Word: nams
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Just how good is the army of South Viet Nam (ARVN) at present? It is in slightly better shape than it was a year ago. With its training program under the direct supervision of U.S. military experts, the necessary skills and equipment are becoming available. Nearly all 821,000 South Vietnamese in uniform have received some training in counterinsurgency warfare, and the entire regular army has been equipped with
...consisted of a group of highly trained technocrats (average age: 34) assigned to find ways of breathing efficiency into the government. Despite considerable effort, they have not succeeded in getting rid of the mountainous red tape that hampers government administration. Moreover, one of the root problems in South Viet Nam's government?corruption?is so pervasive that neither stern warnings nor the outright firing of half the 44 province chiefs and 91 district chiefs has made more than a dent, though the new men are generally admitted to be improvements. But to the extent that Thieu can finally expect...
...hamlet dwellers are a source of political strength, and that their loyalty could turn the tide in the event of a ceasefire. Thieu often voices the standard South Vietnamese argument against giving the National Liberation Front a political status, pointing out that Communism is synonymous with violence in Viet Nam. In fact, however, he has reached the inevitable conclusion that his government must some day learn to deal with native Communists, whatever they are called, as a minority body politic. "I believe that if 15 million nationalists cannot handle a couple hundred thousand Communists, then there's something wrong," Thieu...
...sums up how many Americans come on in the eyes of the peasants. Most of all, dissenters object to the warm breath of the U.S. "presence" in the program. "It is hard to give the illusion of sovereignty," says Rand Corporation Anthropologist Gerald Hickey, who has been in Viet Nam since 1956. "We continue with the naive notion that nation building is saturating the country with American advisers...
Whether that judgment is too harsh or not, the U.S.'s main business at this juncture must be to seek a settlement. There are essentially two approaches open to Nixon that could lead to a measurable disengagement from Viet Nam: a negotiated solution, or a seesaw of unilateral de-escalations, with each side presumably matching the other's withdrawals. The second possibility, involving the notion that the war will decline gradually by degrees of voluntary and informal pullout, is viewed by many U.S. experts as the most probable ending. Provided that the withdrawals were both steady and large enough, this...