University of Virginia Library

Big Talk

Nguyen Cao Ky, South Vietnam's military
vice-president, told an audience of 300 air
force officers Saturday in Bien Hoa that the
military will not permit President Thieu to
make any more concessions, and will over
throw the government by a coup if he tries to
set up a coalition with the Viet Cong.

Besides inflaming the hopelessly reactionary
military of that little nation, Mr. Ky's
statement shows clearly the dilemma President
Nixon and the Pentagon face as they try
to bring about an end to the war. For what he
essentially said was that any attempts by what
he calls "dirty politicians" to bring about a
non-military end to the war will be met with
military overthrow. The decades of war that
have beset the Vietnamese people are not to
end unless South Vietnam wins on the
battlefield, if he is correct.

In seeking a non-military solution to the
war in Vietnam, the United States has been
pushing President Thieu farther and farther
into concessions for the sake of peace. Now it
is warned that the military will permit no
more backtracking, and the implication is
clear: America will probably not be able to
resolve this war peacefully at all, and certainly
not at the conference table with an Asian
saber dangling over the negotiators heads.

So the real choice for the Nixon
administration may be whether to carry on
this unpopular, fruitless battle, or whether to
leave it completely. 2nd floor Nixon, as usual,
seems to be straddling both courses, encouraging
the Pentagon and withdrawing token
amounts of troops at the same time. But
meanwhile, the United States has nearly
500,000 men fighting for a military too weak
to fight its own war, but too strong to permit
it to end.

The return of 35,000 troops from Vietnam
is only an appeasement, a drop in the bucket.
It is designed primarily to diffuse protest, but
does little to pull 1 the U.S. troops from the
morass in Vietnam. And we are aware that
Nixon stockpiled 20,000 additional men into
the war earlier in the year to anticipate later
withdrawals.

Defense Secretary Melvin Laird said
yesterday "We must convince North Vietnam
that the South Vietnamese can win their own
war." To accomplish that task we must forego
an "honorable end" and recognize what Ky's
real message is: this is not America's war. The
United States should no longer support a
reactionary regime that is too strong to permit
compromise but too weak to support itself;
and we should no longer be pushed around by
two-bit politicians such as Mr. Ky. If Mr.
Nixon really hopes South Vietnam will show
its strength, let him allow it to fight for itself
- not according to current public pressure,
but now.