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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1968)
Oregon daily EMERALD Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. However, the Emerald does present on this page columnists and letter writers whose opinions reflect those of our diverse readership and not those of the Emerald itself. MIKE FANCHER, Editor ASSOCIATE EDITORS Ron Eachus Linda Meierjurgen Ron Saylor Rick Fitch Cliff Sander 1 in Jean Snider Gil Johnson John Sasaki Jaqi Thompson WILBUR BISHOP JR. Business Manager RICH JERNSTEDT BARBARA STONE Advertising Manager National Advertising Manager University of Oregon, Eugene, Tuesday, January 30, 1968 Tolstoy’s Advice Resist the Draft “It is not only Christians but all just men who must refuse to become soldiers—that is. to be ready on another’s command (for this is what a soldier’s duty actually consists of) to kill all those one is ordered to kili.” Those words could have gotten Leo Tolstoy thrown in jail if he lived in contemporary American society. If Tol stoy gave this same advice today he would face the same punishment that now threatens such distinguished men as Dr. Benjamin Spock and Chaplain of Yale University William Sloan Coffin. Tolstoy’s advice urging all men to resist military con scription are published in the February issue of The At lantic. The advice is part of a previously unpublished manuscript by the Russian writer. In light of today’s dilemma over conscription in Ameri ca, the following advice by Tolstoy is exceedingly per tinent: “If I, finding myself in a crowd of running people, run with the crowd without knowing where, it is obvious that I have given myself up to mass hysteria; but if by chance I should push my way to the front, or be gifted with sharp er sight than the others or recteive information that this crowd was racing to attack human beings and toward its own corruption, would 1 really not stop and tell the people what might rescue them? Would I go on running and do these things which I knew to be bad and corrupt? This is the situation of every individual called up for military service.” Interestingly, Tolstoy took this strong stand against military conscription despite the fact that the penalty lor evading conscription was death. Evidently the author thought it would be better to sacrifice one's life than to allow one’s self to become a tool for murder in the hands of the state. The American Dilemma “When you say that you agree to a thing in principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.” —Bismark uL -L- Hi third L “It could be mucli worse, Mr. President . . . The Pueblo could have sunk off Greenland and the North Koreans could have hijacked the H-bombs!” unuiiimimimiimimtittuimiiimiimiii llllllllllltlllllllllllltIMIlU -S/tw J) -drazien tiuimumiim End Not in Sight for Viet War Control Policy Creates Refugees Editor's Note: Steve D’Arazien is the College Press Services’ correspondent in Saigon. This is the first of four parts on how the Vietnam war is going and how It can be expected to con tinue. SAIGON (CPS)—”1968 Will See Success of Allied Arms,” or, at least so proclaims a ban ner hung over Dai Lo Tran Hung Dao. a major Saigon boulevard. For a moment I thought it must be an attempt at black hu mor. It isn’t that, but it is bla tantly sadistic to promise peace in a country that has seen 20 years of continual war, when there are indications of an end to the slaughter. General William Westmore land, who commands U.S. forces in Vietnam, recently intimated (in the noncommittal fashion characteristic of administration statements on the war, especial ly about ending it) that we might expect to begin reducing this size of our forces here in two years The American public should be wary. Show Job Ahead Remember when, on Oct. 2, 1963, Secretary of State Robert Strange McNamara predicted the war would be over by I965'1 And. of course, the President himself promised to leave the lighting to Asian boys. The war is a grave political liability in an election year and something must be done to offset its grim reality. Be pre pared for a mammoth snow - job. Ten years being a nice round number, is a frequently cited figure by U.S. field officers for the amount of time necessary to “secure” South Vietnam, And it can't be done with the present troop levels. General Westmore land is well known to want more men. Because the tour of duty for American forces in Vietnam is one year, a majority of cxperi enced soldiers here now will soon be home. Their replace ments will be green and their lack of combat experience can only be compensated with addi tional numbers. 20 Years for Control The Band Corporation’s Ger aid Hickey, a student of Viet namese sociology for many years, stated in a recent circulat ed report that it will take 20 years to establish firm control of most of South Vietnam. He doubted whether certain areas, effectively governed by the Na tional Liberation Front (NLF) for the same length of time, could ever be won over by the Saigon government. Two years ago time had run out for the Saigon government. If the United States had not moved into the South in force, Saigon would be under NLF control today. If we had left then, the slaughter would be over. Instead of withdrawing when the Saigon government had proved its lack of ability to win support, we doubled our troop strength and then dou bled that. The balance of power is dif ficult to assess exactly. There are 470,000 American forces here. Our clients have provided an additional 58,000 men and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (AlfVN), including the milita, is about 700,000 strong. Holding this well over-a-million men at bay are 378,000 NLF and North Vietnamese guerillas and main force troops. Who-controls-what is difficult to determine. Figures show Am erica controlling about 40 per cent of the territory and per haps 60 per cent of the popu lation. I say America controls it, because it is still clear that if America left, the Saigon gov ernment would collapse. Control Drops According to I. F. Stone, the U.S. government claims only 600,000, or less than eight per cent of the population, as friend ly. The rest are only controll ed. Of course, control is a matter of semantics. Territorially it means nothing more than an un escorted (but armed) jeep can travel from point A to point It without being fired upon. Con trol everywhere drops to almost nothing at night. The AltVN’s and the Americans retreat to fortified bunkers as night falls. The snipers come out to eon trol the roads and most traffic ceases. In Quang Ngai 1 was told that a year ago it was possible to make the 50 mile trip to Da Nang. Now that trip is impos sible. On the other hand, in Di An. about 10 miles from Saigon. I passed over roads that were not open six months ago NI.F Advantage In Tinh Bicn, in the Delta. 1 was told there were no North Vietnamese regulars South of Saigon. On Jan. 1 it was an nounced that there were at least 63. None of this can be consid ered as anything more than proof that the situation is high ly unstable, which means the NLK has the advantage. U.S. policy is to consolidate areas around cities and Ameri can bases and to use sweep op orations to convert the popu lation of rural South Vietnam —most of the country into "ref ttgees." In this way the U.S. creates freo-fire zones in which anything that moves is con sidered hostile There are 2 million “refugees" in South Vietnam; 300,(MM) ere a ted as a result of this year’s operations and an additional category of 2 million "displaced persons,” according to Nguyen Phus Quo, the Government’s Commissioner of Refugees. He says thousands in the re mote Northern provinces are threatened with starvation be cause they are only accessible by helicopter and so far no hel icopters are being made avail able. Commissioner Que says the U.S. estimate of one quarter of the 17 million population as uprooted is too low. Many are not registered. The Refugee Actually "refugee" is a mis nomer. These people are forced to move. Often they are consid ered to have moved voluntar ily because their chief has been told "they move or else." The “or else" means that by refusing to leave their ancestor ill homes (the greatest shared religious eharBCteristics of Viet nam is ancestor worship which dictates that the people must be near the tombs of their kin) they will be considered **V'<* sympathizers" and the bombs will rain upon them So, the chief gives the OK to move them. A Vietnamese hamlet is not a very elaborate afTair. The hous es are usually made of straw matting or of mud and the roofs are of thatch or, sometimes, tin. A refugee camp is constructed of the same materials. But, whereas the hamlet con sists of several detached houses facing every whieh-way the di rection is determined by for tune-tellers when they are built —a refugee camp consists of row after row of attached hutch es all facing in one direction I.e vittown-stylc. A Vietnamese village is a series of scattered hamlets and everyone has room to breathe. A refugee camp frequently crams 20,000 people or more in to a few acres. And whereas the vegetation in a Vietnamese vil lage is lush, the hastily con structed refugee camps are liar ten There is nowhere to get out of the sun. I.lkr (.In-tin I asked a ltrd Cross man how the people feel about being "ref ugees." He said, “Oh, they are all right A bit apathetic and fu talistie though.” Just like U S. ghettos. They can only sit around and wait until they ran return to their ancestoral homes. In spite of the dangers of the free fire zones, some escape and go hack No one knows how many wander about in the ru ins ot these no man s lands. Population are concentrated in the camps so they can be controlled. But it is impossible for such a policy to win actual support from the people be cause it is a violation of tradi tional Vietnamese living pat terns and it is as profoundly a disorienting experience for them as it would be for us. Even if you support the polti cal value system which puts the United States in Vietnam, the creation of these "refugees" is self-defeating politically. It is the logical product of a pol icy that relics almost completely on military means. It is absurd to believe these prisoners will ever support the government which has moved them. I HUM .III llllllliimHIIIIUHIIIlNIIIinilMI. IIIIitlK .1 tlll-UMUlIMm : HM IBHIll I illlilKIHIP. f Emerald Editor: * All letters to the editor must be typewritten and triple spaced. Letters must not exceed 300 words and must be signed in ink, giving the class and ma jor of the writer. Those dealing with one subject and pertaining to the University or Eugene community will be given pref erence. The Emerald reserves the right to edit letters for style, grammar, punctuation, and po tentially libelous content. Let ters not meeting thc.->c criteria and those which are mimeo graphed or otherwise obvious duplicates will be returned. Somebody Tell Us Emerald Editor: I wish Dean Walter Creese would please tell us—has Mr. Wilkinson been reappointed as Chairman of the Fine Arts De partment? Many students, like myself, think very highly of Mr. Wilkinson, and we think it our right to know whether he has been retained or replaced. The Emerald pursued these and other questions, including the additions to Lawrence Hall, much to our enlightenment last year. - Why-the silence this year? Dave McCloskey Senior, Sociology Basic education Emerald Editor: Your editorial stated Mr. Kunkle is ahead of his time in his “classroom flexibility." Years ago many tried it sup P o s e d 1 y following Dewey's teachings it resulted in a lot of kids not getting basic edu cation 1. Should teachers be re quired to stick to prescribed curriculum? Mow do you feel when you finish a class that is background for a second course and you feel you haven't been taught a thing? H. What about classroom dis cipline and neighboring classes? Isn't it comparable to the noisy party night after night at your neighbor’s home that keeps you from getting a decent night’s sleep? 3- Ilow do all of his students feel about his teaching? They certainly wouldn't tell him any more than you or I would tell a professor who was about to grade us how we liked his teach ing. 4. Care should be taken not to confuse creativity with “be ing different.” Creative thinking can be done within standard curriculum under quiet and dis ciplined conditions if you try. Our educational system would (Continued on page 11)
