Evening star., 1950-07-15
Truman Fails 10 Tell
What Is Objective
Of Shooting War
America Seen Committe,
To Indecisive Moves
In Strange Acrobotics
By Dorothy Thon bson

~ W WHY = fsVbSHSS"
'a President Truman has decisively
committed himself and ourselves
10 something undecisive. We are
not, he says. at war. But Ameri-
cans in Korea may reasonably
wish to know when shooting is
not shooting, and when war is
not war.
And perhaps the President,
whose international acrobatics are
astounding, may be able to tell us
the objective of this shooting that
is not war.
The aim, we are told, is to deter
aggressors and re-establish the
status quo. Since United Nations
exhortation has failed to deter, we
are now out to destroy-just what
ultimate forces is not clear. The
West German press claims tc
know from East Germany that
international brigades are il
process of organization, to aid the
North Koreans. The North Ko.
reans are ostensibly fighting fol
the unif1cation of the country
while we are ostensibly fighting
to deter an aggression no longer
deterrable and drive the North
Koreans behind the 38th Parallel
thus re-establishing the ,untenablt
status quo which made the aggres.
sion possible.
Committed in Principle.
Yet we are committed in prin.
ciple to the uniflcation of Korea
Our object is merely to prove (by
force Of arms) that unificatior
may not be accomplished by force
of arms.
I submit that the nightmare
world in which we live is the di-
rect result of fighting q world war
for no comprehensive objective
We fought only for victory and
unconditional surrender. One
member of the coalition. however
fought for a clear objective: The
extension Of its global power, and
the adding Of the enemy potential
to its own. as step toward knock
ing out its wartime allies in the
next round.
Since we had no objective what.
ever. except such political con-
CeptS as total disarmament o1
the enemy and world organiza-
ton of peace-loving nations, ou
leaders obligingly fell in with the
brainy members aims. Some oi
these leaders today are the same
persons who got us into this mes.
and who now ask us to trust
them not to get us into another
Mr.. Truman, only recently. de.
scribed Potsdam as the high poin'
Of international cooperation, ap.
parently still thinking that it wa!
not supreme Russian victory.
Now, If we want to localize thi'
3 so-called police action, a compre-
hensible and strictly limited
: objective is necessary. It can only
be: Defeat and disarm the North
Korean armies, unity Korea by
elections under United Nations
supervision, and prepare United
Nations defense of the republic
which emerges.
Remarkable S0mersault.
The objective cannot be to de-
feat communism per Sc. Who
could swallow that? BY another
Of his remarkable somersaults, the
President has reversed his recent
opinion. and decided to defend
FormoSa. But he has forbidden
the Chinese Nationalists in For
mosa to continue fighting Chinese
Communists on the mainland
Thus communism in Korea is ap-
parently sinful, but communism in
China is legitimate.
Yet, unless this column has been
misinformed, unification of China
was accomplished by the same
means as the attempted North
Korean unification-civil war with
Russian aid. Since the Chinese
Communists succeeded, it is nov
apparently aggressive not tx
recognize the status quo their vic.
tory created. Chang must cease
and desist but Rhee must fight
and Nehru has suggested g
compromise-to stand firm ir
South Korea and seat the Chinese
Communists (cum veto) in the
all-powerful U. N. Security Coun-
ell.
1t would really be a brilliant
Russian move to order the North
Korean armies to return to the
38th parallel in exchange for mov-
ing Red China into the Security
Council-relinquishing the inva-
sion of South Korea for another
invasion of New York.
Apparently the Russians have
other plans or they would hardly
have emitted their blasts against
Trygve Lie, who, we think, would
support MIR. Nehru-and perhaps
the State Department might, too.
But 1t would be a little difficult
to explain to simple souls.
(Released by the Bell syndieate TrnN
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