Obviously it was not enough to bomb the liberated areas of Laus for seven years: it was not cnough to make its land the most ravaged in the whole of human history: it was not enough to drop more bombs on Laus than were ever dropped on even Southem Vietnam. Today the imperialist war machine has directly invaded Laus in the hope that by doing so they will be able to defeat the Indo-Chinese revolution.
A week after the formal invasion of Laos, the American Commander announces that 20.000 Saigon troop and 9,000 Americans are involved just below the 17th parallel. We cannot therefore totally rule out a land invasion of the southern tip of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The Whole of Indo-Chim..
The new American offensive foreshadows the next stages of escalation: intensified struggle in Cambodia, particularly the areas which the UI.S. April 70 offensive was not able to touch. The construction of an immense base at Khe Sanh could well signify the multiplication of systematic operations against all the liberated areas in Indo-China. U.5. imperialism is trying desperately to break the backbone of the Indo-Chinese resistance and thus has arrogated to itself the right to strike whenever and in whatever way it chooses anywhere in Indo-China. Vietnam. Laos, and Cambodia are all one under attack by imperialism.
The fiction of American "disengagement" has petered out. Since the retreat of U.S. troops from Cambodia, the Nixon administration issues numbers of American troops withdrawn from Vietnam, but contrary to the impression it creates, the reduction of the number of G.I.s is not accompanied by a reduction of aggression against the people of IndoChina. What Nixon's advisers advise today is "sudden and brutal initiatives" concealed under a mask of withdrawal. The sudden nature of the "new type" escalations allows the fooling of public opinion to be elaborated into a system. For days and the news leaks out, the offensive is already at an advanced stage. In April 1970 Nixon lied for several days maintaining that American troops were not going more than 30 kilometres into Cambodia. In May 1970 Nixon lied when he stated that the South Vietnamese troops would be withdrawn after the Americans had left. A similar situation occurred in October "70 when the American Command pretended that no military operation was taking place against North Vietnam. The campaign on the fate of U.S. prisoners in North Vietnam was only a pretext to cover up for the massive bombing raids against the North. This continued escalation of the war is hidden by a smokescreen of lies and cant from the American administration.
The imperialists have been using chemical warfare against the Vietnamese people since 1966, but today it is used on a scale quite different from that in 1967-68. The use of defoliants, herbicides, toxic gases, has made uncultivable whole areas of Vietnam and have transformed the Vietnamese countryside into a lunar landscape. The massacre of civilian populations is integrated into American war strategy and genocide is formalised.
This strategy of escalation and destruction expresses the impasse in which the U.S, troops have found themselves and their inability to win a military victory. Having failed to break the strength of the revolutionary militants, it's necessary to break the Vietnames people. Having failed to control the people, one must then submit them to terror and exterminate them when necessary.
Durng the Korean War and as early as 1951, O'Donnell the Chief of Bomber Command declared that all or nearly all of the whole Korean peninsula is a terrible mess. Everything is destroyed, there's nothing left standing. However until 1953 the twenty irrigation dams vital for the harvesting of rice for the civilian population of the North had not been attacked. It was only in May 1953 that five of these dams were destroyed. bringing about in one instance a lightning flood which ravaged the greater part of the valley. In 1953 the United States was further from victory than ever before. It knew this, but it did not prevent it from escalating the policy of the generalised destruction of the Korean people. It seems that an analogous situation is developing in Indo-China today. The Parhet Lao armies are playing havoc with the South Vietnamese puppet troops, the Red Khymers are gaining in Cambodia, the NEF holds its own in Southern Vietnam. the fighting will of the North has not been sapped or impaired. Today the Indo-Chinese militants issue a call for solidarity action in the West. In Paris the Communist League (French section of the Fourth International) and Lutte Ouvriere respond by a massive mobilisation. Some days later the Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese speak at a pubiic meeting organised by the Communist League (only the French C.P. newspaper fails to mark this historic event) and thank the comrades for their solidarity.
We repeat: it is vital for the revolutionary movement in Britain to respond to this appeal and to mobilise itself to participate in the demonstration called by the Vietnam Solidarity Committee for April 24th 1970, Victory to the lado-Chinese Revolution.
An American marine who can't take any more, breaks down
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the operations are covered up. When it's no longer possible to do so any longer