News In Brief

As Viet barrier, US weighed curtain of A-dust, poison gas

The United States considered building an ''iron curtain'' across South Vietnam in 1966, infusing the soil with atomic dust and mustard gas to stop Viet Cong infiltration, declassified documents show.

Another previously top-secret report said the Air Force used C-130s cargo planes to drop chemicals designed to ''destabilize'' the soil in areas of Laos across which the North Vietnamese moved supplies.

The documents were released to CBS Inc. as it prepared to defend itself against charges brought in a $120 million libel suit by retired Army Gen. William Westmoreland.