Friday, May 11, 1973
THE SUMMER DAILY
Page Nine
Nixon to keep bombing Cambodia
Raids to get high priority
until cease-fire approvedLe E 4
By STEWART HENSLEY
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Presi-
dent Richard Nixon has mode
clear that he is determined to
continue the Cambodian bomb-
ing until the communist forces
agree to the cease-fire offered by
the Lon Nol government.
His determination was under-
scored last Monday by Defense
Secretary Elliot Richardson in
an appearance before the Sen-
ate Appropriations Committee.
Richardson said the President as-
signs such a high priority to
the U.S. air attacks that he will
continue them whether or not
A News
Analysis
Congress authorizes the transfer
of funds for this purpose.
NIXON WILL reduce U.S. mili-
tary operations in Europe and
elsewhere during the next two
months if he is forced to do so
to cover the expense of the Cam-
bodian operation, according to
Richardson.
The question raised here with
increasing frequency is why the
President is willing to defy Con-
gress and risk further alienation
of public opinion in behalf of a
government to which the United
States has no commitment.
SECRETARY OF STATE Wil-
liam Rogers last week provided
the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee with what he claimed
was the legal justification f o r
the Cambodian bombing. His ar-
gument boiled down to the asser-
tion that the bombing was implic-
itly permitted by the Vietnam
cease fire agreement so long as
the communists continue to re-
fuse to sign a separate cease-
fire in Cambodia.
However, neither Rogers nor
Richardson, satisfied the Senate
committees that there was any
real purpose in continuing a i r
assaults in an efort to preserve
a shaky regime in Phnom Penh
whose army showed no mclina-
tion to fight.
THE BASIC REASON for the
continued air attacks, as in-
dicated privately by a number
of officials, was they were the
only way in which the Nixon
r hi R
$2.00 8:30
FRI.-SAT.
SIRE RECORD'S
ROSALIE
SORRELS
Administration could show its
military teeth' in Soitheast
Asia as part of an orchestrated
effort to get snfimi to ahide more
faithfully hy the terms of the
cease-fire in Swrith Vietnam.
The other elements of this pres-
sure campaign against Ilsnoi in-
clude the cessation of U.S. mine-
sweeping operations in Ilaiphong
and other North Vietnamese
,parts, the breaking off of Paris
discussions with Ianoi on U.S.
economic rehabilitation aid and a
resumption of American aerial
reconnaissance over the North.
IN ADDITION, the Nixon ad-
ministration apparently clings to
the hope that the Phnom Penh
government, weak and inefficient
as it may be, can be preserved
as a military entity to inject one
non-communist element into the
discussions which ultimately
must be held with the Cambodian
communists concerning future ad-
ministration of the country.
Still, foreign diplomatic observ-
ers see little prospect for any-
thing but a communist regime in
Phnom Penh sooner or later be-
cause of the very narrow base of
the Lon Nol government.
A GUN TOTING CAMI
Phnom Penh recently.
AN soldier carries tropical fruit drinks in wooden tubes while on alert near
"best damn cowgirl
singer you ever heard."
--Mich. Duily
111 FUI l TE
1WIAH(S