DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Campus "Unrest" demonstrations and consequences, 1970-1971 | Facts and Arguments About The War In Vietnam

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Campus "Unrest" demonstrations and consequences, 1970-1971

Facts and Arguments About The War In Vietnam

Facts and figures about the war in Vietnam 
COST OF THE WAR:
THE TOTAL COST HAS BEEN OVER 120
BILLION DOLLARS. AT THE PRESENT
LEVEL, IT COSTS $46.5 MILLION
A DAY: 2.3 AN HOUR.
CASUALTIES OF THE WAR
DEAD...42,000 (33,2629 in 
Korea)
INJURED...211,000 since 1961
double the injuries in Korea;
4 times the injuries in WW1
ARGUMENTS YOU WILL PROBABLY HEAR:
*SOUTH VIETNAM WAS INVADED BY A FOREIGN COUNTRY: This is false. The two 
Vietnams are not two countries, but one divided by a Civil War. The 17th
parallel is their Mason-Dixon line. Also Gen. Ky and Pres. Thieu are
from North Vietnam.
*WE ARE FIGHTING TO PROTECT SOUTH VIETNAMESE FREEDOM: This is also false.
The present So. Viet gov't jailed all political opposition that advocated 
peace, and in the 1967 elections, got less than a majority of the vote. 
In So. Vietnam there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press. 
We are fighting to protect a corrupt dictatorship.
*WE HAVE COMMITMENTS TO THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE: The basis of out commitments is very questionable. The SEATO pact calls only for a meeting of 
the member nations in the event of any armed attack. NO SUCH MEETING
HAS EVER BEEN CALLED. When we went in with funds and advisors from 
1950-55, there was no stable gov'd in South Vietnam. American money, the CIA, and the American military aid created the gov't. of Ngo Diem.
A majority of the Buddhists (and the CIA) put him out.
*IF WE LEAVE, THERE WILL BE A BLOODBATH: Buddhist leaders in So. Viet
do not buy this at all, and a majority are Buddhist. But the argument
is absurd, FOR THE WAR ITSELF IS THE GREATEST BLOODBATH THE VIETNAMESE 
PEOPLE HAVE EVER KNOWN.
PEOPLE MAY ALSO DEFEND THE WAR WITHIN THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENTS:
*MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG: When people say this, they imply that the 
actions of government transcend morality. When someone believes that 
violence at home on the campus, and in the streets is wrong, but thinks
that killing 1,000 people a week is right, something in his head is not 
together. The real argument a country may have interests that justify 
war. But there is no way to justify this one. Then it follows that this 
country, being wrong should get out of Vietnam without delay. Another 
implication of this argument is that the leaders from the top know what 
is in the interests of the people. Ask people if they think men in 
Washington know what is right for them. If governments can make mistakes 
at home, they can make them abroad. No one in Southeast Asia has told our 
gov't what they want in So. Vietnam, they have never had an election 
in which everyone voted or could do so. but we can be sire they do not 
want to die, they they don't think it is right for them to be bombed
because there is one Viet Cong in their village.
*ONLY THE PRESIDENT KNOWS: This argument is supported by the belief that 
there is sanity in secrets. It also assumes that information does not 
have to be interpreted. Both of these assumptions are wrong. Secrets 
information is only good if it can produce results. Presidents since
Eisenhower have all claimed to have secret information that would lead
to an end of the fighting in Vietnam. But all of them also had advisors
who interpreted those secrets. The INFORMATION IS NOT IMPORTANT IF THE 
INTERPRETATION IS WRONG. If advisors to American Presidents have ever
been right about their interpretations, there would not be a war in 
Southeast Asia. IF YOU TREAT A CIVIL WAR AS A FOREIGN INVASION, YOU 
CAN'T USE INFORMATION, SOME OF IT OBVIOUS, TO BRING ABOUT PEACE. What 
Nixon has done in Cambodia is the same interpretation of facts that got 
us into Vietnam in the first place. The Viet Cong are a guerrilla force,
and they fight on the run. They survive because the people support them.
If we got them out of Cambodia, they can go somewhere else. They are in
their home territory, among their own people. They own the jungle. A
PRESIDENT WHO RELIES ON SECRETS, BUT INTERPRETS THEM WRONG, CAN NEVER
GET RESULTS. HIS SECRET INFORMATION THEN, IS NOT IMPORTANT TO KNOW.

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Facts and figures about the war in Vietnam COST OF THE WAR: THE TOTAL COST HAS BEEN OVER 120 BILLION DOLLARS. AT THE PRESENT LEVEL, IT COSTS $46.5 MILLION A DAY: 2.3 AN HOUR. CASUALTIES OF THE WAR DEAD...42,000 (33,2629 in Korea) INJURED...211,000 since 1961 double the injuries in Korea; 4 times the injuries in WW1 ARGUMENTS YOU WILL PROBABLY HEAR: *SOUTH VIETNAM WAS INVADED BY A FOREIGN COUNTRY: This is false. The two Vietnams are not two countries, but one divided by a Civil War. The 17th parallel is their Mason-Dixon line. Also Gen. Ky and Pres. Thieu are from North Vietnam. *WE ARE FIGHTING TO PROTECT SOUTH VIETNAMESE FREEDOM: This is also false. The present So. Viet gov't jailed all political opposition that advocated peace, and in the 1967 elections, got less than a majority of the vote. In So. Vietnam there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press. We are fighting to protect a corrupt dictatorship. *WE HAVE COMMITMENTS TO THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE: The basis of out commitments is very questionable. The SEATO pact calls only for a meeting of the member nations in the event of any armed attack. NO SUCH MEETING HAS EVER BEEN CALLED. When we went in with funds and advisors from 1950-55, there was no stable gov'd in South Vietnam. American money, the CIA, and the American military aid created the gov't. of Ngo Diem. A majority of the Buddhists (and the CIA) put him out. *IF WE LEAVE, THERE WILL BE A BLOODBATH: Buddhist leaders in So. Viet do not buy this at all, and a majority are Buddhist. But the argument is absurd, FOR THE WAR ITSELF IS THE GREATEST BLOODBATH THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE HAVE EVER KNOWN. PEOPLE MAY ALSO DEFEND THE WAR WITHIN THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENTS: *MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR WRONG: When people say this, they imply that the actions of government transcend morality. When someone believes that violence at home on the campus, and in the streets is wrong, but thinks that killing 1,000 people a week is right, something in his head is not together. The real argument a country may have interests that justify war. But there is no way to justify this one. Then it follows that this country, being wrong should get out of Vietnam without delay. Another implication of this argument is that the leaders from the top know what is in the interests of the people. Ask people if they think men in Washington know what is right for them. If governments can make mistakes at home, they can make them abroad. No one in Southeast Asia has told our gov't what they want in So. Vietnam, they have never had an election in which everyone voted or could do so. but we can be sire they do not want to die, they they don't think it is right for them to be bombed because there is one Viet Cong in their village. *ONLY THE PRESIDENT KNOWS: This argument is supported by the belief that there is sanity in secrets. It also assumes that information does not have to be interpreted. Both of these assumptions are wrong. Secrets information is only good if it can produce results. Presidents since Eisenhower have all claimed to have secret information that would lead to an end of the fighting in Vietnam. But all of them also had advisors who interpreted those secrets. The INFORMATION IS NOT IMPORTANT IF THE INTERPRETATION IS WRONG. If advisors to American Presidents have ever been right about their interpretations, there would not be a war in Southeast Asia. IF YOU TREAT A CIVIL WAR AS A FOREIGN INVASION, YOU CAN'T USE INFORMATION, SOME OF IT OBVIOUS, TO BRING ABOUT PEACE. What Nixon has done in Cambodia is the same interpretation of facts that got us into Vietnam in the first place. The Viet Cong are a guerrilla force, and they fight on the run. They survive because the people support them. If we got them out of Cambodia, they can go somewhere else. They are in their home territory, among their own people. They own the jungle. A PRESIDENT WHO RELIES ON SECRETS, BUT INTERPRETS THEM WRONG, CAN NEVER GET RESULTS. HIS SECRET INFORMATION THEN, IS NOT IMPORTANT TO KNOW.