Cambodia: Toward War by Proxy

ONCE the Communists and their supplies have been rooted out of their Cambodian sanctuaries, Richard Nixon said four weeks ago, "we will withdraw." The 14,000 American G.I.s now in Cambodia will come out by June 30, as advertised. But what about the South Vietnamese, who have repeatedly boasted that they have "no deadline"? By last week it seemed clear not only that thousands of South Vietnamese soldiers would remain on Cambodian soil, but also that the whole Cambodian venture was evolving into what amounts to a war by proxy.

There was, to be sure, no announcement of Saigon's post-withdrawal plans from the Administration, which has its hands full with a widening political war at home (see THE NATION). But there were no denials that the U.S. is quietly encouraging a continued campaign against the Communists in Cambodia, to be fought by troops from Saigon and possibly other Asian capitals and supported by U.S. logistics.

Saigon is openly jubilant over the situation. Its troops were already ranging far and wide in Cambodia, where its total strength jumped last week from 21,000 troops to more than 40,000, the equivalent of 31 divisions. One ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam) marine unit was actually within three miles of Phnom-Penh, the Cambodian capital, while tank units sped across the Cambodian countryside, seizing Communist-held towns. Acting more like conquerors than allies, ARVN soldiers often treated Phnom-Penh's troops with condescension and even contempt. "I'm thinking of disarming the Cambodians," joked Lieut. General Do Cao Tri, the ARVN boss in the Parrot's Beak sanctuary, "because one of these days they're going to lose all their weapons to the Viet Cong." Said another South Vietnamese officer: "The Cambodians are good people, but they have been asleep too long. They need help and more military training. Even their uniforms do not match."

New Battleground. The widening war involved more than a little irony. Though the search for Communist supplies went on, the business of "cleaning out" the sanctuaries (see box, page 27) reverted almost to a sideshow. Cambodia itself had become the main arena. Two months ago, when Premier Lon Nol and Deputy Premier Sirik Matak overthrew Prince Norodom Sihanouk, one of their major objectives was to rid the country of Communist Vietnamese troops. Now the Vietnamese loyal to Hanoi are outnumbered in Cambodia by Vietnamese loyal to Saigon, and the country of 7,000,000 has become a battleground for the warring outsiders.

The allies have inflicted severe losses on the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. In barely three weeks of fighting, according to the Saigon command, the Communists have suffered 8,541 killed out of an original force of 40,000 men in Cambodia (v. 191 U.S. and 508 South Vietnamese dead). Of course, estimates of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong casualties could turn out to be grossly inflated; if they were even close to correct, however, they would represent a serious manpower loss of 20%. The survivors seemed to be retreating into three widely separated areas:

>> In the north, some 5,000 Communist troops continued to battle for control of Kompong Cham and other towns along the Mekong, the Tonle Kong and the Tonle San -main arteries of the riverine network by which badly needed supplies could be brought down from North Viet Nam.

>> In the south, a force of some 10,000 Communists roamed around Kampot province, menacing highways to Phnom-Penh and attempting to open routes for supply by sea through the ports of Kep and Kampot.

>> In the west, the Communists were staging their most disturbing effort. In small bands that have been stealing west past Phnom-Penh since mid-April, an estimated 10,000 enemy troops have gathered in two areas: Tonle Sap, the largest fresh-water lake in Southeast Asia, and the Cardamom Mountains.

On paper, huge hunks of Cambodia appear to be under Hanoi's control (see map). The Communist Vietnamese still appeared able to roam almost at will over much of Cambodia. Last week, however, it sometimes seemed as if the place were being overrun by men from Saigon. No fewer than 20 South Vietnamese military men checked into Phnom-Penh's Hotel Royal and set up a sophisticated communications center in Room 30. The red and yellow flag of South Viet Nam flew from the portico of a two-story building where Saigon last month established its first diplomatic mission since Sihanouk severed relations seven years ago.

Nine Dragons. In the Cambodian countryside, ARVN's 40,000 troops were the biggest armed force around -except for Phnom-Penh's own ragtag army of 150,000, most of whom undergo no more than a few days of training before being sent against seasoned Communist troops. Lancing deep into two previously untouched Communist areas, ARVN troops opened the twelfth and 13th fronts of the border campaign. Northwest of Saigon, 5,000 ARVN troops on Operation Pacify West III rode tanks and helicopters into a North Vietnamese base opposite the Central Highlands. Far to the south, another 10,000 ARVN soldiers headed into Cambodia's delta region in "Operation Nine Dragons," so named because it is there that the brown Mekong splits into nine branches on its way to the sea.

On Cambodia's broad flatlands, ARVN commanders could wage a conventional, European-style war of maneuver, using textbook tactics that the Communists chose not to test in determined combat. Only four days after Nine Dragons began, ARVN General Ngo Dzu's armored columns had effortlessly swept light Viet Cong forces from the towns of Takeo and Kompong Trach and the key ports of Kep and Kampot. Equally facile was ARVN Task Force 318's high-speed dash 75 miles down Highway 1 toward Phnom-Penh. TIME Correspondent John Mulliken joined General Tri as he directed the drive alternately from his helicopter and the map-and-radio-filled command armored personnel carrier. Reported Mulliken: "Smashing through villages, overrunning the enemy even before he could complete his L-shaped trenches, Tri's tanks and APCs outran their American advisers (limited to 21.7 miles by Nixon), their U.S. air support and even their own artillery. Someone laughed at one point: 'If you hurry, General, you can take Phnom-Penh before dark.' Tri smiled past his long, Abe Abrams-style cigar and said: 'Phnom-Penh is not in my AO [area of operations].' " To avoid untoward incidents, Saigon has ordered its commanders to approach no closer than three miles to the Cambodian capital.

Flare-Dps and Foul-Ups. Some flare-ups were inevitable -and some foulups. In Phnom-Penh, hand-lettered signs were pasted to several buildings one morning with a message addressed to Americans: "South Vietnamese soldiers have committed cruel acts on the Cambodian population -pillaging, violations of women, burning, killing. Now they do not want to leave our territory." Officials claimed that the signs were the work of Viet Cong sympathizers -though the Phnom-Penh regime has so aroused anti-Vietnamese feelings in recent weeks that almost anyone could have been responsible.

The worst foul-up occurred at the Mekong town of Kompong Cham, where Communists and Cambodians had been battling for several days. During the fighting, South Vietnamese A-l Skyraiders swooped down on the wrong side, killing ten Cambodians.

Confident and even cocky, ARVN officers have begun to sound like Americans discussing the vicissitudes of the Vietnamization program. One senior South Vietnamese officer told TIME Correspondent James Willwerth: "The Cambodians wanted us to do their fighting for them. I said to one general, 'Sir, if you are not willing to fight for yourselves, we will not do your fighting for you.' Then I realized that this is what the Americans had been saying to us -and suddenly I am very ashamed. We, too, must fight our own battles."

Naive Suggestions. More and more, it seems clear that many of those battles will be fought on Cambodian soil. Speaking in Saigon last week, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky openly jeered at the idea that ARVN 'has to withdraw" when the Americans do. Said Ky: "These are naive suggestions coming from naive people. Our armed forces are strong enough to carry on independent operations on Cambodian as well as Vietnamese territory."

Elaborating on that point, President Nguyen Van Thieu told TIME Correspondent Dan Coggin: "We cannot stay too long over there. Yet in the long run, we may also have to help them to prepare to defend themselves." Moreover, said Thieu, "if we continue to discover caches, we must stay there to clean up. We cannot let them go back to the Viet Cong." When asked whether the Cambodian incursion would set back the enemy by as much as six months or even a year, Thieu replied: "Oh, more than that, more than that. They can still infiltrate from the North, but it will not be enough to sustain the momentum of the war."

Suggested Scenario. Actually, there is plenty of reason to believe that the last thing the U.S. wants is to pull ARVN back from Cambodia. The country would probably fall to the Communists in short order if it were left to fight the Communists on its own. One scenario suggested by observers: The U.S. formally asks South Viet Nam to withdraw its troops by June 30. Thieu refuses, thereby guaranteeing continued ARVN support for the Lon Nol regime, while dissociating the U.S. from any further violation of Cambodian "neutrality." The U.S. throws up its hands, noting that it cannot order its allies about -but also points out that such a feisty show of independence is heartening proof that Vietnamization is really working. As of last week, the U.S. had not even brought up the subject of withdrawal plans with the South Vietnamese. Saigon and Phnom-Penh, moreover, are close to an agreement on military aid. Under the terms, Saigon would at the very minimum help train Cambodian troops and provide ARVN forces to help secure the highway approaches to Phnom-Penh.

Other Asian countries are also expected to aid Cambodia. The Thais are extremely uneasy about the Communists who are seeking refuge in the Cardamom Mountains along their eastern border, and they are sending a 30-man delegation to Phnom-Penh this week to size up Cambodia's needs. Indonesia and South Korea may also lend a hand. As for the U.S., Administration spokesmen insist that Washington will stick to its pledge to avoid direct support of the Lon Nol regime. Still there were suspicions that the U.S. would provide air support beyond June 30.

Low-Key Celebration. In some quarters, including the U.S. State Department, there is deep concern that prolonged ARVN involvement in Cambodia could eventually upset Vietnamization. The Communists, meanwhile, have yet to substantiate a related criticism -that the Cambodian operation will directly imperil South Viet Nam. Across South Viet Nam last week, the enemy did try to mount a special one-day "high point" with rocket and mortar attacks on 64 towns and outposts. But even with nearly 60,000 U.S. and ARVN troops off in Cambodia, the sputtering high added up to a very low-key celebration of Ho Chi Minn's 80th birthday.

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