In view of the continuing silence on the recent incidents in Vietnam by official Labour Party circles, the following extract from a background paper on Vietnam prepared by the Labour Party Overseas Dept., may be of interest to readers, The section concerning the Uuwited States attack goes as follows: "The US Govt....by her total reply to the attacks on her shipping has shown that she is not prepared to be a sitting target for North Vietnamese action. In fact, in making her raid, the US has exercised considerable restraint. The attack was limited not only to military targets well away from the centre of popuhation, but to those military targets capable of mounting the earlier North Vietnamese attack on the US detroyers, Significantly no action was taken against anti-aircraft batteries, something which emphasises the strict limitation of the operation to retaliatory purposes. "The North Vietnamese attack was made in the knowledge that powerful individuals in the South Vietnamese had been putting pressure on General Khanh to demand an escalation of the war into the North. Whether Khanh wanted this or not himself, he began to advocate it, in public and in discussions with the US Ambassador, Not to have acted after the destroyers were attacked might well have brought down Khanh's Govt which with all its faults is the chief hope of political stability in the south," The article continues to develop this theme. Apart from the general question of what the Labour Party is doing supporting the US war against the Vietnam revolution, one wonders how many more steps up the ladder of escalation the above specious and dangerous arguments will be used to justify - "to strengthen Khanh's hand", But as we report this article, news is heard of what "seems to be another coup d'etat in South Vietnam",
fhe Week Vol. 2 No 9 Page 24