WANTS TO "NEGOTIATE" IN VIETNAM
Iyndon Johnson has proclaimed his readiness to meet with anyone, any time, anywhere to negotiate peace in Vietnan. The president's demagogy was exposed January 16 on the eve of his annual "State of the Union" message.
Mai Van Bo, North Vietnam's chief representative in Europe announced in an interview in Paris that negotiations could begin after the U.S. declared an unconditional halt to the bombing of his country. Bo said initial meetings could set the agenda and determine the level of further negotiations.
Johnson replied the next day before the television cameras in the hails of Congress. He backed hastily away from his former promises, hedging any bombing halt with a series of conditions designed to block negotiations.
He cynically declared that in the event of a U.S. bombing halt, "the other side must not take advantage of our restraint as they have in the past." What he is demanding, of course, is that the North Vietnamese desert and betray their countrymen fighting in the south against the U.S. invaders and their puppets. In short he demands abject surrender.
To make his rejection of any meeting with the Vietnamese even more unequivocal the president dropped his so-called San Antonio formula which had hinted that the U.S. would not demand any ransom in exchange for stopping the barbarous bombing of North Vietnam.
Johnson also demanded guarantees in advance that any talks would be "productive," although he carefully avoided spelling out what he meant by that word.
On January 18 the Vietnamese answered Johnson's sophistries through the North Vietnamese Consul General in Rangoon.
Le Tung Song declared that "If U.S.-North Vietnamese talks are to be productive it is necessary that the United States cease aggression against Vietnam. If the United States claims the talks must be productive, it is necessary further that the United States will guarantee withdrawal of United States troops from South Vietnam."