News stories from Saturday March 27, 1971

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

U.S. forces have withdrawn from bases in northern South Vietnam. Pentagon officials stated that the U.S. will not participate in future operations equivalent to the one in Laos. Defense Secretary Laird says that he never was excited about the Laos operation and is even less so now. Officials are disappointed that South Vietnam didn't send reinforcements to confront the enemy, but they claim that the North Vietnamese suffered heavy casualties and the Laos operation probably prevented a Communist offensive this summer.Near Khe Sanh, four soldiers from a company which refused orders to fight last week were killed in an ambush last night. [CBS] The jury asked to have more testimony re-read during their 11th day of deliberations in Lt. William Calley's trial. [CBS] The U.S. called off the Paris Peace Talk session scheduled for next Thursday, in retaliation for the Communist boycott last week. [CBS] Secretary of State Rogers said in a foreign policy report that the Nixon administration has the U.S. on the road out of the Vietnam war. Rogers is trying to gain mass support for "Vietnamization" and a lower U.S. profile throughout the world. [CBS] In St. Louis, the Democratic Governors Conference called for greater input into the national Democratic party. Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel said that governors want to play a role in the affairs of the national party instead of finding out after things happen. The governors will meet with Democratic party chairman Lawrence O'Brien tomorrow. [CBS] Republican national chairman Robert Dole said that the peace movement is led by Democrat politicians pandering to American war-weariness and he called the news industry "media merchants of defeatism". Senator Barry Goldwater stated that Vice President Agnew is probably more popular than President Nixon within the GOP and he predicted that Nixon would keep Agnew as Vice President for the 1972 election. [CBS] President Nixon presented a Medal of Freedom to movie magnate Samuel Goldwyn. [CBS] Chile will never allow a foreign military base on her soil that might be used against the United States, President Salvador Allende told an interviewer. At the same time, the President, a Marxist, added, Chile will not allow a United States military base on her territory either. [New York Times] The Pakistani government reportedly used artillery and jet planes to battle the forces of Sheik Mujibur Rahman in East Pakistan. One Indian source said that the army had killed more than 10,000 East Pakistanis and that the air force had bombed the town of Comilla. There were conflicting reports on whether the sheik had been arrested and on whether Gen. Tikka Khan, the martial-law administrator of East Pakistan, had been assassinated.A report by one of 35 foreign reporters expelled by Pakistani officials from Dacca said that the army had been using artillery and heavy machine guns against unarmed civilians. Troops were also seen setting fire to the thatched-roof houses of poor Bengalis. Fires were also seen at the university and at the headquarters of a paramilitary force known as the East Pakinstan Rifles. [New York Times]