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University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1970

1970-10-07 ""Iowa City People's Peace Treaty Committee"" Page 3

Army Basic Training anonymous

Kill, kill. kill!
I'm going to Vietnam, 
And kill some women, 
mothers, and children. 

At first glance, one might presume the above was a graffito scratched on a bathroom wall above a urinal by an inebriated, mentally unstable redneck. It seems almost inconceivable that hundreds of young American men of basically sound minds are coerced to chant it in unison at the top of their lungs. Yet that is precisely what was required of E Company, 7th Battalion, 2nd Basic Combat Training Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Caroline, this summer. The drill sergeant in charge ordered the two hundred- plus trainees to chant the obscenity during drill and ceremonies. 
In light of the recent publicity of the MyLai incidents, it is macabre that such an atrocity can openly be committed as part of normal, everyday training in today's Action Army. Unfortunately, that was not an isolated case. So here is another tidbit worthy of civilian awareness: another chant for E-7-2 this time while marching:

Kill, kill kill! Kent State
I'm going to 
And kill some Commie Lovers. 

It is somewhat ironical that the same Regular Army personnel who are so quick to criticize (rightfully, if I may editorialize) the actions of National Guardsmen at Kent State propose the above as a proper substitute.
Then there is the catchy utterance to be recited over and over while standing at attention in outdoor bleacher areas, waiting for a period of instruction to begin:

We're going to rape,kill, pillage and burn,
We're going to rape, kill. pillage and burn, 
We're going to rape, kill, pillage and burn ...

Throughout bayonet instruction, the training officer or sergeant repeatedly asks the two hundred or so trainees. 
"What is the purpose of the bayonet?"
The soldiers are required to reply, as loudly and viciously as possible, 
"KILL!"
Probably the most distressing indications of corruption in our armed forces center about racial prejudice. It is not restricted to the military proper, but also spills over into the military-related civilian agencies, such as the local draft boards. Two example of such racism will be evident in the following story. 
One Sunday morning near te end of my four month "hitch," a close friend and myself were on pass in Columbia, South Carolina, and were waiting in line at the local Pancake House. My companion, who is very outspoken by nature, was telling me (rather obstreperously) of a young man he had met in basic training, who was drafted in June, despite a lottery number of 266. I questioned the legality of the conscription, since the Selective Service Department has been issuing guideline lottery numbers each month this year, which each local board is supposed to follow. The highest lottery number which is supposed to be taken at year's end was set at 195. My associate noted that young man happened to be Black, and from Tennessee.
At about this time, I noticed a young black soldier behind us in line, listening attentively. Shortly after, we were seated and he came over to us and asked if he might join us. During the course of our breakfast, he revealed that he was from a small town in South  Carolina, and that he was also drafted in June, immediately after receiving his B.A. in history. His number was 206. My friend and I offered to seek legal aid for the young man as soon as we were discharged ( We each had only two weeks left.) But he smiled and refused on the grounds that it would only cause him trouble and possibly endanger his family. There is one more pertinent item - he said that of the seventeen men drafted by his local board that month, fourteen "managed" to get in to the reserves. He also tried, but was told that the waiting list was one year or more. Oh yes - all fourteen were white. 
One more incident worthy of attention occurred during the last two months of my training in Fort Jackson, the two months known as "AIT" (Advanced Individual Training). I was in Company A, 15th Battalion 4th Brigade at the time, serving as barracks guard for the evening. The sargeant on duty approached me and pointed out my "unmilitary" attire and asked me to come unto his office. I was expecting the usual tonguelashing, and was surprised to discover that all he wanted was an ear to listen to his "heroic" feats during his tour of duty in Vietnam. At the end of the one-sided conversation he said, matter-of-factly, that he would have to bring in his collection of ears one day, and show them to me. When I queried as to what in earth he was talking about, he stated that it was common practice for American soldiers to cut off the ears of the dead "Gooks." and that he had quite a collection at home. He could not comprehend why I became enraged. 
I suppose to many this report will be old hat especially in the light of more outrageous atrocities revealed by other, who, unlike myself, have been unfortunate enough to have fought in one or more of the three wars in Southeast Asia. Yet I believe it is neccessary to publicize these incidents because they clearly indicate that the problems originate at least no further away than in our home training bases, rather than as foreign outgrowths of the war environment of Southeast Asia. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The People's Peace Treaty Page 1
Nixon's Five Points Page 2
Army Basic Training Page 3
Nixon and the Prisoners of War Page 3
The United States and Laos Page 4
Air war in Laos Page 6
PRG Initiative Page 8
Cambodia: Biting the Fishhook Page 9 
Open Letter from Saigon's Jailed Women Page 12
Peoples' Peace Treaty (text) Page 12
Thailand: Subcontracting Counterinsurgency Page 14
DUC: Proposals for Peace Page 16
The Vietnamization of Saigon Politics Page 18
Vietnam: The Next Phase Page 22
National Peace Action Coalition Page 24
New Movement for Peace and Justice Page 24

For further information on PPT contact: 

Iowa City (52240)
Jan Hill N219 Currier Hall
Patty Larson 4110 Stanley Hall
Rob Griswold 620 E. Burlington
Ames (50010) John Rundle 728 6th St.
Cedar Falls Susan Sniffin 211 W. Lawther
Cedar Rapids Mary Kundrat 321 McAuley Mt. Merey College
Davenport (52803) Tom Higgins 705 Harrison St. 
Des Moines Ben Graham 1121 S. 30th St. 
Linda Wainright 1660 N.W. 75 St. 
Harold Wells 2718 University Ave.
Grinnel (50112)
Barry Zigas Box 1286 Grinnel College
Andy Loewi Grinnel College
Waverly Bob Hilgeman 1407 Morton 319-352-1200 
Pat McClintock Box 742
PPT Offices
PPT Box 203 Old Chelsea Station N.Y.C

Nixon & the Prisoners of War 
Jon Van Dyke 
(C) 1970 The New York Review Reprinted with permission

President Nixon's decision to send an expedition of commando forces to North Vietnam on a futile mission to rescue American prisoners of war was the climax of an eighteen month campaign to arouse American public opinion about one of the less significant issues of the war and to divert our attention from the fighting and bombing and killing that are still continuing throughout Southeast Asia. 
Since March, 1969, officials in the Nixon Administration have been attacking the North Vietnamese for their treatment of captured Americans in an attempt to revive sagging emotional support for the war. Until November 21, 1970, the attacks were only verbal, portraying the North Vietnamese as evil persons who work unrelentingly to harass American prisoners. The American pilots, on the other hand, were portrayed as virtuous men who found themselves in North Vietnamese prisons through an unfortunate and totally fortuitous series of events. The "prisoner-of-war-problem" has been treated throughout as an issue unrelated to the war itself. 
It is not, of course, unusual for a nation at war to depict its enemy as inhumane or even subhuman, and Americans seem particularly inclined to believe grisly tales of torture and sadism on the part of people who have the audicity to stand up to our military power. Lyndon Johnson and the other spokesmen for his policies regularly referred to the North Vietnamese as "aggressors" and to the Viet Cong as "terrorists" and "assassins." To their credit, however, they never engaged in an unrelenting hate campaign which cynically distorted the information known about prisoners in North Vietnam in order to promote support for a war that the United States should never have become involved in and should certainly be extricated from by now. 
Nixon's attempt to focus attention on the prisoner-of-war issue bears a strong resemblance to his campaign for law and order during the past two elections. The purpose of both attempts is to evoke a simplistic emotional response to what is inevitably a complex problem and to turn our attention away from the deep problems which the President will not or cannot solve. 
Still, it must be said that the North Vietnamese have failed to comply with certain requirements of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War Until December, 1969, the North Vietnamese did not permit regular correspondence between the prisoners and their relatives; they have still not published a complete list of the prisoners; they keep some of the prisoners in solitary confinement and do not allow inspection of the camps by any official neutral body. 
It is also true, however, that for several months before the commando raid on the Sontay prisoner-of-war camp the North Vietnamese were cooperating in the frequent exchange of letters and packages between the pilots and their relatives. They were gradually releasing the names of more and more men who are held in North Vietnam, and were responding to specific inquiries about whether missing men are held in the prison camps. Moreover, two released prisoners have charged that the North Vietnamese engage in physical brutality toward the prisoners, but two other freed pilots - who have recently described their captivity after long periods of keeping silent in accordance with the wishes of the Department of Defense - have said that they were protected from physical intimidation once they were in the hands of North Vietnamese guards and when they were at the formal prison camps. 
Just before the commando raid, the North Vietnamese - as part of their recent policy of fuller disclosure on prisoner-of-war matters announced that six men had died during or after their capture in North Vietnam. A subsequent letter, sent a day before the raid but not received in the United States until after the raid, reported that eleven other men had died during or after capture. Other material I have seen indicates that at least seven of these men were captured alive and had died during captivity. this is not (continued on page 20) 
3

" The time had come for the American people to be told the blunt truth about Indochina."
John F. Kennedy 
Senator from Massachusetts
Washington D.C.
April 6, 1954

Saving...

Army Basic Training anonymous Kill, kill. kill! I'm going to Vietnam, And kill some women, mothers, and children. At first glance, one might presume the above was a graffito scratched on a bathroom wall above a urinal by an inebriated, mentally unstable redneck. It seems almost inconceivable that hundreds of young American men of basically sound minds are coerced to chant it in unison at the top of their lungs. Yet that is precisely what was required of E Company, 7th Battalion, 2nd Basic Combat Training Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Caroline, this summer. The drill sergeant in charge ordered the two hundred- plus trainees to chant the obscenity during drill and ceremonies. In light of the recent publicity of the MyLai incidents, it is macabre that such an atrocity can openly be committed as part of normal, everyday training in today's Action Army. Unfortunately, that was not an isolated case. So here is another tidbit worthy of civilian awareness: another chant for E-7-2 this time while marching: Kill, kill kill! Kent State I'm going to And kill some Commie Lovers. It is somewhat ironical that the same Regular Army personnel who are so quick to criticize (rightfully, if I may editorialize) the actions of National Guardsmen at Kent State propose the above as a proper substitute. Then there is the catchy utterance to be recited over and over while standing at attention in outdoor bleacher areas, waiting for a period of instruction to begin: We're going to rape,kill, pillage and burn, We're going to rape, kill. pillage and burn, We're going to rape, kill, pillage and burn ... Throughout bayonet instruction, the training officer or sergeant repeatedly asks the two hundred or so trainees. "What is the purpose of the bayonet?" The soldiers are required to reply, as loudly and viciously as possible, "KILL!" Probably the most distressing indications of corruption in our armed forces center about racial prejudice. It is not restricted to the military proper, but also spills over into the military-related civilian agencies, such as the local draft boards. Two example of such racism will be evident in the following story. One Sunday morning near te end of my four month "hitch," a close friend and myself were on pass in Columbia, South Carolina, and were waiting in line at the local Pancake House. My companion, who is very outspoken by nature, was telling me (rather obstreperously) of a young man he had met in basic training, who was drafted in June, despite a lottery number of 266. I questioned the legality of the conscription, since the Selective Service Department has been issuing guideline lottery numbers each month this year, which each local board is supposed to follow. The highest lottery number which is supposed to be taken at year's end was set at 195. My associate noted that young man happened to be Black, and from Tennessee. At about this time, I noticed a young black soldier behind us in line, listening attentively. Shortly after, we were seated and he came over to us and asked if he might join us. During the course of our breakfast, he revealed that he was from a small town in South Carolina, and that he was also drafted in June, immediately after receiving his B.A. in history. His number was 206. My friend and I offered to seek legal aid for the young man as soon as we were discharged ( We each had only two weeks left.) But he smiled and refused on the grounds that it would only cause him trouble and possibly endanger his family. There is one more pertinent item - he said that of the seventeen men drafted by his local board that month, fourteen "managed" to get in to the reserves. He also tried, but was told that the waiting list was one year or more. Oh yes - all fourteen were white. One more incident worthy of attention occurred during the last two months of my training in Fort Jackson, the two months known as "AIT" (Advanced Individual Training). I was in Company A, 15th Battalion 4th Brigade at the time, serving as barracks guard for the evening. The sargeant on duty approached me and pointed out my "unmilitary" attire and asked me to come unto his office. I was expecting the usual tonguelashing, and was surprised to discover that all he wanted was an ear to listen to his "heroic" feats during his tour of duty in Vietnam. At the end of the one-sided conversation he said, matter-of-factly, that he would have to bring in his collection of ears one day, and show them to me. When I queried as to what in earth he was talking about, he stated that it was common practice for American soldiers to cut off the ears of the dead "Gooks." and that he had quite a collection at home. He could not comprehend why I became enraged. I suppose to many this report will be old hat especially in the light of more outrageous atrocities revealed by other, who, unlike myself, have been unfortunate enough to have fought in one or more of the three wars in Southeast Asia. Yet I believe it is neccessary to publicize these incidents because they clearly indicate that the problems originate at least no further away than in our home training bases, rather than as foreign outgrowths of the war environment of Southeast Asia. TABLE OF CONTENTS The People's Peace Treaty Page 1 Nixon's Five Points Page 2 Army Basic Training Page 3 Nixon and the Prisoners of War Page 3 The United States and Laos Page 4 Air war in Laos Page 6 PRG Initiative Page 8 Cambodia: Biting the Fishhook Page 9 Open Letter from Saigon's Jailed Women Page 12 Peoples' Peace Treaty (text) Page 12 Thailand: Subcontracting Counterinsurgency Page 14 DUC: Proposals for Peace Page 16 The Vietnamization of Saigon Politics Page 18 Vietnam: The Next Phase Page 22 National Peace Action Coalition Page 24 New Movement for Peace and Justice Page 24 For further information on PPT contact: Iowa City (52240) Jan Hill N219 Currier Hall Patty Larson 4110 Stanley Hall Rob Griswold 620 E. Burlington Ames (50010) John Rundle 728 6th St. Cedar Falls Susan Sniffin 211 W. Lawther Cedar Rapids Mary Kundrat 321 McAuley Mt. Merey College Davenport (52803) Tom Higgins 705 Harrison St. Des Moines Ben Graham 1121 S. 30th St. Linda Wainright 1660 N.W. 75 St. Harold Wells 2718 University Ave. Grinnel (50112) Barry Zigas Box 1286 Grinnel College Andy Loewi Grinnel College Waverly Bob Hilgeman 1407 Morton 319-352-1200 Pat McClintock Box 742 PPT Offices PPT Box 203 Old Chelsea Station N.Y.C Nixon & the Prisoners of War Jon Van Dyke (C) 1970 The New York Review Reprinted with permission President Nixon's decision to send an expedition of commando forces to North Vietnam on a futile mission to rescue American prisoners of war was the climax of an eighteen month campaign to arouse American public opinion about one of the less significant issues of the war and to divert our attention from the fighting and bombing and killing that are still continuing throughout Southeast Asia. Since March, 1969, officials in the Nixon Administration have been attacking the North Vietnamese for their treatment of captured Americans in an attempt to revive sagging emotional support for the war. Until November 21, 1970, the attacks were only verbal, portraying the North Vietnamese as evil persons who work unrelentingly to harass American prisoners. The American pilots, on the other hand, were portrayed as virtuous men who found themselves in North Vietnamese prisons through an unfortunate and totally fortuitous series of events. The "prisoner-of-war-problem" has been treated throughout as an issue unrelated to the war itself. It is not, of course, unusual for a nation at war to depict its enemy as inhumane or even subhuman, and Americans seem particularly inclined to believe grisly tales of torture and sadism on the part of people who have the audicity to stand up to our military power. Lyndon Johnson and the other spokesmen for his policies regularly referred to the North Vietnamese as "aggressors" and to the Viet Cong as "terrorists" and "assassins." To their credit, however, they never engaged in an unrelenting hate campaign which cynically distorted the information known about prisoners in North Vietnam in order to promote support for a war that the United States should never have become involved in and should certainly be extricated from by now. Nixon's attempt to focus attention on the prisoner-of-war issue bears a strong resemblance to his campaign for law and order during the past two elections. The purpose of both attempts is to evoke a simplistic emotional response to what is inevitably a complex problem and to turn our attention away from the deep problems which the President will not or cannot solve. Still, it must be said that the North Vietnamese have failed to comply with certain requirements of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War Until December, 1969, the North Vietnamese did not permit regular correspondence between the prisoners and their relatives; they have still not published a complete list of the prisoners; they keep some of the prisoners in solitary confinement and do not allow inspection of the camps by any official neutral body. It is also true, however, that for several months before the commando raid on the Sontay prisoner-of-war camp the North Vietnamese were cooperating in the frequent exchange of letters and packages between the pilots and their relatives. They were gradually releasing the names of more and more men who are held in North Vietnam, and were responding to specific inquiries about whether missing men are held in the prison camps. Moreover, two released prisoners have charged that the North Vietnamese engage in physical brutality toward the prisoners, but two other freed pilots - who have recently described their captivity after long periods of keeping silent in accordance with the wishes of the Department of Defense - have said that they were protected from physical intimidation once they were in the hands of North Vietnamese guards and when they were at the formal prison camps. Just before the commando raid, the North Vietnamese - as part of their recent policy of fuller disclosure on prisoner-of-war matters announced that six men had died during or after their capture in North Vietnam. A subsequent letter, sent a day before the raid but not received in the United States until after the raid, reported that eleven other men had died during or after capture. Other material I have seen indicates that at least seven of these men were captured alive and had died during captivity. this is not (continued on page 20) 3 " The time had come for the American people to be told the blunt truth about Indochina." John F. Kennedy Senator from Massachusetts Washington D.C. April 6, 1954