From the New York Times – May 1, 1970
WASHINGTON, April 30 – In a sharp departure from the previous conduct of war in Southeast Asia, President Nixon announced tonight that he was sending United States combat troops into Cambodia for the first time.
Even as the President was addressing the nation on television, several thousand American soldiers were moving across the border from South Vietnam to Cambodia to attack what Mr. Nixon described as “the headquarters for the entire Communist military operation in South Vietnam.”
The area was described by sources here as the Fishook area of Cambodia, some 50 miles northwest of Saigon.
White House sources said they expected tonight’s operation to be concluded in six to eight weeks. They said its primary objective was not to kill enemy soldiers but to destroy their supplies and drive them from their sanctuaries.
AIMED AT STAGING AREAS
“Our purpose is not to occupy the areas,” the President declared. “Once enemy forces are driven out of these sanctuaries and their military supplies destroyed, we will withdraw.”
The President described the action as “not an invasion of Cambodia,” but a necessary extension of the of the Vietnam War designed to eliminate a major Communist staging and communications area. Thus it is intended to protect the lives of American troops and shorten the war, he asserted.
The President further described the action as “indispensable” for the continued success of his program of Vietnamization – under which he has been withdrawing American ground combat forces as the burden of fighting is gradually shifted to the South Vietnamese.
The President’s rhetoric was tough – probably the toughest of his tenure in office – and was reminiscent of some of the speeches of Lyndon B. Johnson during the last years of his term as President.
NIXON APPEARS GRIM
The President appeared grim as he delivered his address while sitting at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House. Occasionally he used a nearby map to point out the Communist held sanctuaries which were shaded in red. But no gesture could match the solemnity of his words.
He portrayed his decision as a difficult one taken without regard to his political future, which he said was “nothing compared to the lives” of American soldiers.
Discussing this future, Mr. Nixon said: “I would rather be a one-term President and do what I believe is right than to be a two term President at the cost of seeing America become a second-rate power and to see this nation accept the first defeat in its proud 190-year history.”
He added that he regarded the recent actions of the North Vietnamese as a test of American credibility requiring firm response.
“This action puts the leaders of North Vietnam on notice,” he said, “that we will be patient in working for peace, we will be conciliatory at the conference table, but we will not be humiliated. We will not be defeated. We will not allow American men by the thousands to be killed by an enemy from privileged sanctuaries.”
“We live in an age of anarchy, both abroad and at home, “ the President declared. “We see mindless attacks on all the great institutions which have been created by free civilizations in the last 500 years. Here in the United States, great universities have been systematically destroyed. Small nations all over the world find themselves under attack.”
AID ASKED BY CAMBODIANS
Somewhat surprisingly, the President spoke hardly at all about the request made by the Cambodian Premier, Lieutenant General Lon Nol, for extensive arms and supplies – perhaps to reinforce his efforts to portray the new action in Cambodia as a tactical incident related to the Vietnam war rather than a full fledged act of support for the Cambodian Government.
Mr. Nixon said, however, that with other nations, the United States would try to provide small arms and equipment to the Cambodian army.
Pentagon sources said tonight that shipments would include small arms and automatic weapons, but no artillery or aircraft.
The President did not set forth any legal basis for his action other than to say that “I shall meet my responsibility as Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces to take the action I consider necessary to defend the security of our American men.”
Nor did he seek to explain how the introduction of American troops into Cambodia was consistent with the doctrine of withdrawal, and limiting American involvement in the war. Mr. Nixon laid the responsibility for the failure of the Paris peace talks squarely on the North Vietnamese. He said they had rejected every American overture, public and private.
White House sources expressed hope, however, that tonight’s action – far from deterring future negotiations – might well convince Hanoi of the Administration’s resolve to weaken the enemy militarily and thus hasten the beginning of serious negotiations.
The section of Cambodia to which the American units have been sent is a sparsely populated, heavily wooded area in which enemy troops have built numerous complexes of bunkers and storage pits. It is known to military men as the Fishhook because of the configuration of the border at that point.
AREA USED FOR MANY YEARS
North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers have been operating there for years, darting across the border for raids against allied positions, then falling back to recuperate, resupply and retrain. Major command headquarters are thought to be situation in the area.
Past allied operations against similar base areas on the South Vietnamese side of the border have not always been notably successful.
Mr. Nixon’s speech was virtually certain to cause new turmoil on Capitol Hill and among critics of the war throughout the country. Many Senators already expressed dismay at yesterday’s announcement by the Defense Department that American advisers had accompanied South Vietnamese troops on attacks, into the Parrot’s beak section of Cambodia, about 35 miles from Saigon.
The Administration has acknowledged in the past that American commanders have permission to fire across the border at retreating enemy troops, and South Vietnamese troops have crossed the line on a number of occasions in recent days. But it has never been clear that there was a policy permitting such attacks, or that American troops would be involved.
Faced with the situation posed by what he said were “stepped-up” enemy guerilla actions over the last two weeks, and with the Cambodian capital Pnompenh, under increasing threats from Vietnamese Communist forces, the President said he had considered three options.
POLICY OF INACTION REJECTED
The first was to “do nothing.” Mr. Nixon said this would have “gravely threatened” the lives of Americans remaining in Vietnam after the next troop withdrawal.
The second, he said, was to provide “massive” military aid to Cambodia. He said that large amounts of aid could not be rapidly and effectively used by the small Cambodian Army.
The third choice, he said, was to “go to the heart of the trouble” – to clean out the sanctuaries that serve as based for attacks on both Cambodian and American and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam.
Mr. Nixon’s address came as Washington was still trying to digest the Defense Department’s announcement yesterday that the United States had agreed to provide combat advisers, tactical air support and other forms of assistance to South Vietnamese troops attacking Communist bases in Cambodia.
The South Vietnamese offensive, involving thousands of troops, began yesterday morning and provided widespread surprise, anger and frustration on Capitol Hill, mixed with quick expressions of support from some of the President’s Congressional allies.
Many legislators, particularly Senators with a long history of opposition to the Vietnam War saw the Cambodian action as a dangerous expansion of the conflict.
Informed sources reported that more than 1,200 telegrams arrived at the White House last night after the announcement of the South Vietnamese push into Cambodia, with United States support – an unusually large number. There is dispute about the tenor of these messages but a recent Gallup poll indicated that public approval of Mr. Nixon’s Vietnam polices had dropped from a high of 65 per cent in January to 48 per cent in early April. Therefore tonight’s address was regarded in the White House as having considerable political as well as diplomatic significance.
After the defense Department announcement yesterday, Senator John Sherman Cooper, Republican of Kentucky, and Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho, began drafting legislation that would preclude use of any funds appropriated by Congress for military assistance or operations in Cambodia. This would be attached as an amendment to a military sales bill now before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Some of the critics of yesterday’s move – including Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, the Senate majority leader – were among a dozen or so Congressmen who received an advance briefing from Mr. Nixon in the Cabinet room adjacent to the Oval Room the President’s office. Members of the Cabinet also attended.
During the briefing, Mr. Nixon was said to have summarized the speech and set fort the Administrations rationale for the decision to authorize American participation in the South Vietnamese offensive against areas that have served as sanctuaries for Communist forces on the Cambodian side of the border.
The main justification for the move offered yesterday and again this morning, in public statements and private conversations, was that North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops operating from Cambodia had claimed the lives of American servicemen in South Vietnam and posed an “increasing threat” to more broadly, the Vietnamization program.
The offensive, Daniel Z. Henking Assistant Secretary of Defense for public affairs, declared at a briefing yesterday “is a necessary and effective measure to save American and other free-world lives and to strengthen the Vietnamization program.”
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