Objectives in Vietnam
Sm,—Mr Nigel Lawson, in his article 'Objectives in Vietnam' (July 8), betrays a fondness for the words 'escalate' and 'escalation,' neither of which appears in my dictionary, published in 1956. We have survived many' years without this word, so why overdo it now?
What Mr Lawson does not seem to appreciate is that in South Vietnam the Americans have got not even the shadow of a. popular figure to whom to tic their, policy. Air Marshal ,Ky may be an 'incompetent dictator,' as he states, but who is there to rally the South Vietnamese and inspire them with the will to resist? This seems to me to be the key to the problem and it will only be when the Americans can find some acceptable alter- native to Air Marshal Ky that their troubles, and the fears of Siam, Cambodia and Laos, will begin
to fade. C. R. A. SWYNNERTON Finca Las Chumberas, Alhaurin de la Torre, Malaga, Spain
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