Word: thieu
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...gains. One important objective was to shore up the embattled regime in Cambodia by taking further pressure off the Cambodian army to the south. Another was to blunt Communist capability to wage offensives in South Viet Nam, particularly any attack that might upset two approaching presidential elections: Nguyen Van Thieu's in October and Richard Nixon's in November...
MORALE. The drive into Laos has left South Viet Nam sullen, uneasy and distrustful of government casualty figures and claims of victory. Clearly concerned, the Thieu regime has launched a morale-boosting effort. Thieu has been telling newsmen that Saigon's troops "will feel 10 ft. tall" when it is all over; government radio stations broadcast newly minted tunes of glory (sample title: Tchepone Victory). But in a more accurate reflection of the popular mood, Saigon's daily Tin Sang last week replied to Nixon's recent remark about the U.S.'s "last war." It editorialized...
POLITICS. South Viet Nam's unhappiness over the operation may well hurt Thieu at the polls this fall. For Nixon, too, Laos may turn out to be a political liability. The divergence of Washington's optimistic assessments and on-the-scene reports have saddled the Administration with a credibility problem once again. Should Lam Son run into really serious trouble, Nixon would have a tough time justifying the decision to go into Laos. And, though China has not been drawn into the war, the Laotian incursion has, at the very least, done violence to the Administration...
Psychological warfare, like the shooting kind, runs the risk of retaliation. For weeks, South Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu hinted at a possible invasion of the north, and even President Nixon refused to rule out the notion entirely. The purpose of this talk was to keep North Vietnamese troops pinned down defending the home front, rather than harassing South Vietnamese troops in Laos...
Asked how Thieu could have made such an apparent blunder, Father Tin said, "He has used strong measures to rule. He has used them against the students and veterans last year and succeeded. Now he thinks he can do the same with the press...