Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 8, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press thursday february 8, 1968 Viet 4 cadre prepared for fight to death a foreign news exclusive by Mark Frankland Saigon special owns hours before the Start of the countrywide Viet Cong offensive a vet eran Viet Cong political cadre. Reaffirmed in the strongest possible terms the National liberation front s refusal to accept any com Promise solution to the Vietnam War and its determination to fight on right to the in a talk that lasted for Over four hours the cadre posed conditions for ending the. War. That if accepted would amount1 to total de feat for the United states ands its South vietnamese allies. He also emphasised that the affairs of could be settled Only through e r i c a n talks with the front and not Hanoi the moment the americans Stop bombing the North they can talk with he said. But if they want to discuss South Ern affairs they must talk to the he also ruled out the that Hanoi might withdraw its regular soldiers now in South Vietnam As a result of talks with Washington. The cadre freely admitted the presence of these troops although Hanoi has never done so. He said it was incorrect to regard this As Aid from the North rather it is the duty of the North to help the South. There can be no question of withdrawing Northern troops until the South is the whole of his conversation was based on the premise that North and South Vietnam Are one country. It is the common duty of All the 31 million vietnamese to fight. The americans think the North vietnamese army Are for eign invaders this is not so. Vietnam is one. Rivers May run dry arid rocks May Wear away but not for the e to fatherland. Therefore Northern troops but not chinese or under questioning the cadre described the possible Oil Rig incident escalates tension in persian Gulf by Joe Alex Morris Jeddah saudi Arabia special tons iranian gun boats last week drove an Oil drilling Rig out of territorial Waters claimed by saudi Arabia in the latest escalation of tension Over the Oil Rich persian Gulf it was Learned wednesday. Saudi Arabia has protested the action which occurred on Day that iranian bounced the a scheduled state visit by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The two were not connected diplomatic sources Here said. The Shah had privately made known his intention to postpone the visit several Days previously. I the Oil Rig belonged to the arabian a m e r i c a n Oil co. Which hold both offshore and onshore conces Sions from saudi Arabia. It was the second and most serious incident of its kind in less than a year. If they can agree to co operate Iran and saudi. Arabia Are expected to play a role in Gulf Security after the British pull out in 1971. The Gulf and. Adjacent countries hold some 70 per cent of the free world s proven Oil reserves and observers Here took the incident As a n other sign of the difficulties ahead in trying to get the two states to fill the vacuum1, once Britain Abandons her present Security commit ments there. I the area under dispute is a 12vi-mile wide strip Down the Centre of the Gulf. One Diplomat Here said it contains billions of dollars Worth of Oil. Two years ago Iran and saudi Arabia initialled an agreement on their offshore Border in the Gulf a shallow body of water without a Continental. Shelf or other conventional features for determining territorial limits the agree ment set a care fury mapped Borders roughly on the basis of equal distance from the shores of the two countries at Low water Mark. This tended to favor the saudis because the Shore slopes off gradually on their Side whereas the iranian Shore drops off rapidly. As a Compromise the iranians were Given an extra 12v4 Miles which represents one half the distance to Harg Island the big iranian Oil loading terminal in the Gul and Iran had originally claimed As its but the agreement although initialled by. Both sides was never ratified by the iranian parliament nor by. The govern ment. Iran s National Oil company previously had signed a conces Sion agreement with the Iran pan american Oil co. Another american firm. The Concession map extended in the Gulf to the outermost limit of he old persian Border claim ignoring. The Compromise worked put with the saudis. Ipac has drilled four Wells and started a fifth in the disputed area. Last year an Aramco launch was driven out of the area when it. Attempted to site a to Send ing out a drilling Rig. The latest incident came As workmen in Riyadh and Jeddah applying the finishing touches for the festive Welcome 6 be Given the Shah. King Faisal of saudi Arabia was reported deeply incensed but there has been no official announcement of the postpone ment of the visit which was to have begun la St saturday. According to sources Here the iranians have not officially notified the saudi government of the either. Other sources viewed the incident As a result of manoeuvring fan both sides some opined that Aramco would never have sent the drilling Rig out into the Gulf on the eve of the Shah s visit without the approval of or perhaps a definite order from the saudi government. I sends message efforts Are now under Way to paper Over the crisis. King Faisal has sent a message to the Shah proposing further negotiations on the dispute and the iranians Are reportedly sending a High level Mission Here soon to discuss it. How far it will get is another question. After the first Inci Dent the iranians proposed joint exploitation of the disrupted Region but the saudis to the original agreement. The Shah cancelled his Visi for other reasons connected with of the Gulf. He was incensed by leaks from a kuwaiti delegation which accompanied the Kuwait ruler to Teheran last month. 1 the Shah had told the ruler that he would not press area with hoary iranian claims to the. Islands of Bahrein which Date ack to 1783. Bahrein is 23 Miles off the saudi coast and has an Arab ruler who is now currying about trying to rally support for an Arab Gulf federation. After this King Faisal received the Bahrein with a the pomp and circumstance usually accorded to a head of state. Since the Bahrein visits saudi Arabi frequently without Benefit of 21-gun salutes or joint communiques the iranians vere again affronted. Shape of talks Between the front and the americans. The Only condition for starting talks is recognition of the front As the sole representative of the South vietnamese the withdrawal of Ameri can troops win. Need time. It could be like the 1954 Geneva accords. It would not he necessary to. With draw All at once. The Only material guarantee must be that the american troops will not for the political Settle ment following this stage a coalition government is All a ight but it must be the result of elections. The people in the front control led and government areas must come together to elect a new americans must go but it would be impossible to have a coalition As Long As the americans remain Here. Although the meeting was apparently approved by the front Central committee the cadre made it Plain that he was not in his View adding anything new to the front s published policies. The meeting took place in a Village on a French rubber Plantation near Saig on. The cadre said his Job was to organize the Planta Tion workers in the area but he refused to be precise about his rank. The most striking feature of the encounter was the Way. In which cadres own state of mind matched so closely the utterly Intreri silent policies that he out lined he seemed to be of one part deeply emotional nationalism and one. Part revolutionary arrogance. He described How he had joined the Viet when he was .19 and had refused to return to his wife after the 1954 Geneva Agre ement because thought my Job was not his wife visited him in the Maquis that year and he has not seen her since. He said he had never seen the daughter born after that visit. R i love my wife and my children like everyone else but because my country is in danger i must give up these the cadre refused to discuss his position in the South vietnamese. Communist party saying this is a delicate must understand that i am a he acknowledged that both american and Saigon government pro Grams had recently helped the people but he appeared to believe unpaid Cong cadres car Jiing their few possessions on their backs to be in a state of holy poverty thai Guaran teed their Success with the people in some areas we have not helped the people materially but we cry with tie people we Sufler with the people and we rejoice with the himself now 37, this Small Man with the sticking out. Ears and Small Chin of an Elf and the thin neck of a child had obviously chosen Victory or death and would take equal satisfaction in either. The american Soldier in his flak jacket he said at one Point considers his life to be valuable but the vietnamese consider their he to be the cadre was accompanied to the Village by some 20 Viet Cong regional Torce soldiers l mainly boys in their late and Early twenties but including two girl soldiers with round peasant faces aged-18 and 19. Many of these crowded the open windows of the Small room where the meet ing took place the girls giggling some of the boys smiling but others grave and suspicious. One won How Many of these also be ready to Natch with years of pers onal sacrifice the harsh and in Western eyes cruel de 1 remands of their leaders. The youngest of the soldiers was he had joined the front at 14. Later that night the sol Diers celebrated the e coming 1 of tet the lunar new year. When the boy s turn came to sing a song he forgot his words and hid in the Corner in shame. The next morning he was one of the Small group of soldiers who escorted the cadre Back into the rubber tree Forest. Carrying russian Rifle Arjad cleaning rag tied around muzzle he looted More like a boy scout than a Soldier _ of the Viet Cong do theirs Fork Well this f either die in Battle or under bombardment or perhaps go on to another ;