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Retum
of
the
Mayaguez
SIGN DFA -TDUGHIR AMIRICA?
U.S. MARINES
scramble
ffom
Mllcopt~r
on Koh TMg
islsnd.
For one brief momeot, tbe
United States once again
a~ed
like a great power.
In
míd-May,
deci.sive aod
direct
miliwy
ac–
tioo
successfully
recovered tbe
U.S. mercbant
ship
Mayaguq
witb its 39 crewmen from Cam–
bodill.D bands. -
Tbe inciden! was distio:
guisbed by its brevity. .Tbe
K.hmer Rouge govemment of
Cambodia seized tbe American
vessel on Monday. May
12;
by
Thursday, May
15,
tbe U.S. bad
the tbip back.
Al\er cliplomatic overtures
lO
tbc People's Republic of Qlioa
and a rcquest for Unitcd Na–
tions
iotel"lCCtioo had failcd,
200
Amcrica.o
marines,
witb tbe
bclp of
air
cover; pbysically
re–
took tbe piratee!
Mayaguez
io
Kob Tang
barbor.
Soon
af\er–
ward, a Cambodiao fishing
boat, ftying white ftags, turned
over tbe captured crcwmeñ.
In
tl,le course of tbe fighting,
nearly a fourtb of Cambodia's
lcnown oavy - tbree K.hmer
Rouge guoboats - were suok.
Tbe swin use of American
power, iJt oootrast to tbe pro–
tracted
military
operations of
tbc Vietnam war,
drew
a mixed
world reactioo.
-
WEEK ENDINO
JUNE
7, 197S
China accused tbe Unitcd
States of oommittiog an "out–
rigbt
act
of piracy" by bombiog
Cambodian territory
aod
ship–
piJts, ignoring tbe
fa~
tbat it
was
Kbmer Rouge guoboats
whicb bad origioally "piratcd"
tbe unarmed mercbant vessel iJt
interoational waters. · '
Soutb Africa, oo tbe otber
hand, generally applauded tbe
American use of force.
Plaíñ
Truth
oorrespondent Robert E.
Fahey reports tbat tbe news
"belped most Soutb Africans .
eojoy tbeir breakfast and head
to worlc
in
a cbeerful frame of
miod. Alter so maoy embarrass–
ing reversals, it seemed tbe
Americana were showiJtg a bit
more self-respect."
lo BritaiJt, tbe
Daily
Mail
poiJtted out tbat tbe Americans
were "justi.6ed iJt goiJtg to tbe
limit to
rCSC~~e
tbeir meo aod
tbelr ship," sentiments generally
ecboed by conservative and
middlc-of·tbc-road papers sucb
as tbe
Dally Express
and
The
Times.
Tbe liberal
Guardían,
bowever, called tbe iJtcursion
"botb has!)' and rcddess" and
said Presiden! Ford
had
tried
"too
much
too
sooo."
Tbe Belgium press was ·
di-
vided::
LA
Cit~
$&id tbe United
Stat~
bad been tteated as a ·
paper tiger aod, in order not to
lose face, had to
rea~
and show
its teetb.
LA Libn
Belxique,
however, said tbe incident bad
ooly burt American prestige.
Domestically, tbe American
Congress joined in broad bi·
par;tisao support of Presiden!
Fo(d's handling of tbe ship seiz,.
ure. Praise came from botb con–
serva ti ves (Scnator Barry
Ooldwatersaid he wos glad
Mr.'
Ford bad "the guts to do wbat
be should have done") and lib–
erals (ldabo Oemoa-at Frank
Cburcb
said Mr. Ford was to be
commended for _tbe way be
bandled tbe
c:risis).
Tbc only exccptioo ca.me
from tbe leR-wing of tbc Dedl<>–
cratic: party. Scoator Oeorg_e
McOovern called the actioo
"precipitous," adding, bowever,
tbat "it appears to bave
worked."
..,._Tbc
lbal
Coolnkdott
the most violent response to
tbe
Mayaguer
operation oc–
curred iJt Tbailaod.
In
Bangléok,
tbousands of demonstrators
buroed President Ford iJt effigy.
Tbe Tbai government recalled
its ambassador from Washing–
ton.
Prime
Minister Kulcrit
Pra–
moj deoouoced tbe United
States for baviog "violated
our
sovereigol)'" iJt usiJtg tbe U.S.
base iJt Tbailand as a staging
point.
An
angry Tbai Foreign
Mioistry.
official, upon leamiJtg
tbat Cambodiao boats had beco
suok by U.S. planes based
oo
Tbai soil, caUed it "piracy" and
''madness.. - an actioo taken
with no tbought for tbe oon–
sequeoces to Tbailaod. Tbe
Tbai goveroment demaoded an
apology from Washington. Tbe
United States responded witb a
message of "regTCt" for tbe ac–
tion,
bot
DO
apology.
Baop_ok
acccpted it nevertbeless.
Tbc ExetptloeTbat Prores•
tbe
Rule
Uoyd M. Bucber, captaiJt of
tbe U.S.S.
Pueblo,
has said that
if tbe North Koreans' seizure of
tbat ship in
1968
bad been bao–
dled the same as tbe Cam–
bodian seizure oftbe
Mayaguez,
tbe Cambodians would never
~ve
dared capture tbe Ameri–
can vessel iJt tbe 6rst place.
Ris statemeot uoderscores
tbe fac:t that tbe beadlong
re-
Panama Canal:
NéwMove
to
Erode
Control
Reports are circulating in
Washington tbar authority io
the U.S.-oontroUed Paoama Ca–
nal
Zone over police, lite pro–
tection, aod
postal
servic:es
will
sooo be unilaterally baoded
over
to
tbe Republic of Pan·
ama.
Tbe situatioo would be
analogous to, say, autborities io
Tijuana, Mexico, assuming civil
functions iJt San Diego, Califor–
nia, prior to the reversion
to
Me¡tioo of America's south·
westero states.
Tbe move is obviously iJt.
tended to move the Uoited
States further along tbe road of
total relioqoisbmeot of U.S.
sovereign rights to tbe strategic
treat iJt
which
tbe Unitcd Sta1es
found itself at tbe time of tbe
Cambodian seiture was largely
tbe result ofAmerica's failure to
use power it already bad. After
. vacillatiog militarily for a
;[~de
ih.- Vielhám;-
America
bad ñnaJfy oonducted an opera'
fioo io Soutbeast Asia witb deft–
nite goals and purposes.
lt
was
agaiJts~
Ibis
backdiop tbat many
observers apetauded tbe stroog
a~ioo
wbicb forccd tbe retoro
of tbe
Mayaguez.
But, despite
Ibis
isolatcd io–
cident, tbe U.S. remaiJts in
glo-·
bal
retreat.
Tbe recapture of
ooe mercbant ship
does
not
erase recen! Amcrica.o failures
io lndocbiJta or tbe Mideast.
Tb~-
doubts tbat tbe lndocbiJta
ooUapse raised in America,o al–
lies
still
rernain.
Tbe- timiJtg of tbe
Mayaguez
incideni was uoique. ·After tbe
Vietnam debacle, tbe forth.rigbt
actioo off tbe
Cambodi~n
ooast
oould not bave oome al
a
better
time. But '!"ould tbc U.S.
a~
tbe
same six montlu from now
wbeo árcumstanccs
are
diJfer–
eol?
In
Ibis
iJtstance, Presideot
Ford's personal prestige
was
on
tbe lioe. Already under lite
from
his
own party for beiJtg a
wealc leader, he bad to react
witb strengtb at tbe point where
woi'ld perception .of American
~wer
was at its lowest ebb
siJÍce tbe thirties.
lt remaiJts doubtful wbether
the
Mayaguez
incideot wiU
mark tbe reassertioo of Ameri.–
can strengtb iJt world
alfairs.
Tbe historical momeotum
iS
g~
iJtg in tbe otber
directioo.
O
world waterway. At tbe same
.time, tbe Stale Department is
oontiouing to work out tbe "de–
tails"
of a oew canal treaty
whicb
will
hand full owoership
of
the canal
to
Panama (see
Plain
Trulh,
April
5, 1975).
Appareotly tbe giveaway
will
oot be aeoomplisbed witbout a
fight; over
36.
Scnators have
af–
ftxed tbeir oames to a resolution
tl¡at tbe U:S. must not surrender
sovereigoty over the 50..square·
milezooe.
Tbey are
also
expected to re–
sist tbe new State Department
auempt to subtly erode U.S.
au~
thority iJt advaocc of a foimal
treal)'.
'
Sioce it only rcquires a tbird
of the Seoate lo block aoy
treal)', it would
seem
tbat tbe
canal
will
remain under Ameri·
ca.o jurisdictioo for some time to
oome. However, tbe "his1orical
mómentum~
surrouocling tbe
canal issue
is
agaiJtst American
retention. Nearly every relrision
of the principies of tbe origiJtal
1903
treal)' whicb gave tbe U.S. '
"sovereigo rigbts iJt perpetuil)'"
has wealce11.ed the American
c1aim to canal oontroL
Tbe blggest siJtgle "adjust·
meo!"
wá.s
tbé'decisioo made iJt
19éQ
lo allow Paoamaoiao O.ags
to fty aloogside tbe Stara and
Stripes al selcc:ted points io tbe
zooe.
Tbis
aáioo
was
meant to
symbolize Panama's "titular"
or
residual sovereignty in tbe zone.
Frictioo between Paoamanians
and American
'~niaa.s"
ovcr
tbe O.ag issue erupted into
bloody violence in Jaouary
1964.
Tbe popular argumeot tbat
U.S. "relations" witb tbe rest of
Latin America
will
be barmed if
tbe canal zone is 'not surren–
dered, however, may weaken
tbe anti-giveaway Senate
bloc:.
lt
is
believed tbat ooly twcol)' of
tbe thirty-six
Sena~rs
wbo
signed tbe resolution
are
said to
be really bard-oore oppooents
ofa new tteaty.
lf, .or perbaps better yet,
wben, tbe canal does go, it wiU
oot ooly mean ooe more step
baclcward io
ª
long American
trek from tbe piJtnacle ofworld
power aod prestige it eojoyed
just afler World War
n.
Eveo
more, it
will
represent tbe lo6s
of ooe of the
vital
"gatés" (see
Oenesis 22:
17)
promised to tbe
desoendants ofAbraham. o
3