Greater Bombing Of North

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 15

Greater Bombing Of North

IN Z. Press Assn. — Copyright) CANBERRA, July 8.

Bombing of North Vietnam is to be stepped up—and broadened to attack a wide range of public utilities.

The American Ambassador to Australia. Mr Edward Clark, a life long friend of President Johnson, forecast this today in his first public speech since his return from Washington last Sunday. “We are fighting the aggressors—and we are going to do it better,” he said. “We will get better attention by putting the pressure on them.

“There will be more to come.”

“We will knock out oil. electric grids, power lines, dams and canals.

Mr Clark, who was speaking at a luncheon in Canberra, said: “I don’t want to be a hawk or a dove. I want to be as wise as an owl. “But the people of the United States feel closer to the people of Australia, and have a more abiding friendship with them, than ever before in all history. “We appreciate the fact that your Prime Minister, Mr Holt, came over to Washington and put it on the line. “He not only said that. He said that other people were not doing their full share. “We were not in a position to mention that—but we damn sure applauded what he said.” Then —naming no names— Mr Clark said: "We pulled their chestnuts out of the fire 25 years ago—-

but they don’t have the long memory Australia has. “Australia is one great country which has not asked for economic or military aid. “It has pulled its share and it stands up for what is right.” There were good strategic reasons for America and Australia to be in Vietnam, Mr Clark said. “If we don’t stop aggression there, where will we stop it?” he asked. “If we are pushed out of there today, countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Burma, India, and Pakistan could well fall into the Communist orbit. “Those are countries with great resources and with millions of people. “If that happened, where would we draw the line?”