Word: saigon
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...States would suffer a blow. And peace, because we are the greatest peace-keeping nation in the world today because of our power, would suffer a blow from which it might not recover." The doubt remained: How far and how long would Nixon have the U.S. fight to keep Saigon out of Communist hands? Few Americans could be soothed when Nixon resurrected an ancient and unhappy Indochina metaphor, saying that his next troop withdrawal announcement would bring "some indication as to the end of the tunnel...
...crisply uniformed U.S. Army lieutenant colonel was briefing a group of foreign military attaches in Saigon. "As of today no ARVN elements remain in Laos," he began. "Enemy forces are now chasing them toward the border-wait, I don't mean to use that word. They are following them to the border...
Jealous Generals. On the negative side is the fact that some of Saigon's elite units were badly bloodied-the Airborne, Rangers, Marines, and what many Americans consider ARVN's top infantry division, the 1st. Moreover, the operation underscored continuing deficiencies in crucial areas like communications. American pilots had problems with Vietnamese ground controllers, who have a tough time pronouncing words like "coordinate"-or speaking English at all while ducking rocket and mortar fire...
...real weaknesses Lam Son revealed were at the top. The Saigon strategists figured that air power would give the small but mobile ARVN invasion force an edge, even when outnumbered 3 to 1; too often it did not. Moreover, though the Laotian panhandle was known to be execrable country for armor, South Vietnamese planners sent in a column of 150 tanks. It stopped dead, only 17 miles in, during the first week...
...What is more, Lam's staff was riven by jealousies. Major General Le Nguyen Khang, who bosses South Viet Nam's elite Marines and holds a slight seniority edge over Lam, was so miffed when Lam was named to run the Laos operation that he retired to Saigon and turned his responsibilities over to his deputy, a colonel. During the pullout from Laos, Lam's headquarters ordered the Marines to stay behind and fight a rearguard action; when they got into trouble, Khang simply directed them, on his own authority, to come...