Brothers Attack Vietnam Protests

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Our armed forces in Vietnam needn't be distressed nor demoralized by the demonstrations of a vociferous, minute minority of college students. MOST American collegians support the Johnson Administration's Vietnam policies. The U.S. National Student Association's Annual Congress last month clearly showed this support.

War is hell, of that there can be no doubt. But there should also be no doubt that the protesting students are NOT questioning our soldier's fighting ability, nor his courage or conviction. Rather, in their haste to indicate their abhorrence and hate of war they mistakenly attack the symptoms of war (Marines arriving by train in San Francisco for embarkation to Vietnam) instead of attacking the causes of war (breakdown of diplomacy and communications; ignorance and poverty; charismatic and poor leadership; adherence to diehard, hard-line communism; desire for the better things of life which the normal and present channels of growth can not immediately provide).

These few students have failed to comprehend this difference, while the vast majority of students have neglected to inform them that they might better serve the cause of peace and eradicate the causes of war by demonstrating their talents in the Peace Corps instead of demonstrating their stupidity on the streets of Chicago or at the gates of the White House.

Power and force unfortunately are paramount in Vietnam regardless of how the U.S. first got involved, regardless of political instability, and regardless of how important economics, sociology, and the Asian psychology may be. The general American public have far more accurately assessed our Vietnam role and purpose than a few, noisy college professors and students. "The purveyors of age-old aggression are the culprits."

As long as there remain in Asia governments who believe that military aggression is both tenable and necessary for the building of the Great Communist Society, the U.S. will always be committed. But if we hold the line, if we contain the Chinese Communist ambition to proliferate the so-called National Wars of Liberation, if we can demonstrate to the world that those who ride the back of the tiger will surely end up inside, then we can continue to help build the kind of world in which the causes of conflict would largely not appear. Joseph S. Dolan   Second Lieutenant   Fort Gordon, Ga.   John S. Dolan Jr., President   Senior Graduation Class of 1965   University of Connecticut