps along lines of some suggested by the Strat x report. The other alternative Wasto increase the defense of minuteman missiles rather than to increase offensive Power. This was tempting because when it appeared logical to in stall a $3.5 billion abm defens against China it would Cost Only another $1.5 billion to add sprint missile defense of most of the 1,000 minutemen giving them increased Protection from soviet  was the course the administration chose. The St european edition col. James w. Campbell us editor in chief it. Col. F. G. Michael jr., Usan Deputy editor in chief Arnold Burnett managing editor Elmer d. Frank. Production manager Henry 8. Epstein circulation manager an unofficial newspaper of and Tor the . Armed Force printed Dally at Darmstadt Germany under the auspices of the office of the chief of Public affair. He Usa eur. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09175. International mall the stars and stripes Postrach 1034, 61-Darmstadt, Germany. Tel Gale Helm c prefix 06155 2071 m Darmstadt air strip prefix 2376 741. New York office 641 Washington st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-5771. Second Cla postage paid at new York . ". The United states is an open society in Ivsich the people s right to know a cherished and  president Lyndon b. Johnson