FIGHTING IN VIETNAM

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30737, 29 April 1965, Page 8

FIGHTING IN VIETNAM

C.N.D. Cables President “The report that the United States ‘does not bar the use of nuclear weapons in certain circumstances in the Vietnam conflict’ brings home very clearly the danger that the extension of the fighting in Vietnam could lead to nuclear war,” says the national secretary of the New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Mrs Mary Woodward) in a statement. “It seems that a ‘chicken’ situation has developed (as in the Cuban crisis) with each side trying to force the other to come to terms. Disaster for the whole world must be the result, sooner or later, unless the extreme urgency of the need for disarmament can be recognised and the means found to strengthen machinery within the United Nations for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

“The New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has sent a cable to President Johnson, quoting first Dean Rusk’s statement, ‘No sane man could regard the incineration of most of the northern hemisphere as a triumph for freedom,’ and continuing, ‘Considering that nuclear weapons could not protect democracy but would cause increased suffering for all Vietnamese people and threaten the world with nuclear war, New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament begs you not to consider the use of any type of nuclear weapon in Vietnam.’ ’’