Informed Sources

The eyes of the world are on Indochina, as the revolutionary forces in Vietnam and Cambodia chalk up major military victories on a daily basis.

As of this writing, eleven provinces, over two-thirds of South Vietnam, have been liberated along with the city of Hue, the traditional imperial capital. Da Nang, the second largest city, is completely isolated and the U.S. has contracted private airlines to begin evacuation of refugees.

Most of the Southern forces retreating from the northern and western provinces are being reassigned to the Saigon area. Troops are being amassed along the northern perimeter ten miles out of the city. The military situation has deteriorated to a point where Saigon's government has prohibited foreign and domestic news organizations from reporting troop movements until officially announced.

Rebel forces are said to be amassing within 30-40 miles of Saigon, and have carried out such actions as an ambush of a 100 truck ammunition convoy within fifteen miles of the capital. U.S. military analysts cautiously predict a major offensive against the South Vietnamese capital by spring, the dry season.

The American media, meanwhile, is doing all it can to prolong the war and prevent a united, socialist Vietnam. Through banner headlines, gruesome photographs and saturation coverage, the popular forces are painted as vicious murderers bombing and strafing helpless civilians as they flee "the communists."

These reports take on new meaning in light of reports from Hanoi and verified by sources in the South that the Saigon Air Force and artillery have been bombing civilian and non-military targets as part of their retreat. Southern forces decimate any area seized by the rebels making it more difficult to rebuild. North Vietnamese charge "the fleeing civilians are being used as human shields by retreating South Vietnamese forces." Informed sources indicate many South Vietnamese soldiers are not retreating, but surrendering and staying in the liberated areas.

The Provincial Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) have requested international emergency aid for the more than one million refugees in the South. The PRG has repeatedly stated they would negotiate a peaceful settlement with a new government of national reconciliation as called for in the Paris Accords, but they will never negotiate with Thieu or his clique. For Thieu, it can only be unconditional surrender.

One might say that Thieu has painted himself into a corner, and that seems to be Saigon.