Nation: The Plight of The Doves

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South Vietnamese troops now handle almost all search-and-destroy sweeps. One result has been a sharp curtailment in U.S. casualties, which were down to fewer than 70 deaths last week. At the same time, there is no sanctuary in Cambodia free of U.S. aerial attack or safe from assault by the South Vietnamese. Communist supplies have been so cut that only the equivalent of about four truckloads a day reach troops in Cambodia, the Pentagon believes. This means that although Hanoi has 40,000 men in Cambodia, it can keep only about 800 men, or two battalions, engaged in combat operations at a time.

With the port of Sihanoukville (now called Kompong Som) closed, supplies come primarily along the Ho Chi Minh trail, and this route is under bombardment. In sum, the Pentagon view is that the Cambodia operation was so effective that ''time is now on our side." The U.S. public has, of course, heard such optimistic assessments from its military leaders before—and they have often been wrong. What is undisputed in the battlefield evidence is that since the Cambodian operation. South Viet Nam has enjoyed four of the six to eight months respite from pressure that the President promised as one dividend of his unexpected action.