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Part of Khanh Plays Middle Vs. Both End; Rusk Pleads for End to Bickering

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MIDDLE VS.

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BOTH ENDS

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I{liarih' Plaj-s Midtlle Vs. Both Ends;
Rusk Pleads for End to Bickering
THE MILITARY INTRIGUE
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent

SAIGON.

LL. Gen. Nguyen Khanh's bold attack Tuesday on
American policymakers-particularly Ambassador Maxwell
D. Taylor-appeared yesterday to be part of an intricate
campaign to outmaneuver the politically militant Buddhist
movement.
Pro-neutralist Buddhist politicians-who inspired last
year's overthrow of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime and drove
Gen. Khanh from the Presidency with a wave of riots last
August-were about to do the same to Premier Tran Van
Huong and the nine-member High National Council.
The Buddhist anti-government campaign now has
been blocked by the action of the Armed Forces Council,
More on ICHANH STRATEGY- Page 4

of which Gen. Khaflh is chairman, in dissolving the High
National Council last weekend and arresting most of its
members and other leading politicians. The High National
council was one of the three components of a civilian government set up last October. the other two being Premier
Huong and Chief of State Phan Khac Suu, who remain in
office.
Younger generals on the Armed Forces Council. who
originally were believed to have engineered the coup themi;elves, now acknowledge privately that it w&s ln fact
planned by Gen . Khanh.
The effect has been that the armed forces, under Gen.
Khanh's leadership, rather than the Buddhists got credit
for taking action against a weakening and unpopular
regime .
Public criticism of Ambassador Taylor was also initiated by the Buddhists while the Ambassador was in Washington for strategy talks early this month. But now Gen.
Khanh is capitalizing on this drive that the Buddhists
began.
·
In a meeting Tuesday with other members o! the
Armed Forces Council, Gen. Khanh reportedly reiterated
anti-American views- and maintained that South Viet
Nam could get along without American aid, which is being
poured Into the country at the rate o! $1.5 million a day
to help the fight against the Communist Viet Cong.
The net effect of Gen. Khanh'.s maneuvers has been
to diminish the political prestige of the Buddhists and
weal,en the arguments they were using to attract mass
support.
The 11lusion has been created that Gen. Khanh has
allled himself with the Buddhists. But actually he is mov-·
Ing only parallel with them"-and several steps ahead.

LESSER OF EVILS
In attacking the Right-wing Catholic-backed Premier
Huong, the Buddhists now appear to be supporting Gen.
Khanh . But actually Gen. Khanh has forced the Buddhist
leadership to accept him as the lesser of two evils.
Without assura
support or a.t lea.st
, no South Vienamese leader could effectively
rule and press the al)-tl-Communtst war.
Tactically, the general has chosen to try to capture
the Buddhist masses through a. spectacular anti-American
campaign rather than give in and commit himself to the
pro-neutralist policies of the Buddhist leadership.
This maneuvering-though so far it appears br1lliantly
successful-is so elaborate that even some o! Oen. Khanh's
supporters are confused by it.
But its results promise to be of benen.t not only to
the general but also to American policy, which seeks
governmental stability 1n Saigon and nrm prosecution o!
the war.
The fact ls th'tt Gen. Khanh and American pol!cy are
almost inseparably intertwined. The general ls staunchly
anti-Communist. Last July, he was even more aggressively
anti-Red than Washington when against American wishes
he began calling for a. drive to l!berate North Viet Nam
from communism.
As commander-in-chief of the Vietnamese armed forces
the most organized anti-Communist force in the nationen. Kha.nh ls the center of anti-Communist inftuence tn
outh Viet Nam . And he ls fully in control of the 20-man
!Armed Forces Council, 1n whose name the purge last weeknd was staged.

FOES SWEPT AWAY
More important, he is more powerful and politically
more mat_u re than last August, when the i;tudent-Buddhlst
demonstrations that forced him from office broke out. Since
then, both personal and organized opposition to Gen. Khanh
has been swept away.
The Dal Viet political party, which opposed him, Is now
leaderl~ss. Lt. Gen . Tran Th!en Khlem, his rival for Roman
Cathollc support, has been sidelined to the post of Ambassador in Washington. And Gen. Duong Van (Big) Minh,
~rmer Chief of State who was Gen. Khanh's competitor for
the support of the Buddhists and some military element..!I
has been discredited and sent off on a good-will tour. Yes~
terday he was in Formosa. He ls among 40 older generals
facing compulsory retirement.