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Vietnam Cease-Fire
:
How Long Will it Last?
As
WE
go to press, the long–
~
awaited cease-fire
in
Viet–
nam has been announced by
tbe Presidents of the United States
and ofNorth and Soutb Vietnam.
But are we going to have
real
peace?
Listen to the cautious words of
President Nguyen Van Thieu of
South Vietnam: "True and lasting
peace will depend upon the
in–
tentions and goodwill of the Com–
munists." In other words, peace will
come only if the Communists
want
it to come.
What Communists Plan
Does a revolutionary government,
such as North Vietnam, fight for a
quarter of a century, sacrificing the
lives of a mili ion men, and then give
up because ofa piece ofpaper?
Assuredly not.
According to General Vo Nguyen
Giap, North Vietnam's defense
min–
ister, the Communist revolution
must continue throughout Vietnam
although a cease-fire has been
signed. Giap, the victor over tbe
French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954,
said the continuing revolution
is
one
of the major duties facing "the
Communist compatriots of the en–
tire country" now that "victory had
been won"
against the United States.
The key for what tbe Communists
now call the "new stage of the revo–
lution" was to come to terms with
South Vietnam's protector, the
United States, so that the U. S.
could depart "with honor."
It has always been the Commu–
nist way to talk peace and coexis–
tence, to hold out the prospects of a
negotiated peace. But at the confer-
PLAIN TRUTH Morch 1973
ence table, a Communist never
really negotiates to seek peaceful so–
lutions. He talks only to
gain time.
The Communists are not interested
in real peace, but in overthrowing
capitalism and subjecting the whole
world to the dictates of the Commu–
nist Party. The United States has
seemingly never caught on to what
the Communist plan is.
The world wide Comm unist
movement has used Vietnam as a
means of weakening the United
States internally and ruminishing its
prestige abroad. The Vietnam
struggle divided America as it had
not been since the Civil War. Per–
haps no other war in U. S. history
has done more to sap the nation's
pride and power.
North Vietnam's late Ho Chi
Minh once gave this warning to the
French nearly a quarter of a century
ago: "You will
kili
ten of our meo
and we will kili one of yours, and in
the end it will be you who tire of it."
Later, when the first American com–
bat troops set foot on the shores of
Vietnam, long after the last French
solruer had departed, Ho's strategy
remained the same. As recently as
1968, North Vietnam's Giap stated:
"The myth of the invincibility of the
United States - this colossus that
leans, powerless, on the H-bomb -
is crumbling foreve r."
From its very beginníngs, the
worldwide Communist movement,
though suffering at times from its
own interna! dissensíons, has been
pursuíng the ultimate goal of world
revolution and conquest. There is
nothing to indicate that these plans
have changed.
Since 1917, Communism has
been responsible for the deaths of
between 95 and 147 million people.
In the process, one third of the
world has become Communist.
Communist leaders will not quit
now with only one third of their
goal achieved.
The New U. S. Role.
Amerícans have come away from
the Vietnam expe r ience in a
changed mood. "The time has
passed," said President Nixon in his
inaugural address, "when America
will make every other nation's con–
flict our own...." The American
govemment and American people
have been sickened and drained by
the Vietnam experience. The United
States has "tired of it," in the words
of Ho.
In
the future, where U. S.
military intervention might be justi–
fied, there
is
now a much greater
possibility the nation may not wish
to become involved. The French
magazine
L'Express
recently said it
more strongly:
"Isolationism
in the
U. S.
is
becoming a dominant politi–
cal force. And Europe, in the event
of outside menace, can no longer
count on the United States as its
veritable ally."
The January cease-fire agreement
lea ves Indochina vulnerable to
Communist takeover. With the
United States out of the way, the
North Vietnamese forces will un–
doubtedly sooner or later attempt a
bold new move. Their goal of na–
tional unification of North and
South Vietnam by military force,
if
necessary, has never - and will
never - change. O
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