Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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Vietnam. The Soviets would probably veto any such action, and action in the General Assembly would be required. Not only does the provision of United Nations Observers have intrinsic merit but in any event, United Nations consideration would have the value of focusing world opinion on Communist actions in Vietnam.
13. An appeal by Vietnam to the United Nations for the dispatch of ground observers to supplement the work of the ICC in patrolling against the infiltration of arms and armed personnel into Vietnam would normally be dealth with first in the Security Council and, if a veto by a permanent member prevented the Security Council from acting the appeal could then be taken up by the General Assembly. There are various reasons for concluding that such an appeal ought to be dealth with first in the Security Council rather than in the General Assembly:
(a) The Security Council, under Article 24, has primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.
(b) A similar call for assistance by Lebanon during the summer of 1958 was handled by the Security Council.
(c) An attempt to deal with such an appeal in the General Assembly in the first instance, without having gone to the Security Council, might
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