Creaky Tiger

The exercise was billed grandly as SEATO's "first joint international sea, air and land maneuvers." Thailand, which thought it up, declared that all eight nations had been invited to participate. The Thais' idea was to show how fast SEATO power could come to the aid of Bangkok, in a demonstration that SEATO is no "paper tiger." The U.S. Navy called it "Operation Firm Link" and declared it was intended to "signify the close-knit ties among the SEATO nations."

Last week Operation Firm Link demonstrated that the links are far from firm. The Philippines and the U.S., which had been asked long ago, would be on hand all right. But neither the Thais nor the U.S. military officials on the spot mentioned the project to the other SEATO powers until early last week--despite the fact that the SEATO council sits in Bangkok and the operation is scheduled for this week.

Instead of a show of solidarity, the air was full of complaints and refusals. Pakistanis said sulkily that the invitation had come too late for them to send troops, complained privately of being left out of the original planning. New Zealanders felt the same way. That left SEATO looking embarrassingly like an all-U.S. tiger--as critics have charged it was all along. At week's end, Australia and Britain gallantly swallowed their pride, and rustled up a handful of naval vessels to join this week's maneuvers. On its first trial run, SEATO was creaking badly.

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