Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, March 14, 1968 Griffin Daily News
Vietnam Assessment:
Them Or Us In The Next Few Weeks
By PHIL NEWSOM
UPI Foreign News Analyst
The United States Is fighting
to come from behind in
Vietnam where frontline offi
cers believe the war could come
to a climax in a matter of
weeks.
At the moment, both the
military and diplomatic initia
tive clearly lies with the North
Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
They will decide when and
where to fight and when and
where to negotiate.
It is a many sided war whose
front lines extend from the
besieged Marine fortress at Khe
Sahn below the Vietnam Demili
tarized Zone to the U.S. home
front where debate is carried on
in the supercharged atmosphere
of a presidential election year.
Here are some unpleasant
truths:
Sense Victory
—The Communists sense vic
tory. The previous low point of
the war came in the early
spring of 1965. Three years later
the situation cannot be said to
have deteriorated back to that
same low. But last fall’s battle
of Dak To in the Highlands and
the New Year offensive against
the cities clearly demonstrated
that the initiative now lies with
the Communists. They have
new, sophisticated weapons and
are willing to take enormous
losses. This determination has
shown no indication of faltering.
—With the military and
diplomatic initiative in Commu
nist hands, the United States
also has only limited influence
over its South Vietnamese Allies
who feel the U.S. commitment
is so deep it cannot afford to
abandon them.
—The pacification program
without which there can be no
victory in Vietnam is in a
shambles and no one will
predict when it will get going
again. Nor has there been an
assessment made of the da
mage done when South Vietna
mese forces abandoned the
countryside to fight in the
cities. Only a few units have
returned to the pacification
assignment.
—As a result of the Commu-
Pythagoras Chapter
No. 10 — R.A.M.
Regular Convo
cation tonight.
All qualified
Masons invited
to be present at
7:30 p. m.
CHARLIE PERDUE, 11. P.
Your bank
would like a
word with
you.
The
word
is We would like an opportunity to say
, . — — "Yes’’ to your loan application. You
• • jT * supply the need, we’ll bend over back-
—— wards to supply the loan. Whether you
want to finance a new car, a home
improvement project, a trip, a doctor bill,
tell us how much you need and for how
—long. Give us a chance to use our
. J favorite wordl
Main -XSERWCS Mclntosh Road
Office Branch
Commercial Bank
& TRUST COMPANY
Moving Toward a Century of Service
Chartered 1889
Member F. D. I. C.
nists’ offensive, Gen. William C.
Westmoreland has said he will
need more troops, above the
525,000 previously authorized. In
public these demands have been
fairly modest. Other assess
ments have placed the number
he will need at between
2,000,000 and 3,000,000 men.
Promise Unfulfilled
—Since August, South Vietna
mese President Nguyen Van
Thieu and Vice President
Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky have
been promising to increase their
own 600,000-man army by
60,000. These troops so far have
not materialized.
—The president and vice
president also have promised to
clean up official corruption in
South Vietnam’s 43 provinces. It
has been estimated that up to
three-quarters of the province
chiefs should be replaced. So
far there has been no real
action, except for the naming of
new commanders for II Corps
covering central South Vietnam
and IV Corps in the Mekong
Delta.
—Former Defense Secretary
Robert S. McNamara, in a
generally gloomy report to
Congress cited last fall’s
Vietnamese elections as about
the only “encouraging pro
gress” of recent months.
McNamara’s report was written
before the outbreak of the
Communist offensive. The Sai
gon government has not been
able to set up a popular base
and since the offensive has
arrested many religious, labor
and opposition political leaders
out of an apparent fear of a rise
of neutralism.
These reports come from UPI
correspondents:
Stewart Hensley, UPI State
Department reporter:
Top administration officials
believe the real objective of the
Communist winter-spring offen
sive is to tie the American down
in defending such outposts as
Khe Sanh and various U.S.
military installations and to
force the South Vietnamese
army back into defending
provincial capitals. If success
ful, the Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese forces then could
undo the work which the Allied
pacification teams had accom
plished in rural areas.
How much do the South
Vietnamese influence the Amer
ican effort?
When the United States, in
1965, elevated its commitment
to Saigon to the same level
given Berlin and the NATO
alliance, it gave Saigon con
siderable leverage on U.S.
20
Jj. IBJIf •
▼At' JeIIB »W* •’
t -.>■<&< -1.. .t* /xL ■*
WAR SCARRED —Although it Is riddled with the scars of war, this armored personnel car
rier still is in action at the besieged Marine outpost of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, after
Communist guerrillas penetrated the barbed wire on the outer perimeter. They planted
loudspeakers through which they urged Vietnamese Rangers to defect, but were silenced.
policy.
Saigon’s ability to influence
U.S. policy was further rein
forced in mid-1965 when Pres
ident Johnson and others
declared that the defense of
South Vietnam was to the key
to all Asia.
Given those conditions, Saigon
has assumed that no mater
what she does, the United
States cannot afford to abondon
her and therefore will have to
acquiesce in all but the most
demonstrably stupid projects.
As for negotiations, Johnson
and Secretary of State Dean
Rusk naver have felt that Hanoi
had any Intention of negotiating
in good faith. Their assumption
has been and is that the
communists will agree to talk,
if ever, only to buy time or to
trap the United States into
lowering its guard.
Donald H. May, UPI reporter
at the Pentagon:
With Soviet and Chinese aid,
the Communist force in Viet
nam have graduated from a
motley collection of obsoles
cence and often homemade
equipment to weapons which in
many cases are among the best
in the world.
An example is the AK47
assault rifle. This Soviet
designed 7.62 mm automatic
rifle has been described by one
U.S. military expert as “about
as good an individual weapon as
exists.”
About a year ago, the
Communists began using
140 mm and 122 mm rockets
against U.S. bases in South
Vietnam. The 122 mm has a
range of 12,000 yards. These are
not high accuracy weapons, but
when fired into a place such as
D a Nang air base or Tan Son
Nhut airfield outside Saigon,
they are bound to hit some
thing.
The North Vietnamese and
the Viet Cong have all the
standard mortars and have used
them with high effect.
Value Os Bombing
Is bombing of the North
really worth it?
Probably the most candid
official appraisal of the bomb
ing was McNamara’s 200-page
testimony to Congress before he
left office. He made these
points: About 70 per cent of
North Vietnam’s electric gener
ating capacity has been knocked
' out and the bulk of its fixed
petroleum storage has been
destroyed. But imported diesel
generators are probably produc
ing sufficient power for essen
[ tial needs and widely dispersed
petroleum reserves are meeting
■ minimum needs.
McNamara said "most, if not
all, of the industrial output lost
has been replaced by imports
from the Soviet Union and
China.” He noted that military
and economic aid from Commu
nist countries is increasing.
He also added that “the
agrarian nature of the economy
precludes an economic collapse
(of North Vietnam) as a result
of the bombing.”
Affects Infiltration
Air Force Secretary Harold
Brown has said “no informed
student of air power has
expected the bombing to elimin
ate Infiltration and resupply.
But the bombing, by increasing
the strain on North Vietnam,
has affected its capability to
sustain increased Infiltration.”
The air secretary estimated
that the bombing raids bad tied
up 600.000 men, including a
considerable part of the North’s
leadership.
Is Westmoreland in trouble?
Such stories have done a
great disservice to Westmore
land.
For more than two years It
i generally has been assumed
that Westmoreland was In line
for chief of staff of the Army,
although there are other jobs
which conceivably he might get.
I have heard no one in high
positions at the Pentagon try to
I claim that he, or anyone else,
could do Westmoreland’s job
better within the rules under
which this war has been fought.
Eugene V. Risher, UPI
bureau manager in Saigon:
Morale: Tills war, like any
! war, has the usual gripes. The
chow is lousy. The doctors are
|! scalpel-happy. But the morale
of the American troops is high.
It is better in fighting units
than in reaq: service units and
usually better when they are
fighting.
Almost to a man, none of the
Marines at Kile Sanh would
consider for a moment giving it
up, although in the minds of
some high level officers in
Saigon, Khe Sanh’s value is
questionable.
Initiative: When the Commu-
WINDOW
SHADES
Cut to size.
Newton Building
Supply Company
889 East Solomon Street
nists started their series of
attacks throughout South Viet
nam on Jan. 29, it amounted to
a general offensive. Documents
and prisoner interrogations indi
cate they hoped for a general
uprising. There is little doubt
that those who carried out the
attacks and lower level Commu
nist officials thought there
would be massive defections to
their cause. But there were not.
Many experts believe the
wide-spread attacks were part
of a longer-range plan with a
less lofty goal. They see the
offensive as an effort to achieve
a significant military victory
over the Americans and Vietna
mese as a prelude to negotia
tions—a drive to negotiate from
a position of power. They
foresee a continuation of the
attacks throughout the country
on a less intensified scale and
then a massive push, probably
along the Demilitarized Zone
where the largest Communist
troop concentration is located.
The Communists are paying a
terrible price. If official figures
are to be believed—and they are
probably about 80 per cent
accurate—some 40,000 Commu
nists were killed in the first
month of the offensive. Allied
losses have been about one
eighth of this.
Bombing: Two key targets
still are off-limits to American
raiders. They are Giu Lam
airport, Hanoi’s international
airport where much of its MIG
fleet is kept, and the port of
Haiphong. The latter is by far
the most important. Estimates
6RIFFINr6A.
(p
(a J r
/w/7 A
TV / / -(_/ / /
B w/\ / /"' / THE SQUARE Route
B 7 / i / OF FASH,ON!
\\ \\/ ' J J
\ \ \\ Jfji "X
\\ \
\ \ \\ Jf \
\ \ \\ YBBET f f \ It’a « magic moment wLen
\ \ \ \ y°“ ste P * nto Paradise’s
\ \ \\ \ i \ go-everywLere pump, with
\ \ its squared silhouette
\ \ \X, \ | and gigantic toe ornament.
\\ \ \ \ 1 It’s a growing fashion
\ \ vA I 1 that’s a feminine joy«• •
\ \ w \ \ * n Cashing colors.
/ / \ \ $ lB
/ / \ \ In Patenl
I/\ • \ \
/ f \ \ Red - Black - Beige
A Ya
f on thia page, the reference applies only to the upper
MS —Tw Zli,m» ifl«SW»ShlMtaMW»BWWißi
six months ago were that more
than half of all North Vietnam’s
war supplies come through
Haiphong.
Credibility Gap: There is in
Vietnam a large organization
whose sole purpose is to shape
the story of the war. The
reports they issue are, in the
judgment of most newsmen,
overly optimistic.
Robert C. Miller UPI corre
spondent who spent time at
Pearl Harbor before departing
for his fifth reporting tour in
South Vietnam:
Senior officers at Army,
Navy, Marine and Air Force
headquartrs in Hawaii concede
that the Communists now would
command more respect and
bargaining power at the confer
ence table than at any time in
the Vietnam War.
Most of the top echelon brass
feel the January offensive will
be followed by an aggressive
peace and propaganda cam
paign.
“This is definitely not the
time to negotiate,” one senior
officer emphasized. “The Com
munists definitely won a tre
mendous propaganda victory.
“But,” he said, “I suppose we
are committed to talk and will
probably be forced to sit down
with the Reds at a time when
they will be bargaining from
strength and more demanding
than ever.
There is unanimous agree
ment among the top brass in
Hawaii that the climax of the
war is near.
But there will be no
unhappiness at Pacific head
quarters if the Communists
continue to turn down American
6RIF FINr6A
THURSDAY - FRIDAY - SATURDAY
Special
166 SPRING DRESSES REDUCED
SAVE Vs
97 JUNIOR STYLES-69 MISSY STYLES
All Sales Final — Use Your Crouch', Account
appeals to come to the
negotiating table.
“From now on things are
going to get progressively
tougher for them,” a senior
Army authority said. “If we can
just hang tough ourselves for a
few more weeks, all those dead
and wounded Americans will
K > a K $' "jM
I *
; / . Oil
■hk A, ' ”l|
r wk’- I 'J
I . •
Ats
Si
31
✓ /... J.
TRIO OF MAlDS—Susan Holder of Jackson, Miss., newly
selected 1968 Maid of Cotton, receives congratulations
from the two runners-up. At left is Seree Scott, Odessa,
Texas, named second alternate Maid and at right, Vicki
Palmer, Cathedral City, Calif., first alternate. The 20-year
old Maid of Cotton will begin her international fashion
and good will tour for the American cotton industry late
in January.
not have been futile casualties.”
And this is another of the
fronts upon which the war is
being fought—the differences of
opinion between the military
men who fight it and the
diplomats who eventually must
end it.