A joint American/GVN move against the supposed headquarters of the NLF/North Vietnamese would serve two purposes, then: protect Lon Nol and demonstrate that Vietnamization really was working. The mood in the Oval Office just before the Cambodian "incursion" at the end of April 1970 bordered on the desperate. (A year earlier American B-52 bombers had begun in secret to bomb enemy bases in Cambodia.) He also demanded that Communist forces leave Cambodia and accepted the South Vietnamese government's offer to apply pressure against those located near the border. Nol closed the port of Sihanoukville to supplies destined for Communist forces in the border bases and in South Vietnam. In early 1970 Cambodia's neutralist leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, was overthrown by his pro-Western Defense Minister, General Lon Nol. Because of the proximity of the Cambodian bases to Saigon, they received first priority. Neither program could thrive if South Vietnam's forces were distracted by enemy offensives launched from bases in Cambodia or Laos. combat units slated to leave South Vietnam during 19, time was a critical factor for the success of Vietnamization and pacification. To the Nixon administration, Abrams' desire to attack the Communist sanctuaries had the special appeal of gaining more time for Vietnamization. By harboring enemy forces, command facilities, and logistical depots, Cambodian and Laotian bases threatened all the progress the allies had made in the South since Tet 1968. commanders, who regarded the restriction as a potentially fatal mistake. Bases outside South Vietnam had been strictly off limits to allied ground forces.
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