New Way Of Winning War

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30979, 8 February 1966, Page 14

New Way Of Winning War

(N.Z, Press Assn.—Copyright; WASHINGTON, February 6. A leading Republican member of the House of Representatives has worked out a way to win the war in Vietnam without killing anyone. Mt Craig Hosmer wants to bomb the guerrillas with owl hoots, cards and plastic models 1 of dogs and girls. Mr Hosmer, a member of the House-Senate Atomic Energy Committee, made the suggestion in a speech prepared for delivery in the House tomorrow. Last week he told the House that America was not getting anywhere by dropping high explosives on North Vietnam and said the solution was to take advantage of the extremely superstitious nature of the Vietnamese. He said the recommendations for psychological warfare were worked out by a Republican conference taisk force and “involved no kill-'

ing, no maiming, no physical destruction.” “In terms of violence they will de-e?oalate rather than escalate the war,” he said. “But in terms of results they well may be decisive,'’ Some of his proposals are: To an Oriental there is nothing lower than a dog. Cheap plastic toy models of Ho Chi Minh and Mao Tse-Tung joined in the shape of dogs could be air-dropped in large quantity.

e In Vietnam, the ace of spades is considered as deadly an omen as in Sicily. Hundreds of thousands of plastic ace of spades cards could be dropped throughout the country.

Seeing a woman on first leaving one’s dwelling in the morning is a certain sign in Vietnam that the day will be one of misfortune. Therefore rain plastic models of women from the sky during the night to be found as a morning greeting. Mi- Hosmer also noted that the North Vietnamese regard

the sound of an owl hooting three times as an omen of imminent death in the f*mily. The North Vietnamese rice paddies could be flooded with harmless dyes and odours. He said the Dutch did this in 1946-47 in Bali and East Java and caused panic among the natives. Mr Hosmer, obviously expecting to be “ribbed” for his unorthodox suggestions, has an answer ready. “Psychological warfare is 'as old as mankind," he said. “The assault on the mind is as ancient as the roared battle cry, as historically familiar as the rebel yell, and as modern as the sophisticated techniques of the Second World War.”