Vol.” 5, No, “ee June 11, 1965
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JOHNSON GIVES THE GREEN LIGHT TO HIS GENERALS
On June 8 the American people were informed by Robert J, McCloskey, press officer of the U.S.State Department, that they were in a shooting war on the Asian mainland. It was not exactly news, since the whole world has known it for some time and the protests have been growing in volume and energy, including protests from wide sectors of the American people.
This, however, marks the end of the series of lying pretenses about American troops being in Vietnam solely as “advisers,” as offering "logistic" support, as only, , defending" themselves from "attack," as only engaging in' 'reprisalss" McCloskey revealed that orders have been sent to the American commanders in Saigon that “American forces would be available for combat support together with Vietnamese forces as and when necessary."
This means that Johnson has increased the escalation by one more rung on the ladder leading to nuclear conflict. The step is an important one because it means the deployment of American forces on their own in the battle areas. They:can now openly take the offensive. Johnson has crossed the threshold in his plan to convert the American intervention in the Vietnamese civil war into another Korea.
In the United States, the step can be expected to arouse a fresh wave of apprehension and dismay. Protests are bound to rise, Johnson, lixe Truman before him, has taken it upon himself to plunge the country into a dirty colonial war without consulting the people, without consulting congress, without even bothering to notify the American public, without UN cover, without Allied backing except for verbal assurances of such figures as Wilson and Erhard,
Some 51,000 American troops are now in Vietnam, with thousands more on the way. Within a few weeks it is expected that the figure will be between 75,000 and 100,000. Estimates on the eventual number range between 250,000 to 500,000. A question now under discussion in military circles is whether this large number of troops will not require mobilization of the United States and putting the country on a war footing.
On the other side, the policy of the Chinese, the big target
aimed at by Johnson, is difficult to understand. In an interview in the Cairo Al Mussawar June 3, Chou En-lai issued the soothing assurance that the war in Vietnam would not lead to a world war. This flies in the face of the judgment of experts in all other countries, including those in the Pentagon.
Chou also implied that the Chinese government would not ask the Soviet Union for help even if the U.S. should attack China,
om Dae
He did modify these statements, however, by saying that if necessary China would enter a war "in accordance with the treaties" between China and the Soviet Union and would enter a war “on the side of the Soviet Union."
- Since February 7, when Johnson began bombing north Vietnam, the Chinese as well as the Soviet leaders have held back on mobilizing:a powerful united resistance on a world scale against the American aggression. For months even material aid seemed to be reaching the Vietnamese freedom fighters in only limited quantities. The effect of this was to give an impression of letting things drift and failing to give the Vietnamese effective backing.
The main result has been to give the Johnson administration the feeling that it can act with impunity. Thus instead of considering the need to withdraw from an untenable position, the Pentagon has continued the build up. The difficulty of ousting the American troops as they become deeply entrenched rises accordingly and with it the danger of the conflict ending in a nuclear disaster.
At the same time the cost to the Vietnamese people in blood and suffering and destruction of their country is also rising. They are the ones who must pay most directly as a result of the steady build up in American troops.