Word: phnom-penh
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...final moment, U.S. warplanes pummeled the area around Phnom-Penh, the Cambodian capital. It was the last day of more than six months of frantic U.S. air support of the Lon Nol regime, during which the U.S. flew 32,000 sorties (including 8,000 by B-52s) and dumped more than 245,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia. This deluge totaled 50% more than all the conventional bombs the U.S. rained upon Japan in World War II. Most of it, of course, was aimed at guerrillas hiding in heavy jungle. As a result, the bombing obviously did not inflict...
...Some of the regime's top generals have already established secret contacts with insurgent officers. With the exception of a few Americans, diplomats in the capital are betting that the Lon Nol regime cannot survive until the end of the year. When the insurgents get ready to attack, Phnom-Penh will fall, they predict...
...those who cared, which did not seem to be many, the epitaph to the U.S. bombing of Cambodia was audible over ordinary radios in Phnom-Penh. As the last curl of smoke disappeared and the final whine of the aircraft faded, a U.S. command plane could be heard talking with its spotter planes and jet fighter-bombers on a regular VHP frequency. "It's really been good working with you," a voice crackled. "Yeah," went the reply. "See you in the next war." Then came the muffled sound of a harmonica playing Turkey in the Straw, followed by silence...
...squawk box in a truck parked at the edge of the runway. Within 30 seconds, the two A-7D Corsair fighter-bombers were touching down at this air-base set on a bucolic plateau of waving green grass some 140 miles northeast of Bangkok and 290 miles from Phnom-Penh. Skipping onto the concrete strip amid puffs of blue smoke, the planes taxied over to ground personnel for a routine "disarming" check. Then they roared to a halt at their stations on the flightline. Precisely 16 minutes before the deadline, the two A-7s of flight mission "Slam...
Even the U.S. embassy, once the font of optimism in Phnom-Penh, is now playing a waiting game. It no longer talks of reform governments, reorganization of the army, or bright new pacification measures. Gone too is the hint that substantive negotiations are under way. In fact, U.S. sources now openly worry whether the Lon Nol regime can survive the ending of U.S. bombing this week. If in the weeks ahead it does manage to survive, then the insurgents might be tempted to start negotiations. But for the moment Cambodia's existence depends on the force of arms...