BS Sr a eee rea 5 treed ng Stern cea ee cee

Tes YEARS ago, following
their defeat at Dien Bien
Phu, the French imperial-
wis Were forced to end their
dirty war” in Vietnam and
Sign the Geneva Agreements,

The 1964. Geneva Agreements
Stipulated the cessation of hos-
“ities between the belligerents,
€cognized Vietnam’s indepen-
Pcs, sovereignty, unity and
*rritorial integrity, drew a pro-
Visional military demarcation
i between the two zones at
© 17th parallel, and at the
Me time laid down specific
fasures for the reunification
the country.

r

caitte success of the Geneva
pretence struck a blow not
fd at the French colonialists;

also upset the plans of the
ane imperialists to extend and
"48 out the colonial war.

hi The Geneva Agreements pro-
ited’ “the introduction into
‘tnam of any troop reinforce-
Ments in the form of all types
. arms, munitions and other
ar materials.”

hate Agreements also stated
‘ at “no military base under the
entrol of a foreign state may
»~ @Stablished in the. regroup-
Z0ne of either party, and

at the two parties shall ensure

Ry the zones assigned to them
all Not adhere to any military
the wee and are not used for
tog. semption of hostilities or
Urther an aggressive policy.”

Bs also proclaimed that “gen-
Ju elections shall be held in
Y 1956, under the supervision
5 @N international commission
the POsed of representatives of
Member states of the Inter-

Natio = ¥
wa.
Sing. 1 Supervisory Commis

ee United States did not
thre the Geneva Agreements, but
Cae its representative’s de-
i fation made on July 21, 1954
Cj ee oshized the aforesaid prin-
a €s and provisions, and sol-
fr nly undertook “to refrain

the threat or the use of

force to disturb them.”

All the 30 million people in
Vietnam, and people all over
the world, hoped for the reuni-
fication of Vietnam on the basis
of the Geneva Agreements.

In North Vietnam (the Demo-
cratic Republic of Vietnam) the
people implemented the provi-
sions of the Agreements. They
took the initiative in unilateral-
ly reducing military strength:
80,000 armymen were demobil-
ized in 1956-57; defense appro-
priations were cut down from
22 percent of the total budget
in 1956 to 17.5 percent in 1959,

Over a period of many years
North Vietnam sent many notes
to the South Vietnam adminis-
tration proposing the holding of
the consultative conference on
the general election to reunify
the country; it also repeatedly
put forward proposals for re-
establishing normal relations be-
tween the two zones, including
exchanges of mail, possibility of
visits across’ the demarcation
line, exchanges of cultural,
Scientific, sport delegations, eco-
nomic exchanges, etc., pending
reunification.

But the American imperialists
harbored different plans. Wash-
ington helped reactionary ele-
ments set up the dictatorial re-
gime of Ngo Dinh Diem in
Saigon and gave its puppet
hundreds of millions of dollars
to “fight communism.” Brutal
police laws were introduced
and all democratic freedoms
were denied. i

Making use of the Diem
clique, the U.S. concentrated ef-
forts on taking the place of the
defeated French colonialists and
turning South Vietnam into its
military base and a colony of a
new type.

The United States assigned
the South Vietnam bridgehead
an important place in its plans
for’ aggression against North
Vietnam and other socialist

countries and also for suppres-

VIETNAM

Background fo the crisis

sion of the national-liberation
movement in Southeast Asia.

In the past few years the
U.S. has built 169 airfields in
South Vietnam, of which seven
have long runways capable of
handling heavy aircraft and
jets. In 1954, it is worth recall-
ing, there were only six military
airfields in South Vietnam.

In addition, Washington has
built or repaired and extended
11 military ports; built a net-
work of strategic roads linking
various towns and airbases to
military ports; set up a com-
plete network of telecommuni-
cations; strengthened the South
Vietnam puppet army to half a
million men (including civilian
guards and armed police).

The number of U.S. personnel
in South Vietnam has been rais-
ed from 200 (strength of the
Military Aid Advisory Group
set up in 1950 and illegally
maintained in existence after
the signing of the Geneva
Agreements) to 3,500 at the end
of 1961 and then to 25,000 at
the end of 1963. Some 5,000 are
military advisors while 20,000
have been organized into separ-
ate units belonging to various
services, which engage in both
combat and logistics duties, and
combat and logistics duties.

Since May 1961, after the
signing of the Johnson-Diem bi-
lateral military treaty, the U.S.
imperialists have formally un-
leashed a “special war” in
South Vietnam; in the period
from July 1961 to May 1964
they launched more than 90,000
“mopping up” operations.

The South Vietnam people
fought back. All patriotic forces
united in the National Libera-
tion Front, organized on Dec.
20, 1960. Its proclaimed aim is
to liberate the country from
the rule of the U.S. imperialists
and their henchmen, to estab-
lish a coalition government cap-
able of pursuing an independent
peace policy, maintaining neut-

rality and ensuring a rapproch-
ment and the unification with
North Vietnam.

The Front has grown into a
powerful liberation movement
backed by the population. It has
its own Voice of Liberation
radio, news agency and publica-
tions. It has pitted its armed

_ forces against the imperialist

and reactionary forces, and
achieved great successes on the
military as well as the political
front. Large areas have been
liberated: some eight million of
South Vietnam’s 14 million peo-
ple live in these areas con-
trolled by the Front.

The U.S. “special war” went
from bad to worse. Trying to
solve its military and political
crisis, the U.S. engineered two
coups d’etat in succession with-
in three months. In overthrow-
ing Ngo Dinh Diem on Nov.
1, 1963 by the hands of Duong
Van. Minch and _his military
junta, they hoped to stabilize
the situation. But when it grew
worse they arranged to have
“Big Minch” toppled by the
Nguyen Khanh clique.

Since then the U.S. position

has further detriorated. Senti-
ments in favor of ending the
war and neutralizing the coun-
try are gaining in popularity,

With the smell of defeat ‘in

the air, instability everywhere,
General Khanh afraid of new
putsches, and a November elec-
tion in the offing, the U.S. lead-
ers decided on a new gambit—
air strikes against the North.

Patrolling in waters off North
Vietnam on Aug. 2, the USS.
destroyer Maddox sighted three
North Vietnamese PT boats ap-
proaching (according to Adlai
Stevenson) in attack formation,
The Maddox opened fire, the PT
boats launched torpedoes, scor-
ing no hits.

This incident touched off the
crisis, which resulted in U.S,
planes attacking four North
Vietnam bases at Hon Kay near
the mouth of the Red River,
and farther south, at Loc Chag,.
Phuc Loi and Quang Khe. The
town of Vinh was also bombed.

Key to the U.S. aggression is
contained in the words of a
Hanoi spokesman: “Their main
purpose is to save a situation in
South Vietnam, which is in a
Critical phase right now.”

U.S. aggression and interference is the toot cause of the world crisis over Vietnam.
Photo on left shows two American soldiers carrying away the body of their captain follow-
ing a raid on a people's guerilla unit. On the right President Ho Chi Minh is seen ad-
dressing a mammoth protest rally in Hanot which denounced U.S. armed aggression in
South Vietnam and demanded strict observance of the Geneva Agreements.

August 21, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5