Turning Point?

There are 10,000 U.S. military "advisers" in South Viet Nam and, it some times seems, as many correspondents. The war they report consists mostly of grim, isolated jungle skirmishes; as for the big picture, they usually color it gloomy. But in recent months the gloom has been a few shades lighter, and at times hope has broken through. Last week, before the National Assembly in Saigon, President Ngo Dinh Diem announced: "We are recovering the initiative, even during the rainy season, which heretofore the enemy has considered favorable to him. Victory is not only sure but imminent." Among the hopeful signs cited by Diem:

More than half the population has been moved into fortified villages, which protect farmers from sudden Viet Cong raids while denying the Communists easy access to food and hiding places. There are now 3,000 "strategic hamlets" (U.S. experts estimate the number at closer to 2,000, of which only about half are effective), and plans call for 9,000 more.

The Vietnamese officer corps has al most tripled in the past year, thanks to volunteers who presumably scent victory.

For the first time in 15 years, the price of rice has dropped on the eve of the main harvest because, according to Diem, the Reds can no longer effectively block shipments from the interior to the cities.

(U.S. officials also attribute the drop in rice prices to an unusually good crop in the northern part of the country.) A sharp upturn in light industry, especially textiles, and land reform has brightened a still dark economic situation.

In his imminent-victory claims. Diem was obviously being far too optimistic, but even by the most skeptical judgment the war in Viet Nam is going a great deal better than a year ago.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.