We are no mote now than a mercenary army fighting on the whims and discretion of only one man. If Mr. Nixon will not stop this insanity, then the Congress and the people must. " (Letter from USAF Captain, B-52 navigator, to senator Fulbright on the situation in Cambodia).
It is the spread of such attitudes among the very elite of the US war machine which is the writing on the wall for the Cambodian puppet Jeader Lon Nol and his masters in the White House and the Pentagon. Despite an average of 1,800. B-52 sorties a month - nearly double the rate over all of Indochina in 1971 - the heroic Red Khmers who spearhead the Cambodian National United Front (FUNK)
The formation of the new Chilean cabinet Ba confirmation that the forces of counterrevolution are now preparing a concerted offensive.
With his back against the wall after the attempted coups and political sabotage of June, President Allende last week attempted to co-opt the 'support of the Christian Democrats and the army - the best political representatives of the ruling class - by offering them major posts government have been cut off - huve played in the Popular Unity government. The co-option of Christian Democrats - such as the "radical' rector of the Catholic University. are tightening their grip around Phnom Panh. On 5 July, Highway 4 linking the deep-sca port of Kompong Som to the capital was cut just 22 miles from where Lon Nol and his clique sit pretending they are the masters of all Cambodia. The next day they forced the puppet troops to retreat from the provincial capital of Phoom Del, 25 miles from the capital and part of its outer defensive ring. The mood in the United States is now very definitely for Out of Cambodia. Nixon was. thus playing with tire when he vetoed a Congress proposal to halt all funds for further bombing of Cambodia - this right in the middle of Dean's appearance before the Senate Investigatory Committee into Watergate. For the moment a compromise has been Castillo Velasco — was firmly vetoed by exPresident Frei, the party leader. Even more signuficant is the fact that the armed foroes refused as a body to participate in the The Chilean bourgeoisie has not acquired a century's experience of parliamentary rule for nothing, Frei and the army chief Prats - both financed by the USA, whille funds to the their cards well in the past three years. The Christian Democrats, holding the Congressional majority, have repeatedly drawn the Popular Cambodian people up till 15 August, by which time either a settlement must be reached or Nixon must ask Congress for more funds.
This compromise is a product of several factors: Nixon's need to be on good terins with Congress in a period when the ery for impeachment (carried out by Congress) is being rrised in several quarters; Congress's need to reflect at least partially the overwhelming mood in America for getting out of Cambodia while shying away from a major political crisis with the presidency. But the most important reason relates to Cambodia itselt. As the bombing brings world wide opprobrium on America, as the Lon Nol clique stumbles from political crisis to military defeat to economic catastrophe JOHN WATTS Unity leaders into negotiations, while conducting every kind of manoeuvre against them, impeaching a series of ministers, blocking legislation of every kind, and using discontent over inflation among the middle class and even recently the working class — to whip up mass mobilisations against the government. They have foroed Popular Unity into the arms of the military, sanctioning the presence of the armed foroes in the government after last year's lorry owners' boycott.
Now, with the aid of the activities of the driven into an extreme constitutional crisis. This comes at a time when the recent copper maners strike has shown, not just that the reformist leaders have failed to unite che ries, their Stalinist leaders are husy doing political deals with the bourg ois parties. The Uruguayan Communist Party dominates both the banned CNT and the clectoral Broad Front of lefts" and radicals. The Broad Front has joined with the bourgeois National Party in demanding new presidential elections, and under cover of the call for a dialogue with all democratic forces" is negotiating with the dis. sident wing of Bordaberry's own Colorado Party to convince the armed forces to depose Bordaberry The National Party leader, Wilson Ferreira, who by promoting an alliance with the Wilson fled to Buenos Aires at the time of the coup. has announced his imminent reture. Bordaberry is the imperialists man: he has announced the scrugale against the milicary regime. US, Huang Chen, has recently had a meeting with Nixon and a huge bean feast with Kissinger. Both of them urged China to contribute to a peacefu settlement of the Cambodian problem. At the same time US Secretary of Aggression James Schlesinger has declared that it is 'quite possible that the President will have to ask Congress for authorisation to continue the bombing of Cambodia after 15 August, We must be clear that those in the internatiobal labour movement who seize on this tbreat to press for negotiations with Lon Nol in the name of peace and humanity are betraying the struggle of the Cambodian people. Sihanouk has stated, and the Cambodian fighters have confirmed in their practice, that they cannot he beaten to their knees by American air power. They are on the threshold of a great victory. The correct task is to isolate the US diplomatically as surely as Phoom Penh is isolated militarily.
working class, but that they have created such demoralisation that the Christian Democrats can use workers struggles against the government itself The working class - including the miners -rallied acainst the forces of reaction at the time of the attempted coup of 29 June; but Allende and the CP once more proceeded to de mobilse the struggles, te-orning their cabinet and offering the army the olive branch of a 'guarantee of law and order. It is because of what such leadership is doing to the working class that the ariny chiefs as well as the Christian Democrats now have the confidence to lake their distance from the Popular Unity povernment Jane Frazer