Readers Respond

JFK’SVIETNAMWITHDRAWAL Jim Douglass’s article “JFK, Obama, and the Unspeakable” in the November/December 2010 issue of Tikkun has the following statement, claiming to quote National Security Action Memorandum 263 of October 11, 1963, on withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam: “It ordered a U.S. troop withdrawal from Vietnam—bringing home ‘1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963’ and ‘by the end of 1965 ... the bulk of U.S. personnel.’” When one actually reads the text of National Security Action Memorandum 263 (instantly available on the Internet), one finds that the second alleged quote is totally absent. (Nor is it in State Department Telegram No. 534 referenced in the memorandum.) This manufactured quote severely undermines the credibility of Douglass’s implication that JFK was moving toward total withdrawal from Vietnam and that this provided some of the motivation for his assassination. Please correct this serious misstatement of fact. Edwin Shealy Asheville,N.C. JimDouglassresponds: Thanks to Edwin Shealy for his conscientious critique. It takes us more deeply into the unspeakable. National Security Action Memorandum 263’s second paragraph Report’s withdrawal recommendations in meetings on October 2 and 5. He ordered them to be carried out in NSAM 263 on October 11, 1963. His courageous decision to withdraw from Vietnam was a final nail in his coffin. HOWTOACHIEVETIKKUNOLAM This is in appreciation for your emailmessageregardingChanukahand Christmascelebrationsandoureffortsto “triumphovercynicalrealism”[also postedattikkun.org/chanukah2010; please sign up for our emails at tikkun.org/mail]. Your activism in the Spiritual Progressive movement is, in my opinion , in the forefront of our planetary tikkun olam. I am a septuagenarian graduate of Yeshiva University (class of ’56) having since given my entire life to this same cause, tikkun olam. In this dedication I was led in my spirit to “become a member of the human race,” bringing with me the teachings of my Jewish training and LETTERS reads: “The president approved the military recommendations contained in Section I B (1-3) of the report [of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor on their mission to South Vietnam], but directed that no formal announcement be made of the implementation of plans to withdraw 1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963.” McNamara and Taylor delivered their report to President Kennedy on October 2, 1963. For the heated National Security Council meeting convened by JFK that evening, the report’s most controversial recommendation (besides I B 3’s almost immediate 1,000-military-personnel withdrawal) was I B 2: “[That] a program be established to train Vietnamese so that essential functions now performed by U.S. military personnel can be carried out by Vietnamese by the end of 1965. It should be possible to withdraw the bulk of U.S. personnel by that time.” The president already knew the report’s withdrawal recommendations . He had written them. JFK had dictated the passages to General Victor Krulak in the White House, whileKrulak’sPentagonofficeteam waseditingthedatabeingcabledby McNamaraandTaylorfromVietnam. Acting against his National Security Council majority, Kennedy endorsed the McNamara-Taylor ANOTEONLETTERSTOTHEEDITOR: Wewelcomeyourresponsestoourarticles.SendyourletterstotheeditortoLetters@Tikkun.org.Pleaseremember,however,nottoattributetoTikkun views other than those expressed in our editorials. We email, post, and print many articles with which we have strong disagreements, because that is what makes Tikkun a location for a true diversity of ideas. Tikkun reserves the right to edit your letters to fit available space in the magazine. Readers Respond W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 3 MORE LETTERS Thankyouforallyourletters!Wereceivemany morethanwecanprint.Visittikkun.org/lettersto readadditionallettersonqueerspirituality,science andspirit,thefearofpresidentialassassination, tellingIsraelthetruth,disillusionmentwiththe DemocratsandtheConstitution,Iranophobia, homeforeclosures,andmore! saved the Jewish people who were soon to host the birth in our world of “the son of God.” Oppression is not defeated by military victories. The Maccabees did not end the oppression of the Jews; they simply forestalled it until a greater power came upon us. It is the teachings of Jesus (that have never been tried in our world, except by individuals) that will eventually rid mankind of oppression, greed, injustice, intolerance, and war. Martin Greenhut Marshall, N.C. Rabbi Lerner responds...