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Cambodia: Towards Final Victory

By VVAW

On New Year's Day the Peoples National Liberation Armed Forces of Cambodia (PNLAFC) launched a major offensive that could well be the final, decisive stage of the 5 year-long war there. Since Jan, 1st, the PNLAFC has totally isolated Phnom Penh, cutting off all supply lines and killing or wounding over 10,000 enemy troops out of an estimated total of 50,000 combat troops. The US-run government of Pres. Lon Nol in Phnom Penh is teetering on the brink of total collapse, held up only by the massive US airlift being flown daily into Phnom Penh. With more than 4,000 military 'advisors' illegally in Cambodia, the US has never made much pretense about who ran the show. Now, with the worsening crisis, all decisions are openly made directly from the US embassy there.

Acting under the direction of the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia (GRUNCE), the PNLAFC has totally cut the strategic Mekong river from Phnom Penh to Vietnam. Normally 80% of all Phnom Penh's supplies come by ship up the Mekong. With the river cut by PNLAFC troops supplies haven't made it the 60 miles up the river to Phnom Penh for nearly a month. Attempts to run convoys of ships up the river have proved disastrous; between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6 alone, over 220 vessels of various types were put out of action. A feeble attempt to dislodge liberation troops from the river banks with a ground attack in late Feb. led to the destruction of over 3/4ths of the Lon Nol troops involved. More recently, the last single land link to Phnom Penh was cut on Feb. 21st when PNLAFC troops blew up a train near the Cambodian-Thai border.

All supplies must now come by air into Phnom Penh's Pochentong Airport-now under regular rocket attack. As a rule, the city needs a minimum of 500 tons of ammo and 500 tons of rice and other supplies per-day. The US has tried to meet this requirement with an expensive emergency airlift conducted by the US Air Force under the guise of a thinly camouflaged 'commercial' airlines called Bird Air. Bird Air utilized USAF C-130 transports with their insignia painted over and USAF pilots recently 'returned' to the area as 'civilians.' Contrary to US statements of 20 flights a day to Phnom Penh, GRUNC estimates that USAF planes are making from 80-120 flights a day. Since these planes only bring in military supplies, rice and fuel is being rationed to the population "under American embassy direction."

The US position in Cambodia is desperate. Sec. of Defense James Schlesinger stated that Cambodia would "absolutely" be 'lost' if Congress does not approve an emergency $222 million dollar supplemental appropriations bill for the Lon Nol regime made by Pres. Ford on Jan. 28th. But with or without the additional funds, it is clear that it is only a matter of time until Lon Nol is completely smashed. As Prince Norodom Sihanouk, head of GRUNC, said on Feb. 5th, "Even if Pres. Ford and Mr. Kissinger of the US obtain billions of dollars from the US Congress...the GRUNCE and the PNLAFC and Norodom Sihanouk...never will...give up struggling for total national liberation...the liberty and honour of Cambodia have no price."

The Lon Nol government, forced to draft 12 year-old children and empty the jails of Phnom Penh to fill out his army, has no support whatsoever from the civilian populations. As his troops are wiped out, there simply aren't any people to replace them with. Since Jan. 1st, well over 60,000 people have fled Phnom Penh to the liberated areas. Food riots, forced donations of blood to wounded troops, etc. are everyday occurrences.

The alternatives the US has are clear. One is to get out once and for all and allow the Cambodian people to live in peace and the other is to reintroduce massive US bombing and troops. VVAW/WSO urges all people in the US to prepare to meet either of these two alternatives. Should the US attempt to undertake combat operations in Cambodia all peach loving people should unite together to stop the move through direct mass action. If the US government resigns itself to the inevitable and pulls out of Cambodia once and for all, VVAW/WSO urges the holding of victory celebrations to honor the fall of the Lon Nol regime and the defeat of US imperialism in Cambodia.

A VICTORY FOR ONE IS A VICTORY FOR ALL---FINAL VICTORY FOR THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE!!!