AT first, Richard Nixon described the Cambodian venture in apocalyptic termsas a test of "our will and character" and a measure to win "a just peace in Viet Nam and in the Pacific." Last week, the billing was scaled down considerably. During a meeting with state Governors at the White House, the President remarked almost offhandedly: "I suppose you could call this 'Operation Buy Time.' "
By that, Nixon meant buying time for Vietnamization to prove a success, a goal that becomes especially important in view of his promise to pull U.S. forces out of combat entirely by July 1971. Just as...