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an at Ped em te wei, on . : eu cat ecemnabtelret SEEM. Ma tet mettre pee eds vn eden ad A thee ted ane to Rarer rence Te ed real wa RNR el fen eae a midi rattle RN YUE 8a — OR ene AES SE eee Teen, ea, PeSluimocore Asia and ie resi of world. “While the Johnson administration verbalizeson Me flow of aid from the North and on Hanoi's direction of the Vietcong, the fact is that the United States military is confronted with 2 continuing full-scale insurgency in the South. We are very much ai war against South Viet- nam, and the moves into the Delta are hard to fit into the existing U.S. Administration myths. All agree that the Delta has been a VC stronghold for thirty-four years, despite there being scarcely a Northerner in the place! From my search for Vietnamese opinions on how the war might be stopped, one thing emerged as paramount. ‘This was the fact that, as a leading Catholic priest said to me, “censorship of our press and the inability to dis- | cuss peace initiatives plus the suppression of even ‘neu- tralisra’ makes it impossible for ws to ind a way oul. We/ must rely on the United States for that.” A youthful Vietnamese woman active in the coopera- tive movement said, “Maybe a miracle will save us.” Throughout her whole life-she has known nothing but war, and the poignancy of her cry indicated her despair. But wars are made by man, not by God, and prayers ot followed by specific acts upon our part will not pro- Quce “miracles.” "There are stil] initiatives available td the United States. U Thant’s three steps (stop bombing in thaNorth, de-escalate in the South, and negotiate witt. 2il participating parties) taken al} together, are stil] valid. Or a leaf could be taken from Algeria, where the “provi- sional government” that was set up to run a referendum -stepped aside in favor of the new government Some ob- servers here feel that the present Constituent Assembly ~offers a chance to create some similar government, behind | ~which the United States can beat a strategic retreat. Even though the Assembly screened out “neutralist,” it seems clear that groundwork is being laid for eventual negotia- tions with the NLF. Meanwhile we chauld continue ta Svar se re eee OE SPE REELS ind up the wounds of the war and to keep pressure on our Government offi- cials to reverse the continued massive American military duild-pp and its concomitant destruction. We should push'for prompt American military withdrawal. We can- not achieve our stated objectives, however noble, by em- ploying present methods. “The tides of nationalism run . ‘strong in Southeast Asia. A policy that takes this into account can start the process of regaining our lost moral | mnocture bafare Act. aod shin ence ed -~14- aes