Word: lon
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Area jesters and sycophants have a field day this time of year speculating about who will receive Harvard honorary degrees at Commencement. With Harry Truman out of the running, the flunkies and lackeys are abuzz with talk of Lon Nol, the harsh dictator of Cambodia...
...fire in Laos more or less in effect, that would leave only the Cambodian mess to be resolved. The U.S. hopes it can nudge Cambodia's former head of state, exiled Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and Khmer insurgent leaders into talks with members of the expanded regime of Marshal Lon Nol in Phnom-Penh...
...survival of the Lon Nol government is due in large measure to continued U.S. bombing of Khmer insurgent positions. The days of that kind of help may be numbered. In the U.S. Senate last week, a majority of Republicans and Democrats voted 63-19 in favor of an amendment that would shut off funds for further bombing of Cambodia. The House passed a similar though less sweeping measure in early May. When and if the two houses approve a compromise version, Congress will, for the first time, be united in formal opposition to continued U.S. fighting in Southeast Asia...
Those who have gone over to the K.I. include entire units of disgruntled soldiers from the Cambodian army, thousands of dissident intellectuals and professionals and at least ten battalions of Cambodian-born Vietnamese-a minority group that was massacred after the coup by Lon Nol's troops, who whipped up traditional anti-Vietnamese enmity to a frenzy. There are also battle-seasoned remnants of the old Khmer Viet Minh who fought against the French and went to North Viet Nam after the 1954 Geneva agreements. Intelligence sources estimate that 1,800 of these men have been put in command...
...real leadership is obscure, so are the insurgents' goals. There is evidence that some elements would be willing to settle for a coalition government if they could only get rid of Lon Nol. On the other hand, it is argued, why should they agree to talk with a government they have all but defeated on the battlefield? Still another view is that any settlement in Cambodia is not in the Communists' interests at this time because it would be overly threatening to the U.S., South Viet Nam and Thailand. Indeed, when the time is ripe...