Western Front - 1971 March 5

              FRIDAY
Mar. 5th 1971
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Will U.S.
and Allies
Attempt
to Invade
North Vietnam?
£A.CIF]C STUDIES CENTER MAP
News Analysis
By Front Reporters
Two independent war research groups in California are confident
that the U.S. military will not be withdrawn from Vietnam without
first scoring a major victory—even if it means leading its allies in a
full-scale invasion of North Vietnam.
Furthermore, they contend, the U.S. may soon be pressured into
using tactical nuclear weaponry to achieve its military goal of isolating
North Vietnam from the south.
The Pacific Studies Center in Palo Alto and the Bay Area Institute
in San Francisco both believe that the invasion of Laos was part of
President Nixon's overall strategy to "win" the war. If the Laos
invasion meets failure, then the two groups agree that new technology
and strategy may be introduced.
Banning Garrett, a spokesman for PSC and a writer for Ramparts
magazine, told the Front he is certain that military officials are
seriously considering the use of nuclear land mines to close the major
passes along the Ho ChiMinh Trail network.
"The Laos invasion losses have been greater than we expected,"
Garrett said. "Nixon's situation is deteriorating and he will probably
try to cover this defeat by launching an offensive."
Garrett added that if Nixon intends to invade North Vietnam, then
he would have to do so before the monsoons arrive in late April and
early May.
He believes presidential advisor Henry Kissinger does not think the
Chinese would intervene unless the existence of North Vietnam were
threatened.
"I am confident that Kissinger is following the dubious assumption
that China would not intervene as long as we merely invade long
enough to destroy supply areas," Garrett said.
The Bay Area Institute contends that Nixon's alternatives are so
few and unattractive that the "ultimate escalation, general war on the
Asian mainland, is now conceivable." BAI, though, believes that a
massive land invasion of North Vietnam or the use of nuclear land
mines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail could lead to confrontation with
China.
The Front posed the problem to two professors and a number of
students in the street for their opinions:
Henry Schwarz, professor of political science and history and an
Asia expert: "I don't think the United States will invade North
Vietnam. However, the South Vietnamese might. The U.S. will
probably not send ground troops."
; Schwarz feels that use of nuclear land mines along the Ho Chi
Minh Trail would be a "waste of time" and that such an effort would
not interrupt the flow of supplies from the north.
Asked what would happen if the U.S. did use tactical nuclear
weapons, he replied: "They would be overrun -pushedout. As Mao
Tse-Tung says, 'atomic bombs are paper tigers.' The important thing
is man."
Schwarz called Indo-China warfare "jungle hit-and-run" and said
we have been "fighting the war incorrectly."
David Ziegler, assistant professor of political science and a campus
expert on foreign policy, agreed with Schwarz in saying the U.S.
would not invade North Vietnam—at least not within the next six
months.
"I would not doubt that there may be a resumption in the
bombing in North Vietnam such as which occurred between
November 1965 and December 1968," Ziegler said.
He added that he believes the U.S. will not go beyond the
threshhold of the nuclear ban. "If China got in the picture and used
nuclear bombs, then it would be different," Ziegler said.
Student opinion over a possible U.S. invasion of North Vietnam
revealed two fairly strong trends in current attitudes about this
nation's behavior.
1. A number of students polled (informally) believe such an
invasion would be consistent with past actions and thus probable, and
2. The U.S. will not introduce the use of tactical nuclear weapons
in Vietnam.
(continued to page 14)
Randall Named Coach of the Year
—See Back Page WESTERN WASHINGTON STATE COLLEGE, VOLUME 63, NUMBER 40