News stories from Saturday December 4, 1971

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

Indian officials said today in New Delhi that Indian troops were beginning a major offensive to overrun East Pakistan and were at the same time trying to contain two large ground attacks from West Pakistan. India seemed close to achieving air superiority over East Pakistan, the conquest of which is her top priority in the day-old war.Pakistan said that a reported Indian thrust into West Pakistan had been halted and that Pakistani forces had seized "significant territory" in the Sialkot sector of India, near the Kashmiri border. Pakistani planes were said to be raiding 11 Indian air bases and other targets, while Indian planes were reported to have bombed Karachi. In Washington, a high State Department official said that "India bears the major responsibility" for the hostilities but added that "the beginning of the crisis can fairly be said to be the use of force by Pakistan." The official asserted that Indian policy had systematically "led to the perpetuation of the crisis, a deepening of the crisis." [New York Times] In the largest recall in history, General Motors announced that it would correct at its own expense a defect involving the motor mounts in 6.7 million 1965 to 1969 Chevrolet cars and trucks. Although the company agreed to recall the vehicles, it continued to dispute the assertions of federal officials and safety critics that the problem is a major safety defect. [New York Times] Rep. Wilbur Mills, in New York, said he saw no way of getting into the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries and no way the nomination could be won without entering primaries. The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he would run for re-election to the House and preferred that to the vice-presidency. [New York Times] President Pompidou of France and Chancellor Willy Brandy of West Germany agreed to coordinate their currency policies in meetings with President Nixon later this month and to promote efforts to set up a currency union within the Common Market over the next decade. The two leaders have been meeting in Paris. [New York Times] A study for the General Accounting Office was said to have concluded that American and South Vietnamese bombing in Cambodia was contributing substantially to Cambodia's refugee problem. The study, prepared at the request of Senator Edward Kennedy and in its final drafting stage, was reported to say that more than two million Cambodians had been driven from their homes since the middle of 1970. [New York Times]