Word: lonli
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...friendliness of the U.S. government toward the junta was not particularly difficult to probe. Simply speaking, its leader-Lieut. Gen. Lon Nol-had long been uncompromisingly opposed to the "neutralism" of the Sihanouk regime, While in power. Sihanouk's government was characterized by its refusal to allow any American influence in the country, by its avowed antagonism to the U.S. presence in South Asia. To this end, Sihanouk had permitted North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces to use eastern Cambodia as a staging ground for operations against Allied troops in South Vietnam. In the Administration's view, the anti...
...March: the unexpected overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's ruler for nearly 30 years. Sihanouk tolerated the presence of some 40,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in border provinces?but he managed to keep them in check by adroit political maneuvering. The new regime, headed by General Lon Nol, was determined to end Sihanouk's policy of playing along with the Communists. But Lon Nol's army, long used largely for roadbuilding and ceremonial functions, was, as one foreign diplomat observed, "more like a peace corps than a military force...
...Cambodian towns. In the next four days, they attacked and occupied four more, including the seaport of Kep. The capture of a port city was particularly alarming, since it gave the Communists a shipping terminal to replace Sihanoukville (now known by its old name, Kampong Som), which the Lon Nol government had closed to Communist traffic. "A border base is one thing," says the adviser. "A contiguous area supplied by sea, and interlocking, is quite another...
...Lon Nol government put out an SOS for massive arms assistance, which South Viet Nam, with U.S. approval, answered in part by shipping in some 5,000 captured, Soviet-designed AK-47 rifles. The chances of equipping and training Cambodia's largely volunteer army in time for it to beat off a coordinated Communist attack, however, were next to nil. Meanwhile the South Vietnamese, in a number of exploratory probes, had proved that the Communists were vulnerable to attack on their sanctuaries from the west...
...touchiest parts of the plan involved Cambodia's neutral status. The Lon Nol government, though plainly pro-Western, is determined to preserve at least the facade of neutrality. Moreover, it hopes to win diplomatic support?and arms aid?later this month at a conference of Asian nations called to discuss Cambodia by Indonesia. To avoid weakening the shaky regime, the U.S. decided to forgo the legality of wangling an invitation from Phnom-Penh to attack the Communist bases in Cambodia. The omission meant that Washington was openly violating the Geneva accord of 1954 (which it did not sign...