On October 22, 1971, eleven days after the U.S. privately delivered its peace plan to the North Vietnamese, the Saigon government of President Nguyen Van Thieu publicly bragged that it would assassinate its opponents in the PRG (Provisional Revolutionary Government). As they "lay down their arms" prior to elections organized under the framework of the present Saigon government all members of the PRG infrastructure and military forces would be wiped out.
The necessary condition for lasting peace in Vietnam is the annihilation of all PRG forces which have infiltrated rural and urban areas, reported the weekly publication of the Saigon embassy in Paris.
The embassy publication, which frequently carries articles by high-ranking members of the Saigon Foreign Ministry, lauded the "Phoenix" (or Phoung Hoang) program which has served as an instrument for the assassination of those whom Saigon labels "communists."
In order to prevent the communists from launching a third Indochina war, the article called for tight cooperation between Saigon's civilian and military forces to ensure that the PRG forces are fully eradicated.
WHILE THE VIETNAM negotiations languish, U.S. intelligence officers in Saigon are predicting that the PRG-North Vietnamese offensive which "failed to take place" in mid-February will occur in July and August or in November at the time of the U.S. presidential elections.
The Baltimore Sun commented on March 4:
Who remembers today the chorus of urgent official warnings a bare month ago against the chance of an immediate enemy offensive? For example General Westmoreland...considered 'multiple attacks' a probability. Who remembers the massive air strikes justified as directed against reported enemy massings for attack? Who knows how many million of dollars worth of bombs were used, or wasted--since to our knowledge nobody has claimed that the strikes prevented the attack--in that adventure, or the extent of non-military destruction wrought?
This comment suggests no lessons beyond the usual lessons of Vietnam, which through year after year after year have proved to be unlearnable (except, to be sure, for the lesson that the rainy season, one more of which impends, is vitally important, on one way or another, or yet another).
THE CONTINUED U.S. involvement in the Indochina war is ironic for another reason. As the air war continues, the U.S. program to provide medical assistance to civilians injured during the war has been severely cut back. Senator Edward M. Kennedy has pointed out that "we cannot wash our hands" of the plight of these civilians.
What is equally apparent is that if Thailand is to avoid further involvement in Indochina and if Sino-American relations are to continue blossoming, the United States cannot "wash its hands" of the plight of the Vietnam negotiations.