|
Owner59 -> Innocent USAF General Ruined By Nixon, Restored By Obama. (8/7/2010 5:38:25 PM)
|
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-general_05nat.ART.State.Edition1.4a976ba.html
WASHINGTON – More than 30 years after his death, an Air Force general has been exonerated of charges that he violated presidential restrictions on aerial bombing during the Vietnam War and that he ordered the falsification of records to conceal the missions.
John D. Lavelle was forced to retire in April 1972 at the rank of major general, two stars below the rank he held as commander of air operations in Vietnam, after being relieved of duty for ordering unauthorized airstrikes against North Vietnamese military targets.
He maintained his innocence during congressional hearings held after his dismissal.
He died in 1979.
The story took a new twist in 2007 with the publication in Air Force Magazine of an article by a retired Air Force general, Aloysius Casey, and his son, Patrick Casey. They used declassified documents and transcripts of President Richard Nixon's Oval Office audio tapes to show that Nixon had secretly authorized more aggressive bombing in North Vietnam in February 1972.
The Caseys also wrote that such attacks had been authorized in late 1971 and early 1972 by top U.S. officers.
Lavelle's family petitioned the Air Force to correct his record and restore his rank.
The family's legal petition to the Air Force said the Nixon tapes show that "he was a 'scapegoat' and in fact had acted within the authority expressly granted to him by the president and communicated to him through classified communications between the chief of Pacific Command, the secretary of defense and others."
In 2008 the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records found no evidence that Lavelle caused, directly or indirectly, the falsification of records or that he was even aware of their existence.
The board also agreed with the family's assertion that the 1972 decision had been based on incomplete information and that the White House and others withheld important facts.
In a written statement Wednesday, the Air Force said its board found that once Lavelle learned about the falsified reports, which pertained to false claims of hostile fire by North Vietnamese forces, he took action to ensure that the practice was stopped.
The Air Force board recommended that Lavelle be reinstated to the rank of general. Defense Secretary Robert Gates endorsed the recommendation and President Barack Obama has asked the Senate to confirm Lavelle to the rank of general.
Nixon transcripts: Air Force Gen. John Lavelle wrongly took fall for secret bombing of North Vietnam
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/08/06/2010-08-06_took_fall_for_dick_now_rep_to_get_fix.html#ixzz0vyA6STi7
Thursday began restoring the reputation of an Air Force general who wrongly took the fall for President Richard Nixon's secret bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
Recently found 1972 Oval Office conversations show Nixon agonized about letting Gen. John Lavelle take the blame, but let it happen to avoid more controversy as the Watergate scandal mushroomed.
"I don't want to hurt an innocent man," Nixon told Henry Kissinger, his national security adviser. "Frankly, Henry, I don't feel right about pushing him (Lavelle) into this thing and then, and then giving him a bad rap...
"I just don't want him to be made a goat, goddammit."
But Nixon hung him out to dry.
He said publicly at the time that the bombing "wasn't authorized. It was proper for him (Lavelle) to be relieved and retired."
He said publicly at the time that the bombing "wasn't authorized. It was proper for him (Lavelle) to be relieved and retired."
Lavelle was forced to retire and lost two of his four stars as he was demoted from general to major general. He told a skeptical Congress he was being railroaded for "conscientiously doing the job I was expected to do."
Lavelle died in 1979.
The case for his innocence was built by Aloysius Casey, a retired Air Force general, and his son, Patrick Casey. They found the Nixon transcripts and wrote an article on Lavelle for Air Force Magazine.
On President Obama's recommendation, the Senate, which confirmed Lavelle as a general, began proceedings to restore his two stars."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tapes show that tricky-dick felt guilty about screwing the guy.He acknowledges throwing an innocent man under the bus and keeps asking Kissinger if they could somehow "help" Gen. Lavelle.
But there was an election to win and that that`s what republicans put before every other consideration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Correction: The Lavelle Case
Because of a cover-up, cowardice and scapegoating in the Nixon White House, editorials on this page in the early 1970s misstated the role of an Air Force general in a series of bombing raids of North Vietnam.
general, John D. Lavelle, commander of the Seventh Air Force, acted with direct authorization from President Nixon when he ordered more than 20 airstrikes against North Vietnamese antiaircraft missile sites between November 1971 and March 1972. As General Lavelle insisted then, he was not a rogue officer waging his own “massive, private air war.” He did not willfully violate rules of engagement, nor did he authorize flight crews to file false reports.
This correction was delayed because Mr. Nixon; his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger; and top cabinet and Pentagon officials never revealed evidence that would have exonerated General Lavelle. The truth lay hidden for nearly 40 years in the squalid thickets of the Nixon tapes. Researchers brought the facts to light in 2007, leading to revised accounts of the case, explained in a Defense Department announcement last week.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08sun3.html
|
|
|
|
