Viet Bombers Sow Bitter Seeds

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-04789.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04789

Title

Viet Bombers Sow Bitter Seeds

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the political ramifications of increasing air strikes, page 2

AI Usage Disclosure

Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

--------------------
- Page 1
--------------------
Viet Bombers Sow Bitter Seeds
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
While air power is vital to
the U. S. war effort in Viet
Nam, there is a feeling in some
quarters here that indiscrim-
inate use of this power could
jeopardize the political war.
Air raids have been stepped
up perceptibly in recent weeks,
with frequent missions by
B-52 tactical bombers and
often a couple of hundred
sorties a day by fighter-
bombers carrying high ex-
plosives and napalm.
At the same time, U. S. Am-
bassador Henry Cabot Lodge
seeks to win the minds of the
people with the help of
counterinsurgency expert
Gen. Edward Lansdale-a dif-
ficult task made harder by the
fact that some of these people
may be the innocent victims
of the bombing raids.
Gen. Lansdale wrote in
Foreign Affairs magazine re-
cently that the Communists
had set loose an idea in Viet
Nam that would not be de-
stroyed by bombs and bullets;
and, while a military source
in Saigon says there is no
conflict between the Lansdale
viewpoint and the orthodox
military viewpoint at the mo-
ment, the political strategists
may attempt to force an eas-
ing-up of the bombing raids.
"You can carry a military
program so far that it will
create political hatreds," the
source said. "We could win the
war, then hold a referendum
and lose that."
the Viet Cong. Such action
has turned the tide in some
battles and has prevented
the annihilation of some gov-
ernment units-the besieged
defenders during the battle
at Duc Co., for example-
until the arrival of ground
combat relief forces.
It is the third category
The use of air power in that some quarters feel could
South Viet Nam falls into hurt Mr. Lodge's plans for
three categories. The first is social revolution in the
the saturation bombing of countryside. This is the pro-
known Viet Cong strongholds gram of "combat sorties"
by B-52 bombers-giant, high- by U. S. and Vietnamese
altitude jets based on Guam fighter-bombers which hit
that can carry a payload of
at least fifty 750-pound bombs.
The second category is
called close tactical air sup-
port, which means air power
used to support troop action
or to defend Vietnamese or
American units encircled by
suspected Viet Cong struc-
tures and troop concentra-
ions.
Unlike the B-52 raids,
these air strikes are not solely
in Viet Cong stronghold
areas.
And not always do ground
troops follow up the combat controls only a small fringe of
sorties to determine exactly
what structures have been
hit and who has been killed
or wounded. The results are
often adjudged on reports
by the pilots or, at best, sur-
veys by spotter aircraft.
While the B-52 raids are
made in areas that contain
the sparsest civilian popula-
tions, this is not so with the
combat sorties. These are
often launched against guer-
rilla bands, which are able to
merge quickly and easily with
the civilian population.
A further problem is that
the B-52 raids are driving the
Communists out of their
strongholds, to infiltrate their
headquarters elements into
the areas nominally controlled
by the government.
The Vietnamese government
villages surrounding each of
the major population centers.
The remaining villages in the
countryside are considered by
counter-insurgency experts to
be partially or totally domi-
nated by the Viet Cong-not
only by guerrillas but by po-
litical cadres as well.
Here is a problem that air
power cannot solve. While air
strikes can prevent large Viet
Cong troop concentrations
from forming, they cannot
discriminate good from bad
and hit the guerrillas in the
villages where they do most
harm.
"The basic problem on our
side is that we have not yet
found the answer for guer-
rillas in small groups," the
U.S. military source in Saigon
said.

Date

1965, Oct. 27

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Aerial operations; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--United States. Air Force; Bombings, aerial; Bombardment; Strategy

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Container

B4, F6

Format

newspaper clippings

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English