(from Briefing)
The Vietnamese people have been fighting for independence for more that twenty five years, first against the Japanese, then against the French, now against the Americans. Their leader throughout has been Ho Chi Minh, a communist whose position has been likened to that of Marshal Tito. Is this a Communist plot - or a civil war in which the great powers have intervened? In the Geneva Settlement of 1954 it was agreed that Vietnam was ONE COUNTRY and that free elections should be held within a year. President Eisenhower said that if these elections had been held throughout the country Ho Chi Minh would have won. Instead General Diem seized power in the South with U.S. assistance and refused to allow elections to be held ~ the United States then recognised his puppet government which in turn invited the Americans to intervene, The nearest parallel is the Russian re-occupation of Hungary after establishing a puppet government in opposition to that of Imre Nagy. The U.S. has not declared war on the North; its bombing is illegal, Its intervention in the South conflicts with the Geneva agreement. The use of napalm and fragmentition bombs is totally contary to international and moral law. All foreign powers should withdraw from Vietnam so that its people can settle their own future in peace.