Aid For Vietnam

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31317, 13 March 1967, Page 12

Aid For Vietnam

Sir, —According to L. Ferris, “the Government’s function is to formulate policy and it should be supported while the policy is tested.” How much more “testing” does he need? Does his imagination see “testing” as including the destruction of whole villages to get at one or two Viet Cong, with medical conditions so bad that a fractured limb almost inevitably means amputation, and some of these cripples must wait years for the small compensation of an artificial limb? After nearly 10 years of this war and the French before that, after nearly two years of New Zealand participation, no good result is yet in sight. We talk of “winning minds and hearts” and forget that most Vietnamese can never forget the white skins behind the guns. The electors did not endorse this intervention, they shirked the issue. We cannot absolve ourselves of responsibility by pretending that only the Government knows.—Yours, etc., ELSIE LOCKE. March 11, 1967.

Sir, —After visiting SouthEast Asia, Dr. Jaspan, in reference to Vietnam said: “All the military might in the world could not bring that war to an end.” Far more effective aid to Vietnam than military might is described in a recent editorial in “The Press” devoted to this important question: “It could best be made by assisting the South Vietnamese rural pacification programme. . . . Contributions of this kind to the ‘second front’ would bring results—in the relief of suffering and poverty—out of all proportion to the limited number of men available.”— Yours, etc., SETH NEWELL. March 11, 1967.

Sir,—There is fury in “193945 and Malaya Veteran’s” letter that aligns wisdom with force but quite neglects the concomitants of militarism. He lauds American “get tough” policy, and

instances the crushing of Japan. I served with American forces in the Pacific and I was taught to hate the Japanese. Every “intelligence” cartoon gave them the faces of monkeys. I was taught to kill them for some contribution to peace. Not only has American industry wooed Japan in post-war years for the money they can make, but the Japanese were equipped with Super-Sabres at a time our Air Force was feeling fortunate in buying Vampires and Canberras.— Yours, etc.,