Word: conge
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That possibility continued throughout last week to be stymied by the unwillingness of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to agree to send a delegation to Paris and sit at the same negotiating table with the National Liberation Front of the Viet Cong. There were reports and rumors that he was about to change his mind. But the delay brought to nearly a month the elapsed time since the bombing halt. Meanwhile, the war on the ground in South Viet Nam sputtered...
Wanting to Lead. When Johnson first proclaimed the bombing halt and expanded negotiations more than two weeks ago, Thieu balked at any South Vietnamese participation in a conference in which the Viet Cong's National Liberation Front would be permitted to speak for itself, rather than through Hanoi's delegates. But after several days, he announced that he would let his representatives come, provided South Viet Nam took over from the U.S. the leadership of the allied delegation and dealt directly with the North Vietnamese, not the N.L.F., at the negotiating table...
Ever since the first phase of the Paris talks began on May 10, U.S. diplomats in Saigon have kept President Thieu informed about the issues under discussion. Aware of South Viet Nam's sensitivity about Viet Cong representation, the U.S. suggested to the North a proposal Secretary of State Dean Rusk described as a practical "Anglo-Saxon approach." An exercise in diplomatic gymnastics, the American plan allowed each side to constitute its negotiating team as it wished and to say what it liked about the equality of its members. The genius of the plan was that the other side...
Anglo-Saxon Approach. The expressions of new-found loyalty for Thieu were a measure of South Vietnamese anger over the arrangements in Paris. The sticking point is the participation of the National Liberation Front, which is the political arm of the Viet Cong. As Saigon sees it, the participation of the N.L.F. as an equal member in any peace talks is tantamount to recognizing that the Communists represent a portion of the population of South Viet Nam. Such an admission would be a serious loss of face for Thieu's regime and might force the Saigon government into...
Female Conscripts. On the other side, the Viet Cong has taken full advantage of the martial tradition of Vietnamese women, a tradition that goes back to the two Trung sisters' fight to repel Chinese invaders in A.D. 39. Running short of male conscripts, the Communists have lately recruited all-female combat units. Women now make up an estimated one-third to one-half of V.C. main-force troops...