Nov. 22, 1964 - To the world outside South Vietnam’s hamlets and villages, the insurgents are agents of international Communism.
In the grass and bamboo houses where they live, in the hamlets they have “liberated,” the Viet Cong guerillas talk like local people about simple things.
“It was hell when we were attacked every night in my hamlet,” said a peasant’s son in his early 20’s. “If the Government was good enough or strong enough, I thought it should have been able to protect us at night.
“So I thought maybe the Liberation Front people were the ones who were right,” he said. “Now I know they are. I don’t regret my decision to join them.” Another young man said:
“I was scared and angry when they attacked our hamlet. But had to go along with them, and now I’m glad I did.”
These remarks were made recently by Viet Cong troops in an hour‐long conversation in a hamlet in the Mekong delta.
No American was present. The questioner was a Vietnamese reporter.
He had taken local buses to hamlets in insecure or disputed areas of the delta and found himself in a hamlet about which there was no dispute. Night and day it was governed by the Communists.
The newsman was alone and unarmed, and he was dressed, like an ordinary Vietnamese from the countryside. When anyone asked, he said he was a reporter. The explanation was accepted without question. “We want everybody to know that the liberation forces are in full control of the liberated areas,” said the man who seemed to be the leader of the Viet Cong squad defending the hamlet.
He invited the visitor into the house and ordered tea. Seven other guerrillas wandered in.
Except for the leader, the guerrillas seemed to be in their late teens or early 20’s. They would not give their names, for fear of disclosure to the Government.
They all said they were natives of the hamlet they were guarding. All spoke Vietnamese with the local accent.
Only once did their remarks veer briefly from what they heard every night on the radio from Hanoi, capital of North Vietnam.
Their visitor asked if they really thought all Americans were ruthless aggressors. After a moment’s hesitation, the leader replied:
“Well, they are not all so bad. There are some who help the people, but there are
also Americans who kill our people.
“For the sake of our country,” he said, “we have to kick them out, since they came here to be aggressors.”
Why do you listen to the Hanoi radio? the newsman asked.
“Because it tells us that what we are doing is right, and it has a lot of sympathy for our, great task.”
Do you have any contact with North Vietnamese officers?
“No, we only answered the call of the Fatherland.” As for what they think about Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam, the leader said:
“He is a great revolutionary. We like him but do not take orders from him. We are South Vietnamese and are fighting for the liberation of South Vietnam.”
How do you get people to join you?
“We never force young men into our ranks. We do kidnap some people from time to time, but not to draft them, only to tell them what is wrong and what is right. Then we let them make the choice to go away or stay with us.
“Some of them go, but many of them stay because they realize they have to do something to save the Fatherland.”
Why do you terrorize and kill people?
“The Fatherland has enemies, people who can never be expected to have common sense. We have to liquidate them in the interest of the Fatherland, don’t you agree?”
The reporter was not interested in arguing with eight armed men.
Why do you cut off the roads? he asked, adding that they knew this made a lot of inconvenience for the people.
“We know that, but we don’t know how to avoid it. We are weak compared with the enemy — I mean in terms of weapons — so we have to stop them from moving around freely.”
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