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Part of From the Political Jungle of Viet - What Khanh Says

extracted text

From Khanh' s Own Lips:
Taylor Favors ~Big' Minh
rc ontin.ue4 from page

011c1

hl:m!el! had offered suport for Gen . Minnknown rui " Big '" becauM he ~ taller a.nd
atockler than m ost V!e t011me- bu t feared
that Gen . MLrih would become "a. puppet
tor t h e neutrallsts ."
1 T ol d that acting Premier Nguyen Xu1m
O-.nh deS<:rlbed h im Saturday e.,i ~·inentallY
Ul" Oen. Khanh was sur prised . then laughed
said: " I am not a t t hat st.age yet."
He sa id h!.s doctor had checked him and.
foun d that "l h1n·e hear t trouble . . . and
hJih blood preaaure. The engine has run and.
run ror six mont.h.s, and now I n eed some
r~tt."
W ru1hln1,t~n officials et-rller descrlbed his
condltlon as i\ bad cold. He d td not appea.r
to ha ve 11, cold.
Oe n. Khanh received me fo r 45 mtnutea
1n his oflcla l governme nt residence in Dalat .
s moun ta in reson town. 150 m iles northea.st
of Sa igon . H e had come to Da lat Saturday
with h !.s wife and !\ve children .
Dfe&S('d In brov.-n cMl!an clothes wit h !l.
iruuoon n eck tie, he spoke ca.suaJJy . openly
and calmly du rlng th e Interview. Thousb &
cha tn -amokn ord!n arlly, he smoked only two

wd

eJ.g-arette3.
H, a ppeared wea ry, with purplish clrclea
under his eyes. bu t he was wor kin g at h l.5
M I e n tered. and he said
he had still more work to do. One o! his ch ie f
a ids ac companied h im to Da lat.

mahogany d~&k

BETRAYED
R a th er th a n despair or defeat, Gen.
K h a nh ·s attitude ap peared to be on e or ells•
llluslon ment w1th f r ien ds who "betrayed me''
and dl~cou rag ement.
He Mid he h ed to ld O tn :\! tnh : " lt you
want to come back t-0 p()w er I v,\11 suppo r t
you.
" I told h tm I'd te ll my frien ds . ' You m ust
su pport Bt £ Mmh · I toi d T a ylor th is too ,"
Gen Khn nh sa id.
O en . Mi n h was on e of t he leaders of t h e
November coup agains t the Ngo Dinh Die m
reg ime who In mm we re ovtrthro-P.·n by
Gt n Kha nh ln Janua r y G en . Min.h then
re luc tantly a,reed to remai n ns figureh ea d
Chief c,/ State. but "ns depri ved of rha t po~ t
in short-l!l'ed comllt uttona l cha n~es t hat
G en K ha nh push ed throuRh en rller th is
mont h . tempo ra rily mak ln11 h imself Pre.• tdent .
Then . last week . G en . Mi n h beca me onl'
o! a rulin2 tn um \' lrate or ~en era ls form ed
alte r ~t udent de monstrations ag a in H the
n e11· chart er an d bloody Buddhlst-Roman
Ca thol ic notin ~ The other two m ember,
a r~ G~n Kha nh a n d Lt. Grn. T ran Thlen
Kh iem
.
Explal r.t ng his diff tcu lt ie, . Gen . K han h
sa id --1 had sn many t h m ~s to do. But I
do 111Jt k now wh a t th e Am~rlca ns-I m ea n
the Amenciln Emba.<:S,; •In Sa igon) and
Was h !n ~ton- J do no t k now what they want.
" Ou~ 111i; thr first sLudem s tr ike, I t<·as
surpris ed o hc u the Voice o r Amer ica nn•
n:, ., n ce t :·. a t the Stu dr n t.s were a ~alnst the
K han n ~o,·ern men t The ,· were n ot against
m.v ; o,·frn ment but a ialnst the c ha rtJ>r
, constllut ton •· That ·s wh at It sa id on t he
pa per J had In m y ha nd -t hry wou ld llke
to rnise the char ter. So I '• as surprised at
th e VOA a n nounce ment. I talked t.-0 the
Em ba ssy a n d said it 1n~ no t t ru~ . Why doM
VO A c:1mpa 1~11 ,u:a 1r.sL me' 5o I do r.ot know
,.-h at th r Ame rtc nns ha\'e In mind ·
GP.n K h a nh <l e.-cnbr d h i,nscl/ as "Prime
Minis,e• tn n am e" a nd salrt he thou ght the
,\mcnca n ~01·rrn m en t l\ n d f.mbaMado r Taylor \\'anted him to co nt inue m t ha t ca pacity.
" I " Iii not snv ltkc ~! nc Art h u r. ·1 shall
r erurn But I
read;- tu Wh rn I come
back I ca nn ot have with me some people
"·ho bl- tra y me."
Toctar G en . Taylor fl ew to Dalat fr om
Saigon. presumably to • meet w!t.h O en .
K.hanh . He pla nned to be abse nt fr om the
capi ta l for only a rew hou rs.
Un u l 10 dr. ., s >1go, observ~rs h ere con1

am

sldertd Gell. Kba.nh to have two sourcPs of
· power: the support of the America n govern -

menr. and control ot the Army under !lb
!rlend. Oen . Khlem. the 39-,ear -old, be s!)(!Ctaelt<t Minilter of De.tense.
Ont.he Jenera! situa tion ln Vii"t Na m . G en .•
Kh.anh uld: " I am HCk w1Lh lhe intri gue In
my country. I do not know H It 's the nme in
the American agencies. I am a soldie.r dotn_g
my best. I do not llke to stay at m y d esk
thinking o! lntrliue. I go a nd try to wtn
the wa.r.
"When I came to power, I gave m y conh den ce to. the :0.,,1 Vie t <G reat~ · Viet Nam
pol!Ucal partyi , Yo,r ve seen them now. MY
right ha.na man In clvlll.a.n at!a.lrs betraHd
me . And the mUJtar:v still work for them-

selves.

THE -oENERALS
"You know Oen. Khlem and I were cl smate,. :But when we met !or t wo d ays In
Salgon <durlng a. 48-hour · deba ti! on '11:ho
would be t he new Pres iden t! he's not the
.same rnan I ea.me to power wi th ~e,·en
m on th!! ago . But h e't not a bad one either .
We can stUl wor k together.
''One general I g1we t h e bigge~t Job :n (he
country to . . . 5t lU gives m oney· to t he
political part y work.Ing !or hill)Sel! and or
course work111g against m e.
·•After To nk.In t the North Vietnam ese
a ttacks o n American d estro yers an d the
American bombing of North Viet Nam ' our
morale was high a mong ou.r people and the
A.rm.y . I am not surp rised !f the VC <Com munist Viet Con g llllerrllla.s> were t rying t o
get t he situ a t.Ion as ba d as we have now.
''The Dal Viet plan was to d ivide us fi nd
put the Anny aaalnst the p eople th ro ugh
th e ! tudent.'! demorutratln g In the s t ree ts .
So I! I put 1n · the {ums. It's llke unde r t he
Diem regime last yea r bu t more gra"e
because it's not a ga inst one !a mn , or persona lity bu1. aga inst the a r med forces ."
He moved an n.shtray . c tgarett.e Jl~hter and
packet o! c.lga.rettes into a tria n gle ui Il lustrate.
"I pulled out th e Arm y ~o the peop le n re
aga inst t he peop le - the Buddhists a ga inst
the Cat holics-bu t t hat wen t to the ma x i•
m um poin t . and n ow I orde red t he Army
t o st ep In."
He said he dl d n ot know how \on'!' he
v.-ould rema in r esting l n Dalnt. He sa id h e
would retu rn to Saigon occa .< !onall y, "not to
ta ke power but to t ry to so l.-e the situa tion .
wh ich is very da ngerous "
" Bu t II I 'm aslted again to tak e po1t·er.
111 go right away,'' h e said . He lau gh ed a nd
added. " and t he m en ta l IUness \nil go r !aht
a wa y, t-00. "

Rt;SK-1\0 CHA'."iGES
From T he H era ld Tr ibune B ureau
WASHINGTON.

. secretary of S ta te Dean R usk said yest..>r da'y tha t n o bMlc chan11es have taken place
In South Viet Nam d esplt.e Gen . K h anh 's
la pse In poll tlcal activity an d popular u nre.n
cu lml n ating In last week's Bud dh ist-R om an
Ca t h olic rlotlng .
Speakin g on the NBC -TV program " ~ eet
t he Press," Mr. R u!k mal.ntatned tha t: Oen .
K han h wll ! re urn t.-0 hls PQSC whe n he l.1
su ffici en tly rested--a vlev.- expressed ear ller
by S ta te Depart m ent spokesmen. He did no~
pred lc L when t hat woul d be.
Mr . I;?us ll n l d he ex pect..s Oen. Kha nh , after
h e res umes a cti vity, to wor k to1<·ard lnstal !a tion of a civilia n ,o:overnm ent. 1t h lc h Mr.
R usk said had al v. an bee n th e gen er al's ~oa l.
I n a nawer to a question . the Secrr tary of
St.ate ~ld he could not foresee II South Viet•
na me5e government ":hlch might ask th e
-0 . S. t o get out of the ro un t ry . H e sa id h e
knew of no faction In South Viet Nam . rel!~lo~ or mlUt.ary, wh lc1' wan ted Commun1~t
rule .