Word: nlf
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...urbanization" strategy of the U.S. Air Force, a strategy which has wrought unspeakable devastation in the South Vietnamese countryside. Bluntly put, the "rationale" of urbanization has been to saturate the rural areas of the South with bombs, causing large numbers of surviving civilians to flee from areas under NLF control. Crowded into teeming, poverty-striken refugee camps outside South Vietnam's cities, growing numbers of the South Vietnamese people have fallen under the political and military control of the Saigon regime...
...control to all areas of the country. That, he says, "would require a much larger and more intense military and pacification effort than is currently contemplated by Saigon and Washington." The rest of the article then argues for some form of political cooperation between the Thieu regime and the NLF, which Huntington suggests can best be achieved initially on a local level. "Such a system might be labeled federal, confederal, pluralistic, decentralized--but whatever the label, it would reflect the varied sources of political power. In the recognition of the acceptance of that diversity lies the hope for political stability...
Huntington's argument for political "accommodation," for prodding the Saigon regime into recognizing the NLF as a legitimate political force in South Vietnam, logically contradicts his praise of urbanization. For if Huntington believed urbanization could be effective, he would simply have argued for "a much larger and more intense military and pacification effort" instead of dismissing it as beyond Washington's capability. In fact, a number of government officials who are familiar with Huntington's work have suggested privately that his accolade of the urbanization program was probably a tactical ploy designed to interest "hard-headed" Washington officials...
...semi-official report--to which Decornoy says "the State Department attaches great importance"--Benoit bases his recommendations on "a Hanoi withdrawal," an elimination of NLF influence in the South, and "the projected ending of hostilities by 1973." Reasoning along lines that resemble those traveled by Smithies, Benoit writes, "If hostilities end without a peace treaty, it seems likely that large defense budgets will persist through most of this decade." Later he notes, "Even at best, Vietnam is going to be militarily top-heavy for quite some time...
...Smithies report is more of the same.Wide World PhotosA B-52 drops bombs on suspected NLF strongholds in South Vietnam. As Vietnamization improves in efficiency, U.S. troops can be withdrawn. If the ultimate in efficiency is achieved, bombers can be recalled as well, and a pro-American regime will be left standing...