◆ SpookStack

a CAN WE WITHDRAW? q@ two By Howard Zim QQ a Withdrawal can ™ake place gracefully, even “provdl y, with the United States explaining to the world that we don't have to withdraw,.but we choose to do so, voluntarily, because we think that would be in the best interests of the people of the United States and the people of Vietnam. : In my book, Vietwam: The logic of Withdrawal, .I have written a speech for LBJ-to ‘deliver over national television, explaining. to the American people why we should withdraw. Here I can only briefly answer somie of the common objections to this ‘proposal: 1. Don!t ‘we have a commitmer “to defend Vietnam against ageres sion? Yes. But Vietnam is not thé victim of an attack from outside, This is why the analogy with Czechoslovakia and the: Munich Pact is false: Germany at that time was trying to take over another country; the Viet Cong.today are trying to take over their owm country.. ‘What we have hére is a popular revolution that started inside South Vietnam, against the dictatorship of Diem. The United States, ‘just as it had helped the French in their.war to keep control. of Vietnam, supported Diem, and then Ky, in fighting the rebellion. None -of the regimes we supported has. been popular in Vietnam; that is why the American Army has had to take over the war. North Vietnam has never supvlied more than a ‘small fraction of the.manpower for this rebellion; 80% to 90% off’ the Viet Cong are South Vietnamese peasants: Wh the North. Vietnamese sent their first battalion (400 men) into the South to join’ . 140,000 South Vietnamese rebels, the United States already ‘had 35,000. soldiers in Vietnam.- When.Hanoi had 14,000 soldiers in the South (still less than 10% of the rebels) the United States had 170,000 soldiers there, according to (Majority Leader) Mansfield's. report to the U.S. Senate. The "other side" consists of South Vietnamese whose main interest is nationalism, not communism; fighting to subdue them is a force largely American. To most Vietnamese, Americans -have replaced | the French as:an occupying power in their: country. -. Wouldn't.we feel: the.same resé: ment if we were in tleir position,? . ' Lo tee a ; 2. But aren't the Viet Cong Corimuni sts? . Undoubtedly many of the leaders” are. But most are ordinary Vietnamese peasants who. will follow anyone's lead -=— Communist. or not -- against. a regime controlled by wealthy landlords and supported by foreign soldiers... Remember, these Communists on the other side are Vietnamese Communists ~~ not Russian or Chinese or any other kind. They are fighting in — their own country, and with a good deal of popular support. A recent scholarly. study by a U.S. Information Agency man in Vietnam describe the Viet Cong as the most effective grass roots otganization in Vietnamese history Must we not recognize that in some areas of the world, at ceftain times, a Communi led movement may be more popular than the people we are trying to keep in power? And if this is'’so, do we. have the right to impose there a government the people don't want because we prefer an anti-communist government? Why cannot we-get along with a Communist’ government in Vietnam, just as we are” beginning to get &lor with Poland, Yugoslavia, and even Soviet Russia. 3. But if Vietnam goes Communist, will this not lead to the victory of of communists in the rest of Southeast Asia, and in other parts of the world? This argument is based on a misunderstanding of Communist ideology, and a mis~ reading of history. Marxist theory asserts that it is the-internal and social and economic conditions that wiil produce in any country a Communist revolution, that it cannot be exported by arms from one -country to.another, (This does not rule out the idea of helping a domestic revolution, but this is common to all revolutionary situations; in the American Revolution for instance, the colonists received heavy aid from the French.) Communism came to Russia, to China, to Yugoslavia, to Cuba because of internal grievances, not from the outside. This suggests that the best way to prevent communism from spreading is to help people in various parts of the world build stable, free, democratic Societies, and where we fail to do this, military forces will not help. ‘In FACT, there is not any better way to guarentee the growth of communism tian to create war conditions in unstable countries. -Look how ‘the. Viet Cong has - grown from a force of 60,000 to a force of 260,000 just. since we escalated the war in Vietnam. Look how Communist guerrilla activity. in Thailand has grown