Word: vietcong
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...threat of military escalation may impel the Communist government in North Vietnam to withdraw its nominal support of the Vietcong insurgents in South Vietnam, Bernard B. Fall, professor of International Relations at Howard University, said last night...
WASHINGTON, March 17--The United States said today that South Vietnam has developed a sound central plan for fighting the Communist Vietcong, including national mobilization, creation of a highly trained guerrilla force, and new equipment...
...Pentagon's own admission the situation has deteriorated considerably in the last six months. By the end of January the number of incidents provoked each week by the Vietcong had risen sharply over the average for the previous half-year. The Communists control 70 per cent of the Mekong River delta; five per cent of all American weapons sent to Vietnam fall into the hands of the Vietcong. And Communist terrorism has been stepped up to the point where American G.I.s are now being killed in the streets of Saigon...
...proposal might appear too rigid, except that it holds less prospect for disaster than the present policy. Until the last few weeks, support for the Diem government remained dangerously open-ended. United States personnel in South Vietnam could always plead for just a little more time to corral the Vietcong. The more often this plea was granted, American involvement increased, and the more difficult it became for Washington not to grant the plea the next time. The danger lay in the possibility of having finally to withdraw in great ignominy, to hang on embarrassingly and expensively, or to expand...
Planned withdrawals could save the United States from stranding itself in the South Vietnamese swamps because of policy inertia. When the approved American line was to support Diem regardless of his liabilities because Washington was concerned with defeating the Vietcong, this support was justified by two main points in favor of Diem: (1) Any attempt to overthrow him would disrupt the war effort and (2) no suitable substitutes existed...