Word: phnom-penh
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...small nations of Cambodia and South Viet Nam once again troubled America's long-tortured conscience concerning its role in that distant part of the world. The persistent Khmer Rouge rebels seemed on the verge of final military success as they pinched the Cambodian capital of Phnom-Penh. Communist forces in South Viet Nam stepped up the fighting there to its most intense level since the Paris Peace Accords were supposed to have ended it all in 1973. The problem for the U.S. was what, if anything, it should or could do about either situation...
...government to match. Even foreign diplomats who privately hope that the present regime can pull through have been exasperated by the indolence and unrealistic attitudes of President Lon Nol, who sometimes acts as if the war were taking place in another country. Last week, for example, rumors circulated in Phnom-Penh for several days that he might resign, which could possibly pave the way toward some kind of negotiations with the Khmer Rouge insurgents. Instead, Lon Nol staged a modest Cabinet reshuffling and fired his arrogant commander in chief, Lieut. General Sosthene Fernandez, who is hated both for his corruption...
...Prek Phnou, which is only eight miles from Phnom-Penh, three T-28s dropped napalm on a paddyfield, causing orange flames to spurt across the open area. Three Cambodian youths in ragtag uniforms came trudging down a dirt road; one wore a purple bandanna around his head, another a Pathet Lao peaked cap from Laos, and the third had on a fatigue jacket and red bathing trunks. But all three carried M-79 grenade launchers slung across their slender shoulders...
From his exile in Peking, Prince Sihanouk still insisted that the Khmer Rouge had no intention of making a direct assault on Phnom-Penh. He maintained that the city would fall before the end of the year and perhaps "much sooner." That is probably an accurate prediction. If U.S. ammunition and food are cut off, the Lon Nol government will be lucky to last until mid-April...
...week's end the Cambodian government was reported ready to cut down the trees lining Phnom-Penh's Democracy Boulevard so that the wide roadway can be turned into an emergency landing strip for DC-3s in case the airport is closed down by Khmer Rouge rocket attacks. Such a desperate ploy might extend the war for a few days, or even a week or two, but not for long. This week the city braced itself for the fifth anniversary of the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk, a date the insurgents have previously celebrated with heavy attacks...