Word: saigon
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...through secret channels to negotiate troop withdrawals?and drafting detailed plans with the Saigon government on the logistics of a reduction. On the diplomatic front, secret talks between the U.S. and North Viet Nam aimed at scaling down the level of fighting have almost certainly begun in Paris and other points, despite Administration disclaimers. President Nixon's decision not to resume bombing North Viet Nam in retaliation for the current offensive by the Communists represents an important policy decision not to turn the clock back in Viet Nam, even though the South Vietnamese government is urging the bombing of Hanoi...
...secrecy. He must maintain the pressure on the battlefield, but not so intensely that Hanoi breaks off the peace talks in Paris. He must continue preparing the South Vietnamese to assume more responsibility, but not undercut them by bargaining with the North behind their backs. He must allow the Saigon government to negotiate as an equal partner, but not permit it to exhaust U.S. public patience by foot dragging. In all this, an essential element is the reliability of the South Vietnamese government and the man who runs it, President Nguyen Van Thieu...
Fortunately, the U.S. can finally count on a reasonably secure and stable government in Saigon. For that, and for the first tentative signs that it is preparing its people for the day when they will have to shoulder the burden of their war, the U.S. in large part can thank Thieu, the solitary, sometimes enigmatic but increasingly forceful President of South Viet Nam. In the 17 months he has held office, Thieu has constructed the strongest government in South Viet Nam since the days of Ngo Dinh Diem, whose overthrow he helped to plan. Amid the ceaseless intrigues of Saigon...
...commit all of some 22 regiments pulled out of northernmost I Corps last fall (see map, p. 27). To counter that most alarming of threats, the allies last week mounted two large-scale counteroffensives, virtually the first of such major sweeps of the Abrams era. West of Saigon, some 10,000 troops from three U.S. divisions, using tanks and armored vehicles, swept through sections of the huge, French-owned Michelin rubber plantation in an effort to rout some 7,500 Communist soldiers. Only 40 miles from the capital, the overgrown, colonial-era plantation was being used as a staging ground...
...with the Tet attack of 1968, the current Communist offensive has served to underscore the urgency of building a strong government in Saigon. There is almost no way for the U.S. to disengage completely from the war until it can be turned over to a durable South Vietnamese government commanding trained and equipped troops, able to handle the indigenous Viet Cong who remain after all the North Vietnamese soldiers return home...