SOUTH VIET NAM THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, THE 
U.S . HAS BEEN URGING SOUTH VIET NAM'S PRESIDENT NGO DINH 
DIEM TO DECLARE A GENERAL AMNESTY FOR COMMUNIST VIET CONG GUERRILLAS 
IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE WHOLESALE DESERTIONS FROM THE RED CAUSE . 
DIEM WAS IN FAVOR OF THE IDEA . BUT HE ALWAYS 
REPLIED THAT AS ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAITED TWO YEARS AFTER THE BEGINNING 
OF THE CIVIL WAR BEFORE ISSUING HIS EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, HE, TOO, 
WOULD WAIT FOR A PROPITIOUS MOMENT SO THAT THE MOVE COULD 
NOT BE INTERPRETED AS A DESPERATE GESTURE BY A SINKING GOVERNMENT 
TO ROUND UP POPULAR SUPPORT . LAST WEEK, CONFIDENT THAT THE 
WAR AGAINST THE REDS HAD TAKEN A TURN FOR THE BETTER, 
DIEM FINALLY PROCLAIMED AN " OPEN ARMS " CLEMENCY PROGRAM . 
DIEM'S DECLARATION WAS SPEEDED BY THE ENCOURAGING RESULTS OF AN INFORMAL 
GOVERNMENT CLEMENCY PROGRAM IN EFFECT SINCE FEBRUARY THAT HAS CAUSED THE 
DEFECTION OF MORE THAN 2,700 VIET CONG FOLLOWERS, INCLUDING SEVERAL MINOR 
RED OFFICIALS . UNDER THE TERMS OF THE NEW PROCLAMATION, RED 
DEFECTORS " WILL BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO REFORM AND REDEEM 
THEMSELVES BY DEEDS, AND DEPENDING ON THESE DEEDS, WILL BE ENTITLED 
TO LIGHTER SENTENCES OR BE ABSOLVED OF PAST OFFENSES . " 
BUT THE OFFER OF AMNESTY APPLIES ONLY TO VIET CONG SYMPATHIZERS 
AND NOT TO HARD-CORE COMMUNIST CADRES, WHO, DIEM FEELS, ARE INCAPABLE 
OF REHABILITATION . DIEM'S ANNOUNCEMENT CAME ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF 
THE START OF HIS GOVERNMENT'S STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM, UNDER WHICH 59 
PER CENT OF THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BROUGHT INTO 
VILLAGES SURROUNDED BY MOATS AND BAMBOO FENCES . AS IF IN 
CELEBRATION OF THE EVENT, GOVERNMENT FORCES BEAT BACK A VIOLENT VIET 
CONG ATTACK AGAINST A NETWORK OF VILLAGES AROUND THE CITY OF 
QUANGNGAI, SOME 250 MILES NORTHEAST OF SAIGON, WHERE THE GOVERNMENT SET 
UP A SUCCESSFUL FORTIFIED VILLAGE COMPLEX IN AN AREA THAT THE 
REDS HAD PREVIOUSLY CONTROLLED . DEPARTING FROM THE USUAL COMMUNIST HIT-AND-RUN 
TACTICS, A BATTALION OF REDS ATTACKED THE HAMLETS UNDER COVER OF 
DARKNESS, DROVE TO THE EDGE OF THE U.S . MILITARY COMPOUND 
IN THE CITY WITH A GRENADE ASSAULT BEFORE BEING DRIVEN BACK 
. " IT TOOK TWO DAYS FOR THE GOVERNMENT FORCES TO 
STAMP OUT THE FIRE, " SAID ONE U.S . OFFICIAL . 
" AFTER THAT, THEY MANAGED TO GAIN THE INITIATIVE, AND THAT'S 
WHAT THEY'RE KEEPING . / 