"The fact of the matter is, that when push came to shove in that courtroom under oath, it turned out that every fact in that broadcast was accurate."

"If we don't have the opportunity, the right, to criticize government without the fear of invasive and disabling libel suits, then where are we?"

"I think the memo [from the producer of the documentary] was, 'Now all we have to do is break Westmoreland and we have the whole thing aced.' Well, the moral of that story is, don't send memos."

"I have compassion for the man and understanding of the man now. The two of us became partners in misery in that courtroom."

CBS News investigative reporter, Mike Wallace, master of the confrontational interview, was forced to go on the defensive for a change when one of his broadcasts became the subject of a $120 million libel suit.

William C. Westmoreland, the former commander of U.S. ground forces in Vietnam, accused Wallace and CBS of reckless and malicious reporting in a 1982 documentary. "The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception." The documentary charged that Westmoreland deliberately falsified enemy troop estimates to convince Washington that enemy forces were weaker than they actually were.

The case went to trial last fall in a New York federal courtroom, and five months of testimony ensued. In the dosing days of the network's defense, two of the general's closest aides testified for CBS.

But one week before the dispute was scheduled to go to the jury. Westmoreland abruptly dropped all charges, and Wallace--who interrogates interview subjects like a prosecuting attorney--escaped cross-examination.

Last Thursday, the 66-year-old veteran of the popular "60 Minutes" new, program claimed vindication. Wallace, who was in Cambridge to give a speech at the Law School, forcefully defended the controversial broadcast.

In a 45-minute interview with Crimson editor David S. Hilzemath. Wallace called on the media to resist being intimidated by the threat of libel suits. Escerpts from that interview fellow.

To begin with the Westmoreland trial, coming amid a series of celebrated libel suits, what lasting impact--if any--do you think it will have on the media? Do you think the threat of similar multi-million dollar law suits will inhibit other news organizations in their reporting?

No. I don't I thing that it might have the beneficial effect of making its even more careful than we have been. AsGen Westmoreland acknowledged, in effect, when he withdrew his suit, we didn't have to retract a word of that broadcast. Which would seem to indicate that if was accurate, and that he and his attorneys understood that.

If it does chill us, we're damn fools.

On "60 Minutes" over a period of the last 17 years, libel suits have been threatened about 150 times. Libel actions, frivolous or otherwise, have been brought 100 times. Very few have gone to court, and we have never lost one.

A libel suit simply comes with the territory from time to time. You've got to understand that and go ahead and do your job.