Page 35 - Contrast1967November

is right. However, there appears to be a growing
feeling of suspicion about the purpose and wisdom
of the war as indicated by the responses made to a
question asked in a recent national poll. "Do
you think bombing of North Vietnam should be
stopped immediately?" Forty percent of the
people responded in the affirmative. Such polls
are never conclusive, but they might be indicative
of the shift in attitude taking place in the mind
of John Q. Citizen.

The invisibility of the Viet Cong is the
rationale for the bombing of civilian targets and

the indiscriminate killing of villagers. But

Senator Eugene McCarthy recalls that in World War
II we denounced civilian bombing when it was first
initiated and expressed reservation about the use
of fire bombs. "Our use of the atomic bomb was
of another order, and raises many questions not yet
answered .••Civilian bombing and the use of napalm
in this theatre of war are much more difficult to
defend than they were when we bombed civilians in
retaliation or as incidents to our seeking out
military targets in World War II and used napalm as
a sophisticated weapon against an enemy using
sophisticated weapons."

My understanding of America is that it has a
tradition of humaneness, of sensitivity to the
helpless, an orientation toward peace, a respect
for treaties, and fairness in the conduct of war.
How odd that we find ourselves being classed
with other powerful conscience-less nations of the
recent past. Russia, and so far China, have come
out of Vietnam smelling like roses and we may be
irrevocably staining our reputation among the
world's peoples--and a good reputation is no mean
international political asset in a world that is
becoming smaller and smaller.

David Stickney, an Illinois hospital official
Who has been directing a refugee program in South
Vietnam reports that "casualties among civilians
are exceeding military casualties several times to
one." Another doctor just back from Vietnam says
that civilians are not being cared for the way we
are told. It is obvious that military hospitals
would receive the first and best medical aid and
thus civilian hospitals are incredibly overcrowded
and understaffed. As one of the doctors said, "We
should over-treat in the South if we are going to
over-kill in the North."

Some people aver that "War is war". But a
truism such as this is no carte blanche for
civilian and/or military authorities in the U.S.
to use indiscriminate and inexcusable means to
kill.