Defeat in the Highlands

The Viet Cong defeat at Kannack, though heartening to U.S. and government forces, was scarcely a turning point in the war. The Viet Cong still roam virtually at will through South Viet Nam's central highlands, and recently have turned to a new, diabolical tactic. They are burning down whole villages, forcing the inhabitants to seek refuge in government-controlled sea-coast cities--and thus to overcrowd them.

Down from the smoky plateaus above the South China Sea crept column after column of refugees, carrying with them their tools, their pigs and the elders of their tribes.

Over the past six months, more than 125,000 refugees have poured into the coastal region. Many of the new arrivals have been forced to burn their identity cards in the flames consuming their homes--making it easier for Viet Cong cadres to infiltrate alongside them. It was all too reminiscent of the last days of the Korean War, when thousands of displaced persons flooded through the Main Line of Resistance. Often the benevolent, top-hatted South Korean papa-san was freighted with grenades or a machine gun.

So far this pattern of infiltration has not emerged in South Viet Nam, but to veterans of the last parallel, the threat was obvious. The immediate problem is one of cost--both in money and in terms of human endurance. At the present rate of influx, the U.S. and South Viet Nam must spend $12,500 a day merely to keep the newcomers in rice and nuoc nam, the rancid fish sauce that provides the Vietnamese with protein. Housing is so short that many of the refugees can find no quarters at all and must sleep in the open. Many others have been displaced before. Some 6,000 villagers burned out in Phu Yen province last week were victims of another Viet Cong fire raid only six months ago. Unless the Viet Cong are checked, it could happen again.

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