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Show 'rrCREEK Perhaps the best evaluation of last weekend's "Moratorium "Morator-ium for Peace" was written by Haynes Johnson, feature writer writ-er for the Washington (DC) Post. He wrote: "The greatest of all protest processions probably didn't alter al-ter a single mind, change a single vote, affect the national policy one iota or stop a single shot. Certainly they did not stop the war." So, if Mr. Haynes Johnson is right, and there is reason to believe that he is, nothing of a positive nature came out of the two-day nationwide protests. I for one, watched television intently and read newspapers quite closely and only once did I hear any of the protestors say how they proposed stopping the war and ending the killing. And that was a statement made by Robert Scheer, bearded former form-er editor of the "Ramparts Magazine." Militant Mr. Scheer was in Salt Lake City to address the "freedom rally," held at the Utah State Fair Grounds Coliseum Col-iseum Saturday night. During a Saturday afternoon press conference con-ference Mr. Scheer responeded to the qustion, "How would you stop the war in Vietnam?" His answere was: I would tell the North Vietnamese Viet-namese Communists that the United States forces would establish es-tablish a unilatteral ceasefire, if the Communists would promise prom-ise not to stage a wholesale program of murder of South Vietnamese when they took the country over." Ever since the end of World War L I have been a close observer of promises made by the Communists, particularly by Russians and their sattelites These observations have established estab-lished one irrefutable fact: Communists keep promises only on-ly when it is to their advantage advan-tage to do so. Otherwise they break their word with impunity. impun-ity. In fact, the great advances that Communism has made world-wide during the past 50 years has been done on a foundation of broken promises. Take Castro in Cuba, as an example: He promised free elections, land reforms, freedom free-dom of the press, freedom of speech and assembly. How many of these promises has he kept? No, Mr. Scheer, if you think you can build peace in Vietnam solely upon a Communistic promise, you are way out in left field. Just about as sadly mistaken as are the thousands of youthful middleclass Americans, Amer-icans, who marched in the Moratoriums. Mor-atoriums. No one knows, of course, how deeply Communistic supported youth organizations like the SDS, the CORE and the YIP, were involved in the October and November Moratoriums. However, the Communistis have a way of getting their subversive sub-versive work done by someone some-one else. And many times the doers have not the slightest idea for whom they are working. work-ing. Now that the marchers have gone home and theeir voices are stilled, the war still rages on and the talks in Paris continue con-tinue to get nowhere. If there is any positive hope to which to cling, it might be to remedy mistakes of the past, put an end to waste and corruption cor-ruption at home and in Vietnam. Viet-nam. Unite behind the presi-denetial presi-denetial policy and display a solid "American Front" once more. Perhaps most of us haven't noticed, but there hasn't been one truly American spirit-rallying popular song composed a-bout a-bout our war activity in Vietnam. Viet-nam. We could use one about now. So long 'til Thursday. |