University of Virginia Library

Kwapisz Sees Long Fight,
Israel Calls War Irrational

"The Moratorium is riding on a wave
of emotional anxiety," said John Kwapisz
of the Young Americans for Freedom
Tuesday night, "but U.S. withdrawal
from Vietnam will not bring peace."

Mr. Kwapisz was speaking at a
debate in Webb House Lounge, in which
his opponent, John Israel of the faculty
Moratorium committee stated that there was
"still no rationale for American involvement
there, either moral or political."

The debate was sponsored by the Moratorium
committee and moderated by committee
member Ken Lewis.

"The issue," said Mr. Kwapisz, "is whether
American withdrawal will bring peace to
Vietnam." Such an assertion is, he said,
"irresponsible, immoral and irrational." He
added that the futures of Cambodia, Laos and
Thailand are all tied up in Vietnam and that
"the domino theory, for all the ridicule, has
never been disproven." A power vacuum would
result from American withdrawal, he said, and a
blood bath of innocent Vietnamese would
follow.

Blood Bath

Mr. Israel, an associate professor of history,
said he thought the domino theory is still to be
proven true, and that he preferred the chance
of an increase in death when compared to the
"unquestionable blood bath that has existed
over the past few years of American involvement
and which exists today." He asserted that
American withdrawal would cause the Saigon
government to be more realistic in meeting its
obligations to the people than it now is.

Mr. Kwapwisz's other argument against U.S.
withdrawal from Vietnam included the possibility
of intensified North Vietnamese and
Communist Chinese expansionist drives, the
refusal of ani to make any concessions
toward peace, the fact that the Communists
had taken over the Vietnamese Nationalist
movement in the 1940's and purged it of all
non communists and what he called the
"likelihood of domination of the South by
Hanoi."

Little Evidence

Mr. Israel said he saw little evidence of
Communist Chinese expansionist efforts, and
added that the U.S. presence seemed only to
spur the North Vietnamese. He also pointed out
that the Saigon government has operated in
much the same way as the Communists with
respect to the elimination of its political
enemies. He doubted the assertion by Mr.
Kwapisz that Saigon was poorly armed and
therefore needed U.S. assistance in defending
itself, pointing out that the U.S. has supplied
the South Vietnamese with heavy artillery, air
power, and modern weapons of war. The reason
for the inability of the South Vietnamese army
is simply their unwillingness to fight." The
cause of this, according to Mr. Israel, is the fact
that the Saigon leaders had fought with the
French in the Indo-China war. He also pointed
out that the war has resulted in considerable
difficulties here in the U.S., emphasizing a lack
of attention to domestic ills.