THE REALITY OF VIETNAM
Gruening, Senator Ernest
The Reality of Vietnam by SENATOR ERNEST GRUENING Our nation is now at war—an un-declared war, to be sure—and many of our fellow citizens hold the view that it is our duty as patriotic Americans...
...So far, at least, the situation must be to the liking of the Communist rulers of China, for to date they have not committed a single soldier to this war...
...We should have invoked the offices of the United Nations at the beginning, when we felt that treaty commitments were violated...
...That to me is arrant nonsense...
...There have been numerous suggestions made and we should explore them all actively...
...In fact, the United States was largely instrumental in creating the United Nations...
...When Administration spokesmen cite the total number of nations that are allegedly with us—in a kind of numbers game —we find that they have come in late, and largely with only token assistance...
...The situation in South Vietnam is quite different...
...and make every effort for a cease-fire and simultaneous phasing-out of the combatants of both sides...
...The history of Vietnam shows conclusively its people's dislike and fear of the Chinese...
...We did not...
...But peaceful protests and freedom of speech should remain inviolate, and we should continue to urge almost any sensible solution that would put an end to the killing...
...There has been subsequent infiltration, but paralleling in intensity the degree of U.S...
...They did not want the Chinese, and I doubt whether a majority want us...
...Unless we make such modifications in our attempts at negotiation this senseless war will go on and get steadily more disastrous...
...Did we seek a solution by mediation...
...Because I strongly value adherence to law, I cannot approve the action of a few prospective draftees in burning their draft cards...
...In the November 29, 1965, issue of Newsweek there was an item in its "Periscope" column entitled "Spain Lends a Hand" which reads: "Spain is the latest country to lend a hand in Vietnam...
...Did we seek a solution by enquiry...
...But it would have been a Communist regime independent of Peking...
...What the United States should do —in sum—is to return to the rule of law...
...We did not...
...the current war is motivated largely by a desire to get rid of all foreign rule...
...Did we seek a solution by arbitration...
...It is my reasoned view that in our effort in Vietnam to stop the advance of imperialist Communism, we are actually aiding it...
...If we continue to pour troops into Southeast Asia, blast its villages from the air with bombs and napalm, and kill more tens of thousands, we may in time impose a military domination, although even that is by no means certain...
...I am confident that had the United States stayed out entirely, three independent countries would have been formed out of French Indochina, that they would have installed their own social and political ideologies, which they would have had every right to do, and that a united Vietnam would have adopted Communism as its social and economic system...
...Many of them were reluctant to do this, and in many cases their pleas went unheeded, while in others there was the same kind of token compliance which we now see...
...We should have learned that the white man cannot settle them for the Asians...
...We will be told that there are some Asians fighting on our side, as in the case of the South Koreans, but they are beholden to us...
...Furthermore, there is evidence that many non-Communists are enlisted in the civil war against the South Vietnam government...
...But even if we did, what then...
...support of South Vietnam...
...And yet there we are—a great Western power, the greatest in the world—engaging in a desperate, bitter, and horrible struggle on the continent of Asia with a small Asian nation, sacrificing the lives of our youth and spending billions of dollars...
...The Reality of Vietnam by SENATOR ERNEST GRUENING Our nation is now at war—an un-declared war, to be sure—and many of our fellow citizens hold the view that it is our duty as patriotic Americans to support the Administration, which has assumed the responsibility for our course of action in Southeast Asia, and is conducting the war...
...After much prodding from LBJ, the Franco government hopes to ship in four ambulances with medical crews...
...Article 2 of Chapter 1 provides: "1...
...When our men are dying in combat deep passions are naturally aroused, the martial spirit becomes rampant, and dissent and protest become increasingly perilous...
...These factors are not present, at least not in the same degree, in Vietnam...
...When I say we cannot "win" I do not necessarily mean that in a strict military sense...
...They are in violation of the law and must take the consequences, however one may sympathize with their feelings that we should never have been in Vietnam and that what we are doing there is morally wrong and self-defeating...
...The sad fact is that we cannot win this war...
...All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations...
...Our so-called unconditional discussions are not unconditional as long as we do not firmly pledge willingness to negotiate also with the people who are doing the fighting, the National Liberation Front, or Vietcong...
...guarantee the carrying out of the general agreements to which we once pledged support— especially supervised elections in all Vietnam—but whose violation we approved...
...In Europe, to achieve a corresponding situation in Yugoslavia, a Communist state independent of Moscow, the United States invested two billion dollars in aid for Tito, and our policymakers considered that, and now consider it, a sound and profitable investment...
...I cannot conceive that it is desirable or wise for us to throw our young men into every cockpit in the world where Communist totalitarianism rears its ugly head...
...And then we are told that after Southeast Asia the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand would fall and we would have to fight the Communists on the beaches of California...
...We did not...
...Actually the ambulances will have little significance (the helicopters do their work now) but the medics are wanted and the Spanish contingent will be welcomed as evidence of support for the United States and Saigon...
...Until recently, and only in response to great pressure from us, we had little support from our SEATO allies—none from Pakistan, none to speak of from Britain, none from France...
...It is my deep-seated belief that we made a serious mistake in getting involved in Vietnam militarily because first, in my view, nothing that happens in South Vietnam jeopardizes the security of the United States...
...The United States went in unilaterally...
...This is far from the reality in Vietnam...
...Article 33 of Chapter 6 provides: "1...
...We did not...
...It would be much better than the dark prospect of more and more slaughter which lies ahead, and which ultimately, in my judgment, will result in a solution which could have been achieved bloodlessly a few years ago...
...We have not used the United Nations as we should have...
...Now we may well ask, did we, the United States, when there were violations of the Geneva agreements, seek a solution by negotiation...
...And even if it did, there is a question whether that would justify our invading Vietnam and bombing it any more than the seizure by Stalin of the formerly independent countries surrounding Russia—Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary—-could be justified on the grounds that their control was essential to the security of the Soviet Union...
...coming from Spain...
...There was no overt initial aggression from North Vietnam at the outbreak of hostilities...
...First, in Korea there was overt aggression from North Korea...
...If a situation should arise whereby a free government such as that of Australia or New Zealand were threatened by attack and invasion by the forces of imperial Communism and there was a request from those governments for our aid, I would be for giving that aid without stint or limit...
...The United States is a signatory to the United Nations Charter...
...And why should we assume the role of self-appointed "citizen fixit," of world policeman, all over the globe...
...We did not...
...The United States is in a position to apply pressure and is, in effect, paying for these tokens...
...Did we seek a solution by conciliation...
...Nor do I subscribe to the domino theory—that had we not gone into Vietnam, the nations of Southeast Asia would have fallen into the hands of the Communist Chinese...
...We did not...
...These countries are all recipients of lavish American aid...
...Those for whom we fight should also know and value freedom and be prepared to do their share...
...If the cause is sufficiently good and urgent, an approach should always be made under the United Nations on a basis of international legality and with the support, from the beginning, of others who believe that freedom is truly at stake...
...We are now so deeply committed that a way out is extremely difficult to find...
...We did not...
...Yet it is just at such a time that speaking out is more than ever essential...
...We did not...
...They did not want the French...
...The Vietnamese want independence, and that is a cause that ought to appeal to Americans...
...This Article does not say that disputing nations may do this but that they shall do it, and lists eight alternative methods which should be used "first of all...
...Or did we seek a solution by "other peaceful means of our [their] own choice...
...When I was in South America a year ago I found that every American ambassador had received orders to go to the president of the country to which he was accredited to request support for our efforts in Vietnam...
...Did we seek a solution by judicial settlement...
...Second, the United States was there under a United Nations mandate...
...Certainly our control of the Pacific by sea and air renders that threat absurd...
...Third, the South Koreans wanted to fight...
...Sooner or later the problems of Asia will be settled by Asians, as they should be...
...It appears to me that we have little spontaneous, enthusiastic support from almost any source...
...I only wish there were a ready and quick answer to, and a way out, of the tragic dilemma in which the President, his advisers, and the people of the United States find themselves...
...I am utterly opposed to the advance of totalitarianism anywhere...
...The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, shall first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice...
...The situation is different even from that of Korea...
...Did we seek a solution by resorting to regional agencies or arrangements...
...Interference from the North did not become appreciable until our and Diem's refusal to hold elections...
Vol. 30 • February 1966 • No. 2
