Dubious Battle

The U.S. is continuing a rearguard action against Viet Nam. A few weeks ago, it looked as if Washington were on the verge of approving Viet Nam's entry into the United Nations. The U.S. price: an accounting of the 800 Americans listed as missing in action (MIAS). Hanoi said it could not give one because it is still seeking out the missing Americans, and came back with a demand for reconstruction aid promised under the 1973 Paris cease-fire agreement. Washington regards that agreement as void because of the North Vietnamese invasion of the South in 1975.

In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. vetoed Viet Nam's membership bid. Last week the question came up again in the General Assembly. U.S. Ambassador William Scranton conceded that the Vietnamese probably cannot account for all the missing Americans, but still insisted that Hanoi was not doing enough to assuage "the anguish of the families of these men."

Hanoi had already countered that argument by asking whether Americans were troubled by the "tens of thousands of Vietnamese families whose children are still listed as missing." The predictable outcome: the General Assembly voted 124 to 1 for "favorable" reconsideration of Hanoi's entry. Only the U.S. voted against the resolution. As so often before, the U.S. was alone in a dubious battle over Viet Nam.

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