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Serious Problems. ARVN is also suffering from practices that are endemic to South Viet Nam—the deferments available to the rich, the influential and the educated, and the practice of awarding high-ranking military posts as political plums. But ARVN's most serious problem during the current crisis may be its top leadership—and specifically its commander in chief, President Nguyen Van Thieu. Despite the debacle of the withdrawal, Thieu still indulges in the mandarin weakness of running his army like a puppetmaster, capriciously moving units from one defense line to another but rarely visiting the fighting fronts himself.
Thieu's political leadership has created an even more severe problem for the country. After the disastrous setbacks of the past month, there have been widespread calls for his resignation. Last week Thieu responded by naming yet another new government, this one a "fighting government of unity." Despite that description the new Cabinet included no members of the broadening opposition; the Premier, Nguyen Ba Can, is a bland labor unionist who can be counted on to do the President's bidding. General Duong Van ("Big") Minh demanded that Thieu resign before Saigon "becomes another Phnom-Penh," but the call was not likely to be heeded.
While the debate over evacuation continued in Washington, the U.S. proceeded with its plan to reduce the remaining American population in South Viet Nam to about 1,000 by the end of this week. One problem was what officials called "the woodwork factor": as many as 1,400 Americans whose existence caught the U.S. embassy by surprise have surfaced in Saigon, seeking a way out.
Under U.S. pressure, the Saigon government suddenly relaxed the rules for evacuating the Vietnamese dependents of American citizens. One American affected by the ruling was Karl Camp, who had already spent $1,500 in bribes in an effort to get his Vietnamese wife and her six children out of the country. Another was former Serviceman Kenneth Cowan, who had left his wife and three children in Saigon when his tour of duty in Viet Nam ended two years ago. Now a helicopter repairman in Redondo Beach, Calif, Cowan took a month's leave from his job, sold his car, diving equipment and drums and flew back to Saigon to rescue his family. "My wife was worried about what the Communists might do to mixed kids," he said. "I just had to get them out."
According to intelligence estimates, ten North Vietnamese divisions were gathering in the region of Saigon, awaiting a signal to attack. Communist shelling of the city and of nearby Tan Son Nhut airbase could begin at any time. U.S. Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand returned from South Viet Nam to Washington two weeks ago convinced that "the North Vietnamese seek a total military conquest of South Viet Nam." With so many options available to them, they might decide instead to pursue a strategy of slow strangulation, gradually cutting Saigon off from the coast, from the Delta and finally from the air. The view of U.S. Defense Secretary James Schlesinger is that the Communists will "encircle Saigon so that it falls of its own weight."