A Greater Involvement

It is no secret that Thailand has both permitted and encouraged a large U.S. military presence within its borders, but the Thais have been extremely skittish about publicly acknowledging their role. Last week they finally loosened up a bit in what may be the beginning of an open admission that Thailand is deeply involved in the struggle for Southeast

Asia. Already combatting Communist terrorism on its remote northeastern frontier, Thailand announced that it would soon become the sixth fighting ally of the U.S. in Viet Nam.* It has already begun to gather the 1,000-man combat battalion of Royal Thai army volunteers who will enter the Viet Nam fray sometime within the next six months. At the same time, Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman admitted that Thailand has been "allowing U.S. troops to utilize our military installations and facilities."

"If the Communists succeed in their aggression," said Thai Premier Thanom Kittikachorn, "we would be the next target. This action is being taken in direct defense of Thailand." Thailand turned a deaf ear to Hanoi's raucous denunciation of this "new and odious act of treason by the reactionary Thailand government clique." After all, about a third of the guerrillas who are operating in its northeast are Vietnamese who have slipped across the Mekong River from Communist redoubts in Laos to join Chinese-trained Thais and some members of the Pathet Lao in spreading terror through the region.

Staunch Ally. Though it is just now sending troops to Viet Nam, Thailand is already in position as a staunch ally. It now harbors 35,000 U.S. servicemen--25,000 from the Air Force, the rest mainly Army engineers and logistics experts. The total represents a threefold increase in the past year. Eleven U.S. fighter-bomber squadrons are stationed in Thailand--at Takhli, Korat, Udorn and Ubon--from which they fly about 75% of all the bombing raids on North Viet Nam. Last year

Thai-based F-4C Phantoms and F-105 Thunderchiefs averaged 225 missions a week against North Vietnamese targets, which ranged from rail centers (50 strikes) and radar sites (110) to bridges (1,900) and barges (1,850). Helicopter rescue units, which lift downed U.S. airmen from the heart of North Viet Nam, fly out of Nakhon Phanom and two other bases.

The biggest of the new Thai bases, all leased individually from the Bangkok government, is U-Tapao, part of the giant sea and air complex at Sattahip, 80 miles southeast of Bangkok. U.S. Air Force KC-135 jet tankers already fly from its 11,500-ft. runways, and Washington hopes that Thailand will soon approve the transfer to U-Tapao of the B-52 heavy bombers that now must make a 5,000-mile run from Guam to bomb in Viet Nam. Fearful of direct North Vietnamese retaliation, Thai officials are wary about granting such approval. "If the B-52 question were to arise," said Foreign Minister Thanat on a visit to Washington last week, "we would have to evaluate it in the light of our national interest."

Coursing the Jungles. That interest is already threatened by the Red insurgency in the northeast. The pattern of violence--assassination of rural officials, propaganda meetings held at gunpoint--resembles Viet Nam a decade ago. Earlier this month, for example, a band of 20 Communist terrorists ambushed a Thai police patrol in Nakhon Phanom province, killed two policemen and wounded the others. Already Thai army patrols with U.S. advisers are coursing the jungles in hopes of nipping the insurgency before it can get out of control. To that end, an Allied victory in Viet Nam would be even more effective --a fact that Bangkok is acknowledging by its more open involvement with U.S. military might.

* Joining South Viet Nam (621,000 men), South Korea (46,000), Australia (4,500), New Zealand (150) and the "noncombatant" Philippines (2,000).

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