A Free Vietnam

THE NEWS FROM Da Nang and Hue has been sparse lately. The National Liberation Front is supplying almost all of the information about areas it has taken over in South Vietnam, and it is saying that things have returned to normal in cities it captured only weeks ago. That kind of incomplete report isn't much to go on, but it is consistent with virtually all past reports about the NLF-that it quickly resettles areas, that it is rarely retributive toward the people in areas it takes over, that it especially looks after children. The much publicized suffering in South Vietnam appears exaggerated by the West, and it appears to be worst in areas controlled by the American supported South Vietnamese government, not the NLF.

The NLF's sketchy reports, in fact, seem to show the way toward the only hope for a nation that has struggled for centuries toward nationalism and self-determination. The ongoing conquest of Vietnam by communist and allied forces is as morally good a thing as there can be in a nation where war has made all situations infinitely complex. It will mean, if nothing else that Vietnam will be under the control of a movement that began among and has been nurtured by its own people. If the NLF's past actions are any indication, it is likely to bring massive reforms in income and land distribution to a nation that has been ruled by corrupt foreign controlled governments.

For all the tragedy it may spawn, the communist conquest, seem in the context of the past decade's events there is the best recent news from Vietnam. For conquering armies the North Vietnamese and NLF have been unusually nonviolent, especially by comparison to the Americans, and South Vietnamese--although it is easy to be nonviolent when one's enemy isn't putting up a fight. They have taken most of South Vietnam with very little bloodshed and they have not used at all the Americans' most brutal tool of war--mass bombings of civilian and military areas in the cities and countryside. The thousands of refugees now streaming through Vietnam, seem to be fleeing quite understandably from was--not from the idea of communism. And for all the refugees, there are also thousands of South Vietnamese peasants who have been and will continue to be friendly to the NLF, the army of South Vietnam, which has been abandoning, looting and even killing and raping civilians seems to be creating much of the atmosphere of panic and frantic retreat in Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Thieu and the American government should recognize that communist domination of Vietnam is inevitable, even if they are not prepared to admit it is a good thing. That kind of shift in attitude will be a difficult one especially considering the closed mind of President Ford, a knee-jerk anti-considering, and his advisers. The Ford administration's position seems to be a reactive one not well thought-out or borne out by past experience. It involves urging huge amounts of military aid for a government that has been consistently unpopular corrupt and suppressive of the basic freedom of its citizens and that has been consistently unable to hold any power in times when it has not been propped up by millions of dollars from America. American military aid has always brought suppression and violence to the people of Vietnam and it should stop. Congress should reject President Ford's requests for further military and to Thieu.

The American government should in thinking about ways to help Vietnam discard the idea that what is happening there now is a tragedy or that the people of Vietnam need protection from communism. Mass evacuations of orphans--who would probably be cared for by the NLF better than they are by the publicity conscious government and of civilians who the NLF appears to have no intention of harming are not the answer. The United States has brought have and destruction to Vietnam and it owes the nation a tremendous debt--and-the best way to repay that debt is to accept the idea that communism is best for Vietnam not to try blinds to stop it or to take people away from it.

The most important thing for the Thieu government and the United States to accept is the idea that the NLF and the People's Revolutionary Government will be controlling South Vietnam and will need and deserve reconstructive aid. Thieu's government should stop trying to hold on to Saigon: surrender will avoid needless bloodshed. And the United States should focus it efforts on massive humanity aid to be administered by the PRG in its attempt to rebuild the shattered nation. If people want to leave Vietnam the should be allowed to but the primary American responsive now is to help the PRG's reconstructive efforts.

What the NLF and PRG will do after they take Saigon is as hard to judge as the current state of Da Nang and Hue--any judgment has to be based on NLF statement and past actions. The NLF has said repeatedly that it favors the ouster of Thieu and an immediate tripartite government in South Vietnam and continued North Vietnam control of be the North. That system, however seems likely to be only a temporary one what Vietnamese needs is a unified socialist strong based in cooperative rural communists where still liberties are preserved. There is nothing in the NLF's actions so far that indicates it will not work toward that goal.

WE REAFFIRM OUR SUPPORT of the NLF in its efforts to free Vietnam from colonial rule and restore it to its own people.