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on * 3 - mirc] Commitee, who spoke Johanson, and me gor ap ¢ of the Piocnix mis- ‘onson Clark, Ru! tly owe hours. Ti to assis: those hurt by the sted areas In South Vietnam. Quaker relief for the Fr the lib: good ’ Madame Binh’s associate, Ha Thanh Lam, the NLF representative in I'rague, ciarified 2 further reason for the Front's interest in Quaker relief. “Your activities,” he ” pointed ou, “though proceeding from good motivations, fen be used by the U.S. anc Saigon Governments to enhance the prestij¢ and the ‘pacification’ efforts of the Saigon puppet ryime.” Wherever voluntary agencies cose to establish relief operations in cooperation with Saigon, he said, thry inadvertently encourage and enable itary forces to evacuate and destroy ges and to herd people toward new “approves” adjacent to the relief facilities. The ¥ront, therefore, seks outside aid to give an aluernative to those whose villages are razed. Informed of Friends’ continuing concern that Quaker medical or relief personnel accompany our relief sup- plies, Madame Ninh explained that “the time is not Tight’—that ir was unlikely that our personnel could spezk Viernamesc, operate by flashlight in underground cczverns, keep pace with the Liberation Forces, and sur- vive on the basic «dict of the Vietnamese. Already the Front’s experience with American prisoncrs has revealed how much “special attention” foreigners require. In con- tluding, Madame Wink said gently: “I suggest you re- examine your plans.” Perhaps, she suggested, Friends could find “another way” to extend relief to her people. “We hope,” she aided, “that these words may give you some food for thought” hairrecn of the NLF delegation anc Possible Nourishment for Friends’ Peace Witness “Food for thought”? Yes, J brought back quite a bit from Bratislava. I offer these final observations for Friends’ further digestion. - First, I am convinced that the Vietnamese with whom I met value the witness of Friends as a di ion toward ending the war. They mace it clear that they welcozae the medica] supplies of American Frieads bo:h as 2 contribution to the relief of their suffering and as a confrontation with the U.S. Government's strategy of attrition. I realize that some Friends have fel: no medical 2id should be extended save on our terms, while others urge that we shift the focus of our energies to “more political” efforts to stop the war. Still others have ex- pressed concern at mixing what they perceive as our reli- gious responsibility for relief wich our political responsi- bility for protest. For myself, 1 should merely like to urge that while we continue to deliberate over what a more relevant, more radical, more Quaker action toward the war should be, we do not lose sight of the very real and" distinct witness we can make now. For if indeed it has become the national interest of these United States to; bleed the Vietnamese to death or the conference table, then surely the least we can do is to put our government on notice that Friends are in the business of giving transfusions. A Different Commanding Officer Second, while striving to maintain our unequivocal opposition to hatred, violence, and bloodshed on both sides of the war, we dare not overlook the implications of our relief work in connection with the political struggle for peace. We cannot continue to “help wherever we are permitted to help” without asking political questions— or answering our own religious queries. Every humani- tarian act we perform has political consequences. Obvi- ously, with the recently announced cuibacks in USAID funds to South Vietnam and the shift of village work _—from civilian to military command, US. voluntary relief + agencies are likely to find themselves under inerexsing