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As the first stage in a Communist takeover, neutralism may be just what the Viet Cong are aiming for. Some Americans believe that the new Red attacks are meant to push the Vietnamese army into carrying out a coup to set up a neutralist regime. Given the petty politicking still being waged by Vietnamese politicians six months after the U.S.-encouraged overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem,* such a prospect is not impossible. Premier Nguyen Khanh so far has had the barracks behind him, but at week's end yet another wave of coup rumors rippled through Saigon, then subsided. No one realizes more clearly the possible repercussions of another coup than U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who has been the No. 1 symbol of all-out support for Khanh. At a Washington cocktail party recently, McNamara was overheard to quip: "If Khanh goes, the President is going to have to get another Secretary of Defense."
*Last week the government finally brought to trial on charges of murder and extortion Ngo Dinh Can, 53, brother of the slain President and former boss of Central Viet Nam. Can suffers from diabetes and spent his time in court on a stretcher.