[lbo-talk] The inner gears of capitalist empire laid bare - WAS Re:Richard Russell

[Carrol Cox]

More on my previous post. The French wanted to get out after they had
lost at Dien Ben Phu (sp?). The U.S. offered them nuclear weapons
_during_ that battle, and the French refused. The war would have been
over then had it been up to the French. But the U.S. insisted on
interfering, and it was through U.S. efforts that (a) the Geneva
Converence was held and (b) the (supposedly) temporary line was drawn
between south and north to make orderly separation of fighting forces.
Elections were supposed to happen within a very short time (I forget the
actual time set.) The U.S. however through its puppet president blocked
elections (in which, according to Eisenhower, Ho would have gotten 90%
of the vote. Trainers were sent to Vietnam.

Kennedy's Inaugural Address: It amounted to a declaration of war on the
'third world.' Then his intervention in Laos. His speech on that (which
I approved of at the time) should be looked at.

These are the main steps which created the trap. LBJ is just left with
the problem of how to get out.

His actions and thoughts (and that ot others) on how to get out (killem
all or pullour or something else) is what this thread has dealt with.
Not with the major decision to take over from the French the fight to
'keep' Viet Nam.

Carrol