University of Virginia Library

Rod MacDonald

Cambodiazation
And The Future

The sun was shining n November
when 250,000 (at least) of us
stood at the Washington Monument
demanding an end to the Vietnam
War. The President watched Ohio
State dump Purdue, secure in
having middle America behind his
"peace plan" to Vietnamize the
war, i.e., return it to the
Vietnamese and gradually withdraw
our soldiers.

As politics it was superb, but as
military strategy it was hokum. In
order to Vietnamize, the United
States has to protect the soldiers it
is withdrawing, and so it proceeded
to the next logical step — attack the
strongholds from which the
exposed American flanks are
jeopardized.

There were those more
concerned with the moral
implications of our invasion than
with the political exigencies of the
moment. On Sunday 75 of those
persons were arrested for "refusing
to move along" across the street
from the White House. They were
bodily removed by D.C. police
while kneeling in the midst of a
prayer for peace.

But for the rest of America it
takes politics, the shock of another
invasion of another Asian country.
Meanwhile the President is enjoying
the Senators' baseball season, and
"Cambodiazation" is doubtless
scheduled to begin within a few
years. America, in a state of shock,
is once again presented with a
Pentagon fall accompli.

One point is obvious — if you
support the basic contention that
the U.S. needs to control Asia and
that Vietnam is therefore
Important, then the decision to go
into Cambodia is wise. Those critics
such as Senator Aiken who approve
the President's policy to have
troops there at all but fall to see
that a land war between guerrillas of
Indochina and the soldiers of
faraway America cannot be
confined to Vietnam, below the
DMZ and cast of the Cambodian
border, are foolish.

President Nixon has known this,
and so has Prince Sihanouk of
Cambodia. It's all conjecture, but it
is an interesting chain of events: a
year ago the U.S. began border
raids in Cambodia, and added it
might have to attack the Vietcong
sanctuaries in that neighboring
country. Prince Sihanouk
protested. A right-wing coup ousted
the Prince and he fled to Red
China.

Were this November again,
nothing would come of it. Luckily,
the scenario is different. The
moribund peace movement shows
signs of reawakening with new
leaders and new tactics, and new
momentum is possible. Several
Senators have stated they will try
to chop the appropriations upon
which the Pentagon is financing its
excursions, and public support
against the war will certainly
strengthen their case.

Congress has had several such
proposals on its books for some
time. Mike Mansfield has moved to
repeal the Tonkin Gulf declaration
and endorse the policy of graduated
withdrawal, committing the United
States to leaving on schedule
without re-escalating in a different
place. Charles Mathias of Maryland
has suggested repealing all those
blanket grants of executive
authority to make war, including
the SEATO statement under which
the Cambodia operations can be
legally justified.

In this climate the rallies
strikes on college campuses are
important, particularly when the
President is backed into a corner
like Dennis the Menace. One
student told me that even parents
who supported Nixon would turn
away when he called their sons
"bums;" I doubt it, for I know
many adults who let Mr. Nixon do
their thinking for them and will
simply disassociate their own son
from the picture on the TV screen.
But the momentum is running
strong against this invasion, and the
time is now to stop it.

It would be nice if we "bums"
could do just that; unfortunately
we can only do our share and hope
the whole nationwide product will
stop it. There will be strikes here
Wednesday and Thursday and
several speeches; the key event will
be a rally Wednesday on the Lawn
at 11 a.m., and there is a very
distinct outside possibility that a
top administration figure such as
President Shannon may speak.

It would not be surprising for
this rally to feature the largest
turnout for a demonstration in
recent years, topping the 1,500 plus
estimated at the Moratorium and
Coalition rallies. It would be a
welcome sign to see thousands of
University students finally fed up
with the policy of a government
that claims extended war is the
only road to peace.