Ex-General Says Westmoreland Rejected Report on Enemy

A retired Army major general testified in federal court Wednesday that Gen. William C. Westmoreland refused to forward a 1967 report significantly increasing the estimated number of enemy troops in Vietnam because he thought it would “create a political bombshell.”

“I took that cable in to Gen. Westmoreland, and I stood in front of his desk and handed it to him,” said retired Maj. Gen. Joseph A. McChristian. “I gave him a little bit of the background in what it was. He looked at it. He looked up at me, and said, ‘If I send that cable to Washington, it will create a political bombshell.’ ”

McChristian’s testimony came in the 17th week of Westmoreland’s $120-million libel trial against CBS. It focused sharply on the most controversial allegation of a 1982 CBS documentary--that, for political reasons, Westmoreland conspired to deceive his superiors on enemy strength during a crucial period in the Vietnam War.

‘Burned Into Memory’

Lawyers for both the network and Westmoreland zeroed in on McChristian’s account that Westmoreland had used the phrase “political bombshell.” When the former commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam testified at the outset of the trial last October, he contended that the phrase “political bombshell” had been thrust into his lexicon by CBS lawyers, that he had never used it.

Wednesday, after McChristian had given his account of the May, 1967, meeting in Westmoreland’s office, CBS lawyer David Boies asked: “Are you absolutely positive Gen. Westmoreland used the term ‘political bombshell?’ ”

“Yes, I am,” McChristian replied. “I am just as sure of it as I am seeing people in front of me right now.” The words, he added, “burned themselves right into my memory.”

Called It ‘Spurious’

Westmoreland said both in his testimony and in his appearance on the CBS documentary that he had discussed the issue with McChristian in the meeting, but that he had not reported the new estimate because he considered it “spurious.”

During a feud that lasted through l967, CIA analysts contended that the Army’s official estimate that enemy forces numbered fewer than 300,000 was about 200,000 too low.

According to Westmoreland’s account, he told McChristian that enemy self-defense and secret self-defense forces did not belong in intelligence estimates of enemy strength because “we are not fighting those people, they are basically civilians.” He also said he had asked for a briefing on the new estimate.

But in his testimony before the jury, McChristian insisted that such a discussion never took place.

Didn’t Send Cable

After Westmoreland declined to forward the cable, prepared for his signature, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chief of the Pacific Command, McChristian testified that he asked to be sent back to Washington to explain it.

“When he told me it would create a political bombshell, I said, ‘General, I don’t see why it should. Send me back and I’ll explain to anyone who wants to know what we’ve been doing to collect this information.’ ”

“And he said, ‘No, leave it with me. I want to go over it.’ ”

Cross-Examination

Under cross-examination by Westmoreland’s attorneys, McChristian acknowledged that he knew before he left Vietnam that a committee had been named for a new review of enemy strength estimates. However, he said he knew nothing of its work.

In his appearance on the CBS documentary and in a transcript of a telephone conversation with TV Guide reporter Donald Kowet, McChristian was far less explicit about what Westmoreland had said.

In the broadcast of the documentary, he said of the meeting: “By the time I left his office, I had the definite impression that he (Westmoreland) felt if we sent those figures back to Washington at that time, it would create a political bombshell.”

In a telephone conversation with Kowet, he declared that he had not been pressured to suppress intelligence estimates.

Challenged by Westmoreland’s lawyers on the differing accounts, McChristian testified Wednesday that he had been reluctant to quote Westmoreland directly unless he was under oath and explicitly questioned.

“I had a strong reluctance,” he said, “to bring out anything about him other than my own impressions. I didn’t want to have any dirty laundry taken care of in public.”