Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part-V-B-4-Book-I.djvu/109

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Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011


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of bringing a wider allied support to the effort to assist Vietnam, by the following action:

(1) Instruct our representatives in Saigon to prepare, in consultation with the Vietnamese, proposals providing for the use of third country contributions, particularly that already offered by the British, to the training of Vietnam's forces and counter-guerrilla efforts.

III. Objective: Undertake military security arrangements which emphasize the U.S. intention to stand behind Vietnam's resistance to Communist aggression.

a. Undertake a new bilateral arrangement with Vietnam, by the following action:

(1) On the grounds that the Geneva Accords have placed inhibitions upon free world action while at the same time placing no restrictions upon the Communists, Ambassador Nolting should be instructed to enter into preliminary discussions with Diem regarding the possibility of a defensive security alliance despite the inconsistency of such action with the 'Geneva Accords. This action would be based on the premise that such an undertaking is justified in international law as representing a refusal to be bound by the Accords in a degree and manner beyond that which the other party to the Accords has shown a willingness to honor. Communist violations, therefore, justify the establishment

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