Southeast Asian Contradiction

American policy in Southeast Asia is not easy to understand. What we seem to be trying to do in South Vietnam contradicts what we seem to be trying to do in Laos. Is the contradiction real? It may be: this would not be the first time that one element of our Cold War strategy was in direct opposition to another. Or perhaps the explanation is that in one country or both we are not doing what we seem to be trying to do.

Both Laos and South Vietnam are under Communist attack. Armed Communist units, called Pathet Lao in Laos and Viet Cong in South Vietnam, are in the field. Both Pathet Lao and Viet Cong are supplied and reinforced from without: from Communist North Vietnam, proximately, and also from the Soviet Union and Communist China.

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James Burnham

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American policy in Southeast Asia is not easy to understand. What we seem to be trying to do in South Vietnam contradicts what we seem to be trying to do in Laos. Is the contradiction real? It may be: this would not be the first time that one element of our Cold War strategy was in direct opposition to another. Or perhaps the explanation is that in one country or both we are not doing what we seem to be trying to do.

Both Laos and South Vietnam are under Communist attack. Armed Communist units, called Pathet Lao in Laos and Viet Cong in South Vietnam, are in the field. Both Pathet Lao and Viet Cong are supplied and reinforced from without: from Communist North Vietnam, proximately, and also from the Soviet Union and Communist China.