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UP AGAINST THE BULKHEAD
968 Valencia, San Francisco 94110 | volume 1/issue5 December, 1970
fo ( Ay) v7
J.C: PEELE, M.D. 7
KINSTON, N.C
PRISONERS OF WAR
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a
BY
JOHN SWEENEY
John M. Sweeny, 21, arrived in Stockholm, Sweden,
August 25 of this year. For 17 months he had worked
with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. The Marine
joined the Viet Cong in February 1969 when he was
abandoned by his unit after becoming seriously ill with
malaria.
On his arrival in Sweden, Sweeny denounced the U.S.
involvement in Vietnam and said he had not been a
prisoner of the Viet Cong but oone of them� The
Marine Corps had listed him as missing in action and had
promoted him to sargent.
o| took part in their propaganda wer,� he told United
Press International. ~T| asked for permission to take part
on the battlefield, but they wouldnTt let me because |
was ill.�T
WEST BABYLON
On August 31 Sweeny was visited by his parents who
live in West Babylon, N.Y. Within a couple of hours of
seeing them he was on a plane headed for the U.S. The
details of his unexpected departure are clouded in
mystery. Upon arriving in America he was placed in St.
Albans Naval Hospital, Queens, N.Y. According to a
Marine Corps spokesman he was given a othorough
physical and the normal debriefing conducted in cases of
this nature.� His military status during the two months
he was in the hospital for the odebriefingTT was that of a
returned prisoner of war.
SAM DOUBLE DEALS JOHN
On November 5 the Marine Corps announced in
Washington that Sweeny had been charged with
desertion, aiding the enemy and abandoning his weapon
in the presence of the enemy. The charges carry a
possible death penalty. The date of the trial has not been
set yet.
Sweeny�"� was aware of the danger he faced if he
returned to the U.S. Ata press conference in Hanoi held
just before he left for Sweden he said this:
oIf | went home directly, the U.S. government would
put me in a military prison for a very long time. Being in
prison does not scare me, because | went through that
during my training. | want to become active and | fear |
would. not be active in a military prison.�
DO NOT FEED THE CHILDREN
Sweeny had no contact with the American movement
when he was sent to Vietnam as a private in February,
1969. He was stationed near Hue with M Company, 9th
Regiment, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.
oMy first assignment in Vietnam reinforced greatly
my slight anti-war feelings. | was assigned to a convoy
security company on Highway 9 in Northern Quang Tri
province.
While on operation, | was able to see children standing
by the sides of the road begging for food. And outside
Cam Lo which is a rear concentration camp for the
national minorities | saw a sign which read: ~Do not feed
the children.T It began making me wonder if the U.S.
government and the Saigon Puppets consider the people
of Vietnam as animals. The only place where | had ever
seen such a sight was in a city zoo.
After a few days | becarre sick with malaria. Instead
of being sent to the rear, | was ordered to carry twice
as much equipment and then brutally beaten by my
company commander who later tried to kill me.
After that | decided | was not going to move any
more, and he (the captain) decided to leave me in the
jungle to die and report me as ~missing in action.T
Sick with malaria, Sweeney spent five nights and four
days in the jungle sout of Hue with no food and very
little water.
oBefore | came to Vietnam | had heard of an
American GI who had crossed over to the side of the
National Front for Liberation. He was and
Afro-American and his name was Mackingly Nallan.
When | was in the jungle alone, | decided never to return
to the U.S. armed forces agaiii. | started to search for the
liberation forces.�
THE CURE
Some time later Sweeny met two members of the Viet
Cong who carried him back to their base. He was given
much needed medical treatment and food.
Sweeny said Gls are told that if they are ever
captured, even when unarmed, they would either be
killed or tortured. This is not true, he said at the press
conference.
o| have been living with the Vietnamese people for 17
months. There have been many things that impressed
me. the tirst thing was that the Vietnamese people
consider me as a friend, and they know that their enemy
is not the people of the U.S. but their real enemy is the
warmongering government in Washington.
NO LIFERS IN NLF
oAlso the relationship between the men and officers
of the liberation forces impressed me very much. There
was mutual love and respect between the men and
officers. That is something that does not exist in the
U.S. Armed Forces.
oOne thing | learned by living among the people of
Vietnam is the high esteem in which they hold the South
Vietnam National Front. During my trip to the North |
was able to see the heavy damage inflicted on North
Vietnam by the U.S. Government. It made me angry and
ashamed. Seeing the damage, | was ashamed to be an
American. | feel personally that. making children beg
food by not feeding them is a crime in itself. Before
Operation Dewey Canyon | was given a briefing. | was
told: ~When you are going and you see anything move,
you are to shoot at it and ask questions later.T And |
asked: oWhat if it is a child or an unarmed person in
front of us,T and | was told ~Shoot and ask questions
later.T �
STORY VERIFIED
SweenyTs account of how he was abandoned by his
unit commander has been verified by Craig Thomas who
was in the sare platoon. Thomas, now a civilian living in
Chester, West Virginia, told the Associated Press he was
in the rear area on the day Sweeny was abandoned but
learned on the incident and later otold the the whole
story to an investigating officer.� Thomas said he had
heard rumors that the commander had been reduced in
rank from captain to second lieutenant.
_ continued on " page 10
1
MICHAEL MAYNARD
Michael Maynard, along with four other
Marines, resisted the military back in April of
1969. Mike had been serving time on a desertion
conviction at the Third Marine Amphibious
Forces Brig in Vietnam. On April 2l, 1969, he
escaped from a working party with another
prisoner, Ron Rouse. The same day they met Pat
Burns and Dave Leibold who had also escaped
earlier and Les Stewart who was AWOL.
They were given shelter by Vietnamese civilians
in the village of Hoa Phat. On April 28, a nearby
ammunition dump exploded, causing
considerable damage to the village. On the
following day, while going through the area to see
whether they could be of any assistance to the
people following the explosion, Maynard and his
four companions ran into a Marine Security Patrol
headed by a Sgt. Lantz. Burns and Stewart tried to
talk to them asking to let them go. The rest of
them said nothing. Stewart stated that they
wouldnTt let themselves be takne without a
firefight. Lantz finally said they could go, but to
leave one of their weapons as another patrol was
on its way and he needed something to show that
his patrol had apprehended the ~~fugitives�T.
Stewart surrendered his M-I6 and two extra
magazines. Lantz said they could go. The two
shook hands and Stewart and the others turned
around and took off in what Maynard later
described as a o~jogging trotT. After they had gone
about 20 yards the patrol fired at their backs.
They never said halt. Rouse was wounded in the
shoulder, and Stewart was hit four times in the
leqs and tater died on May {. Everyone was
captured with the exception of Burns who turned
himself in the next day.
CHARGED,UNCHARGED,& KIDNAPPED
Before their trials; many of the original
charges were dropped. But the charges against
them still contained mutiny, escape from
confinement, resisting apprehension, conspiracy
to resist apprehension, and _" unauthorized
absence.
Maynard requested a civilian attorney. His
military lawyer, Captain Lanier, said he would
write a couple of lawyers stateside he knew and
ask if they wanted to take the case. Slightly
after this request Maynard was advised that
charges had been dropped against him. He was
transferred to El! Toro, California for his
discharge. Here he was placed in the brig, since
he still had nine days to go on his previous
desertion conviction. The brig officer and brig
warden assured him he was going to be attached
to spearations to receive his BCD.
Finally his» release pay arrived. He was
checked out and told that the brig offic er
wanted to talk. to him. When Mike arrived at his
office three chasers were waiting. He was put in
handcuffs and told he was being transferred to
Treasure Island, San Francisco. From here he
was sent back to Third Marine Forces Brig in
Vietnam. THE TRIAL
The other brothers involved in the case had
already been tried by that time. They had all
pleaded not guilty. Burns got ten years at hard
labor and a DD. Rouse got 8 years and a DD.
And Leibold got one year and a DD. Leibold
had been found not guilty of mutiny.
Maynard and his military defense attorney,
Captain Lanier, didnTt get along too well. He
gave Mike a choice of spending his life behind
continued on page 10
2DON'T HNOCE IT TILL YOU'VE TRIED IT.
USS ANDERSON
On May 26, the Richard B. Anderson, a destroyer,
was scheduled to depart for Vietnam from San Diego. Its
assignment was the offshore shelling of the Vietnamese
coast. But while leaving port, something was edded to
the gears, causing one of the engines to «nock out. A
handful of nuts, bolts, and chains down the shaft cost
the Navy $200,000.
Three men, Passmore and Roberts and Black, were
somehow held responsible. They were charged with
willful destruction and sabotage. All were detained
stateside pending court martials. In October, Passmore
was flown to Yakuska, Japan, to be aboard the
Anderson for his general court martial. Fortunately,
because of lack of evidence, the charges were dropped.
The charges against Roberts and Black were also
dropped. I imagine itTd be pretty difficult to prove
someone dropped a handful of nuts or bolts or chains
down a shaft and yet, itTs such an easy thing to do!
COLUMBIA EAGLE
Three months before the sabotage of the Richard B. -
Anderson, the Columbia Eagle, a commerical munitions
ship on military charter for Sttahip, Thailand, set sail
from Long Beach. On board were 5000 tons of bombs
and munitions, including 750 lb and 500 lb bombs,
aerial bombs, and napalm.
Fortunately, the ship didnTt reach its destination. On
Friday, March 13, two members of the Columbia Eagle
crew, Clyde McKay and Alvin Glatkowski took
command of the ship and ordered the captain at
gunpoint to order an abandon ship. Conseugently, 25
members of the crew left the ship in lifeboats in the Gulf
of Siam, and the remaining 13 were informed they were
on their way to Cambodia where McKay and Glatkowski
would seek political asylum from the neutralist
Sihanouk government. After commandeering the ship
for four dyas they finally anchored 8 miles off the west
coast of Sihanoukville. The tw men demanded and
received pay and additional money for transportation
totally $992.97.
Clyde McKay, a 25-year-old mess attendant and Alvin
Glatkowski, a 20-year-old steward assigned to officers
quarters, had met only two days before they set sail. The
hijacking plan developed under McKayTs direction as the
ship slowly headed for Bangkok. Glatkowski had been
described by his stepfatheras a ohippie-yippie�T who
hated police, the war in Vietnam and the US. Mr. Hugers
said, oHe called the Federal government a bumch of
stupid idiots. He also said he was a prisoner .in this
country because he asked the draft board for permission
to go to Spain and they turned him down.� The only
thing he considered good about his stepson was that he
was ooutstanding in school, an awfully smart kid.� But
he quickly added, ~~HeTs easily led, he will believe
anything anybody tells him.� Kind of an ironic
statement coming from the mouth of a man who Just
retired from twenty years in the Navy.
Both McKay and Glatkowski made it quite clear that
what they had done was a protest against the war in
Vietnam. Glatkowski saw the act as a revolutionary one,
not a criminal one. ~~Morally,�T he said, oI believe I was
100% right.�� McKay stated, oWe are sympathetic with
the Asian people and while ITm not an authorty on the
war in Vietnam, I respect the opinions of people who
were authorities like Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul
Sartre who said the war in Asia was genocide. I feel
myself in the position of A German sailor during World
War II and from the example of what the Nuremberg
trials showed I feel myself guilty if I were just to comply
and be a part of threatening the people of Asia. I thoght
it much better to threaten by force the few people who
were around the ship and prevent myself being part of a
much larger scale threat against the people of Asia by
delivering these thousands of napalm bombs.� He said
they realized they had threatened murder and been
guilty of mutiny and piracy but he thought this was oon
a smaller scale� than being party to ~o~outright murders of
delivering napalm bombs.�
After being granted asylum in Cambodia by the
Sihanouk government, the two men were joined by a 22-
year-old American soldier, Cpl Larry Humphrey, who
had crossed the border from the Thailand side, where he
had been based. He said he had neither defec ted nor was
he seeking asylum. oI hope to stay with my partners,�
he said, o~and my heart was with them when they came
to Cambodia because I too oppose the war. I donTt think
any of us expect self gain, it will be downhill
individually all the way. But itTs something we must do
or we wouldnTt be able to live with ourselves.�
The neutralist Sihanouk government was overthrown
by a military coup headed by the right winger, Lon Nol,
only three days after their arrival. McKay, Glatkowski,
and Humphrey became political prisoners and were put
on a prison ship in the Mekong Delta. They also
discovered a little later that Lon Nol was going to return
the Columbia Eagle to the Americans. They had
intended to destroy the ship where she was anchored if
they had thought the Cambodians would have returned
the bombs.
Meanwhile, on board the prison thip they asked
several times for a Soviet correspondent or diplomatic
courier, especially from the Soviet or Polish embassies,
to come arrange asylum for them. McKay stated, oWe
want to leave Cambodia. There is nothing we can do
from where we are now. I just conTt walk down the
street and go away. We are prison es. And if the US
attempts to extradite us, I donTt know what we'll do. If
the US gets me they will sentence me to death or at least
make life not worth living. I wonTt go back until the
present form of government in the US is overthrown.�
Glatkowski added, oIf we go back to the United
States we wonTt get a fair trial. They wonTt give us a
trial. The only way to go back is with a gun. I'll go back
to participate in a guerilla war.� Both men attempted in
July to renounce ther American citizenship. But
because of many legal formalities, they are still
considered Americans.
In September, US officials said Glatkowski was
confined to a mental hospital near Phnompenh after going
on a hunger strike and complaining of hearing voices.
They said he attempted suic ide in the hospital and also
that he had indicated no desire to retum ~homeT.
American embassies were considering asking for
extradition for medical treatment in the US, but were
concemed that the move will be criticizec as illegal
extradition from a country with which the US has no
extradition treaty...
In late October or Early November, two of the three
men escaped. Unfortunately, press coverage was so
inadequate that we still donTt know which two escaped,
or the condition of the third. If any of you have further
information on their situation, contact us immediately.
If we are actually to make our own history, then we
must accept responsibility for our own people. McKay,
Glatkowski, and Humphrey must be freed!
USS RANGER
The Navy has tried to cover up the fact that there was
a strike on the UTSTST Ranger last summer.
Anger, fatigue and resistance to back-breaking;
murderous work schedules resulted in a brief walkout by
over 200 of the 350 men in the engineering department.
The huge carrier was delayed four days in San Diego by
the spontaneous strike.
The RAnger carries 5,000 men and makes regular
tours of duty off Vietnam. Although the sailors arenTt in
direct combat with the Vietnamese, it is from such ships
that the deadly air raids over Indochina are carried out.
The men who service the planes and run the shop
work 12, 14, 18, even 20 hours a day, many times at the
arbitrary whim of their immediate commander.
The strike was part of what is a omorale problem� for
the Ranger command.
The number of AWOLs and incidents of ~o~accidents�
aboard ship have prompted the captain, Joseph L.
Oleman, to order captainTs mast for anyone AWOL
for more than eight days.
One man who was gone for 25 days was fined $213,
given 30 days custody and busted to the lowest pay
grade.
The severity of the sentence for what is a common
violation indicates that, at least on the UTSTST RAnger,
the Navy isnTt pulling together.
The crew was given three lectures on preventing
oaccidents� which one sailor called warnings about
sabotage.
Bridles used to help launch planes of a catapult were
disappearing at an alarming rate. They cost $500 each.
T-bars, also used in launching, were reportedly being
dumped overboard. $14,000 worth of cable, used to
snatch the plances as they land, was fouled. oIt happens
all the time,� one sailor said, o~and people get away with
a
When the Ranger was in Vietnam two years ago, a
cable was fouled and an $8 million Phantom jet was lost.
Of the four men listed as dead on the last Vietnam
cruise, two were killed in accidents, related to the flight
deck operation. One man was sucked up into the jet
intake of a plane and another was blown overboard
during ajetTstakeoff. __ :
In order to keep awake during the 12 hour shifts, to
relax after theyTre over, and keep sane despite constant
harrassment by officers, amny of the sailors use drugs.
oYou gotta do something,� one man said, obecause if he
(the officer) gets in your system, thatTs just what he
wants.�
It all adds up to a deteriorating situation which the
Navy is trying to keep a lid on. Maybe when the whole
crew of over 3,000 men walk off the job we'll hear
about. Until then, the shipTs command and the Navy is
trying to pretent that the lone Ranger is charging off
into the east with all its silver bullets intact.
SPD
FT. ORD SPD
U NITY Now! HAIR
ima... -e�"�
ID
The brassT attempt to crush the SPD resistance has
only resulted in stronger organizing activities by the Gls
in SPD. They have gotten together in the last six weeks
to not only write but also print from WITHIN the SPD
prison three issues of their paper UNITY NOW! The
following is an explanation of UNITY NOW! reprinted
from the second issue:
This paper has been borne within the fence of SPD for
SPD. The principle reuson is to enlighten the people who
are now being held in SPD.
We have roots but like anything else, we need food
and help to grow and develop effectively. All we are
asking is for our rights as free men in a free country. We
donTt want to KILL, MAIM, OR DESTROY anyone or
anything.
We are the revolution, and as the revolution we must
work and stand against the pigs as one. We can never let
our want for freedom die. If we do, our lives will be
worthless. Speak to me of how much freedom we have
now, and I'll cry. ItTs sad how the people are so
brainwashed. We have few rights now and will never have
our rights unless we do something about them.
Being in SPD we have chosen life over death. By
representing life and love with peace as a goal, we must
learn to unite. All of mankind, be he black, white, red or
yellow, must learn to collectively fight the man for true
Justice and freedom. We all want and need a free life in
which to live and love!
ime =e
Ah, downers, thereTs so many of them and
theyTre so pretty, blue and red aid yell spark-
ling in their jolly little shining gelatin overcoats.
How you want to take all of them, all the time!
Perhaps even all at once! Yes, LifeTs such a gas
when youTre strung out on downers, ask any
downer freak"he probably wonTt be coherent
enough to tell you, but heT | probably make some
sort of ap utoprit grunt or gesture apie with
one or two of his appendages"maybe heTll even
start a fightf Downers have a peculiar tendency
to cn be loud mouthed & fucked up. HellTs
Angels for example, eat lotsa downers, and
eer some of the most loud mouthed, buddy-
fucking, obnoxious chumps we know.
OWNERS
Well, what did you expect me to tell you,
any way ? That they build strong bodies twelve
ways? | know Soste who couldnTt put to ether
coherent thoughts for two or three MONTHS
after kicking a goof ball habit, and that was after
kicking! You 5 as speak straight, you can hard-
ly keep your eyes ocused, your coordination
falls apart, nothing you do comes out right
while INSIDE, away goes be heart, away goes
your liver, away go your idneys, away, away,
rotten and wasted and you canTt get it back,
you know. Have you seen any old barbiturate
freaks around lately? If the cosmic realization
youTre seeking is of the variety Jim! Hendrix
found g° ahead, but otherwise, stick with safe
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NNO NY N «
_ white GI who hung out with some balck brothers was
. first beaten by KKK members, and then jailed by his
- commanding officer. Many brothers of all races are
July 4, Heidelberg. One thousand black Gls meet at
the university there and form the Unsatisfied Black
Soldiers (UBS). In their paper, ABOUT FACET they
write o~...black people will assemble to show the world
that black Gls are not satisfied. In a sense we are holding
a trial...we charge UNCLE SAM with genocide, mass
murder of millions of people, political murder, economic
murder, social murder and mental murder. The world
will be the jury. Every individual present...will serve as
prosecutor.�
In the four months since that meeting, brothers have
been carrying out the sentence by organizing at
Heidelberg. Schweinfurt, McNair, Berlin, Aschaffenburg,
and Bad Hersfeld. When the word reached the White
House and Pentagon, Herr Nixon freaked, and sent out
his crack oracial tension investigating team,� headed by
NixonTs balck mouthpiece, Frank Render. Gls who came
in contact with the team were left with the impression
that the oinvestigation� was odd, to say the least. They
did not sit down with EMs to discuss conditions. ~They
came to sell a program designed to oorder harmony�
among the troops. RenderTs mission: improve the
efficiency of the military.
But why is it that the Pentagon went to all that
trouble? The investigation must have cost them thens of
thousands of dollars. The answer in that EM solidarity in
_ Germany-black, brown, yellow, red, and white-is
_ almost daily proving that the command of USAREUR is
made of fools and dinosaurs who, in their tyranny, ahve
- become inhuman and anti-human. A summary of the last
monthTs news from Germany bares this out. Let the
_ events speak for themselves:
FULDA: A Puerto Rican soldier, Pvt. Hernandez
Rodriguez, resisted threats and intimidations from
_ members of a KKK cell. For defending himself against
these racists, he was charged with attempted murder. A
getting themselves together to fight the KKK elements in
_ their own ranks and in the generalsT corps.
drugs li
it.
HEIDELBERG: In August, black and white EMs met
together. The black Gls, already organized into UBS,
_ teld the white EMs: oWe are ready and we're moving.
ows in Germany
What about you whites? We can fight racism in isolated
instances, but to get to the cause of it, the same causes
responsible for the general deterioration of our country,
we need you whites. What about it?� A group of whites
responded, and Soldiers for Democratic Action (SDA)
was formed. They now have a paper CALL UP, and are
organizing successfully around local conditions at the
Patton barracks.
ASCHAFFENBURG: A multi-racial group of EMs
met and decided to strike because of brass harassment
and lousy billet conditions. A council of room
representatives was elected. They met the next Saturday
evening, formulated a list of grievances, and devised an
alternative to the strike: a meeting with Col. Hatch. The
battalion commander agreed to set up the meeting. The
colonel did come to this meeting, but as soon as he lost
control, he said he had another appointment and walked
out. This is the most recent information we have.
BAD HERSFELD% (Sept.-Oct.) This is an isolated
base at the East German border in the north of the
American zone. It has been the scene of mass protest
before when EMs took things into their own hands. Last
winter, a racist Sgt. got tossed out of a window. Two
weeks ago, on Tuesday, tensions again exploded when
Mibeen burned with ARticle 15s.
PFC. Brown, a black EM, was manhandled by some
Sp/5s and a racist Sgt. A brother, Sp/4 Barnett, was
nearby when Pfc. Brown was messed with. Barnett made
a point of carefully observing the Sp/5sT and the SgtTs
behavior.
The next day, an unrelated but similar incident
occurred when a guy out of uniform provoked a fight
with Sp/4 Clark. The un-uniformed guy turned out to be
a lieutenant. EMs broke up the fight and demanded that
the Battery Commander (BC) put the lieutenant in the
stockade. The BC told the EMs to go through the chain
of command. The EMs said no. The BC then called the
then called the Set. of the . When Lt. Allen saw
MPs. The MPs called the OD, A Lt. Allen. And Lt. Allen
five EMs coming to see him, he pulled out a gun and in
his terrified conceit waved it around screaming, oI can
stop you!� The EMs disarmed the ridiculous lieutenant
just when the Sgt. of the guards appeared. So the Set.,
obviously a John WAyne fan, pulled out his pistol and
shot several times through the ceiling (what if some
brother were sleeping directly above him?). Faced with
another madman, the EMs quickly and effectively
disarmed the Sgt. When post commander Howitz
appeared, overyone split.
Now all EMs-"black, white Puerto Rican, and
Mexican-American"were together demanding that Lt.
Allen be sent to the stockade. When Commander Howitz
did nothing, three EMs themselves took command and
escorted Lt. Allen to the Frankfurt stockade, locked him
up, and returned to Bac Hersfeld.
When they got back on Thursday, they found that
Sp/4 Barnett, the guy who watched Pfc. BrownTs
incident, had been arrested for assaulting an NOO. The
next day, thrity brothers went as a group to different
orderly rooms to ask questions about this and other
instances of racial discrimination. The officers were so
paranoid that the First Sgt. hopped in his car and drove
away, and the battalion commander left the orderly
room to lock himself in the $2 bay.
About 50 men from the entire kaserne went on a
sitdown ono work� strike until the issues of the past few
days would be resolved. On Saturday, Colonel Howe of
V Corp, Fulda, came to Bad Hersfeld and held a meeting
in the gym Not too much came from that meeting.
Since then, things have quieted down. Many people have
Others have been
transferred. Four EMs were court-martialed. Sp/4
Barnett was one of them If the brass at Bad Hersfeld
thinks theyTve seen trouble, they havenTt seen nothing
yet. Compiled from THE NEXT STEP�
talks was lack of information on POWTs, and
complaints about the o~standards of treatment�.
This from the representative of the US whose
forces have standing orders not to take prisoners
except for a few of those who will be tortured
for information and then slaughtered. Then
Bruce had the gall to add that the US policy is
to ensure that the South Vietnamese people
decide their own future ~~free of the use of force
and the threat of force from whatever quarter.�
Duc, manager of SaigonTs Morning News,
confirms the new Eight Point PRG program and
states that only the presence of the US
occupation army prevents the establishment of a
government in Saigon representing the people of
South Vietnam.
And it seems that the US occupation army is
going to be around for some time when one
considers NixonTs so called Peace Proposal. In
contrast to the widely supported PRG plan,
NixonTs Five Point Plan offered on October 7,
far from being a peace initiative, is a complete
farce. This can be seen upon the simplest
examination.
Nixons Lies 4
NixonTs first point proposes a standstill cease
fire. This is ridiculous. As a spokesman for the
DRV pointed out, ~This is not a conventional
war. Despite all thier efforts, the Americans have
never succeeded in establishing a battlefront. It
is a peopleTs war in which NixonTs concept of a
ceasefire is impractical.TT A Nixon type standstill
cease-fire would force the NLF to expose their
positions in the contested areas and to be wiped
out by the vastly superior US firepower under
the guise of osuppressing terrorismT provided
for in the Nixon plan. A cease-fire in the absence
of US withdrawal would amount to suicide or
surrender, the choice resting on the tender
mercies of Thieu, Ky, Kiem, and Nixon. As
Mme. Bihn pointed out, ~A true cease-fire can
only go into effect when the US halts its
unfamiliar with the CIATs relationship to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, MACV, the National
Security Council, and NixonTs Washington
Special Action Group, we may have no way of
knowing the real political intentions of the CIA
in this case.
Where the American government goes now
from this open admission of defeat is the real
question. A together GI civilian movement at
the end of World ~War || brought the boys back
home. It was called the Back Home Movement.
Maybe itTs time for that again. DonTt let Nixon
decide for you. You decide for Nixon.COME
BACK HOME
aggression, withdraws all its armed forces and
those of _its allies and repudiates the
Thieu-Ky-Kiem regime so that the South
Vietnamese can settle their own affairs.�T
In NixonTs second proposal he calls for an
Indochina conference which must be seen. as
another attempt to downgrade the importance
of the Paris Peace Talks and divert attention
away from the PRG Eight Point Initiative; as
well as an indication of US preparation for an
the task of
even longer involvement--since
organizing it, let alone the pace at which
discussions would proceed would be time
consuming.
NixonTs third point concerning troop
withdrawals only shows again the US intention
to continye present policy of transferring
ground fighting to ARVN mercenaries under
closer US supervision while the US military
continues the bombing and strafing of the
Vietnamese population. Furthermore, when
Nixon talks about troop withdrawals he means
mutual troop withdrawals which both the PRG
and NLF, from the first days of the Paris
Conference have strongly refuted. The concept
that Vietnamese should withdraw from
Vietnamese soil as a counterpart to US
withdrawal from Vietnam is absurd.
Nixon~s fourth point dealing with a opolitical
settlement� of the war means maintaining
Thieu, Ky, Kiem, and NixonTs opposition to a
coalition government and an insistence that
elections (if there are any) be carried out by
Thieu, Ky, and Kiem. How would Nixon have
reacted if the PRG had demanded exclusive
rights to organize the elections in the south?
And finally, there is NixonTs last point
demanding the ~~immediate and unconditional
release of all POWTs held by both sidesT�T but he
neglects to mention that US troops are ordered
not to bring back prisoners. They shoot them
instead. Also in all wars until now, freeing of
POWTs has always taken place after agreement
on the cessation of hostilities which is precisely
what Nguyen Thi Bihn proposed at the
September |7 sessions of the talks.
of-
Needless to say the reaction to Nixon's
~o~neaceTT plan was negative and rightfully so. In
Hanoi on October 12, DRV Foreign Minister
Nguyen Duy Trihn sharply condemned the
Nixon plan, which he described as ~~aimed at
forcing the peoples of Incochina to lay down
their arms, accept American occupation, and
accept American neo-colonialism This is the
content of a Pax AmericanaT an agressorTs peace,
a peace with slavery. It is nothing but a piece of
trickery.� He also warned Nixon and his allies
that ~~No force, no pressure, no demagogy can
force the Vietnamese people from pursuing the
correctness of their struggle. If the US
imperialists prolong this war against the peoples
of Indochina, the Vietnamese people...are
determined to intensify their struggle in the
military, political, and diplomatic fields and to
wage their resistance war until total victory�.
From NixonTs position shown through
Ambassador Bruce in Paris, one can conclude
that Nixon is preparing for an extremely long
stay in Indochina and has no interest whatsoever
in a negotiated settlement. His Five Point Plan
completely ignored the popular realistic Eight
point peace initiative of the PRG. Our fearless
leader Nixon is going all the way for a military
victory without regard to the wishes of the
people of Vietnam or the majority of the
American people.
Whe we go fo press, we
learn of Nixon's gramdas
attempt fo free Amber yar
Pow's Which was ogvisusly a
COVE WY)
wer b
of US escalation of Hh
reswmung the bomb4rG
North.
trons ahttrnatwes were exther
Paris & The Truth
Since the beginning of the Paris Peace
Negotiations the US government has given the
impression that it is more than willing and eager
to negotiate a peace settlement while the o~other
sideTT is extremely unreasonable. The hard,cold
facts tell a different story. The US government is
constantly degrading, stalling and diverting
attention away from the talks and then blaming
the slow. progression on the _ enemiesT
o~unreasonableness�T,
Certainly the National Liberation Front and
the Provisional Revolutionary Government of
South Vietnam are firm and cautious in their
negotiations, and for good reason, but this does
not mean they are unreasonable. Their battle is a
battle for national survival, they are fighting in
defence of their own country and people against
the intrusion of the worldTs powerful military
machine. Furthermore, their past experience
with international settlements of Indochinese
affairs (such as the Geneva Accords, to which
the US government gave no credence and instead
supported and encouraged a separatist Saigon
government) leave them understandably wary of
further agreements. The NLF-PRGTs ounreason
ableT position at Pariscan be simply stated--
Vietnamese alone should determine Viet
namese affairs.
The US government's false willingness for a
negotiated settlement is easily shown by its
demand that the present Saigon government of
Thieu, Ky and Kiem or some twin must
dominate the future of South Vietnam. This
demand is equivalent to insisting on a continuing
American voice in the affairs of Vietnam since
Thieu, Ky and Kiem are supported solely by the
UST Ngo Cong Duc (manager of SaigonTs largest
newspaper Jin Sang (Morning News) while in
Paris explained that his and other Saigon
newspapers had been. seized or suspended
because they all have otaken a stand against the
US� which is the position oof the South
Vietnamese people.�� ooThe Moment has come�
he continued, ~~when not only NLF supporters
but the entire South Vietnamese people are
rising up against the US and, generals Thieu and
Ky.� Duc was representing views of the
parliamentary opposition, Catholics, The United
Buddhist Church, the Movement of Wounded
Vets and the StudentTs Union of Saigon and
Hue, among other groups. Duc stated oTAt the
present the Thieu government severely represses
all opposition movements. Several hundred
students were taken to military training camps,
the president of the Student Union of Saigon-Hu
is in prison. All are subjected to the most savage
kinds of torture.TT His conclusion was that the
oUS is trying to transform Vietnam into an
American type society...to Americanize the
Vietnamese, to turn Vietnamese into foreigners
in their own country...US is not looking for
peace, but rather forcing the Thieu government
to try to achieve military victory.TT Thieu seized
the issues of Jin Sang carrying the text of DucTs
statements and threatened to arrest him when he
returned to Saigon. ItTs a measure of ThieuTs
isolation that this did not deter DucTs immediate
return. Public protest over the threat has been so
great that Thieu has not yet dared to arrest Duc.
Given this background it is possible to
evaluate the recent proposals put forth at the
Paris negotiations. The PRG~s Eight Point Peace
Initiative presented by Mme Bihn on September
17, 1970 in Paris is the only realistic basis for
peace in Vietnam in the forseeable future. The
cornerstone of this proposal is acceptance by the
US of the principle of total US military
withdrawal by a reasonable and specified date.
While the PRG set this date at June 30, I97I
(clearly inspired by the McGovern-Hatfield
amendment) they have indicated that the date is
subject to negotiation as long as some date is set.
If the US accepts this principle, immediate steps
could be taken to safeguard US troops during
the withdrawal period and talks to effect the
release of US POWTs could begin. If Nixon really
intends to get out of Vietnam as he insists all he
has to do is set the date and the shooting could
stop.
Another significant point of the PRGTs plan is
the proposed inclusion in a provisional coalition
opersonalities of
government of differing
political and religious tendencies, including
those who live abroad for political reasons.T The
NLF has fought for ten years not to impose its
policies on the South Vietnamese but to insure
Vietnamese self determination. Saigon and
Washington have continually tried to obscure
this issue but now Mme Bihn has again brought
out the truth of the matter in her September |7
statement.
Even though the PRGTs proposal covered
realistically the main themes, the US delegation
at Paris has been hammering away at it for over
twenty-eight months(security of American
troops, the question of POWTs, and self
determination for the South Vietnamese
people). US Ambassador David Bruce, head of
US delegation to Paris Conference on Vietnam,
quickly dismissed the proposal as ~nothing
new�T, shocking the diplomatic corps as well as
editorial writers in the US and Europe. All Bruce
could find to talk about at the September 25
CIA Admits Defeat! Nixon Eats Shit
For a long time now, movement newspapers,
Congressional liberals, and highly respected
international journalists have claimed that the
Saigon government of Thieu-Ky has nothing in
common with the Vietnamese people. Well, this
claim is now supported by a month-old CIA
intelligence report on the presence of NLF cadre
within all levels of the Saigon government. The
top secret report which found its way into the
hands of New York Times reporter Neil
Sheehan, systematically demolishes the mythical
oencouraging signsTT Nixon sees in Vietnam.
Below weTve summarized the CIATs findings.
*30,000 agents, most of them natives of
South Vietnam, are spread throughout the
ARVN, the Saigon police, SaigonTs various
intelligence agencies, and the government
machinery itself.
*During the 18 months of the survey, only
348 ARVN soldiers reported they had been
contacted by the NLF, even though hundreds of
thousands of approaches had been made. This
happens because only the Provisional
Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam
(PRG) has the true sympathies of the people.
*US and Saigon agents have had little success
in penetrating the NLF infrastructure. So this
results in a permanent imbalance in tactical
military intelligence. The NLF usually knows
ahead of time what Washington and Saigon have
planned. But NLF. plans are well-kept secrets.
One example is the failure of Project Phoenix, a
US attempt to uncover and destroy the NLF
cadre and its political apparatus. It flopped
because Saigon agents afe known by the NLF
well in advance of their appearance.
*The 20,000 full-time organizers inside the
South Vietnam Army (ARVN) are busy turning
on ARVN ~s to the NLF program, helping
ARVN © soldiers desert, and _ occasionally
eliminating gung-ho officers despised by their
men. Agreements are also worked out between
ARVN and NLF units not to attack each other.
The elected village council in a supposedly
~pacifiedT district were all members of the NLF.
HereTs how that happened. It seems that Saigon
had an amnesty program last year for those
~defectingT from the NLF. Many of those (and
there were 50,000 last year alone) became
~legalized cadreT in pacified districts. ThereTs no
way to tell how many were _ infiltrators.
Likewise, thereTs no way to tell how many
people changed sides because of contacts with
infiltrators.
ThieuTs special assistant for political affairs,
a National Assembly deputy, two Army majors,
the assistant chief of ARVN
counter-intelligence, the chief medical officer of
the national police, a province cheif, a former
deputy policy cheif of Hue, a chief of Army
communications in Dalat, and the chauffeur for
the commanding general of the army corps are
all named by the CIA as being NLF contacts.
*Obviously, a different kind of
Vietnamization is taking place than Nixon had
in mind. But why then was this report released if
it undermined the entire US operation? There
are several possible answers. First, the US
government may be preparing to oust the
Thieu-Ky regime as it did with Diem in 1963.
Once ousted, Nixon would simply replace the
old tyrants with new ones.
Another possibility would be that Nixon has
accepted an american defeat in Vietnam, and is
in the process of saving face by transferring the
blame for this defeat to the Thieu-Ky regime. In
other words, if Vietnamization were their
responsibility, it was their fault if they blew it,
not ours. This second alternative would also
mean that the American government has given
up Vietnam and Laos, and has shifted its holding
line south to Thailand, hoping to consolidate its
counter-insurgent activities in Indonesia,
Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand.
A third possibility is that this is to become a
justification for moving from limited war to
lightening war using tactical nuclear weapons on
Hanoi, Haiphong, and the Red River Dam. If
NixonTs ear has become sympathetic to the
whisperings of the most right wing
anti-communist vultures who sit at his table, if
Nixon has decided that his destiny is to rival
Ceasar and Napolean, if Nixon desires to become
a greater general than his former boss, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, then Nixon will re-Americanize the
war on this new level. If you think this is
far-fetched, then crank back 25 years. The
United States is the only government ever to
have used atomic weapons in war.
A fourth possibility is that the CIA released
this report in order to affect future policy
decision on the war. Because the report details
the failings of the CIA - inspired projects like
Project Phoenix, they may have also been trying
to cover their asses by pointing out the sheer
impossibility of the task. Because we are
-
Kini«
io i
FT. BENNING PRISON
Folson Prison, Calif (Nov. 3) - 2100 out of 2300
prisoners begin a work strike which lasts for weeks.
Support is connected with the outside, and solidarity
grows beyond Folsom to Quentin and Soledad.
Make Your Own History! 6
FITTING THE PART INTO THE WHOLE ... fitting
our part into the whole
In Case You Missed the Last Three Months
Fort Dix (July 25) - Although this event occurred five
months ago, we feel it is important enough to mention
here in case you havenTt caught the good word yet. On
that Saturday, DixTs 900 man Special Processing
Battalion (SPB) went on strike. Demands were taken to
the menTs commanders which addressed themselves to
the poor living conditions, police harassment, and lack
of black judges and lawyers. As usual, the commanders,
rather than address themselves to the issues at hand,
threatened the spokesman of the group. That night fires
rose to the sky over SPB. All Colonel Bedwell! could say
two days later was ,o/f you donTt like the conditions at
SPB go AWOL.�
The next day, Bedwell fabricated charges of inciting
to riot and slapped them on ten black soldiers. The next
day he changed his mind, dropped the first charges, and
re-charged the same men with robbery. Pre-trial motions
are being made, and last we heard, Pvt Poindexter and
Sp/4 Collins will be the first to go to trial.
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Fort Ord (Aug 12) - Inhuman living conditions, constant
police harassment, and finally the beating of two SP Ders
by MPsT caused the captives of SPD to retailiate. MPs
were greeted with a barrage of rocks. When the MPs
called in a fire truck to douse the brothers, and they
responded accordingly, setting fire to two messhalls after
chlearing out the food and distirbuting it among the
inmates? two messhalls after clearing out the food and
distributing it among the inmates. Guys came from all
over the base to participate in the luau.
The following day, the charred timbers were cleared
away as the ArmyTs bookkeepers figured the loss at
$175,000. Since no base commander can suffer this kind
of loss without apprehending those guilty of the deed,
Gen Davidson threw the same of ali SPD inmates in a hat
and came up with the names of Porter and Goodpasture
and Robinson. On the basis of one manTs statement, he
charged them all with conspiracy to arson. Not too
much later the guy whose statement formed the basis of
those charges. were dropped, all three men were
transferred. Porter and Robinson were shipped to Ft.
Lewis, and Goodpasture pulled a single levy to Nam.
May fires burn brightly wherever life may find our three
adventurers.
Virginia (Aug 27) - A federal court ruled on this day that
the Army must show the courts which antiwar artic les it
objected to and why the distribution of an underground
paper by Gis o. . . constituted a clear danger to the
loyalty, discipline, and morale of military
personnel.�T This is really the first time the courts have
challenged a commanding officerTs power in a First
Amendment type case. The decision came on an appeal
by Gls at Bragg, whoTre exhausting all legal means of
trying to distribute their paper, BRAGG BRIEFS, on
base. But they are not expecting a sympathetic decision
on this appeal, since the same court just weeks before
uphetd a lower court decision which denied Ft. Jackson
GIs the right to hold anitwar meetings on post.
Los Angeles (Aug 29) - More than 5000 chicanos,
Mexican-Americans, marched against the war in the
nationTs largest barrio (brown ghetto). When the march
reached a park, the LA cops suddenly went wild in a
frenzy of clubbings, tear gas, and pistol shots. At least
one man, Ruben Salazar, a prominent Spanish language
newsman, was killed when a cop fired a tear gas grenade
at his head. Reports claim as many as five died.
Chile (Sept 4) - Marxist Salvador Allende was elected to
be head of state. He promises sweeping reforms for the
people of Chile. One of his first acts was to give free
milk daily to people under 15 years of age.
Valley Forge (Sept 7) - a 125 man unit of Vietnam vets
and active duty Gls staged a successful search and
destroy. mission, clearing the road from Morristown,
New Jersey, to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania of enemy
forces. They called it ~Operation RAWT, short for Rapid
American Withdrawal. The operation lasted four days
and included ambushes, apprehension of
VC-sympathetic villagers, and KIATs. Actors from a
Philadelphia theater group took the place of Vietnamese.
Regular people along the route didnTt know how to
handle the scene. oIt shocked people beyond belief that
this was actual policy in Vietnam,� said Cragi Scott
Moore, one of the organizers of the action. Many
townspeople didnTt even believe that the Gls were
Vietnam vets.
Their leaflet read, ooA US infantry company just came
through here. If you had been Vietnamese we migh t
have burned your house. We might have shot your dog.
We might have shot you. We might have raped your wife
and daughter. We might have turned you over to the
government for torture. . . . Help us to end the war
before they turn your son into a butcher or a corpse.�
The guerilla peopleTs company eventually joined a march
of 2000 people who marched in a rally calling for an end
to the war in Indochina.
Philadelphia (Labor Day weekend) - Ten thousand
people, most of them young, jammed the North
Philadelphia ghetto community. It was the first large
scale meeting of American revoluionaries called the
~Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention
Plenary Session.T Gls were present. This is the beginning
of the writing of a new constitution for the people of
the US.
Amman, Jordan (Sept 12) - Palestinian guerillas blew up
three hijacked planes worth $24.6 million after freeing
the last of the hostages aboard. Planes had been hijacked
earlier in the week. Action was taken to liberate
Palestinian guerillas held in West Germany and. Israel,
and also to call the attention of the people of the world
to the Palestine problem.
San Luis Obispo, Calif (mid-Sept) - Timothy Leary of
LSD fame excaped from a minimum security prison with
the aid of Weathermen.
New Orleans (Sept 14) - Several hundred police,
accompanied by helicopters and an armored car,
attacked the barricaded office of the local National
Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF). The group is an
organizing arm of the Black Panther Party.
Toledo (mid-Sept) - 50 police raided the cityTs
Panther headquarters. They shot out windows, shot two
Panthers and a 16 year old man-child. A policeman was
killed earlier in the evening and police blamed it on the
Panthers.
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas (Sept 17) - Terry Klug, an
organizer for the American ServicemanTs Union (ASU)
was released from the Army after serving half of a three
year prison term for deserting from the Army rather
than obey orders to serve in Vietnam. Klug was involved
in the Ft. Dix stockade rebellion last year where he was
imprisoned after returning to the US from France.
New Haven, Conn. (Sept 18) - Lonnie McLucas of the
New Haven Panther chapter, was sentenced to 12 to 15
years on the charge of conspiracy to murder.
Copenhagen, Denmark (late Sept) - For five days,
between 3000 and 6000 demonstrators fought police in
street battles on the occasion of the World Bank
Conference. Barricades were made in the streets and at
night, when the battles started erupting, there were fires
from Molotov cocktails and phosphorous bombs all
around. Several participants in the conference were
wounded by rocks. There were over 50 arrests.
Chanute AFB, Illinois (September) - Chanute APTs (read
~apesT, the Air ForceTs version of the white hats) have
been playing with fire the last two months. It seems that
every few days, several black or Puerto Rican airmen are
rounded up, photographed, and then released. No
explanations are given. Their other games include search
and destroy raids on the lockers of black airmen. This
usually occurs when the guy is not around. According to
the ChanuteTs underground paper, A FOUR YEAR
BUMMER, white airmen have not yet been the victims
of these provocations.
One brother who has suffered more of this racist
harassment than anyone else is Timothy Demby, a black
airman of the 47th Student Squadron. He was thrown in
jail on fictitious charges, held for more than four dyas in
the hole without clothes or soap, and then placed on
base restriction pending court martial.
At the court martial on October ~5 and 6, a
multi-racial group of ASU brothers and civilians turned
out to support Tim. They saw his lawyer, Rick Helpern,
who happens to be a Marine vet, impeach five of the
nine government witnesses. The Chanute JAG office is
now having to consider purgery charges against their
own witnesses. By the way, Tim was acquitted.
Saigon (Sept-Oct) - 1.446 youths have been forced by
the police to cut their hair or have it cut by policemen.
North Chicago (Sept) - a giant party and rally was pulled
off by Movement for a Democratic Military at the Naval
Training Center above Chicago in spite of a pig judge
who demanded a $10,000 bond, an FBI investigating
1am, and three unwilling companies of helicopter-borne
l.arines. Between 500 to a 1000 Gls and civilians
j.mmed all afternoon with bands, guerilla theater, and
speakers.
The spirit from the festival carried over to October
when two dozen sailors from MDM accompanied a
brother known as Yossarian who was on his way to pick
up his orders for Japan. The lieutenant in the office was
so freaked out at this display of solidarity that all he
could do was order them all out of the office, totally
forgetting to give Yossarian his orders at all.
New York City (Oct 13) Angela Davis, black
revolutionary, was arrested in connection with the
kidnapping of a judge, District Attorney, and members
of the jury by black prisoners who were on trial in
Marin. She had evaded the FBI for about two months.
Montevideo, Uruguay (Oct 13) - Four women and five
men, members of the Tupameros, a revolutionary urban
group, pulled the biggest bank robbery in history,
ripping off $6 million in gems and $48,000 in cash. The
money was from Uruguay's Bank of the Republic.
Canada (Oct 16) - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau invoked martial law in Canada.
New York (Nov 3) - In an interview in Look magazine,
Walter Cronkite, really the grand-daddy of television
news broadcasting, said, o| donTt worry so much about
Mr. Agnew because from time immemorial we have
heard politicians complaining about the way the press
treats them. What | worry about is that many Americans
would accept fascism and believe there is justice in it.�
San Francisco (November) Los Siete, seven Latin
brothers on trial for the death of a SF city cop, were
acquitted. The defense contended that the copTs partner
fired the fatal shot. Lots of pressure from Bay Area
people to set them free probably was in the minds of the
jury when they set the brothers free.
Beale AFB, Calif (Ncvember) - Airmen at Beale have a
new paper, the first of its kind from this remote Air
Force Base set at the base of the Sierra. Nevada
mountains. Most of their first issue is devoted to the
story of an airman whoTs a conscientious objector. They
could most definitely dig hearing from people. Their
address is P.O. Box 2045, Marysville, California.
Tacoma, Washington (Nov 9) - Seven men and one
woman go to trial on conspiracy charges stemming out
of a support rally for the Chicago 8 conspiracy.
Yosemite, Calif (Nov 12) - Six AWOL Gls escaped from
an army MP wagon after overpowering the two MPs who
were taking them to the Presidio. The MPs, a Sgt.
Kenneth Villars and PFC Jack Young, were handcuffed
to a barbed wire fence somewhere in the Sierra foothills
by these six beautiful brothers who were determined to
have their freedom. Unfortunately, two of the six
Manila (Oct 19) - Clark AFB is the largest Air Force
installation outside the US. An underground rag called
THE WHIG is printed and distiributed by Gls calling
themselves Tom Paine, Sam Adams, and Ben Franklin.
Their biggest victory to date came from a page one story
about how an elite security police group known as the
Red Patches were terrorizing native Philippinoes. Local
Manila papers picked up the story and successtully
pressured the command to disband the Red Patches.
This kind of solidarity between Gls and Third World
peoples is a model to be copied.
Kent, Ohio (late October) - 25 people connected with
the Kent State campus have been indicted by a special
Ohio State grand jury. Charges grow out of the incident
Quebec (October 6) - James Cross, head of the British
government in Montreal and the senior British trade
commissioner, is kidnapped by Quebed Liberation Front
(FLQ). Four days later, Quebec Minister of Labor, Pierre
Laporte is kidnapped also.
The West Coast (Oct. 7) - a San Rafael court room was
blown up by Weathermen. National Guard armory in
Santa Barbara was bombed. In Seattle at the University
of Washington, a bomb exploded at the ROTC building.
Bolivia (Oct 7) - Gen Torres leads a left-wing military
coup with the support of the workers and students.
Detroit (Oct 11) - Patrolman Ronald Yedda, who in
1967 killed a black woman, shot and killed a young
white worker in full view of the victimTs family.
New York City (Oct 1) - Prison rebellion broke out at
four NYC jails. Thousands of black, Puerto Rican, and
white inmates seized control of the jails, held hostages,
and radically challenged not only the prison system but
the judicial system as well. Hundreds of prisoners
proclaimed their willingness o~to die for justice� as
revolutionaries. One demand was freedom on bail for
Black Panther Afeni Shakur.
Cambridge (Oct 13) - a bomb exploded in Harvard
UniversityTs Center for International Affairs. The center
did counterinsurgency studies connected with the
Vietnam war. Action was taken by ~The Proud Eagle
TribeT, a group of revolutionary, women Retort 11 borlote
Odin OJ 19Ut VE ve
which saw the killing of four students last May by Ohio
National Guard on the campus.
Jackson, Mississippi (Oct 26) - Police raided and wrecked
the offices of the Kadzu, the local underground paper.
Irvine, Calif (Oct 26) - On the University of California
campus the Bank of America was set ablaze by arsonists.
Damage was estimated at $125,000. On the bank wall,
the one that was left standing, our friends had
spray-painted slogans. They said, oPower to the People�
and oDeath to the fascist pigsT.
New York City (Oct 29) - Black and Puerto Rican
students tore up Morris High, turning over tables and
chairs in the cafeteria. They demanded the right to set
up a table with revolutionary Black and Puerto Rican
literature. Students fought police with rocks and bottles.
Three students were arrested.
San Jose (Oct 29) - Richard Nixon is stoned in San Jose.
Democrats and liberals compare the incident to the
Reichstag fire which occurred during Hitler's rise to
power.
New York City (Oct 30) - The Young Lord's Party, a
revolutionary Puerto Rican organization, led 10,000
people on a march to the United National Plaza. They.
marched in support Of ihdépendence for Puerto Rico.
(Myron Perkins and Phillip Mier) went into town rather
than remain in the mountainous wilderness, and they
were soon caught by local police. The other four
(Kenneth Parks, Steven Tuggle, Charles Adams, and
Jeffery Holland) are still free. These brothers recognized
the true meaning of ~power to the peopleT. /t just means
that thereTs more of us than there is of them
Hunter Liggett, Calif (November) - Seven M-16s and an
M-50 machine gun were taken from this Army post last
month, This is one in a series of many firearms rip-offs
which have occurred in the Fort Ord-Hunter Liggett-San
Francisco Bay Area. Judging from the circumstances
surrounding each incident and from the sheer
impossibility of anyone not in uniform getting within
even a hundred feet of these weapons, it becomes clear
that the actions were clearly staged by Gls. Wonder why
it is that the military command gets more freaked when
G/s make off with a few automatic weapons than when
Minuteman/Bircher colonels make off with anti-tank
guns, grenade launchers, flame throwers and the like?
subscrit
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EXPOSED 7
See you in court said the GI to the General
Eight Gls, four of them Vietnam vets, filed a civil law
suit November ll against Colonel Willard Latham
(commanding officer of the 197th Infantry Brigade),
General ORwin C. Talbott (commanding general of Fort
Benning), and Sgt. James Clark (warden of ocorrectional
custodyTT). ~These three so-called people are responsible
for setting up what the Gls at Benning call the
~concnetration camp�. The facility itself is a maximum
security prison for those slapped with field grade Artic le
15s. Pvt. Jose E. Acevedo spent a monti in the prison
last summer, and said iw was used for o~harrassment� and
ohard laborT. Pvt. Patrick Healy did 30 days there for
disobeying an order. HeTs quoted in THE ALLEY as
saying, ooWe get up at 4:30 anu start working--raking and
digging a lot of ditches. One night I worked until 2 in
the morning. The regular duty lasts until 9:30, but then
most guys get two hours extra duty.�T The guards, Healy
said, owere not ordinary NCOTs. They. were obsessed by
orders and power--worse than any drill instructor in
basic.�
Dirty Toilets and Rubber Hoses
The suit itself states that (1) the men in this facility
endure punishment as severe as that suffered by men
whoTve had special and general court martials, and (2)
the prison constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,
and is therefore illegal according to the Constitution.
The specific complaints are that guys do at least 16 hours
a day.of hard labor, that theyTre held in isolation for
long periods of time, that guards verbally taunt and
degrade prisoners, that the toilets are unsanitary, and
that guards frequently beat prisoners with rubber hoses.
You can tell where AmerikaTs at when you look at
Fort Benning, Georgia. Men charged with the mass
murder of Vietnamese people at My Lai have the run of
the base, while EMs who miss a bed check do 30 days
hard labor. The public information officer at Benning
said that o~the corrections center is not unusual at all.
From what we.ve heard from Gls in other military
prisons, he.s probably right.
Why was it built?
Col. Latham built this prison because the 3500 men
of the 197th (75% are Vietnam vets) refused to put up
with the usual abuses the GI is expected to suffer. Bed
checks, police call, unnecessary formations, and war
games are only part of the story. Our brothers in the
197th have seen the Vietnamese people fight a winning
struggle for their freedom. Now that the 197th is back,
theyTre ready to fight for theirs.
Will the Government Prosecute the Government?
Bennings underground paper RAP, and the eight
representatives of Benning Gls, are pushing the law suit,
thereTs barely a chance of it being decided in the enlisted
manTs favor. If the court action fails, the Gls, having
exhausted all legal means of ending their Oppression, will
burn the motherfucker down. This is not a threat. It is a
historical probability. Just from reading the papers we
know about Fort Dix in July 1967. Fort Hood in
December 1967. Fort CAmpbell in April 1968. Long Binh
Jail in September 1968. Presidio stockade in October
1968. Fort Carson in April 1969. Fort Dix again in June
1969. Fort Riley in June 1969. Fort Jackson in June
1969. Mannheim, West Germany in March 1970. Iwakuni,
Japan in July 1970. Again Fort Dix in July 1970. Fort
Ord SPD in August 1970. Fort Lewis in Novermber 1970.
In each of these places brothers in military prisons have
rebelled in some way. By demonstrating. By holding a
hunger strike. By organizing a work stoppage. By
burning the prison down. By fighting MPs. By escaping.
By refusing orders together.
If you want to examine the humanity of a society,
look to its prisons. Vietnam has its Con Son tiger cages.
HitlerTs Germany had its Auschwitz. The UTSTAT has
Cook County Jail, the Tombs, WomenTs Detention
Center in New York, Soledad, Sing Sing, Folsom,
Quentin...and its countless military prisons, brigs, and
stockades. If you want to study revolution, look to
societyTs most exploited and oppressed.
Look to its prisoners. Gls in prison are a part of this
revolutionary movement. The sooner they smash their
oppressors, the sooner we smash ours
oTk ot sh
T.. nature of our defense establishment
makes it easy, especially for Air Force members,
to make an abstraction out of the death dealing
of warfare. In the narrow sense of the word,
ocombatant� is one who carries a firearm; so
there are very few combatants in the Air Force.
It is our aircraft that do the gun-carrying for us
and most of us serving in the Air Force are
several steps removed from the operation of
airship-mounted guns and airborne bombing
systems. Even those who man the sophisticated
fighter-bombers are never quite face to face, in
the same sense as an army infantryman is, with
the enemy, the killing of whom is our mission.
So it should be easier for us to make an
abstraction out of killing. The pointed term
killing is, in fact seldom used. Military actions
are given distracting names like ~~search and
destroyT or oreinforced protective reaction
strikes."T Even the overall mission is an
abstraction, ~~The defense of freedom.� | refuse
to make abstractions out of the actions of war.
The result of the use of armed forces is death. |
have in my mind a vivid image of the young man
who is the victim, as well as ~~the enemy� of the
weapons systems carried by our aircraft. Killing
is a very concrete and tangible human act
performed by one man upon another. It is
ultimately one of the most human acts because
it's meaning is the final contrast, life and the
absence of life. Military training must carefully
discourage these _ feelings among young
Americans. We who refuse to dehumanize
combat actions do not make good combatfliers.
We are those who go quietly out of our minds
after the days mission, as our companions
discuss the enemy ~~body count� over a beer,
back at the club.
Joel Gaalswak, Lt. (USAF Mather)
lam aGl, |! am AWOL from the United States
Army. | am writing this to let some of you know
what has driven me to become a fugitive and
what it is like in a military prison. | spent over
three months in the Fort Ord stockade as, in
effect, a political prisoner. | was held in the
stockade for refusing to actively support the
military machine of a fascist government.
| first went AWOL from Basic Training, where
| first realized what the military was trying to do
to me. | have been trained to believe,
conditioned really, to accept that Azlling another
human being for this country is a good and
honorable thing. Through indoctrination films,
through terrorization by instructors (being
terrified of anyone with two stripes or more on
their arms), through the emasculation of having
my head shaved, and through constant
harrassment, my rage level was built up to the
point where | liked watching films of people
dying and being killed, loved to practice
bayonetting dummies, enjoyed screaming ~killT
as | ran--since | had to run everywhere | went.
| realized that something inhuman was
happening to me, that a person, no matter how
pacifistic, can be conditioned to kill and to
enjoy it. | was repulsed and horrified by what
was happening to me, and, at the same time,
Outraged that our ~~democraticTT government can
force individuals to be converted into machines
of destruction. These were some of my reasons
for going AWOL.
| was caught and put in the stockade. Before
entering, | was examined by a psychiatrist. The
LETTERS
report he turned said that should not be
subjected to any form of 2 rehabilitation,
retraining, or punishment. Yet | spent 108 days
in a military prison.
While | was in the stockade | saw cases of
military injustice, repression, prejudice, and
sadism. For instance, until one week before |
left the stockade, some prisoners were refused
the right to work in the stockade as orderlies
(who clean up), KPTs and cooks (who work in
the kitchen), and as runners (calling people for
appointments)--because they were black.
As for repression, people, when your mail is
censored, when you cannot read newspapers,
when certain books are denied you because they
are oinflammatory�, when you are denied your
right of free speech and are kept from knowing
what is going on in the world outside, then you
know that you are being repressed.
As for military injustice, on February 24 a
prisoner named Peter Madalena was shot while
escaping to freedom. Perhaps this sounds
strange, but the facts are:
|. None of the M-I4 rifles are zeroed in, yet
Madalena was shot.
2. The commanding general of Ford Ord has
Ordered that no escaping prisoner will be shot
above the waist so as only to disable and not to
kill escapees. Yet Madalena was shot in the back,
about % inch from his spine, on the left side of
his body, just below his heart.
3. The guards are required to shout ~~Halt
prisoner, haltT before they can shoot someone
escaping. Yet the guard did not say anything
before firing.
4. | was not allowed to try to help
Madalena after he was shot even though | was
only about 30 or 40 feet away; if | had helped
him, | too would have been shot.
All this happened. | was there, | saw, heard,
experienced all that happened because | went
over the fence the same time that Madalena did.
For escaping from the stockade, | spent |8
days in the Box. The Box is maximum security
quandrant of the stockade. You can be thrown
in there for escaping, for refusing KP, for talking
back to a guard, for just about anything really.
There are twelve boxes, all measuring about 7
feet by 7 feet by 7% feet. The rules say that
Only one person at a time can be placed in a
box. It was not very often that we were lucky
enough to have a box to ourself. ItTs very hard
to live with someone in that small of an area, yet
we were forced to , in violation of stockade
rules.
At one time my roommate was a guy named
Farar. He was seventeen, still a kid, really, fat,
and very self-conscious. Farar was constantly
victimized by the guards because he was
incapable of defending himself, either verbally
or physically. They taunted him while he was
forced to stand at parade rest facing a wall.
Sometimes he was ordered to keep his feet 3 to
4 feet away from the wall while placing his nose
against it. Often, when in this unstable,
indefensible position, they would grab him and
twist his arms behind his back and slam him into
the wall. While | was in the Box, he was sprayed
with C.S. gas on four different occasions while
being held down by as many as eight guards.
Farar received so many physical and . mental
beatings that he attempted suicide. At one time,
| counted as many as fifteen or twenty cuts on
his arms and wrists, some as deep as an inch. He
should have received psychiatric care--none was
offered. Physical damage can be repaired, but
what they did to his mind, and tried to do to all
our minds, is irreparable and must be vindicated
by changing this vicious system of involuntary
servitude. Draft-age men in this country should
refuse to be connected in any way with any
so-called o~army�, and that includes NixonTs
ovolunteerTT proposal--people must understand
that armies are no longer necessary in a world
where all men are brothers. LetTs be serious. The
next world war will be the last.
oMy son tells me you're a real son of a bitch.�
We have been asked what promoted Peoples
Justice, the burning of the Isle Vista Bank of
Amerika. Do they remember we tried to talk,
tried far too long. As the first match was struck
the Pigs swore they would listen, but their reply
was from the 200 super pig families with the
bread!
We are revolutionaries, the Straight Press calls
s oflaming anarchistsTT, they donTt understand
that we are the solution. When we have to live in
constant fear of this Gestapo Monarchy it
sometimes becomes necessary to employ
anarchist tactics. The Declaration of
Independance (remember that?) gives guidelines
on the change of a decadent Government. |
recommend reading it. | understand that Tricky
Dickie is in the process of purging it as a
o~pinko� document, so it might be hard to come
by.
Our morality is defined as non-existent,
because we have no o~respectT�T for our elders.
Our morality surpasses that of the oolder
generation� cause we've got honesty, honesty
with ourselves and honesty to each other. We
have great respect for the heavy lessons they've
taught us by their stupidity, mistakes we will
never make. The best being how a government
made by revolution by the people can be turned
into an oppressive state dedicated to the
repression of the people. From their politics we
base our o~respectTT.
More burning and killing is expected till
justice is established, revolution continues
throughout the war torn cities of babylon.
THE MILITARY FALLS NEXT!
FREE THE GIlTS
Fat Al (USMC-NAS Alameda)
ALAMEDA MDM
The Army vs. Theoda Lester
Theoda Lester, a black GI stationed at Ft. Lewis,
Washington, was convicted by a general court martial on
Oct 15 tor refusing to cut his hair and shave his beard.
'e rereived 3 years at hard labor, total forfeiture of all
purT and allowances and a DD. A few months ago a group
90. white Marine reservists refused to cut their hair, but
ine stiifest sentence received by them was 14 days hard
labor.
During the trial TheodaTs lawyer tried to show that
Major Fersch issued the orders only to increase the
punishment with full ~:nowledge that Lester would
refuse them, This woul! make the orders illegal. Fersch
said he gave the orders in :1e line of duty. Theoda
thought the order t) ~ve il!:zal, becasue it violated his
Then in July and August the events took place that
finally enabled the brass to come up with some charges
that they felt were going to stick. Considering all the
time and effort it took the brass, they wanted to put
him away for some time.
On the first day of CliffTs trial the military judge ruled
that an order given to Cliff to take off the Unity Band
was illegal.
Cliff decided to make his defense political all the way.
His lawyers made several motions to get a ofair� court
which resulted in a court of three-one black sargent, one
white sargent, and a captain. Probably the lowest
ranking court in the history of the Marine Corps.
The prosecutionTs case was mainly founded on the
testimony of MP Sears. He wasnTt very credible,
First Amendment «icnts vo free expression. The beard however, after contradicting himself several times and
and hair was pail of iis religious expression--black revealing a record of 30 scuffles in the MP shack with
nationalism. The coirt didnTt rec ognize black other Gls during a period of several months.
nationalism as a religion.
The trial was recessed for a month because the judge
had to go to Japan. It was to begin with the defendantTs
ohaoylac roir ~ lala : fal TVve Vveare I 7 r . ~ A Te
Charles Drake. a black GI with five years in the Army. case. The case would have been a direct attack on the
told the judge that many black soldiers share LesterTs
Marine Corps for racism. It would have also proved that
views. The judge cut him off saying that testimony Cliff was constantly harassed because he was political,
about the beliefs of black men was irrelevant to the case. and |
Later, the prosecutor told the court, ~ooThere should be a U
period of incarceration to deter others from acting in a
like manner.�
When Lester took the stand for the second time he
talked about how he wanted to serve his people, and
how the Army was restricting him. The prosecutor asked
if he believed in the Constitution. He said yes. Was he
aware if he believ of the clause in the Constitution to
raise an Army from the citizenry?Lester said he was
ecause he was listened to. During that month Black
nity Party in Oceanside, All Ready on the Left (a
paper for white Gls at Camp Pendleton) and other MDM
projects in Southern California planned a demonstration
for the reopening of the trial. Two days after the
planning meeting CliffTs charges were dropped.
THE NAVY VS. BOBBY EVANS
At Naval Air Station Alameda in the San Francisco
aware of the clause, but didnTt think the government Bay Area Marine NOOTs were distributing a racist leaflet
represented the people. The prosecutor asked if there depicting a black man so positioned that he would
werenTt black people in the Selective Service Office
(Theoda is from St. Louis). Lester said there were none
on the draft board. The judge intervened to end this
little civics lesson.
Once in the stockade, Lester st.ll refused to shave and
cut his hair, but xo guards force! ily did it for him.
THE MARINE COiuiPS VS. CLIFE 3x: ISKER
At Carap Pendleton, Cceanside, C:ii*-amia, another
Black Gl,Lanse Corpore] Cliff Maxzec, was on trial.
Cliff was up on three ci ages. On. was oloud and
disorderly conduct in command� or giving a political
education class on a military bus from Oceanside to
Pendleton. Another was oassault� for cocking his wrist
in self-defense wren an MP Sears tried to forcibly
remove his black unity band before throwing him in the
tank. The tnimd charge was ocommunicating a threat�.
Cliff supposed!» said to Sears: oif I ever see you on the
street, [Tll kilT you.� The lest two charges were thrown
on him when he was ~passing out Black Unity papers
legally on the streets of o«xeanside. x in December
1969 Cliff was busted from Cpl. to L/Cpl. for being 15
days UA. When he returned from his court martial his
C.O. Capt. Wilde threatened Cliff with another court
martial if he didnTt remove his Black Unity Band. That
was the beginning of a long series of charges for
disobeying a direct order to remove his Black Unity
Band.
Later in December he started to dig on the local GI
organization Movement for a Democratic Military
(MDM), which he jcined.
Because of his activities he vas constantly harassed by
the lifers. In January Cliff was duty NOO of a barracks
and was organizing Gls at the cooks school he attended.
In mid-January he was transferred from the messhall to
another. This was done in order to servrate him from
the group of people he ~vas becoming tight with. In
February a surprise inspection was ..l'ed. The brass was
hoping to catch Cliff witic something hig. ~T::ey found six
Black Panther papers and this med2 them go wild with
joy. They finali:7 felt they had so eth ing on Cliff. Not
realizing that having that titerature, like any other
literature, is suposedly protected by the Constitution.
_ In April Clifi was stopped in Oceanside. for
interrogation by MPs. They found five seeds in the car
he was riding in and one joint so Cliff and his friends
were charged with posession. When the chasers brought
Cliff back to his barracks he was also charged with
improper dress (wearing military khakie with civi-
lian attire).
be shot if he got an erection while watching a nude
white woman posing in front of him The leaflet was
entitled oHow to Eliminate the Negro Problem.� How
sick can a pig get to put together something like that?
The Marine Corps to this day has not moved against the
oartist�. Yet they put a person behind bars for years just
because he refused to shave and cut his hair, and they
tried to do the same to another brother for wearing
shoelaces (Black Unity Band) around his wrist. What sort
of justice is this?There is no justice for EMs. Court
martial conviction rate is 95%,
Lance Corporal Robert Evans, a black marine who is
stationed at Alameda filed a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus. in San Francisco Federal Court on Nov. 5. His
suit argues that the Marine Corps, on the basis of its
racist actions towards him and its use in furthering
AmericaTs wars against fellow people of color and other
oppressed people, as forfeited the right to control his
life. Writs of habeas corpus have been successful in
securing the release of many Gls on the basis of
conscientious objection and hardship.
RobertTs suit is based on point no. 6 of the Black
Panther Party 10 Point Program: We want all black men
to exempt from military service.
ON THE CORNER OF FREDERICK & STANYAN
phone: 661-5144 San Francisco
offers records at very low prices
BOX 15125 S.F 94115
G6 CARDS & ENV. $3
POSTERS $2
BLUE UNICORN
a coffee house at
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Available at GRANMA BOOKS
2509 Telegraph Ave.
Berkeley, Calif.
The Case | interviews
of the | of participants
Ft. Jackson | by FRED
8 | HALSTEAD
Organized opposition to the Vietnam war by
American Gls is highlighted by the stubborn
fight of the Fort Jackson Eight in defense o
their civil rights against harassment and per-
secution by the army brass. The story of their
successful struggle is told in their own words
by the participants.
PATHFINDER
PRESS
873 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003
continued
Sweeney o.
SWEENEYTS MESSAGE TO Gls
While with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese
Sweeney made several statements to American Gls iin
which he urged them to stage a march on saigon demanding
peace. o~Soldiers from the puppet army would probably join.
oThe first thing you have to do is join with and support
the movements at home by refusing orders and
demanding the withdrawal.�
After making these statements and the one in
Stockhom it is difficult to understand why Sweeney
returned willingly to the U.S. Kerstin Diamont, a
Swedish friend, said he talked to his parents by
telephone soon after arriving in Stockholm They
wanted to come and see him. He asked them not to. But
they came anyway.
THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE
oBefore he went to the hotel to see them he told us
all he would be back within a couple of hours,� said
Kerstin. Instead Sweeney was on a plane headed for the
U.S. two hours later. He left all of his personal
possessions behind, she said.
It's not known if Sweeney's parents came to
Stockholm alone or if they were accompanied by
military or CIA agents. However, based on what is
agreement. He got ten years, which was later
reduced to four by the Convening Authority,
according to the pre-trial agreement. WHAT DO
THE SENTENCES REALLY MEAN?
Burns was released from Portsmouth
Disciplinary Barracks early in 1970. Two
theories, not necessarily in conflict with each
other, have been advanced about his release: 1)
his father is reputed to be a millionaire, and 2)
somebody goofed and he was rleeased upon
completing the sentence from a prior conviction,
before the record of his new trial arrived at
Portsmouth.
RouseTs mutiny conviction was dismissed by
the Convening Authority on technical grounds
and reduced his sentence to one year, which
Rouse had already served. Rouse is now out.
LeiboldTs conspiracy conviction was
overturned by the Navy Court of Military
Review last May and the sentence reduced to ten
months which Leibold had already served.
Leibold is now out.
Maynard was recently able to reach civilian
ears with his case and now has a civilian defense
attorney who argued his case before the Navy
Court of Military Review, and will take it to the
Court of Military Appeals.
THE LEGAL ARGUMENTS FOR APPEAL
The review court basically ignored all the
points argued by the defense. Specifically,
the brothers when their backs were turned? Did
the brass want to make an example of these Gls
by railroading them to long prison terms? How
scared are the top government and military
officials about the growing solidarity among the
Vietnamese people and the Gls?
See, the war in Southeast Asia from SamTs
point of view rests on the ancient theory of
divide and conquer. Split the Gls against each
other, black against white, Maynard and his
group against Sgt. Lantz and his group. One
group of Gls resist and the brass uses another
group of Gls to put the first group down. In
order to get you to fight in this war at all, they
have to brainwash you into thinking that the
Vietnamese are evil gooks, lazy, and poor
fighters. The US knows that it is basically
fighting the entire Vietnamese people and to
counteract this they rely on the weapon of
genocide. Genocide means the entire destruction
of a group of people. US policy in Vietnam
doesnTt really draw any line between friend or
foe. All of South Vietnam as well as all of North
Vietnam is being destroyed by American war
technology. For this reason Nixon can't afford
to allow fraternizing between the Vietnamese
people and American Gls. This racial hatred of
American Gls toward Vietnamese is essential to
NixonTs strategy. When Gls choose their own
friends, the theory of divide and conquer
crumbles. SOLIDARITY IS THE KEY
known, Sweeney's parents apparently relayed som kind
of offer from the Marine Corps which promised that he
wouldn't be prosecuted.
The parents may have just been manipulated by the
military into applying emotional pressure or they may
have been willing conspirators swayed by some mis-
guided notion thay they were helping their son. No
one, outside of Sweeney, his parents and the military
knows exactly what took place in Stockholm when he
made his sudden ~~decision�T to return home.
HELD AT QUANTICO
Sweeney is now being held at the Marine Corps base
at Quantico, Va., awaiting trial. He is allowed to roam
the base freely, something which is most unusual for an
enlisted man facing a capital sentence. He is being
defended by a Marine Corps appointed military
attorney. His parents are reportedly hiring a civilian
lawyer.
Several people in the GI movement have tried to
rap with him and have offered him their help. But he has
refused it and referred them to his military attorney. He
may believe that his best chance to avoid facing a firing
squad is to keep his mouth shut. Or, since he knew no
one in the movement before going to Vietnam, he may
be suspicious of everyone since he knows the military
could try to get information from him by having an
agent pose as a friend.
Nor does anyone know for certain what was done to
him while he was being ~~debriefed� for two months in
the hospital. One GJ] who had been with the Viet Cong
and returned was Army Spc. 4 Jim Bringham Details on
this case are unknown except that he died on Jan. 17,
1969, at Walter Reed Army Hospital after brain
surgery.
ontinued
Maynard «*
bars or sign a pre-trial agreement and plead
guilty. The case was brought to court as a
non capital case. Lanier also told Mike that
unless he signed a pre-trial agreement he should
sign another paper absolving Lanier of all
responsibility for a long sentence. Mike asked
about LanierTs earlier promise for a civilian
defense attorney. Lanier replied that his friends
in the States were not interested in coming to
Vietnam to defend him. And besides, it didnTt
really matter since they had all attended the
same law school. So he was as competent as they
were. Mike took the pre-trial agreement. Some
Maynard's guilty plea was illegally accepted by
the judge because one of the essential elements
of mutiny, the COMMON intent to override
military authority was completely absent from
the record. Also, Maynard, like virtually all
brothers accused of something or other in
Vietnam, was in fact deprived of his right to
civilian counsel. When you're a twenty-year-old
Marine sitting in a brig in Danang, itTs just plain
impossible to get civilian counsel at your own
expense.
The Navy Court did reduce MikeTs sentence
from four to three years, and an appeal to the
Court of Military Appeals will soon. be filed.
WHY STEWART WAS KILLED WHY
MAYNARD GOT SHAFTED
The case of these guys isnTt so unusual. Their
situation is common in Nam. The brass is angry,
not only because theyTre losing the war, but
because theyTre losing their cannon-fodder: the
Gl. This further disables them in their attempts
to crush the Vietnamese people.
Every day ten Gls split from Sam in Vietnam.
When a GI wants to go AWOL or desert in
Vietnam, where can he go? He certainly can't go
to anyone connected with the US government,
except fellow Gls who have split. And where are
those Gls? TheyTre being harbored by the
Vietnamese. So naturally almost all Gls who are
AWOL rely on the Vietnamese people for food,
shelter, and safety. The Vietnamese people have
nothing against those Americans who have laid
down their weapons and no_ longer let
themselves be used for the interests of the few
rich Americans and their political tools. The war
in Southeast Asia is stric tly fought to get them
more territory which they can_ control
economically and militarily. The Vietnamese are
a people determined not to be swallowed by
these type of Americans and to decide their own
destiny. The Vietnamese know that for most Gls
the military is a choice between jail or the
service. ItTs this knowledge and their general love
for humanity that makes them so willing to aid
Gls who are on the run.
Maynard and his friends said to the
Vietnamese of Hoa Phat, we are American Gls,
but weTre friends. You can help us and we have
skills that can help you in your survival. Was this
the reason for the Marine patrol opening fire on
So with all this prejudice running against
Maynard and the other brothers, they were
bound to be put away for a long time. As long as
the military judicial system remains within the
jurisdiction of the commanding officer, no GI
can get a fair trial. The CO can exert incredible
influence by quietly ordering a military court to
find someone guilty. Maynard was really
railroaded. He wasnTt even allowed to plead not
guilty. It was hit pleading guilty to the mutiny
charge that became the technicality under which
the Navy Court of Review refused to overturn
MikeTs mutiny conviction. They stated that a
voluntary plea of guilty is not later subject to
attack on grounds that the appelant is in fact
not guilty of the offense as charged. MikeTs
Marine attorney was at the whim of his
commanding officer as was the judge.
The pressure of Gls sticking together coupled
with strong civilian support, is the only thing
that can put an end to the military commandTs
tyranny over the Gls, and an end to NixonTs war
against the Vietnamese people. The struggle of
Gls to gain justice in their everyday lives is not
so different from _ the attempts of the
Vietnamese people to have justice in their
everyday lives. Both have helped each other in
their struggle and both will continue to do so
more than ever.
This brother still has a year to serve come
next January. Put pressure on the Brass to
let Michael go free.. Write him at the prison.
Michael D. Maynard
226-13-12
Private, US Marine Corps
US Naval Disciplinary Barracks
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
His mother is a cafeteria worker at the campus
at Utah State. She is trying to get students
there together behind her sons case. Write her.
Mrs. Joseph W. Maynard
6944 South 1700 W.
Jordan, Utah 84084
Michael's civilian attorney is a real brother, and
has quite a fine reputation within the Movement.
His mailing address is
Peter Weiss
Center for Constitutional Rights
588 Ninth Avenue
New York City, New York 10036
_"-
eee ae
one iat a
ower tothe Prisoners
In January of 1970, several dozen men from Ft. Lewis
decided together to submit their applications for
conscientious objector status. Most of those men had
their applications unjustly denied in March. Six decided
to reapply-"Carl Dix, Jim Allen, Paul Forrest, Manuel
Perez, Larry Galgano, and Jeff Griffith. The
general gave in and accepted these applications only
after the brothers filed complaints. These, too, were
almost immediately turned down. Not surprising,
considering that the Army approves only 28% of all CO
applications anyway.
In late June the six got hit with orders for Vietnam.
All six refused to obey. Five were charged with Article
90 violations, and the sixth with an Article 92. All were
sent to the stockade for pre- trial confinement. Four
were relased on July 9. Allen stayed in till Oct 1. Dix
was held in pre-trial until his court-martial on October
26.
The men were court-martialed individually, with Dix
leading off. All six court-martials followed the same
basic pattern. Chas Talbot of Seattle represented all the
men. All except Griffith were tried before military Judge
Col. John Lee. Each waved the right to trial by a
court-martial board.
All six pleaded not guilty. But the guilty verdict that
resulted in all six cases was not unexpected. In the
course of the trial, each man took the stand in his own
behalf.
Carol Dix told how he had a chance to go back to
Germany after his first application was rejected. He
refused this convenient dodge, saying, oI just canTt do
that sort of thing anymore.�
Army kid Jim Allen said Chaplain Gunnis told him
that military chapels donTt teach young Christians to
object to war. Jim said he knew from experience the
Chaplain was right. Jim is a Buddhist.
Paul Forrest was very outspoken on the stand. He said
he had found a new direction to his life, and was not
about to give it up in the face of adversity. The
prosecutor asked for oan extensive period of
convinement to allow the man to accept responsibility,�
He got it.
Larry Galgano seemed not to be very interested in the
whole affair. A lot of artists are like that. Unlike most
artists, Larry had to take a stand on a crucial social and
religious issue. He took that stand bravely and
unequivocably.
Jeff Griffith did not get a discharge. When he is
released from the stockade at Christmas, he may find
himself facing similar charges all over again. He indicated
at the trial that he would not go to Vietnam and that he
would refuse to continue serving when he had exhausted
all legal channels for obtaining a discharge. He submitted
his third application for a discharge as a CO the day
before his court martial. Capt Gingery said of Griffith,
oHe is one of the most sincere individuals I have ever
met.�
HereTs how the other sentences came down. Dix: 2
years and a BCD. Allen: 3 years and a DD. Perez:1 year
and a BCD. Galgano: 1 year and a BCD.
The courage of these brothers hasnTt wavered. Three
of the six (Carl Dix, Paul Forrest, and Jim Allen) formed
the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Fort Lewis
Stockade immediately on entering the prison. Below are
the demands they presented to the prison
administration:
1. The right to freedom of speech and assembly
2. the right to freedom of press in the form of a
prisoner-operated stockade newspaper
3. an expansion of the stockade library by a
committee of prisoners.
4. the release of all political prisoners from maximum
security cells.
5. a committee of prisoners to deal with the
administration in all disputes and in matters concerning
government of the stockade.
6. the right to hold a weekly press conference:
The plan was to go on hunger strike until the demands
were accepted. But the pigs threatened to feed them
intravenously, and then put the three in maximum
security. No one was allowed to visit them. Energy
slacked off, and the Popular Front died. Still, afraid that
the movement would build again the Army shipped the
three to Leavenworth Nov 12. We know that theyTll
build the struggle wherever they go. More power to these
beautiful brothers! !!!!
FT. LEWIS SIX
Manuel Perez pointed to the prosecutor and the Judge
and said, oYou are a killer, you are a killer. Anyone in
the Army contributes to the killing in some sense.� The
prosecutor agreed.
I
On August 10, THE PENTAGON, the Bay AreaTs first GI
coffeehouse, opened for business. Located at 690 Seventh
Street (corner of 7th and Castro) in Oakland, the Pentagon
was the result of several months of donated time, labor, and
money, put forth by a dedicated group of men and women.
When it opened the coffeehouse was a fine place, but nothing
involving Gls was really happening for the first month.
Flicks an evening a week of light entertaining films and from
time to time movement films.
Speakers Pat Sumi recently rapped about her trip to North
Korea, North Vietnam, and China. This was a very successful
program which sparked far-out political discussions between
Gls. They have planned speakers from other GI projects and
from different movement groups for the future.
Gradually a few GIs from local. bases began to come
around. A small Alameda Movement for a Democratic
Military (MDM) was formed by several of them, At the same
time, a number of movement people got involved and a
collective that could run the coffeehouse and organize Gls
began to come together around these two elements. The
collective has set: up several serve-the-people programs as
often as possible. In these programs they have combined both
political education and entertainment. The atmosphere they
wish to provide should be a combination and a balance of
these aspects. Programs include .. .
Commune night a commune from the Bay Area prepares
meal and brings it in to be given free to Gls and staff. The
life-styles of these groups comes through at the same time
political raps usually begin between Gls and_ the
communards.
Legal night emphasis will be placed on the UCMJ, and
lawyers familiar with military will rap with guys to help them
Ho mie with their on base struggles and also answer other legal
questions such as your rights while being searched,
questioned, etc.
*
IN
E. ose
FRAN
CISCO
Music and light shows this is definitely a regular feature
wy
Steam Beer Underneath a Fig Free
466-480 Green St., San Francisco
at CALIFORNIA Felephone 421-0221
THE MAN LIES
On November 5, a group of us in the Bay Area held a press
conference outside the Federal Building to announce that a
brother of ours, Robert Evans, was filing for discharge from
the Marine Corps under Point Six of the Black Panther Party
program. The mass media was invited. Representatives of
NBC, KCBS, and the San Francisco Chronicle showed up to
note the story.
When we opened the newspapers the next morning, we
found that the story completely misrepresented the facts.
Even though press releases were distributed, even though
reporters were given copies of the legal papers, even though
reporters interviewed attorneys and friends, their final story
turned everything upside down. By quoting three words out
of context, and by re-arranging certain arguments, the
Chronicle made it look like Robert Evans was trying to
integrate the Marine Corps. In fact, BobbyTs suit attacked the
Marine Corps for its racism and for its use in putting down
popular revolutionary movements in the Third World.
We have reprinted in full both our official press release and
the article as it appeared in the morning Chronicle. Read
them both and compare for yourselves.
MAR RR ea RC HT A ERNE A RIOR EE ER IIA ORE LEE CMY RN BRS,
A Black ~lates his rights under the!
bs | Fifth and 13th Amendments. |
MarineTs |
a A Besides ~o~racistTT talk, he}
BiczS Sut said, he has been made to|
| participate in a color guard |
|at the base, the makeup of
| which is designed to show the |
Corps is more integratedT
~than it really is. There. are
| 159 servicemen at the base:
' dul only seven of them are!
~black, his suit said
| Judge Oliver J. Carter set
--
4 Ab cK Marine iaiice cui- /
|
porai asked in a FederalT)
court suit here yesterday to|
- be discharged because other
| Marines are oracist and dis-|
'criminatoryTT toward blacks. |
: |
Robert Evans III, 21, of|
, Boston, who is stationed at a hearing for November 20 at
4 the Alameda Naval Air Sta-| loam
tion, said the denigration vio- | |
janeeee'
rree@eere'
prpe@mee et
PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEAS
oWE WANT ALL BLACK MEN TO BE EXEMP
FROM MILITARY SERVICE� Point Six, Black Panthé
Party Program.
On Thursday, November 5, at 11 am, a struggle
implement this point will begin when a black Mari
files a writ of habeas corpus to secure the release
himself and all other black men from the United Stat
Armed Forces.
The bases of the suit are: (1) Black people still remai
in a position of semi-slavery in the United States and a
denied the rights of citizens. They should therefore
exempt from military service; (2) The armed forces a
used to suppress struggling people throughout the worl
who are the brothers of blacks in the United States
Blacks should not be used to put down their brothers i
the Third World; (3) The armed forces themselves a
racist in nature, using blacks as cannon fodder i
Vietnam while perpetuating racism within their ranks b
spreading racist propoganda. Blacks should not be force
into a world where they are treated as inferiors.
This suit is being filed by part of a movement which i
today organizing blacks throughout the Armed Forces t¢
resist their exploitation. The attorneys filing the suit,
member of the Black Panther Party central committee
members of the Black Unity Party (an organization o
black GIs), and representatives of the Movement for
Democratic Military will meet with the press on th
steps of the Federal Court, 450 Golden Gate, SF. ALI}
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!