Well at least Pilger is more respectable than the previous link you put up. Ever since his involvement as a war correspondent in Vietnam though he has been extremely scathing of nearly all US foreign policies (and I agree with many of his views) but his is only an opinion piece and he is a journalist. I don't trust everything they say
If the National archives do have evidence of these overtures of peace does anyone have links to them? Would be interesting to get a translation to see exactly what they say. I don't overly trust the interpretations of a journalist who has been pretty anti US for most of his career.