http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08sun3.html?ref=opinionBecause of a cover-up, cowardice and scapegoating in the Nixon White House, editorials on this page in the early 1970s misstated the role of an Air Force general in a series of bombing raids of North Vietnam.
The general, John D. Lavelle, commander of the Seventh Air Force, acted with direct authorization from President Nixon when he ordered more than 20 airstrikes against North Vietnamese antiaircraft missile sites between November 1971 and March 1972. As General Lavelle insisted then, he was not a rogue officer waging his own “massive, private air war.” He did not willfully violate rules of engagement, nor did he authorize flight crews to file false reports.
This correction was delayed because Mr. Nixon; his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger; and top cabinet and Pentagon officials never revealed evidence that would have exonerated General Lavelle. The truth lay hidden for nearly 40 years in the squalid thickets of the Nixon tapes. Researchers brought the facts to light in 2007, leading to revised accounts of the case, explained in a Defense Department announcement last week.
... General Lavelle died in 1979, having always said he acted on orders. His widow, Mary Jo, 91, and their seven children learned last year that the Air Force had granted their request to have General Lavelle’s military records cleared. It is now up to the Senate to posthumously restore his four-star rank, which President Obama asked it to do on Wednesday.
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