Vol. 4, No. 31 October 14, 1966
JOHNSON PREPARES HIS "PEACE" CONFERENCE
As Johnson continued to dish out his syrupy propaganda’ about how he just loves peace, the Washington warmakers methodically went ahead with their preparations for a new ani step in the. ahadinemanar ise of American aggression in Vietnam.
hansen W. Baldwin, the we 19tikh csi military expert of the ; New York Times revealed October 4 that about 75,000 more U.S. ground troops have been scheduled to be sent to Vietnam by next spring. In addition there will be "several thousand more marines. along with more Air Force squadrons and more Navy personnel. '
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According to Baldwin, "This augmentation will bring the total United States military strength on land in Vietnam to 400,000 to 425,000 in the coming year."
Other ominous steps were being taken. A meeting of the top American military command was scheduled in Hawaii. The conference, to be held at the headquarters of Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp, Commander in Chief, Pacific, will include officers from his own staff, from the staff of General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, and from the Pentagon.
Also present at the meeting will be Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. He flew to Saigon October 8 for a six-day survey of the situation there. After talking with Westmoreland and. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, McNamara will fly directly to Honolulu for the discussion on the next moves in escalating Johnson's war against the Vietnamese people.
Upon returning to Washington, McNamara will prief Johnson on his trip and the Honolulu confab, after which the president of. the U.S. will take off for a “peace" meeting in the Philippines with:an assortment of puppets and Topresentatives of satellite powers involved in the war in Vietnam:.
In a well-timed coordinating move, former President Eisenhower repeated his intimation in a September 19 television interview that the U.S. should be prepared to use nuclear weapons. At a news conference October 4 in Washington, Eisenhower was asked specifically if he would preclude the use of atomic weapons. “
"IT would not automatically preclude. anything," said the | former president. "When you appeal to foree to carry out the policies of America abroad there is no court above you."
In relation to Southeast Asia, Eisenhower said that he did
not know what restrictions the present administration may have placed on itself in the use of nuclear weapons. He then continued:
"TI would just say this -- I would do anything that would bring the war to an honorable and successful conclusion as rapidly as I could. "
Risenhower's suggestion caused fright in many. circles. Three senators -- John O. Pastore, Democrat; Gale W. McGee, another Democrat; and Jacob K. Javits, a Republican -- expressed concern and urged Johnson to avoid getting into a situation in Vietnam that would require nuclear weapons.
Pastore declared: "I. implore Lyndon B. Johnson, the President; I implore Robert S. McNamara, the Secretary.of Defense; I implore Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, and I implore the joint chiefs of staff not to maneuver the United States in Vietnam into a position where we have to use nuclear or thermonuclear weapons.
_— we do, ‘all I can ‘say is God: help us, God help us.
| The New York Times Likewise expressed worry over the course © being taken by the Johnson administration. The powerful newspaper said editorially October 7:
"Can.the United States steadily escalate the war in Vietnam, prepare for a still bigger war next year, and at the same time bring about peace negotiations with Hanoi? Peace offers with one hand; : killing, burning, defoliating, destroying, bombing with the other. The result, surely, is to cancel out each other's effectiveness."
The Times, which is against further escalation of the war but also against an American withdrawal from Vietnam, agreed with . Johnson's. propaganda: about only "fighting a limited war with ‘limited force.'" But this is in effect, saying, continued the editors, "I | won't kill you, but I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life, after which I hope you will come and join some of us around a table to talk peace."
Another warning voice was that of Foy D. Kohler, the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. He stated in Washington October 4 that in his opinion: an American blockade would be "a dangerous step" involving the risk of a military confrontation with the Soviet Union.
If an American move were made to block Soviet ships from reaching north Vietnam, he said, the Soviet Union would react | firmly. The Soviet government could not be expected to "fold in," —. as it did during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Moscow would likely contest the legality of an American blockade while at the same time attempting to continue sending supplies to Hanoi by sea.
If a different move were made, such as widespread bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, this, too, would create a "serious crisis" for the Soviet Union since it would mean casualties among Soviet technicians now present in the two cities.
Meanwhile others were joining in the cries of the war hawks .. for steps of a more definitive nature in escalating the conflict. in. Vietnan.
General Curtis E. LeMay, former Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, came out for "drastic surgery." American policy in Vietnan. at present, he argued, is to "limit casualties" and conduct an "immaculate war." "This fictional doctrine of immaculate war helped. lose Suez to the British in 1956. To a certain extent we are prac- .ticing immaculate war in Vietnam by our policy not to bomb valuable targets in North Vietnam where civilians might be hurt." If the :current devices and fiendish methods are "immaculate" it can be imagined what LeMay's dirty war would resemble.
LeMay proposes to "progressively bomb command and control centers, airfields, electrical-power installations, factories,
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major supply-storage areas, irrigation systems, principal transportation centers and harbor facilities at Haiphong." The bombing of irrigation systems would include dikes and dams that would mean the drowning of hundreds of thousands of people.
"The only way to win a war is to escalate it in one way or another above what the enemy can take," this professional butcher of human beings continued in his copyrighted article in the October 10 U.S.News & World Report. "This, of course, is the way we brought Japan to terms in 1945." SC
LeMay is quite ready to "fight a large war if necessary." The risk must be faced, he says. "We must not let ourselves be subdued by Red China's threats and blusters. If we are not prepared to escalate, that is, apply more power, then we are not prepared to win and we should get out." He thinks the risks are exaggerated. "Moreover, Red China is undergoing a. political upheaval. She reacted with surprising mildness toward our bombing of oil targets."
LeMay likewise looks impatiently at the Pentagon's stockpile of nuclear weapons. "Have we forgotten that Mao became conciliatory at Panmunjom in 1953 because President Eisenhower let him know via Prime Minister Nehru of India that we were considering the employ- ‘ment of nuclear weapons against Red China? This was a message that got through."
"Since that time," continues the influential militarist, "we have managed to scare ourselves into a catatonic state of: paralysis over the mere thought of nuclear weapons.
A war with China’ holds no terrors for: this atomaniac. If the bombing is stepped up, he argues, "is there any chance that Communist China will do more than scream at us?"
"On the outside chance that this calculated risk fails, then we must be prepared to fight Red China with a will to win. But weneed never invade with our own land forces. Air, naval and logistic support to Chiang Kai-shek on Formosa and Gen. Chung Hee Park in South Korea should provide more than enough force to bring an unstable Red China to her knees.
In the same issue of U.S.News & World Report in which this warmongering piece was printed, the screeches of another war hawk were recorded. General Chiang Ching-kuo, the. son of the dictator . who was run off the mainland seventeen years ago, called for war on his own country. "In order to solve the Vietnam problem and to safeguard U.S. security and prestige in Asia," said this hereditary puppet, "it is imperative that the Chinese Communists be destroyed. And this is the best time for us to deal them a fatal blow.
As Johnson prepared to take off for the Philippines, the chorus could be said to be performing nicely in bringing out the appropriate themes of his projected "peace" conference.
MAO'S GIFT TO THE