Speech #890155514

Your rhetoric as exemplified by the statement "It is a tragedy that the embattled farmers of 1965 are being attacked and bombed by the descendants of the embattled farmers of 1776." was quite clever. but I hope that before you preach your next sermon or write your next article. you will consider some of the pertinent facts about just one of the many advisory teams in this country. one small group of the "decendants of the embattled farmers of 1776." Our fiveman team lives and works in the district of Hoc Mon (similar to a county in the United States). an area approximately 120 square kilometers. and located some 25 kilometers northwest of Saigon. There are more than 120.000 inhabitants living in the 12 villages and 59 hamlets of the Hoc Mon district. The primary source of income is derived from agriculture. and these people could certainly be considered as the "embattled farmers of 1965." About 30 percent of the total population are Catholics. most of whom are refugees who left their homes and belongings in 1954 and fled to the south. Except for our small team. there are no American units in the area. The security of our district lies in the hands of a group of 800 volunteers from the villages. who are known as Popular Forces. and are organized into "selfdefense" units scattered throughout the district.