‘FORCES INADEQUATE TO COPE WITH VIET CONG’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30841, 28 August 1965, Page 15

‘FORCES INADEQUATE TO COPE WITH VIET CONG’

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LOS ANGELES, August 27. The current allied forces in Vietnam are insufficient to cope with the Viet Cong, according to General Maxwell Taylor.

“It’s not a single war, but 44 different wars,” said the former Ambassador to South Vietnam. “Neither side is ahead or behind.” General Taylor said that each war was being fought under different economic, political and physical conditions. A ratio of 15 joint Amer-

lean and South Vietnamese troops to each guerrilla was “too high,” and the current allied ratio of 3j to 1 was too low. However, General Taylor declined to estimate what he considered an adequate ratio, except to say that there was now “insufficient manpower” in Vietnam. He said “heavy losses” sustained by the Viet Cong and the “slow devastation in North

Vietnam” by air attacks were clear evidence of America’s commitment.

“This must be very sobering to the leaders in Hanoi," he said.

But General Taylor, a former chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was difficult to determine which country was ahead in military efforts. “The ultimate victory will go to the more resolute

nation,” he said. “We must convince Hanoi of our conviction to stay in Vietnam and win the war.” “But dissonant voices coming from America give them added resolve to continue the struggle,” he said. The General said the sit-ins and teach-ins conducted by pacifist groups in America “confuse our friends in South Vietnam.”