Aid For Vietnam

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 16

Aid For Vietnam

Sir, —The complacent and confused state of mind in the non-Communist world is a striking tribute to the effectiveness of the well-co-ordin-ated global strategy mounted by the forces of world communism. The remorseless tactics of the Communists have steadily eroded our will to resist, producing in large numbers a feeling of helplessness and despair. The emotional clap-trap of do-gooders, radical-liberals and criptoCommunists reflects the dramatic world-wide growth of Communist influence. These people are already casualties in a war they do not understand. Thank Heaven, at least in Vietnam, American political leaders seem to begin to grasp that, in order to stop the Communist expansion, one has to wage an effective type of counter-warfare. You do not send an army to the field of battle to dispute with the enemy. They are there to beat him.—Yours, etc., V. H. HUNTER. March 15, 1967.

Sir, —In this correspondence there is a decided difference of opinion as to whether the Government was given a mandate at the last election for its policy of sending troops to Vietnam. With only a third of registered voters supporting National, there can be no valid claim that the election was a mandate for supporting the United States war in Vietnam. Only 476,461 (34 per cent) voted for National. There were 623,233 (44 per cent) who voted against National. There were 302,409 (22 per cent) who did not vote at all.—Yours, etc., SETH NEWELL. March 15, 1967.

Sir, —“1939-45 and Malayan Veteran” could add to his fund of knowledge these facts. Great Britain and the colonies entered the war on September 3, 1939. The United States formed a shotgun marriage on December 7,1941. On September 8, 1944, Churchill and Roosevelt were signatories to the Quebec Treaty entitling the United States, as best geographically located, to pick the best brains and know-how of Britain to perfect “tube alloys” (the atomic bomb). Subsequently the Truman Administration repudiated the treaty and the McMahon Act was passed in the United States Senate prohibiting Britain’s sharing in atomic secrets. The Suez crisis caught Britain in a cleft stick while the United States looked blandly on, taking steps to secure her oil concessions in the Middle East at Britain’s expense. American cash registers in Saigon are becoming overheated as defenceless women and children are blown to eternity by bombs, ignorance, and arrogance.— Yours, etc., March 10, 1967. NORTH-WEST. [This correspondence is now closed. Ed., “The Press.”]