‘Difficulties’ in Vietnam May Force U.S. Panel on MIAs to Postpone Visit
A U.S. delegation that was to meet with Vietnamese officials in Hanoi next Thursday to discuss American servicemen missing in action in the Southeast Asian war may have to reschedule its visit, the State Department announced Friday.
“We have just learned that there is some difficulty in scheduling participation on the Vietnamese side,” the announcement said. “We are in touch with the Vietnamese about the trip.”
The mission was to be headed by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard L. Armitage and included Assistant Secretary of State Paul D. Wolfowitz and Ann Mills Griffiths, executive director of the National League of MIA/POW Families.
A scheduled briefing on the mission was canceled at the last minute Friday. An official explained that a problem arose because of the unavailability of the Hanoi representatives who were to take part in two days of talks on speeding the identification and repatriation of the remains of more than 2,400 Americans still unaccounted for during the 10-year war.
“There was a suggestion that lower-ranking people could be substituted, but that would not be satisfactory to us,” the official said.
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