World Vignettes — JFK’s death is Vietnam’s loss

WASHINGTON: President John F Kennedy may have stopped the Vietnam war if he had not been assassinated, according to a declassified Government document. The document on plans for a withdrawal of troops was among 800 pages of `Joint chiefs of staff records’ made public on Wednesday, in which General Maxwell Taylor, then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, had mentioned, “all planning will be directed towards preparing RVN (South Vietnamese) forces for the withdrawal of all US special assistance units and personnel by the end of calendar year 1965”.

General Taylor’s memo is dated October 4, 1963. However, less than a month after Kennedy’s assassination, his successor President Lyndon B Johnson, instead of carrying out Kennedy’s wishes, ordered his commanders to plan for “increased activity” against North Vietnam.

Fatty goodness

CHICAGO: Adding a rich dollop of confusion to the question of what’s good for you, a new study found that the more saturated fat men eat, the less likely they are to suffer a stroke. The publication of the study in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association raised protest from health experts who have been teaching Americans to eat less fat, not more. The study’s lead author said the findings are preliminary and people should continue to limit dietary fats.