The Lon Nol regime is on the verge of collapse. A creation of Washington from the start, it has throughout its existence been totally dependent on U.S. military and economic aid. But it seems even that is not enough to save it now.
A tricky problem thus confronts White House strategists – how to evade responsibility for what they consider an imminent disaster. President Ford, Kissinger, and other holdovers of the Nixon crew, recognizing that their Cambodian puppet has come to the end of the road, are attempting to throw the blame for “losing” Cambodia onto Congress with its huge Democratic majority.
By forcing Congress to vote on his request for $222 million supplementary military aid for Pnompenh, Ford is presenting them with a dilemma. If they vote against the aid. Ford can claim that Congress and the Democrats were responsible for the “loss” of Cambodia. But to pass the buck back to Ford by voting for the aid would anger the great majority of the American people, who have shown they will not tolerate a new escalation of the Indochina war.
Pentagon chief James Schlesinger stated February 23 that Cambodia would “absolutely” fall into Communist hands if Congress declined to approve the additional aid. He added that in his opinion the “domino theory” had been “overly discredited.”
Ford chimed in February 25, saying that without the aid, Lon Nol would be forced to surrender “within weeks.” At a news conference the same day, Kissinger echoed these sentiments.
The editors of the Wall Street Journal argued February 27 that the main problem was to show no sign of “irresolution” to smaller countries around the world. They pointed to the “boldness” of the Arab governments in imposing an oil embargo as one consequence of past “irresolution.”
Pnompenh is “likely to fall,” they said, “but it will be one thing if it falls despite American efforts, and quite another if it falls because its army runs out of ammunition by vote of the U.S. Congress.
“... if the U.S. cannot supply funds to allies under attack, the rest of the world cannot but see it as a useless ally indeed.”
The New York Times reported February 27 that Schlesinger and Kissinger had privately - given up on Cambodia, and were banking everything on saving South Vietnam. According to the account, Schlesinger believes Cambodia will fall no matter what course Congress follows, while Kissinger estimates Lon Nol’s chances of survival as wavering between zero and 50-50.
On March 1 Lon Nol made what appeared to be an offer to resign. At least, that was how John Gunther Dean, U.S. ambassador in Pnompenh, interpreted the following statement by the puppet ruler:
“I was brought to this high office by the institutionalized organization [the U.S.-backed coup], but for the peace of my country and for the welfare of my country I would do whatever is possible and necessary so that peace and the welfare of my people can be achieved.”
“This means,” said Dean, “the President will step aside if he is a barrier or stands in the way of a peaceful settlement.”
That, of course, raises the problem of finding a suitable successor. Washington appears to already have a candidate in mind.
Bernard Gwertzman pointed out in the March 1 New York Times that while Norodom Sihanouk, who was ousted by Lon Nol, has refused to negotiate with the Pnompenh regime, he has offered “reconciliation” with Washington if Lon Nol is dropped.
The following day, the Times ran in its editorial pages a statement it had solicited from Sihanouk himself. Sihanouk posed “only one condition to the United States” – the dropping of Lon Nol.
The problem is becoming urgent for the White House and Congress, since the military position of the Lon Nol regime is deteriorating rapidly.
The Mekong River remains blockaded. A major amphibious operation to regain control over some of the river bank between Pnompenh and the South Vietnamese border was abandoned February 17, with Lon Nol’s troops retreating in disarray. An attempt by the navy to run the blockade ended in disaster February 23 when two patrol boats and a larger gunboat were sunk by mines.
Neak Luong, the regime’s last major post on the river, “is under increasing pressure and could fall,” the February 27 New York Times reported. Catholic Relief Services, the only agency trying to feed the town’s starving population, evacuated its team February 24. According to relief agency officials, thousands of persons are in danger of dying of starvation in the town.
In addition to the insurgent successes on the Mekong, gains were also made in other parts of the country as the small Lon Nol enclaves were removed one by one. The district capital of Muang Russei was taken February 18. Along with the town, the insurgents captured 2,000 tons of rice. Oudong, the former national capital twenty-one miles north of Pnompenh, fell on February 25. Prek Luong, a town on the east bank of the Mekong less than five miles from downtown Pnompenh, was captured February 28.
Pnompenh airport is under constant attack from rebel rockets, and the rapidly expanding emergency airlift run by Washington has become increasingly vulnerable. The government forces launched a drive February 28 to push the rocket emplacements out of range of the airport. But a preemptive attack by the rebels against the town of Tuol Leap, twelve miles from the center of Pnompenh, stopped that effort and the rockets are now even closer.
The continuing military setbacks heightened the unrest both among the troops of the puppet armed forces and the population of Pnompenh itself. Sydney H. Schanberg reported in the February 27 New York Times that there were “indications that a process of demoralization has begun....”
“An air of haplessness can he detected from top to bottom in the Cambodian bureaucracy.... Meanwhile, Government and military corruption remains rampant, prices continue to rise at an annual rate of at least 250 per cent and hundreds of thousands of people are going hungry, with many of them, mostly children, dying of starvation and related diseases.”
Army morale is low in the field, according to a February 26 Associated Press dispatch. “They are told to fight, but their uniforms are torn. They have no shells,” said one officer as his battalion retreated from a village in northwest Cambodia. Some of the soldiers are barefoot. “Our equipment is sold to rich villagers for their defense. The people do not support us. It is better to stop fighting,” he said.
“We are losing the battle,” a sergeant in the battalion said. “We have armor, artillery and airplanes, but we will lose the war because the high-ranking officers do not know tactics. They are busy making money.”
Unrest is also increasing among sailors forced to undertake suicidal missions on the Mekong. Ten who refused were reportedly charged with mutinous conduct and put in jail. Others have deserted after receiving orders for service on the Mekong.
The rising discontent at soaring food prices found an initial outlet in attacks on Chinese merchants, who have often been made the scapegoats during past crises. In Battanbang, Cambodia’s second largest city, riots broke out February 21 after the insurgents cut the city’s road and rail links with Thailand. A crowd of 3,000, mostly students, attacked Chinese businesses and homes.
Sporadic violence also broke out in Pnompenh as students roamed through the streets, smashing Chinese shops and stalls. Pnompenh officials were fearful that the anti-Chinese rioting “could signal a more widespread breakdown of order in the cities,” according to a report in the February 28 Washington Post.
On February 22, the right-wing president of the National Students Association of Cambodia issued a strong statement denouncing the regime as corrupt. He demanded that Lon Nol cease the repression against student and teacher associations.
Meanwhile, on February 14 the U.S. embassy, which had already evacuated dependents of embassy personnel from Pnompenh, urged some of the 350 remaining Americans to leave for their “own safety and welfare.”
Source: https://www.themilitant.com/Intercontinental_Press/1975/IP1309.pdf#page=4&view=FitV,3