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The War Continues: Indochina

By VVAW

On the 15th of August, the Nixon Administration was forced to stop its bombing of Cambodia. With this act, nine years of Indochina bombing came to an end.

During those nine years, 9,768,267 tons of bombs were dropped as opposed to the 2,057,244 tons dropped by the United States in all of the Second World War.

The bombings in Indochina were used in the early part of the war to attack "enemy sanctuaries." In reality, this meant driving civilians from liberated zones to areas controlled by U.S. allies. As the U.S. continued its policy, the bombings took on a more sinister aspect -- one of terrorist revenge. Losing all semblance of military value, the final phase of the Nixon Administration bombings ended in the senseless terror bombings of Hanoi and other civilian areas of the DRV at Christmas 1973, and the massive reprisal bombings of the Cambodian people for not following the Lon Nol regime.

We are told that the bombings are over, that our role in Indochina is over, and that the United States war of intervention in Indochina is over. But the same criminal elements which ordered the bombings and which lied about them to the American people are still in power.

We will not forget this and we will not be fooled.

The special forces began "reconnaissance raids" as early as November of 1968 in Cambodia. They would scout for "enemy held areas' and then would call in B-52 raids. Reports of American soldiers operating in Cambodia were labeled as vicious lies by the American government.

The United States government ordered secret bombings of Cambodia in 1970, and these continued for over a year. During that time, the administration denied reports of mass bombings in Cambodia, labeling such reports "communist propaganda."

The Senate confirmed testimony that hospitals were targeted for air and ground attacks, and that no restrictions were placed on field commanders as required by the Geneva Convention on Warfare. When Bach Mai (a 900 bed hospital) was bombed during the Christmas of 1972, Jerry Friedheim, Pentagon spokesman, said: "No such facility exists." and called these reports enemy propaganda.

Cambodia is presently fighting to free itself from a fascist dictator who was placed in power by a CIA directed coup. Although Nixon can no longer slaughter thousands through senseless bombings, the administration continues to funnel funds to the dictator. American advisors continue to direct the Lon Nol forces in the field and in the capital. The defense department has stated that although they cannot give direct military aide to Pnomh Penh, Saigon could give them American equipment and American aide.

Laos has reached an accord which would set up a coalition government, but there have been coalition governments in Laos before. Each time, once under Eisenhower and once under Kennedy, they were subverted and each time the Pathet Lao had to fight both CIA and Thai mercenaries. Within the past week another attempt for a coalition government was almost thwarted by an unsuccessful right wing coup, probably CIA inspired as in the past.

Violations by the Thieu puppet regime continue. In the month of July alone, the Saigon army launched 184 large scale operations against the Provisional Revolutionary Government controlled areas. Thieu has continually stated that he will not tolerate the PRG, but this is in direct conflict with the Paris Peace Agreement.

Thieu has also consistantly refused to release the 200,000 political prisoners he now holds, saying that they are only criminals. He has jailed opposition politicians, priests, nuns, students, newspaper editors, monks and teachers. Again, such actions have been taken with total disregard for the agreement that both the Saigon and U.S. governments have signed.

The war is not over. The Nixon administration continues to support, both militarily and financially, puppet dictators.

As it stands now, the Laotian Pathet Lao continues to abide by the agreement of February 1973; the Khmer Rouge are close to liberating their country; and the PRG still suffers from the Saigon terrorist violations of the January 1973 agreement. As they continue to struggle against the U.S. led aggression and violations, so too must we continue to struggle in solidarity to end United States intervention in Indochina.

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