ESCALATION TO 1M FORECAST

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31016, 23 March 1966, Page 19

ESCALATION TO 1M FORECAST

f.V.Z. Press Assn. — Copyright) DURHAM (New

Hampshire), March 22.

The Democratic Senator. Wayne Morse, yesterday predicted that the United States would have more than one million fighting men in South-east Asia within two years.

“With each passing month and with each escalation, the United States is sinking into the bottomless nit of a land war in Asia." Senator Morse said in an address to 1000 students at the University of New Hampshire.

An outspoken critic of American policy in Vietnam. Senator Morse said there “is no support in Asia for America’s course of action.”

Aerial bombings and “application of our unchallenged air power” were not accomplishing what they were intended to accomplish, he said, adding:

“It is not crippling the rebel war effort, and it is not driving the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table.” Senator Morse said that, in fact, the Viet Cong now controlled more land area than a year ago.

“Our problem in Vietnam is to find a basis for stopping the fighting,” he said- Neither the United States nor the Communists could stop the war alone. “The war will not stop until some outside force is brought in to separate the parties, to police a cease-fire and take over the responsibilities for South Vietnam." he said. The Senator called again for a United Nations trustee-

ship to be established in Vietnam “so that the people of that war-plagued area can determine for themselves the kind of government they want.”

Senator Morse said that, in his opinion, “we are making Red China’s job easier by escalating the war and making China the defender of Asia against white claims upon it." He said the Johnson Administration could not justify bogging the United States down in “a 50-year war in Asia.” “It should be remembered that escalating the war will result in such a destruction of human life that even if Vietnam and China eventually are forced to a surrender table, it will never be a peace table,” Senator Morse said. Even if the United States achieved military victory in South-east Asia, Senator A

Morse said, “we will then have to police Asia with tens of thousands of American soldiers and spend billions and billions of dollars enforcing the surrender for the next 50 years. “Future generations of Asians will eventually drive the white man out of Asia,” Senator Morse said. In Washington the chairman of the Senate armed services committee. Senator Richard B. Russell, said the war in Vietnam was reaching a point where the United States should make drastic decisions on whether to fight on or cut back. “I don’t think we can afford to let this war go on and on.” he said during a debate on President Johnson’s request for an additional 13,100 million dollars for extra military and economic funds for the Vietnam conflict. Senator Russell said the

American people “are going to be very unhappy” if United States casualty lists continued to mount. “This is not a popular war, gentlemen,” he told the Senate.

A change of military policy may be forced because of home front demands either for increased war efforts against the Communists or for a United States withdrawal, Senator Russell said. “The average American has a sense of pride and that won’t let him tuck tail and run.” he said. “He also may ask himself, why are we there?” Senator Joseph Clark expressed concern over “American casualties going up and up and how long the American people will stand for it.” He said he was particularly concerned over United States losses in “search and destroy” operations against the Viet Cong.