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The War Continues: Vietnam

By VVAW

"The United States will remove, permanently deactivate or destroy all the mines in the territorial waters, ports, harbors and waterways of North Vietnam as soon as this agreement goes into effect." -- Article 2, Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.

At the present time, the Nixon Administration has only destroyed or removed 5 out of 10,000 mines in the harbors and waterways of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Nixon has further stated he is not going to remove them because he wants to hold them over the heads of the "North Vietnamese leaders."

"The dismantlement of all military bases in South Vietnam of the US and other foreign countries mentioned in article 3 (A) shall be completed within 60 days of the signing of this agreement." -- Article 6 -- Agreement on Ending the War.

Again the Nixon Administration, in flagrant violation of the agreement, has not followed it's word. The US bases have not been dismantled; rather they have been turned over to the Saigon Army for a continuation of the conflict.

"Within 60 days of the signing of this agreement, there will be a total withdrawal from South Vietnam of all troops, military advisors, and military personnel; including technical military personnel and military personnel associated with the pacification program, armaments, munitions, and war material of the US? advisors from the above mentioned countries to all paramilitary organizations, and the police force will also be withdrawn within the same period of time." -- Article 5

At the present time, the US military has been offering active-duty personnel early discharges (as much as three years in advance if they will sign contracts to work for the Saigon administration for a minimum of one year. These personnel are military. These people are advisors. These people are in violation of the treaty! Besides, over 20,000 'civilians' have already entered the employ of the Saigon regime (See Civilianization, W.S. Volume 3, #3)

"The question of the return of Vietnamese civilian personnel captured and detained in South Vietnam will be resolved by the two South Vietnamese parties on the basis of the principles of Article 21 (B) of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam of July 20, 1954.

The two South Vietnamese parties will do so in a spirit of national reconciliation and concord, with a view to ending hatred and enmity, in order to ease suffering and to reunite families, the two South Vietnamese parties will do their utmost to resolve this question within 90 days after the ceasefire comes into effect." -- Article 8 (C)

The Saigon government, with the backing of the Nixon Adminstration has still not returned all the military personnel captured. Moreover, in the past months, it has not returned any civilian personnel arrested and detained. As a result, hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have not been allowed to return to the families.

At variance with Article 8 of the Act of International Conference on Vietnam, the US has undertaken with its aircraft, including B-52s, the bombing of Laos right after the signing of the Agreement on Restoring and Achieving National Concord in Laos, and is intensifying carpetbombings in Cambodia, thus seriously violating the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and neutrality of Laos and Cambodia. By sending over 120 B-52s attacks a day against Laos and Cambodia, the US is creating more American POWs, forcing over 10,000 Indochinese civilians into refuge and killing thousands more.

The war has not ended, but entered into a new phase. The Nixon Administration, relying on lies and apathy, hopes to undermine the agreement and hopes to continue US involvement against the wishes of the American people. The only thing that can force Nixon to really end involvement in Indochina is the UNIFIED ACTION of the American people. The Vietnamese victories on the battlefield and the pressure of the American people at home forced Nixon to sign a piece of paper. Only that continued solidarity can force Nixon to implement the Peace Agreement!

UNITY -- STRUGGLE -- VICTORY!!