Word: conge
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Much of the discussion of Viet Nam in the United States, however, has been couched in terms of stereotypes and slogans which have little relation to the political forces and social trends in Vietnamese society. Critics of the Administration often tend to glorify the Viet Cong and the National Liberation Front and to magnify the extent of their support. They see the war as a popular uprising against a military-landlord oligarchy dependent upon foreign military support. Hence they see little need for, or basis for, accomodation: if the United States withdrew, it is held, the Saigon regime would quickly...
...American Government continues to back President Nixon's eight points [which the Viet Cong rejected in Paris last week], then it will not be possible to end the war, particularly in Viet Nam. Then the popular movement against American aggression will and should continue...
...tremendous war machine was then set up against the Viet Cong. At first the struggle was conduced by simple means: concentration camps...
...support. But no one knows what to expect from the untried irregulars who man the vital outposts along the roads and outside the villages. These Regional and Popular Forces boast 513,000 wellarmed, full-time troops, but they are unseasoned and would be no match for the tough Viet Cong or North Vietnamese professionals. As for the unpaid part-timers of the 500,000-man Popular Self-Defense Force, they are assumed to be so infiltrated by the V.C. that many Regional and Popular Force outposts will not allow P.S.D.F. troops in after dark...
There are other uncertainties. The Viet Cong infrastructure, for instance, might not be nearly so weak as is generally assumed. A sudden withdrawal or reduction of U.S. airpower would increase doubts about ARVN's abilities, even if the flow of American supplies and economic support continued. But for the moment, U.S. military men in Saigon and Washington remain reasonably sure that the newly Vietnamized war machine can accomplish its mission: to give the Saigon regime a "reasonable chance" of survival when American troops go home...