◆ SpookStack

fogseted Be i vee tei He a ee Dee 66 PEACE IN VIET! countries. Even if some countries should turn to Communisr their own socioeconomic revolutions, this need not threaten | imate American interests. The United States has found it pos: to get along with the Communist countries in eastern Europe thus could presumably coexist with Communist countries in So east Asia. What the United States wants to avoid is the forme of strong hostile states, particularly such states dependent 1 and aligned with China. But this is precisely what our pre military policy promotes by preventing the natural developr of national socioeconomic revolutions and forcing countries as North Vietnam into dependence on China, The fourth false premise is that if the United States ren on its commitment to the Saigon regime, American credit will be questioned in Europe as well as in Asia. This argu is the one most often raised in defense of United States pc It seems to strike at the very heart of our honor as a nation. what does this commitment actually mean? All-out commit: to the present Saigon government actually did not exist pric the Johnson Administration. It was made by that Administra albeit in terms suggesting that it was merely a logical continu: of earlier commitments made by Presidents Eisenhower Kennedy. Now the Administration insists that an unlimited A ican commitment exists and that, this being so, the credibilit the American government is at stake in any settlement in Viett Thus, although there are grounds for doubting the Admini tion’s credibility in dealing candidly with the American pe over the problem of Vietnam, the public is asked to give t served support to the government so that its credibility ab will remain untarnished. The Administration is actually trying to make credible wh not credible. It is not credible that American military power c be translated into political solutions where politically requ conditions do not exist. It is not credible that confidence coul inspired among other countries by unflagging military pursu ends, even when ‘these are unreal and inconsistent with | political and social facts. It destroys both confidence and credit when America pursues a mistaken course doggedly, regardle: the consequences, and regardless of the human suticring we in