ONGANIA FLIPS WIG
In an intensive drive against the flower people, the Ongania dictatorship picked up one of Argentina's outstanding painters, Ernesto Deira, who wears his hair like the Paris artists of the past century. The police whacked it off, tell-
torship on January 20. Vial was obvious-
ly suspicious. Besides being French, he
is young, a student of philosophy, and
wears a beard. He is reported to have
gone on a hunger strike to protest his
illegal imprisonment.
OVER LONG HAIR
ing him, “It's for your own good because
you are one of the glories of the nation
that must be protected." A police psy-
chiatrist explained: "The hippies are a
social cancer and the police are the
hatchet to extirpate it."
VINH LONG, MY THO, AND HUE
The liberal Washington columnist, Clayton Fritchey, pointing to the heavy toll among Vietnamese civilians resulting from American tactics in fighting against the National Liberation Front, noted in his column of February 16:
"Ambassador Robert Komer, the U.S. pacification chief in Vietnam, personally inspected what was left of Vinh Long, another provincial capital, after a series of air strikes which demolished much of the town, leaving 14,000 homeless and 2,000 dead and wounded. 'It was militarily justified,' said Komer, and ‘it could have been a lot worse.'
"Viet Cong invaders hid in the residential sector of My Tho, a lovely seaside city of 80,000, but they were blasted out by U.S. bombing which, in the process, destroyed the homes of half the population. It was the same story in Can Tho. In the old, imperial city of Hue, the New York Times reported, the U.S. artillery ‘blasted away at brick and mortar walls and reduced homes to rubble in this city of 145,000.' A Marine major said, ‘It's the only way to get them, unless you want to risk losing half a platoon to get one sniper.'"
An AP dispatch in the February 14 Paris daily Le Monde described the fighting in Hue. Here are some excerpts:
“After two weeks of exceptionally violent fighting, the Summer Palace on the outskirts of the imperial city, which had stood for two centuries against inclement weather, is no more than shattered ruins. Stone statues have been smashed to bits and bodies float in the ornamental pools of the imperial lawns.
"Bunkers have been dug into the flagstones of the vast courts and machineguns mounted in the throne rooms and temples where once only princes of the blood were allowed to enter.
"Gunfire crisscrosses the great royal flower beds around the entry ways to the forbidden quarters of the Pavilion of Contemplation, the royal carriage houses and the Pavilion of the Eunuchs.
"On the southern bank of the Perfume River, large numbers of American troops have cleared out the new city, in particular the residential sections and the commercial district up toa canal. On the opposite bank of the canal, North Vietnamese troops are firmly dug in.
"Thousands of refugees -- men, women, and children -- are camping in the lecture halls and corridors of the Uni-
versity of Hue. Filth is piling up. The
absence of organization is virtually
total....
"An American pacification team
headed by Mr. H.L.Koren arrived Monday.
According to Koren, the problems of pub-
lic health and looting are the most
urgent. Doctors, nurses and equipment
are being awaited. 'But the real task
before us,' he said ‘is to regain the
confidence of the population and show it
that the government is able to guarantee
their safety.' He added: ‘Hue has become
a symbol. It is the Berlin of Vietnam.'"
Another AP dispatch in Le Monde of
February 15 gives additional details:
"No city in the Far East has been
so ravaged since the fighting in Seoul
during the Korean War ~~ although the
destruction is less than in Seoul, which
was completely destroyed. Virtually no
buildings have escaped damage in Hue.
Most of them, torn by mortar shells and
pockmarked by bullets, could be repaired
in a few weeks. But vast districts of
this beautiful city, the storehouse of
the country's ancient glories, will have
to be razed outright....
"Burials have already begun at the
University of Hue, where 8,000 have found
refuge. A makeshift cemetery already holds
thirty dead. Most of the victims were
killed by mortar fire, but two perished
from cholera on Monday, and other cases
of the disease are feared.
"There are bodies rotting all over
the city. Some are in civilian clothing,
others are North Vietnamese in uniforn,
local policemen, functionaries, or simply
unidentifiable. Many have been rotting
for two weeks. The stench would be un-
bearable were it not for the cold weather.
It has been drizzling most of the time.
"Most districts occupied by Amer-
ican and government forces are virtually
deserted. Only a few brave souls are to
be seen from time to time making furtive
sorties in search of food. Afterwards,
they come running back down the muddy
streets toward the refugee centers.
"Looting is prevalent and even the
houses left intact have not escaped --
furniture, lamps, tables, dishes lie
broken on the floors.
“American Marines have been conm-
plaining -- officers have written official
letters on the subject -- that government
troops have followed them closely in
their house-to-house advance, looting
indiscrininately behind them."