The General Is Back

General Nguyen Khanh was back in power in South Viet Nam last week, despite the opposition of U.S. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor.

Taylor, who had backed Khanh before his ouster by the Buddhists last year, had insisted on a civilian government that lacked the backing of either the army or the Buddhists--the only real forces in South Viet Nam. Last week the two forces combined, at least temporarily, and the civilian regime of Premier Tran Van Huong folded without a sound.

Rather grimly and noncommittally, Taylor accepted the fact, settled down to a "working relationship" with Khanh. The little general had not proved himself a particularly effective administrator during his previous term in power, but he seems sincerely anti-Communist and apparently preferable to almost any other possible ruler in Saigon--provided he is neither swept away nor won over by the Buddhists, who would probably hand the country over to the Communists if they were in power.

Blazing Swallow. The week began with the Buddhists pressing their riots against Huong and the U.S. In Nhatrang, there was a repetition of the grisly tactics the Buddhists employed in their 1963 campaign against Diem: a pretty, 17-year-old girl, Yen Phi (Flying Swallow), burned herself to death. In Sai gon, Khanh and his "Young Turk" officers--notably pistol-packing Air Force Chief Nguyen Cao Ky--decided that the time had come to dump Huong.

After hearing of Khanh's plans, Taylor decided that he and Washington had no choice but to go along, and he flew off on a previously arranged "orientation visit" to Laos and Thailand. Next day, Khanh advised Deputy U.S. Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson that Huong's ouster would be announced in half an hour over Radio Saigon. Thoughtfully, Johnson suggested that the Premier should be informed too, so he would not have to learn of his downfall via radio. Khanh telephoned Huong, notified him that he was through.

Khanh reappointed Harvard-educated Economist Nguyen Xuan Oanh ("Jack Owen") as acting Premier--a post Jack held for a full six days last year. Khanh also spoke of carrying out Huong's promised elections for a "national congress" in March.

Triumphant, the Buddhists called off their demonstration, and five monks who had been "fasting to the death" celebrated by spooning down bowls of chao, a thin rice soup. Reportedly, Khanh claimed to have reached an agreement with the Buddhists under which they promised to withdraw from politics for two years and send three leading monks, including Thich Tri Quang, abroad for a while. A Buddhist spokesman promptly disclaimed any agreement. Buddhist Leader Tri Quang, now quite possibly the most powerful South Vietnamese, rejected Khanh in an interview as "too bad a man."

Shots in the Market. Was Khanh worried that the Buddhists would turn against him, as they had last August? "January is not August," said Khanh. "I am not afraid of the crowd." The general pointed out that, unlike 1963, the Buddhists now "do not have the foreign press with them." He apparently hopes to control the monks with a mixture of firmness and sympathy. "The

Buddhists are something like a child who has grown too fast and had too much thrust on him," says Khanh. "But the good parent does not kill the child. Instead, he gives him the medicine he needs, and when he gets well, he gives him the discipline he needs."

Khanh is capable of handing out both medicine and discipline. At his orders last week, a Viet Cong saboteur--a 20-year-old Saigon student caught carrying a hand grenade--was stood up before a sandbag parapet in Saigon's market square and shot.

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