Word: thieu
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BASED on past experience," South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu declared recently, referring to the 1954 Geneva agreement, "we cannot rely too much on international treaties, for the Communists do not respect them. Nor can we rely too much on the International Control Commission." More pointedly he advised his countrymen: "If a stranger enters your village, shoot him in the head...
...Thieu's comments may well prove to be prophetic about the immediate future of South Viet Nam. The cease-fire really marks the beginning of a period of prolonged uncertainty-and perhaps of yet a new stage in the war. Now only an overwhelming effort of good will, it would seem, will permit cooperation between the opposing armed forces and their political cadres, and such an agreement is not in evidence...
More significant is the number of troops that the North Vietnamese are permitted to leave in South Viet Nam -145,000 by Washington's estimate, 300,000 by Saigon's. "What kind of peace is it," President Thieu demanded recently, "that gives the North Vietnamese the right to keep their troops here?" His pessimistic prediction is that a "next war" will be required to destroy the country's Communist underground. "This war may last six months, one year or two years," he says. "It will decide the up political future of Viet...
...well be that the "neutral" or "middle" factions will take on greater importance than in the recent past. Such groups as the Cao Dai, portions of the Dai Viet Party, the Buddhists, the progressive Roman Catholics and the Hoa Hao might emerge as viable alternatives to supporters of President Thieu. He bases his hopes for survival on the backing of a coalition composed of conservative Catholics as well as the Thieu-dominated military and civil services, opposed by a manageable minority made up of the Hoa Hao, the Buddhists, the Cao Dais and a few others. Thieu has bitter enemies...
...Paris accord calls for a National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord, composed of the Saigon government, the Provisional Revolutionary Government and South Vietnamese neutrals. Its effectiveness will be limited, if not paralyzed, by the fact that any action it takes must be unanimous. But as Thieu well knows, the council could eventually be transformed into a base for a new "coalition" of Communists and neutrals that could bring him down. In his forthcoming discussions with the P.R.G., Thieu is unlikely to give an inch on any crucial issue...