North Vietnam condemns Linebacker raids
Hanois foreign ministry calling the new B-52 raids against Hanoi and Haiphong extremely barbaric accuses the United States of premeditated intensification of the war and labels the actions insane.On December 13 North Vietnamese negotiators walked out of secret talks in Paris with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.President Nixon issued an ultimatum to Hanoi to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours or else.The North Vietnamese rejected Nixons demand and the president ordered Operation Linebacker II a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area.
During the 11 days of Linebacker II 700 B-52 sorties and more than 1000 fighter-bomber sorties were flown.These planes dropped roughly 20000 tons of bombs mostly over the densely populated area between Hanoi and Haiphong.Nixon was severely criticized both by American antiwar activists and in the international community for ordering what became known as the Christmas bombing.Italy the Netherlands Sweden China and the Soviet Union officially condemned the resumption of American bombing above the 20th parallel.
The French newspaper Le Monde compared the attacks to the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War when German planes from the Condor Legion attacked the Spanish city and caused great devastation and loss of life.In England the Manchester Guardian called the bombing the action of a man blinded by fury or incapable of seeing the consequences of what he is doing.Pope Paul VI and United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim expressed concern for world peace.American antiwar activists charged that Linebacker II involved carpet bombingdeliberately targeting civilian areas with intensive bombing designed to carpet a city with bombs.
Though the bombing was focused on specific military targets it did result in the deaths of 1318 civilians in Hanoi.The Christmas bombing was deemed a success by the U.S.since it caused the North Vietnamese to return to the negotiating table where the Paris Peace Accords were signed less than a month later.
