Word: conge
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...Vietnamese who have fought against us are not machines. Indeed, it seems likely that a Viet Cong soldier setting out to battle is no more anxious to die than an American. The Vietnamese who have fought against the overwhelming power of the United States for the past four-and-a-half years are not of a different species from ours. Like people anywhere, the Vietnamese feel pain, have love affairs, like to dance, and carry pictures of their families in their wallets. The bravery and devotion of these people can't be explained by racial stereotypes: to understand why they...
Within 72 hours after an agreement is signed in Paris, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces plan a coordinated charge into Saigon-controlled cities, villages and rural hamlets. The crack North Vietnamese 7th Division, stationed north of Saigon, has had standing orders since October to "force enemy personnel to withdraw. Gain control of many more hamlets. Motivate the people and support them to rise up, kill tyrants and break the enemy's oppressive control." Another Communist directive orders units to "incite inhabitants to engage in street demonstrations to welcome the victories of the revolution," and to "lead enemy troops...
Along with my interest in the cost of living I have an interest in the soaring cost of dying. I have just read in one of my Soc. Rel. books that it costs us 300,000 dollars for each Met Cong that we Idll. If this figure is anywhere near correct then it seems to me that we've not getting any bargains in Vietnam. I mean we could probably get a better return on our dollar if we made wiser investments; maybe you could suggest to the President that the United States take some money out of Vietnam...
What were the North Vietnamese up to? They might have been hoping to appease the worried Viet Cong by tying the P.O.W. release to the political-prisoner problem. They might have simply decided to agree to no more efforts to tighten the agreement. In any case, Nixon was furious at the P.O.W. reversal and evidently convinced that Hanoi believed he had little room to maneuver. Nixon summoned Kissinger home, interrupting the talks...
...October was that it really did separate the military issues from the intractable political issues. It is true that the very vagueness of the original draft-not to mention its reaffirmation of Hanoi's "one Viet Nam" position -was highly advantageous to the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. It is arguable that they won those advantages on the battlefield. But the effect of the Saigon-inspired delay since mid-October has been to weaken, perhaps mortally, the original compromise. Both delegations have been sweating to tie the military and political issues back together in ways that would benefit...