Pause in the War

The big question in South Viet Nam was: "Whatever happened to the war?" Communist terror against civilians continued. But in military operations, it was the sixth consecutive week of only scattered and brief engagements, which the Viet Cong broke off with surprising readiness. One explanation: the guerrilla commanders, concerned by threats of stepped-up U.S. intervention, had ordered a temporary slowdown. Besides, it was the rice-planting season in the Mekong Delta, and many a part-time guerrilla was needed at home.

In Saigon, Premier General Nguyen Khanh addressed 70 leaders of South Viet Nam's multitudinous, microscopic political parties (31 at last count), pleaded with them to close ranks behind his government. Of continuing concern were relations between the country's wary Buddhists and Catholics. Last week 25,000 Catholics staged a unity march in Saigon, which was orderly except for a militant minority that carried banners urging U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge to GO HOME. Many Catholics believe thai odge was instrumental in the U.S. decision to curtail aid to Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem prior to Diem's overthrow and murder. However, others in the crowd tore down the anti-Lodge signs.

Later, 2,000 Buddhists marched to a Saigon pagoda to mark the anniversary of the immolation of Thich Quang Due, the aged monk who was the first to burn himself alive in last summer's wave of anti-Diem Buddhist sacrifices. Hours before the service, a towering statue of Buddha on the banks of the Saigon River suddenly blazed up in flames. Within minutes, an awed crowd had gathered, murmuring that surely a miracle had occurred to commemorate Thich Quang Due's sacrifice. As it turned out, however, the statue was made of highly inflammable plastic and had been accidentally ignited by a worker's acetylene torch.

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