Page 20 - TheGoldBug1969-70

PAGE 4 THE GOLD BUG OCTOBER 24.1969 We have betrayed the Vietnamese people ... Cathy by Richard N. Anderson McCullough The major lesson 'Vietnam has taught is that the U. S. of str-ength-s-popular support. It is a myth to assume that has little or no empathy for different cultures. Despite our we can't or the South Vietnamese can't win over the North long and deep involvement In Vietnam, we still know reta- Vietnam supported V.C. because of massive Soviet and Program tlvely little about the ccuntr-y.jne people, orthe war. Pur - Chinese material ald. It Is of course true that Hanoi has thermore, there are many Indications that we don't even been receiving Sino-Soviet aid since 1954, but this has care about what happens to the Vietnamese people. How consisted only ot advisers, technicians, and mater-tat-e- Chairman can we claim to be helpIng the Vietnamese when a unified all In much smaller quantities than U.S. aid of these ele- Vietnam Is essential for rapid economic progress and ments. And at no time has there been any evidence of peace, and we have all along been aiming for a divided ChInese or Russian troops. country. If we admit, then, thatimmediatewithdrawalwlll result Our lack ot touch with the Vietnamese is a national ultimately In a United CommunistVletnam, would this pose syndrome, and was refiected here on this campus even by as an unacceptable danger to U. S. security? Although the the panel oI Vietnam "experts." The main feature of the U. S. Government Consensus always answered this Moratorium debate was the lack of facts, shallow uncer- question with an unqualified yes, It is probable that the corrupt to defeat the N.L.F. militarily. If tnnrteen years standings, and fabricated theories which made the debate a truth lies In a qualified no. It has long been thought In this we haven't freed the Vietnamese people from the colonial dull sophomoric spectacle. country that Red China can and wants to dominate all of tradition of opp'ression, venality, and feudalistic poverty southeast Asia, and thereby extend the Communist world through an anti-Communist government, then we would revolution. The analogy of RUSSian aggression in Europe hardly be betraying that aim by leaving now; we is often used, and that th'e u.s, policy of containment in tbat : aim long ago, and unless we take our propaganda as possible. "There are South Vietnam Is also analogous to the U. S. containment and sertousty, we might as well leave as qutckty anti-colonial strongly disagree, policy in Europe. Many observers As it stands now, "Among the leadersofthe two ways to one, David P. Mozingo, a member of the Department of movement, only the Communists Insisted on a complete of the elite toward the attitude Government change in the traditional at Cornell University writes: get out of The position of the Chinese state In Asia is not com- people." (Joseph Buttlnger, Vietnam' A Dragon Embattled parable to that ofthe U.S. in theWestern Hemisphere or Vol. II quoted In Vietnam and American Foreign Policy to Russia's position in Eastern Europe. In addition to the ed, By John R. Boettlger, D. C. Heath and Co. Boston Vietnam, ..." U,S" Peklng confronts, tn Russia, Japan, Indta-Pakf s- cI968.) tan, and Indonesia, large powers which Irrespective of The Moratorium-con October 15-- and the continuing -Kaufman their political order, have reason to oppose mainland Moriatorlum effort should make it clear to President China'S hegemony In Asia, Russia's and Japan's inter- Nixon that the American people recognize that American ests are very different from China's and the power complex developing In both these countries would act Because of the nature of our; position In , as a major curb on ChInese ,expansion In the most The .March arguments should hinge on the real desires of the vtet- decisive theater, Northeast Asia, even in the unlikely namese people, and during the debate most of the argu- event Q1 a total withdr-awal or American Power. The, (Continued from page I) ments did. However the sad fact that both sides claimed departure ot the U.S. from Asia would no doubt gratify gested on Monday, October 20,thatprotestsbedlrected to to be speaking for the choice of the Vietnamese people, Peking, but it would not clear the path for Chinese the North Vietnamese for their refusal to stt down and talk. beUed the sadder fact that no one presented creonue hegemony. The. plain fact is that Asian communism's Cathy McCullough, program coordinator fortheMorat- evidence one way or the other. This Is not entirely the greatest asset is not, and never has been, Communist or-tum, read letters from Joan aeea's aunUnthe singer's fault of the people on the panels as such evidence may not China's potentIal military threat or her support of re- behalf and from Senator Fulbright. Baezexpressedher re- exist one way or the other. It is difficult for a people to volution _.Monzlngo··"Confliinment in Asia aecon- grets for not being able to participate in the rally. She is express their desires when they are not allowed to vote, steered;" World Politics, April 1967, pp. 361-377. currently resting alter a hard road tour. Fulbright said, or when they are given only the choice between communist Although the U.S. has little to fear from Red Chinese has been nine months since the President took crnce, the dictatorship and traditional dictatorshlp- -netther ofwh\ch communism, it is more than likely that the U.S. would normal period of gestation for humans to bring forth they really want. It should be obvious that what the vtet- have to settle [or less direct influence, which means that their issue. No one expected a mu-acje, but many of us did . namese people reallywantwUl be best declded by the vtet- the independent Southeast Asian countries may not conform expect the President to make progress in de ltver-Ing on his namese, U this means conf1ictamongthemselves, then this to idealized U,S. hopes of a democratic future, and they campaign promise to give birth to nts plan to end the must follow its course. We should not want to Interfere may not develop into staunch American antes. war." , through milltary intervention as this subverts the vtet- Jerry Hopple, organizer for the Mcr ator tumj expl alned namese struggle to make their own choices In buUdlng I believe that U U. S. security were truly threatened, before the other speeches began that the rally was to be their own nation, and years of vain attempts show that we then U. S. invoivementlnourownlnterestwould be neces- peaceful; that during the march there was to be no noise. really haven't the power to tnterrere militarily. sary since this would mean that we would be struggling The march was silent. Although the conflict in Vietnam should have been al- tor our survival; however, this is not the case, and the Before the rally In front of the Chapel there had been lowed to be resolved-by the Vietnamese, it wasn't, and first point can be rejected. a panel dIscussion In the Decker auditorium. the fact of our involvement cannot now be ignored. The The second point departs from the callous self-interest Jim Rimmer, speaking for the anti-Moratorium side, inertia of our large troop commitment, and the addict- of the lirst point, and therefore appears to be an.accept- said, "The implication ot all these things (the Improve- like dependence of the South Vietnamese state on large able goal worthy of America. If In fact this was our goal ments that the U. S. has made In Vietnam) Is that we have doses of American troops make the Moratorium theme in VIetnam, then we would have achieved a settlement long a moral obligation to stay-s-even risking life. We have of immed1ate withdrawal seem impossible to many people. ago, and with the support of the AmerIcan people. The taken over the destiny of these people, right or wrong, By an examination ofjhe issues, I hope to show that Im- fact of the matter is that we have betrayed the Vietnamese moral or Immoral. Because we did this we can't just ~ed1ate withdrawal of U. S. troops is not only PoSSible, people by not betraying the South Vietnamese government. pull out." but necessary for the resolution ot the conflict and wIll Bob Chapman, a Vietnam veteran, talked about the U.S • result in the best chance for a Vietnam government :iccept~ • •• Asian communism's greatest asset •.• has commlttment and about the nature of the war in Vietnam. able to the Vietnamese people, providing that the damage been and continues to be, prImarily the existence of Chapman said, "I feel that Ilwe pullout we would be open- we have done the Vletnameseant1-communistnaUonalists incompetence and corruption and the lack of a genuine, ing ourselves to a bloodbath." He felt the Asian countries is no.t irreparable. socially progressive, nation-building ethic within the would loose all respect {or the U.s. ifwe pull out now and There are two possIbly valid reasons whywe might op- non-Communist eute In every country where commun- argued that we should g1vethe Vletname~e time to develop pose a quick withdrawal of U.s. troops at this point: ism has made serious advances. their own strong government. 1. U. S. troops are preventing all of Vietnam trom fall- Conversely, the most eltectlve deterrent to Communist Chapman also expressed the view that the present draft ing. into communist hands whlclt 1II0uldpose an unaccept- gains has proved to be the existence of a non-Comm- system was unfair an'd s"'"rgested"ratherthansltUngback able threat to u. S. security and the security of our Asian unist elite dedicated to solving its country's problems and throwing rocks at the draft board, verbal rocks, we ames. - and therefore capable of holding the loyalty of Its own should make some concrete suggestions." 2. U. S. troops are necessary to prevent the su('essIul people. North Vietnamese invasion of the South, and tte betrayal AmerIcan military power and aid, in themselves, have of the South Vietnamese government which would mean the not proved adequate to find, to buHd, or to replace a betrayal of our promise to help the Vietnamese pe"P"; dedicated, hardworking, non-Communist eUte. --Mo- 11ve tn peace and under democratic government. zingo-- I might point out that both of these events would neces- Unfortunately, tbe role of the U.S. in Vietnam has been sarily occur only if we admit from the begbmlng that the In exact opposition to John F. Kennedy's 1956 statement South Vietnamese ItOvernment Is less popular and there- "What we must offer (the Vietnamese people) is a revolu- fore less powerful than the North. This may be very true tlon--a political, economic, and social revolutlonfar sup- now, but tr U·is true, It \s because the non-Communist erior to anything the Communists can ....offer--tar more ellte governments of South Vietnam bave been the basic peaceful, far more democratic, and far more locally con- sources ot Internal discord through their fa11ure to In- trolled." We have consistently supported military dic- stitute even a minimum of political freedom, and land re- tatorships from Diem to Thieu which despite their auth- form __ just two of many ignored policies which could oritarian nature were too conservative to dealelCectlvely alone have robbed the communists of their true sourc~ tlth the country's economic and social problems, andioo