WOULD YOU TELL THE VIETNAMESE TARGETS?
The December issue of Liberation magazine* carries an informative report by editor Dave Dellinger on his trip in October-November 1966 to Hanoi where he had an opportunity to tour American bombing targets and take photographs. Among other "things, Dellinger asks: Be -
"What can:one. say to a 20-year-old girl, swathea in bandages and still in a state of shock because -her mother, father, three brothers and sisters were all killed at their noonday meal when American bombers attacked the primitive agricultural village in which they lived? She herself was pulled unconscious and severely burned from the straw hut. in which the rest of the family perished."
Here's what to tell the 20-year-old girl, if we are to believe General Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported in an interview in the February 27 issue of U.S.News & World Report:
"Q Has bombing the North produced worthwhile results?
"A As you know, some critics of our bombing campaign assert that. it has. failed to produce tangible, favorable results. This is simply not true. .
"First, it has raised the morale of the South Vietnamese. For a long while, only these innocent people were paying the price of war -~ intimidation, kidnaping, and deliberate murder by the enemy. They were greatly encouraged when the aggressor. began to pay a toll, too.
"Second, che campaign has brought home to the North Vietnamese that they cannot
invade another land with impunity. Their aggression is now costing them heavily in terms of money, diverted manpower, matériel, interrupted lines of communication, and military facilities and equipment damaged or destroyed.
"Third, the bombing of North Vietnam has unquestionably reduced the flow of men and supplies to the South from what it would have been, greatly hampered the enemy's ground operations in the South, and, as a consequence, saved many American and Allied lives.
"No-one indicator is proof in itself of the success of our air campaign. But there is ample proof in the sum of several indicators, viewed now in the perspective of time."
If you would like to give the 20-year-old girl a more diplomatic answer than the one offered by the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, try this one given by his boss Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in a closed-door joint session of the Senate Armed Services committee and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee in January and made public in Washington February 20:
"I don't believe any amount of bombing, within practical limits, of North Vietnam would have substantially reduced whatever the actual infiltration was."
At another point, McNamara reportedly said:
"Undoubtedly, the bombing does limit the capability of the North Vietnamese to infiltrate men and equipment into the South. But it is not clear that the limit that results is below the level that the North Vietnamese planned on and, in any event, it is not below the level necessary to support the force in the South at the present."
As for the feelings of those selected as targets by the American génerals and their Commander in Chief Johnson, Dave Dellinger quotes the following as told him by Miss Tuyen, a peasant girl in the village of Nam Ngan, whose two brothers, one eight and one three, had been killed less than a month before she was interviewed:
"When the planes come bombing and strafing our native land we feel a great indignation. We are making every effort to shoot them down, in order to avenge our young people who have been cut down by the American aggressors....What would young Americans think if they were living peacefully and suddenly another country came and started killing them? For this reason, in spite of the planes all over the skies, we do not fear
* The issue was delayed, going to press January 24. For a copy send $.75 to Liberation, 5 Beekman St., New York, N.Y. 10038.
them...When I was carrying ammunition a bomb:exploded near me and covered me with dirt but I struggled free in order to continue fighting. We only have rifles in the ground forces but we are making every effort to bring down the planes. Since August 5, 1964, we have participated in more than a hundred battles (I can't remember the exact number), but we are still firm in the battle.
"At night when the planes come, I volunteer to cook rice. I reach every difficult place to serve the soldiers. During the day I go to the fields and gather vegetables for the army. They come, we open fire; they go, we continue picking vegetables....Bombing is continuous but we never feel tired....It is very clear that the young people in my village are ready to sacrifice their lives if necessary to defend our independence. The struggle may last for years, but we realize that we will win.
"During the resistance against the French colonialists, when we won our independence, one of my brothers lost his life. He was 18 at the time. Now the Americans have come, massacring the people in our village. That has fanned our hatred. We know that the American aggressors may commit more crimes against our village, but we have no alternative but to stand firm.
"Recently, as I told you, my aunt and my two younger brothers were killed and I can't help feeling a great hatred. I am determined to avenge this blood debt....We know that our battle is very difficult but we can see our victory ahead.
"It's hard to find the words to tell you all our experiences but I realize that you can see much for yourself. On your return I hope that you can help the American people to understand the truth and if you don't mind, I send my regards both to the peace movement in your country and also to your wife and to my brothers and sisters in your family. As for me I have no alternative but to go on fighting. When one day our country is reunited in freedom, I hope to greet you in our village on your way to Saigon.'
IN