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One Year After The Agreement: War Continues

By VVAW

The Nixon administration may be planning a major resumption of bombing in Indochina. A year after the Jan. 27th signing of the Paris peace agreement things couldn't look bleaker for its implementation. Saigon now ignores it, intensifying its land-grabbing operations of PRG territory and bombing PRG population centers. In many areas of the south the bombing is more intensive than during the US bombing. This November, Paris PRG representative Ly Van Sau, noted that since Jan. 27th there has been over 32,000 military operations aimed at grabbing PRG lands, (34 of which were division-sized.) He also said that an average of 200-600 air sorties were flown daily by Saigon pilots.

This past month has seen the heaviest fighting since the peace agreement was signed. On Nov. 11th, Lo Go village in Tay Ninh Province was hit by "extermination bombings" that caused great damage. On Nov. 21st, in the Mekong Delta, the bloodiest fighting since June left over 100 dead and wounded. On Nov. 24th, Saigon launched large air strikes against PRG airfields at Katum and Thien Ngon in Tay Ninh Province that even a Saigon official termed, "among the heaviest since the January ceasefire." And since Dec 5th, there has been very heavy fighting at Kien Duc, a district capital of Quang Duc Province.

These violations of the Paris agreement are the responsibility of the US and Saigon. As recently as Nov. Thieu was pledging to wipe out the PRG infrastructure in the south. The PRG's position on the peace agreement remains as Ly Van Sau recently stated: "We were the parents of the peace accord... the childe is growing and as parents we obviously don't want to see our child killed." In reply to the repeated Saigon charges that the PRG was preparing to launch an 'offensive', Paris PRG spokeman, Nguyen Van Hieu termed the charge "slander" and that the PRG "energetically rejects" such talk. Saigon's charges are meant to cover up its own crimes. If an offensive comes it will be ordered by the US and Saigon; not the PRG.

The PRG cannot take this aggression passively. Thus, actions such as the Nov. 6th attack on Bien Hoa airbase with four F-5s being blown up, are to prevent Saigon from bombing PRG territory. With some 22,000 US 'civilian advisors' in south Vietnam, 40,000 US military types in Thailand, fifty B-52s in Thailand, 25 on Guam, and the 7th Fleet off the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia, the PRG has a lot to defend itself from!

Despite the new War Powers Resolution which restricts all US military operations in Indochina, the Nixon administration is seeking a legal loophole to allow it to bomb Indochina for sixty days without congressional approval. For some time it has been quietly alerting members of Congress to an impending Communist 'attack' in hopes of lining up their support. Robert Ingersol, the proposed Ass.t Sec. of State for Asia and Pacific Affairs, testified in November that "we're considering and discussing" whether or not to resume bombing. When Senator Fulbright asked him if the administration might feel free despite congressional restrictions to resume bombings, he replied that he "was not clear on the legal points."

On November 30th, Sec. of State, Henry Kissinger and Sec. of Defense, James Schlessinger said that the State Department was studying the War Powers Resolution with a view to "interpreting legislation" on the Indochina situation. What this double-talk means is that they want to see if they can bomb Indochina for 60 days without going to jail for breaking the law.

General John Vogt, Commander of the 7th Air Force in Thailand recently called for a bombing campaign similar to the Christmas bombing of Hanoi. Such a campaign, "shortens things and brings them to the conference table," he said, and "that the whole reason we are here is to resume bombing." Further evidence of a US-Saigon offensive are the plans of the US to give Saigon 71 new F-5E jets, a violation of the accords' prohibition against introducing new types of weapons.

Perhaps the most ominous is the recently released 1974 Pentagon budget, which indicated that on Aug. 1, the Pentagon set aside $275 million for US airpower in Indochina, including B-52s, through June, 1974. As of the Aug. 15 bombing 'cutoff' in Cambodia they had officially used $50 million, saving the rest to "keep the area established." The remaining $225 million will buy about 120,000 bombs which is more than was used in Indochina in 1965. The Pentagon has also budgeted the 7th Fleet to keep 77 ships and 331 aircraft in Southeast Asia as part of the "less than 250,000 men" in the East Asia area.

Nixon is testing the winds to see if he can resume large scale bombing. Both Nixon and Thieu need a larger war to save their positions in Indochina. For the US-Saigon partnership to get over on the public and Congress they must 'cry wolf' about a PRG offensive. US media is helping them by using jingoistic rhetoric such as "Why Hanoi Expands the War." A Saigon commander said, "we need arms, fuel...air support, tactical and strategic. We need support like you gave Israel.

Unless we put the brakes on, it all adds up to a resumption of bombing. But as Ly Van Sau said, "The US thinks it is saving face by not ceasing this aid ... if it does not withdraw its support from Thieu, then the Vietnamese people will chase Thieu out and the American face will be uglier than before... We don't want another US intervention but if it comes it will be the last."

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