Ramsey Clark and Viet Vet Oppose War in MIT Speeches

A former U.S. attorney general last night detailed his personal evidence of U.S. bombing of North Vietnamese dikes, fields, and hospitals.

Ramsey Clark, Attorney General under Lyndon Johnson, said that the continuous bombing of the North Vietnamese has "redoubled their determination". Clark spoke before a crowd of 300 at MIT's Kresge Auditorium.

Clark's hour-long speech touched upon several topics: his experience in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, his observations of bombed hospitals, and the numerous bomb shelters which cover every part of the North Vietnamese countryside.

He emphasized that the North Vietnamese believe strongly that their cause is just. "They believe what Ho Chi Minh said, that 'nothing is more precious than freedom and independence,' " Clark said.

"If we don't concede the common humanity of those on this earth--especially those whom we fear and despise--then we'll go right on. And I don't think we can do it much longer," he added.

"If we haven't learned the lesson--if we haven't seen the threads between Dresden, Nagasaki, Attica, Jackson State and Kent State--then we don't understand the violence of our time," he concluded.

Peter Mahoney, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. preceded Clark. Mahoney, along with 22 other VVAW's, has been indicted for "conspiring to disrupt the Republican National Convention" several weeks before it was to begin.

"The grand jury now gathers evidence, subpoenas people it wants to harass, and jails them without due process of law." Mahoney said.

Mahoney has been traveling around the country in an effort, he claimed, to let people know about the length the U.S. government will go to suppress dissent in the countr