75-02-B2
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Viet Nam Policy
TranscriptWhat will be left of American foreign policy around the world, if we let our chief ally on the Asian mainland fall to the communists for lack of supplies? I'll be right back. Last year, President Nixon requested one and a half billion dollars in military aid to South Vietnam, given our commitment in the Paris Accords to resupply South Vietnam on a one-for-one replacement basis. This amount wasn't excessive, in fact some military analysts estimated that a billion and a half might fall short of keeping our allies stable in weapons ammunition and other military equipment. This was particularly true considering the nature of North Vietnam's own build up. Since at least the middle of 1973, North Vietnam has not been adhering to the critically important resupply provision in the accords. With heavy supplies from both the Soviet Union and China, the communist government of the North has exceeded in war material the amount it had at the time of its country-wide general offensive in mid-1972, an offensive that was halted and reversed only after President Nixon's decision to mine Haiphong harbor and resume the military bombing of the North. So the president's one and a half billion dollar request represented the minimum amount required for South Vietnam to hold its own, yet the 93rd Congress reduced this amount to 700 million, less than half the original request. Now, in the face of a huge communist build-up involving tanks, troops and long-range artillery, we're resupplying South Vietnam at a rate only half that needed to maintain its strength. Because of the current Communist offensive, the South Vietnamese forces are using up ammunition at a rate that could see their last round used as early as March. One province chief in the Mekong Delta says that during the 1972 offensive, his forces were able to fire fifteen thousand rounds of artillery a day. Today, even though a large measure of the communist offensive has come in his area, the figure is one thousand rounds per day. Further north, the commander of an airborne division says that the flying time of his region's 250 aircraft has been reduced about two-thirds, due to fuel shortages. According to an on-the-scene report by the American Conservative Union, the effects of the aid cutbacks are everywhere evident. "For the first year and a quarter following the ceasefire, the arvind troops were able to hold their territory and outposts. In the last two months, as a result of inadequate supplies, they've withdrawn from dozens of outposts. Dozens of other outposts have been overrun. The North Vietnamese, meanwhile, have not been suffering from a similar aid cutback. Supplies now come south in a never-ending stream, for use in the present mini offensive and for the growing stockpile. Before the ceasefire, almost half the supplies were destroyed in route by U.S. air power. Virtually all of them reach their destination now." end quote. It's evident that the policy of Vietnamization has succeeded, despite the warnings of the doves and pessimists. South Vietnam is capable of defending itself, if it gets the weapons and material permitted to it under the 1973 accords. If Congress continues its pinch penny resupply policy, however, we may see the irony of a communist victory in Indochina not because of communist popularity or military superiority but because we fail to honor our bargain with our allies. If that happens, it'll be a long time before an ally trusts the word of the United States and with good reason. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.
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