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RAMONES OT ONE Tob Ree a OE ee ee poe Sak ae ae encrbie ss: x a deel de Ee ene pee “eoastil cities Tike Danang, Quang Ngai, Qui Nhor-—nfititary officials have told me privately thie-i and, of course, Saigon have Vietcong operating right in the suburbs and often in the towns themselves. The United States military has responded with H and J fire (Harassment and Interdiction), which is random shelling to keep the VC of balance. This shelling is done by Navy ships and shore-based batteries. The second-largest pro- ducer of civilian casualties is no doubt machine-gun fire from helicopters. As one GI said, “If they wave at us we assume they are friend!y, but if they run we Jet ‘em hhave it!” : ’ As the war proceeds, more of the population is force- ably regrouped, often after harsh interrogation, in opera- tions carrying prosaic names like “County Fair." Many Americans of good motive, working as United States Government officials, attempt to make these regrouping operations easier on the civilian population. But the trauma of separation from the Jand and from the de- royed home and village still remains. Efforts 10 leave yefugee camps often result in additional casualties. | While billions of dollars go into various massive mili- bry installations such as the one at Bien Hoa, which stretches as far as the eye can see, or the new 10,000-foo1, jet runway under constructio® at Qui Nhon, aid to re- fugees and the wounded is fractional. The U.S. Agency for International Development's refugee budget for the current fiscal year, including material aid, is fourtecn million. More millions go into distribution of USAID- imported foodstuffs. More than a score of volunteer agencies add their bit, but it is all very modest compared with the war cost. And what aye the results of the mili- tary effort? i Five internationally known war correspondents with whom I talked all agree that if the United States persists the country will be destroyed. As the late Bernard Fall said, quire about American willingness to negotiate, you are Jooked at with amazement. “How can Johnson negotiate? ° He hasn't won anything yet.” As for the National Libera- tion Front and Hanoi, there seems to be general agree- ment that they always have been ready to discuss Ameri- «an withdrawal but have no intention of attending a gusrender conference. —_—_—- ‘It will be the victory of the graveyard.” YE you iri_por speak Vietnamese! take one to two million men and five years to “di job.” There was reported to be a debate within the tary on whether to apply the total-destruction or the whelming-troop-superiority method, bui it now ap that we may apply both. : All this has produced growing disenchantment 0 part of Vietnamese who have supported the United § One former South Vietnamese Government minister “I cannot afford to be seen with Americans, or my fr will regard me as a collaborator.” The Buddhists recognized to be a group willing to take their chan negotiations with the National Liberation Front, so Political initiatives were crushed. At present they a disarray in terms of their ability to cope with Ky’s pc state tactics. However, they still represent 2 group must be taken into account in any scitlement Other Vietnamese Government leaders and ° namese student contacts have said that because the A ican establishment in South Vietnam is now so « whelming they feel the last vestiges of their own s eignty drifting away. They speak, perhaps naivel: the recent entry of American troups into the Delta: the US. leave any area of responsibility for our troops?” The result appears to be more and more p: ity on the part of Ky’s forces. This may account fo: American claim of a decline in the rate of desertions 1 believe that, considering the difficulties under they are obtained, most of these figures are suspect ‘As for defections from the Vietcong to Ky's side, figures are again dificult to come by, though a per + -wisit to. a Chieu Hoi (open-arms) retraining camp rev: to me a pathetic group of men and women living i most total idleness on a tiny patch of treeless waste v the direction of a recently imported Filipino who « —