Evening star., 1955-05-01

TINS crucial battle Tor power, 1t viii
be his fifth major victory since COM
ing to power nine months ago. His
first triumph came when refugees
streamed by the hundreds Of thou
sands to his southern side Of the
17th parallel rather than stay in the
north with Ho Chi Minis Commu-
nistS.
Hinh's Dismissal
A second victory was achieved
when Bao Dai dismissed the army
chief of staff, Gen. Nguyen Van
Hinh. a French-supported former
pilot whom M. Diem did not get
along with.
M. Diem's third crisis, which he
also survived. developed when three
politico-religious sects. one Of them
the Binh Xuyen. baked at his plan
to integrate their armies into the
national force. But the Wet Namese
premier was able to break up the
sects' solid front by wooing one of
them, the Gao Dai, with 10000
troops, over to the government side.
That was victory No. 8.
The fourth success came last
week, over the Binh Xuyen. They
had been shelling Saigon intermit-
tently-on one occasion lobbed a.
few rounds into the premier's pal
ace-threatening worse trouble if
NJ. Diem didn't broaden his gov
ernment.
The premier wanted from the
start to send enough of his 100000
man national army into Cholon. a.
large Saigon suburb, to clean the
Binh XuVen out Of their headquar-
ters. But American and French au-
thorities kept restraining him.
Diem's Big Step
Then last Tuesday M. Diem
screwed up enough courage to fire
his chief Of police. Binh Xuyen
man. The new chief of police
started setting up a new police force.
attracting many former Binh Xuyen
members.
The sect leaders retaliated with
a new artillery barrage on his PAL
ace. This time M. Diem didn't wait
for French OF American authorities
to restrain him. He sent the ma
tional army after the Binh Xuyen
and routed them within two days.
In the fighting,' however, some 500
were killed and an estimated 1900
were wounded, including many civil
ians.
Bao Dai openly deplored M.
Diem's handling of the crisis. So
did French Premier Edgar Faure,
who observed that M. Diem had
proved" he was incapable of gov
erning. The summons to Cannes
followed.
Who wins the struggle for leader
ship-Bao Dai or Diem-depends to
a great extent on France and the
United States, who share the pro-
tector's role in southern Wet Nam.
Washington wants to keep pushing
ahead with M. Diem. Paris, which
considers the premier anti-French,
would prefer to get rid of him.
Where's a Better Man? ,
But, Washington asks, where can
q better man be found? This is a
valid question. M. Diem is the only
true nationalist of stature in sight
who has not been tarred with the
brush Of colonialist or of collabora-
tion with Saigon's unsavory ele-
mentS.
Moreover, the fundamental trou-
BILE in Wet Nam is not the man at
the top, 1t is the situation. First
the dissension among the diverse
contending factions must be dealt
with. The provisional assembly
yesterday ordered M. Diem to carry
out what looks like a good plan to
end the chaos-form a national as
sembly to vote the country's policies
instead Of fighting over them.
France, however, still holds q pow
erful hand in Wet Nam. M. Diem's
army Is at the mercy Of the French
Expeditionary Force for its supplies.
The premier's best hope is that
the United States can bring enough
pressure on the French TO keep them
supplying his army. After all, the