Word: lon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...have mounted a dry-season offensive against the Cambodian capital of Phnom-Penh, strangling the city and blocking its vital Mekong River supply line. Once again there are widespread predictions that Phnom-Penh is on the verge of collapse-and with it, the U.S.-backed government of ailing President Lon Nol. Whether or not it falls, there is no question that the situation is more desperate than ever before. The Cambodian forces have already exhausted the $275 million in U.S. military aid they were granted this year and have scant hope of getting the additional $222 million President Ford...
...Khmer are fairly independent. They have a long-standing feud with the Vietnamese and they are apparently angry with the Soviets for maintaining an embassy in Phnom Pehn after the coup and they include as members both nationalists and communists. One other thing is certain: they would crush Lon Nol in a matter of weeks if the airlift is stopped...
...supplies the airlift brings into Phnom Pehn everyday are the only legs Lon Nol has to stand on. Without the ammunition, the army would have to surrender. Without the rice, the refugees would starve, as some are doing now, Lon Nol would be forced to fice to avoid execution, and we would have gained nothing. Even with the aid, as Defense Secretary Schlesinger admitted, we can only hope to preserve the status quo. The administration indicates it is hoping to get just enough money to last until the rainy season starts in June, hoping the Khmer will then agree...
...those nations with military hardware--not U.S. military personnel--where the government and the people of a country want to protect their country from foreign aggression." Two more fallacies: the war in Cambodia is a civil war, and the people of Cambodia have been mistaken for the person of Lon Nol. In fact, we (that is our government) are continuing to impose ourselves on a people who don't want us there. We are involved in a war where we have no business, and we are not even supporting the right side...
...latest Newsweek is a revealing reference to "the White House's puzzling failure to marshall witnesses for Congressional testimony or to lobby key congressman for their support." If the president can't be that tough, he must at least appear that way. Ford apparently does not care for Lon Nol or for the Cambodian people as much as he has been claiming lately. Instead, he seems to be using an old presidential ploy: force Congress into an untenable position, and then tell the voters you told them so. Tell them you did all you could, but that Congress just wouldn...