◆ SpookStack

ab ee ee em Ae etme ae Loder cy he eh gee remedeiiie aeernebe ode are bert eet er ‘ . Lo e ae . 4j ee yp aw 90 etry oe eee le The financial stake which the leaders of the South Vietnamese Government have - in the war is fabulous. Through graft and influence peddling they have access to American dollars beyond their dreams under the French. And the entire golden stream would be cut off if the war ended. They cannot afford peace. And they are the ones we are fighting for. - oe - This situation can be changed only by radical action by the United States. This should follow along the following Jines: 1. The United States should publicly acknowledge the failure of a basically = - military response to the essentially economic and political problems in Vietnam. It should declare its decision to initiate clearly stated and swiftly phased military de-escalation and withdrawal. This would include cessation of bomb- ing, of search and destroy missions, of free fire zones, ete., but it would go much further and would be within the context of a total plan for withdrawal which would not be contingent upon political choices made by the Vietnamese. 2. The United States should withdraw its financial support from the Saigon regime because of the graft, corruption, and war-focused character of that regime's leaders and top officials. 3. The United States should release from all of the South Vietnamese jails the political prisoners which are being held there, and it should -strictly refrain from giving any support to governmental efforts to suppress the freedom of any Vietnamese to engage in peaceful political discussion, debate, and public demor- etrations, Where police or other armed units use U.S. arms to suppress such acti-. wities the U.S. forces should disarm then. 4, The United States should organize emergency direct food and shelter aid programs for peopie in need during the interim period of new political activity which these measures would generate, during which the Vietnamese them- selves would be deciding how long Thieu and Ky would remain in power and who should take their place. s. “The United States should negotiate with whatever powers continue or emerge in Vietnam during this period on the following matters: —&. The complete withdrawal of U.S. armed forces. +b. How and in what forms: and quantities U.S. resources might be made @vailable for the rebuilding of Vietnan, ©. What safeguards might be provided for the safety of Vietnamese who have : been identified with the U.S. military intervention. This should in- elude but not be confined to enabling some to emigrate. But the basic . wffort should be to encourage talks among the Vietnamese themselves which would take into account the new situation and plan for the future, leav-. ° ing behind the tragic pasc. -_ If such a course were to be pursued it would involve many perplexing difficulties, many inequities, many cruelties and brutalities, and many compromises with what we as Americans like to think are our basic principles. I am convinced that the diffi- culties, the inequities, the cruelties and brutalities, and ‘the compromises of our - 1: -_ . ; + ~&~— .