PEOPLE MUST HAVE FACTS ABOUT WAR IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001300120001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 14, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 IUOl M0001-7
AiACON s GA.
N b VT 17,133
I ?- 22,?82
T ELEGRAPII & I UVIS
S --. 69 s 21"~
{3t%4,'i" S of f' in Vie' nam
Editor, The News: Since the. Central
lntelli,teuce. A ency hasn't provided the
facts, We can't be c e r t a i n about the
trends of the. military or political situa-
tions in South Vietnam.
We need to have facts in our heade be-
fore our tlunkin is clone. We bno\v that
there is something wrong ti with the way
the Tlhieu government is organized, but
we haven't been able. to solve the pi?ob-
lems connected with it. The U. S, has be-
collie involved in South. Vietnam without
Congress or the people knowing inuch
about military or political. trends.
A credibility gap developers during the
Johnson aclministraLion about our aims
and objectives in South V'i e t n a n1. We
have not been honest with the North Viet-
na111eSe.
A lot of bomliin of North Vietnam did
not concern strictly military objectives.
Lyndon Jolmson want.-d to carry on a
y:ar of attrition and gain recompense for
his sins. What resulted not war in a
military sense, but a melee. The thing in
Vietnam never proved anything.
Reports of the March 1563 massacre
may help us reach some sort of political
construction in South Vietnam. After all,
the U. S. should not be telling the people
there what to do.
We should be telling Thicu and his gen-
erals what to do, but: the U. S. cannot and
should not directly intervene in the lives
of the Viatnaill escpeople. We have
rcached a new phase in Vietnamese af-
fairs, and if the Vietnamese will profit
from experience, things will be better.
We have been having totals of about 20
or 30 Americans killed each week in Viet-
nam. That is much better than the man-
ncr in which LBJ carried on the offen-
sive.
CHARLES W. SHEPARD
Allantac
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R001300120001-7