Word: mekong
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Southeast Asia will doubtless be Thailand. Already the nation's six northeastern provinces, whose population of 10 million is double that of Cambodia, are being probed by Communist terror and subversion. More than a dozen village officials have been assassinated; Communist arms, men and propaganda filter across the Mekong River from Red-infected Laos in ever-increasing volume. The Thai Communist Party has vowed to "drive the U.S. imperialists out and overthrow the traitorous, fascist and dictatorial Bangkok government." Fortunately, the Bangkok government, backed by U.S. aid, has for the past three years been preparing the battleground...
...enough equipment to supply an entire infantry brigade has been stored against the day when that many U.S. troops might arrive on the scene. At the same time, Thailand has set up "Special Operations Centers" from which elite Thai army units, modeled on the U.S. Special Forces, patrol the Mekong borders, gather intelligence, and help the tribesmen of the region...
Steps Toward Progress. Though the northeast gets less rain than Thailand's lush central plain-the nation's rice bowl, much coveted by Red China-it is bordered by the Mekong and riven by countless streams. The scope for new dams, canals, wells and reservoirs is enormous, and government teams have already built scores of minor waterworks. Still, only 4,000 of the 14,000 villages have enough drinking and irrigation water at hand. Many have to cart water in by ox team from miles away. And the Communists do not hesitate to make political capital from technical...
...where rural development work has not begun are asking local officials when their turn will come. Indeed, when the Interior Minister, General Prapas Charussatira, visited the town of Nongkhai to initiate an aid program, he was welcomed as a bearer of good omens. On the day of his arrival, Mekong fishermen netted a 5-ft., 200-lb. catfish -a rare catch and the first of the year. It was served-cooked-at a welcoming banquet...
...power merely saved the day at Songbe, it turned the tide completely in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, 100 miles to the southwest. In a sharply executed "search-and-destroy" operation, U.S. and South Vietnamese planes spotted a concentration of some 600 Viet Cong in a dried-out paddyfield, then pinned them down while government troops were heli-lifted in. Surrounded on three sides, lashed by rockets and napalm, the Communists finally broke and ran. "It was like shooting fish in a barrel," said one U.S. adviser...