Editing William Westmoreland (section)

==Westmoreland versus CBS: ''The Uncounted Enemy''==
[[Mike Wallace]] interviewed Westmoreland for the [[CBS]] special ''[[The Uncounted Enemy]]: A Vietnam Deception''. The documentary, shown on 23 January 1982, and prepared largely by CBS producer [[George Crile III]], alleged that Westmoreland and others had deliberately understated [[Viet Cong]] troop strength during 1967 in order to maintain US troop morale and domestic support for the war. Westmoreland filed a lawsuit against CBS.

In ''[[Westmoreland v. CBS]]'', Westmoreland sued Wallace and CBS for [[libel]], and a lengthy legal process began. Just days before the lawsuit was to go to the jury, Westmoreland settled with CBS, and they issued a joint statement of understanding. Some contend that Judge Leval's instructions to the jury over what constituted "actual malice" to prove libel convinced Westmoreland's lawyers that he was certain to lose.<ref>{{cite book|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IsYIhP_8G4C&q=westmoreland+v+cbs&pg=PA161|title=The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War|publisher=Cornell University Press|access-date=2007-11-13|isbn = 0801482097}}</ref> Others point out that the settlement occurred after two of Westmoreland's former intelligence officers, Major General Joseph McChristian and Colonel Gains Hawkins, testified to the accuracy of the substantive allegations of the broadcast, which were that Westmoreland ordered changes in intelligence reports on Viet Cong troop strengths for political reasons. Disagreements persist about the appropriateness of some of the methods of CBS's editors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wallacemike/wallacemike.htm|title=Mike Wallace|publisher=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]|access-date=2007-11-13|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090725023707/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wallacemike/wallacemike.htm|archive-date=2009-07-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A deposition by McChristian indicates that his organization developed improved intelligence on the number of irregular Viet Cong combatants shortly before he left Vietnam on a regularly scheduled rotation. The numbers troubled Westmoreland, who feared that the press would not understand them. He did not order them changed, but instead did not include the information in reporting to Washington, which in his view was not appropriate to report.

Based on later analysis of the information from all sides, it appears clear that Westmoreland could not sustain a libel suit because CBS's principal allegation was that he had caused intelligence officers to suppress facts. Westmoreland's anger was caused by the implication of the broadcast that his intent was fraudulent and that he ordered others to lie.  The reality was complicated.  Westmoreland had made it clear to his subordinates that he preferred low estimates of enemy strength.  His chief of intelligence, Brigadier General [[Phillip Davidson]], responded by ordering his subordinates to produce low estimates, but said he believed those low estimates would in fact be valid.  The officers who acknowledged openly that the low estimates they produced were lies were at the rank of colonel and below.<ref>Colonel Gains Hawkins "Vietnam Anguish: Being Ordered to Lie," ''Washington Post'', 14 Nov. 1982, C1, C2.</ref> 

During the acrimonious trial, Mike Wallace was hospitalized for depression, and despite the legal conflict separating the two, Westmoreland and his wife sent him flowers. Wallace's memoir is generally sympathetic to Westmoreland, although he makes it clear he disagreed with him on issues surrounding the Vietnam War and the Nixon Administration's policies in Southeast Asia.