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The President refused to see any kind of rebuke in the Senate's approval of the Cooper-Church amendment. Indeed, the language of the amendment had been muddied by modifications added in order to make its legal impact dubious even if it is accepted by a House-Senate conference committee, which must act on it next. Passed by an easy 58-to-37 margin, the amendment tries to tie the President's hands so as to avoid any repetition of a Cambodia venture by denying him the use of federal funds to 1) retain U.S. forces in Cambodia, 2) send military advisers and instructors there, 3) provide direct air support of Cambodian troops, or 4) hire anyone to "engage in any combat activity in support of Cambodian forces."
Peace Must Come. The most substantive news in all of the President's words was that the Administration now intends to place new emphasis upon the use of diplomatic rather than military leverage to end the war. As the President stated the situation: "There is no military solution to this conflict. Sooner or later, peace must come. It can come now, through a negotiated settlement that is fair to both sides and humiliates neither. Or it can come months or years from now, with both sides having paid the further price of protracted struggle." There perhaps could be no better man to carpenter such a settlement than Ambassador Bruce.