After CNN and TIME ran stories saying the U.S. military had killed American defectors and had used deadly sarin nerve gas during a commando mission in Laos in 1970, the Pentagon began combing its Vietnam archives to confirm--or refute--the report. Last Tuesday, after a six-week investigation, Defense Secretary William Cohen released a report declaring that the military could find "absolutely no evidence" for either of the allegations.
The Pentagon concluded that the key goal of the once secret Operation Tailwind mission was to divert enemy attention from a CIA operation inside Laos. The Pentagon said planning for the operation never mentioned...