(Part of on-going Vietnam Legacy Project as detailed in July 4 post.)
The Saigon Post, April 9, 1971
SAIGON NOTES
by
Daniel Cameron
The Will of the West
Wheaties or Cheerios for breakfast, of course, is no guarantee of political
stamina. Communist and fascisr propoganda against the West has always been
emboldened by the theme or conviction that the capitalist democracies are monied
forms of semi-anarchy without real staying power in the jungle of world
politics. Lenin, Hitler and Ho Chi Minh have all been convinced that Western
will is fickle or downright flabby in comparison to the iron will displayed by a
Nazi Berlin, a Stalinist Moscow, a Red Hanoi or a fascist Tokyo.
US news media, especially the major television networks, generally disclaim
any responsibility in molding American attitudes and wills. This, despite the
fact that American families, whose TV screens serve generous helpings of
selected carnage, violence, firefights and wounded soldiers and civilians with
dinner every night, have actually seen much more of the war than the average
resident of Saigon has seen. Their nerves have been played upon for hundreds of
evenings this way. This electronic living room war is a new event in history,
still awaiting its sociologists, psychoanalysts and other intellectual
entrepreneurs.
And so, in the April 3 New York Times, Max Frankel in Washington reports a
new kind of Indochina debate and "enlightens" us as follows:
"Whatever the past divisions between Hawks and Doves, or Conservatives and
Liberals, it is clear from the polls and discussions in Congress, that more and
more of the country is united in its desire to quit Indochina---sooner rather
than later---and for a growing segment of the population, regardless of the
consequences there.
"The daily reports of civilian as well as military casualties and the
preoccupation at home with talk of war crime and high-level guilt are leading a
number of legislators on all sides to conclude that the country can't stand much
more such pressure."
That's just part of Frankel's piece. He plays artfully on the theme that
the US is becoming a nervous wreck over Vietnam. Watch him closely. Observe how
the literate, logical NY Timer throws his ponderous weight behind a policy that
calls for the US Government to rectify its mistakes by acting like a depressed
fishwife who shouts, "Max, I can't take it anymore. I ain't gonna take it
anymore, I ain't, I ain't. You hear me, Max, you old bastard?"
INFORMED SOURCES SAY
Semi-intelligence sources are speaking again of a general increase in
defection from VC ranks, especially by long-term cadre members who have had as
much as 20 years experience in the underground. They say this development, which
is most noticeable in the Delta, includes many political officers, committe
members etc who entered the movement as young idealists and are leaving it in
middle-aged disillusionment, Dwindling numbers in the ranks are leading the
organization, at times, to make party secretaries out of 20-year olds. Which
indicates that there are lots of executive and junior executive positions
available for ambitious young men wo see Red in the future. Qualifications:
better than average intelligence and willingness to do lots of night work.
These same sources add cautiously that the VC infrastructure, even when in
shreds, has much tenacity and refuses to die altogether.
"Let's face it," one official said. "No other organization in the world can
hold together like the Communists---except the Catholic Church."
A WORD TO THE NUDE
One of the specialties of a certain hotel in downtown Saigon are signs
which are painted on all the corridor walls. Some give information on how to
safeguard your valuables. Others describe the do's and don'ts which a guest
should observe. One sign by the stairway is very emphatic about the
don'ts.
"Please don't wander about the building when your body without trousers and
shirts or your body naked, partially clothes. Don't tease, embrace and kiss
women and girls in public....
"These rude manners will lose the good morals, customs of the Vietnamese
and the serious appearance of this building."
Thank You
AROUND THE TOWN
An exhibition of watercolors by JOSE DE MONTREUIL, at the ALLIANCE
FRANCAISE, 24 Gia Long Street. Lots of Vietnamese scenes with a European
influence of primary colors, often done with brief vertical or horizontal
dabs....Film ROMEO AND JULIET due soon at the REX....The new iron grill work in
the corner window of the Givral cafe is one of the most elegant little sights in
town.
PS. TIPS? DOPE? (The information kind) Write c/o The Saigon Post. For fast
action, leave note on bulletin board, JUSPAO, 145 Nguyen Hue Street.
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