THE WAR: The Last Grim Goodbye

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Meeting with some Republican congressional leaders last week, President Ford had some disquieting news from mystery-shrouded Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge have all but hermetically sealed. The victorious Khmer Rouge forces, he said, had executed 80 high-ranking officers of the defeated Cambodian army. Then Ford added: "They killed the wives too. They said the wives were just the same as their husbands. This is a horrible thing to report to you, but we are certain that our sources are accurate." Said one of the Senators who attended the meeting: "There was a gasp around the table." Other reports from Cambodia under its new Khmer Rouge regime—which already claimed a seat in the United Nations—were disturbing. Refugees reported executions of 100 wealthy or religious figures—and the numbers might rise. Four monks were said to have been shot to death on the steps of a pagoda when they refused to leave.

The new rulers announced that they would "firmly adhere to a policy of independence, peace, neutrality and non-alignment." Some observers thought that the statement was not directed so much at the U.S. as at Hanoi, which used Cambodia as a staging and resupply area for the war in South Viet Nam for more than a decade. But that would be cold comfort for the U.S. if a much-feared "bloodbath" were to happen.

In an important sense, the U.S. is now freed to make a new start, and to act with renewed vigor and judgment elsewhere in the world. But "putting Viet Nam behind us" may not be so easy, after all. Ending America's mental and emotional involvement may prove as hard as ending its physical involvement. The U.S. may have to live for some time with old—and new—nightmares.