Vietnam and the Left: A Symposium

I assume each of the respondents will begin by rejecting your condition—to discuss the Vietnam war “apart from urgent expressions of anxiety and indignation.” That would be like talking about hell without fire. The conduct of this war is inseparable from its causes and consequences; it has become so cruel and now shows so many symptoms of a colonial war, that the nature of the war itself determines my conclusions as to its likely outcome and the necessary adjustments on the part of the United States. I would support a policy designed to save South Vietnam; but if that policy can be carried out only by terrorism, brutality and wanton murder of children, then it apparently defeats its purpose. We have only to think back to th...