Giving and Getting

Election year or not, President Nixon has every reason to do all he can to end the wearisome Viet Nam War and bring American troops home. From the White House last week came a pair of announcements toward that end: in July and August, the U.S. will withdraw another 10,000 men from Viet Nam, bringing the total remaining down to 39,000 by Sept. 1. In addition, no more draftees will be sent to Viet Nam, although those now there or in the pipeline must serve out their time. What the Administration did not announce is that since the beginning of the North Vietnamese spring offensive, U.S. forces in and near Southeast Asia have actually increased by an estimated 55,000 men, more than counterbalancing the 40,000 Americans who have been shipped Stateside in that time.

The quiet American buildup in Vietnamese waters (from 18,000 men to 42,000), in Thailand (from 32,000 to 45,000) and along the supply lines toward Saigon (about 15,000 in Japan, the Philippines, Guam and Okinawa) reflects the changing U.S. role in Viet Nam. By September, only about 1,000 U.S. troops will be in ground-combat roles, and their task will be solely to protect American installations supplying South Vietnamese armed forces. The main thrust of the present American effort is in bombing, though Nixon was careful to note at his press conference last week that South Viet Nam's air force is now flying 40% of its tactical air sorties over the South. Even so, Nixon insisted that there would be no letup in bombing North Viet Nam or in mining its harbors without a settlement of the war. Speaking of his dealing with Communist leaders, he said: "I find that making a bargain with them is not easy. You get something from them only when you have something they want to get from you."

Balancing his hard line, however, was his press-conference report that Hanoi had agreed without conditions to resume the Paris peace talks on July 13. The U.S. assumption, he said, was that "the North Vietnamese are prepared to negotiate in a constructive and serious way. We will be prepared to negotiate in that way. If these negotiations go forward in a serious and constructive way, this war can be ended, and it can be ended well before Jan. 20"--the last day of Nixon's present term. There were reports in Washington, however, that Hanoi's Politburo had recently wound up two weeks of intensive meetings and that there was no major change in North Viet Nam's position. Coming as the meetings did in the wake of the Moscow summit, as well as Henry Kissinger's recent Peking journey, there was some speculation that Hanoi may now feel fresh psychological pressures. But high Washington officials generally agree that no serious negotiating in Paris will begin until after the November elections, perhaps because the North Vietnamese feel that an incoming Democratic President would be more flexible on the issues.

Significant North Vietnamese concessions, then or now, will probably be hard to come by. The latest installments of the Pentagon papers, passed on to the Washington Post last week by Jack Anderson, confirm that Hanoi has all along been singlemindedly intent on winning guarantees that will enable it to control South Viet Nam after the fighting ends. The U.S. just as firmly insisted that it will not simply hand over South Viet Nam to the North. On that all-important point, neither the U.S. nor South Viet Nam seems likely to give any ground at all.

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