The Daily Capital News from Jefferson City, Missouri • Page 3

Our involvement began with 'incursion' For U.S., Cambodia wasn't planned Students to lead Calvary revival Greek premier going to France crucial years of my life" when. he was in political exile. It was his first official visjt abroad since taking office last July after the overthrow of the By WILLIAM L.RYAN AP Sptcial Correspondent for the United States, Cam- bodia wasn't planned. It just happened, without formal al- liance or agreement. The fateful step was taken al- most exactly five years ago with a combined American- South Vietnamese invasion that the Nixon administration called an "incursion." From then on it was all downhill.

Phnom Penh surrendered Thursday. The American military in- volyement in the three In- dochina states was supposed to end in 1973. The last vestige of it was supposed to be in Cam- bodia where, at the order of Congress, the bombing halted that August. But the political, economic and ideological en- tanglements remained, and now Cambodia's fate can alter the whole Indochina picture. How did this situation devel- op into what it is now? A i a i really began right after World WaY II with aid to the French as they sought to re-establish their colonial a i Washington had regarded Southeast Asia as strategically vital to American security, and even more so after the Com- munists swept over China.

Washington saw communism 'a i i a monolith about to knock over nations like so many dominoes. Communist Ho Chi Minh's by 1954 drove the French out and assumed au- thority over North Vietnam, and United States stepped into the vacuum in the South. Cambodia had won independ- ence in 1953 under Norodom Si- hanouk, then called king, but the ancient Buddhist kingdom itself Kampuchea was i-unlucky in its geography, caught between two mighty world blocs in a political struggle. Hanoi sought to use a Viet- namese minority to impose its domination on. Cambodia, and the antiroyal, anti-Communist Khmer Issarak (Free Khmer) movement opposed him.

But Sihanouk, then in his 30s, was popular, despite a playboy i a a a i probably because many Cam- bodians considered him the only honest man in high office. Prince Norodom he re- tained the hereditary title after making himself chief of state in 1960 could have claimed a title as the world's most dedi- cated neutralist, but the world wouldn't let him stay that way. American troubles with Siha- nouk began accumulating in 1965 after the major war esca- lation in South Vietnam. The cause was the sanctuary en- joyed by Communist-led Viet Cong on Cambodian territory. Sihanouk, who had already renounced American economic aid, broke relations with Wash- ington, charging repeated violations by American planes.

Sihanouk pictured himself as caught between two forces. On one hand were the Khmer Rouges, mainly Cambodian Communists, who the prince said "sold their bodies and souls to China." The Khmer Rouge had a Politburo, support from China and protection North Vietnamese regulars camped in Cambodia. It developed slowly into a fighting organization on its own, but was a shadowy force, difficult to identify. Its outstan- ding leader is Khieu Samphan. The other force Sihanouk called "Khmer Blues," or those elements, many in the military, favoring American aid.

Things reeled along in this confusing way until March, 1970. Sihanouk, on tour abroad, was in Moscow when his pre- mier, Lt. Gen. Lon Nol, ousted him in a coup. A week later came the fateful Nixon admin- istration decision to invade against Viet Cong hideouts.

This soon had Cambodia up to its national neck in the In- dochina war. In China, Sihanouk presided over GRUNK and FUNK, un- lovely French acronyms for the United Royal Government and the United National Front. He got both Chinese and North Vietnamese help to mount a war against Lon Nol. The Soviet Union cautiously sat on the fence, keeping its embassy in Phnom Penh, un- willing to move until sure which way the political winds might blow. From his exile home on Peking's anti-Impe- rialist Street, Sihanouk blasted the Russians as betrayers, and Piccolo Italian-American Restaurant 1507 E.

McCarty 636-2607 they in turn lashed him in newspaper articles. This went on for three years. Then the So- viet attitude changed abruptly. Why? When Congress ordered an end to the bombing in Cam- bodia, Moscow evidently detec- ted the knell for Lon Nol. By then Sihanouk had the support of most "nonaligned" nations for whose favor Moscow con- stantly contests with Peking.

In October, 1973, the Soviet Embassy left Phnom Penh and thereafter Moscow recognized Sihanouk. North Vietnam had been gen- erous with both Chinese and So- viet arms for the Khmer Rouge and could reduce its troop pres- ence to what was needed to keep supply lines moving smoothly. In Phnom Penh, five years after the U.S. "incursion," the regime could claim sovereign- ty over less than 15 per cent of the land and a quarter of the people. The rebels had all the op- tions they could try for a quick kill or rely on attrition, waiting for the capital to fall like rot- ting fruit, or perhaps be pulled down by its own enraged young officers.

Lon Nol, 61 and half-paral- yzed by a stroke, left the coun- try March 31, and since then his successors have been look- ing for a way to negotiate some sort of settlement to end the fighting. On the other side, Sihanouk has said he expected to return, but nursed few illusions that he would be anything more than a figurehead. He has predicted that when the Khmer Rouge has no more use for him it will "spit me out like a cherry pit." As for the Khmer Rouge, it has a ruling Politburo, but it is a shadowy affair and little is known about it. The irony is that now Defen- se Department officials say neither South Vietnam nor Thailand will be seriously threatened by the fall of Cam- bodia. A group of students from the University of Missouri at Columbia will lead a series of revival services at Calvary Baptist Church this weekend.

The first service is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Rev. Rudy Pulido is pastor of the church at 207 Johnson St. PARIS (AP) Greek Pre- mier Constantine Caramanlis has arrived for an official visit in France, the country that gave him refuge during "10 military regime.

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