Richard M. Nixon Cam bodian Incursion address Good evening my fellow Americans. Ten days ago, in my report to the nation or Vietnam i anno unced a decis ion to w ithdraw an additional 150, 000 Americans from Vietnam over the next year. I said then that I was making that dec is ion despite our concern over increased enemy activity in Laos, in Cambodia, and in South vietnam And at that time i warned that if i concluded that increased enemy activity in any of these areas endangered the lives of Americans remaining in Vietnam I would not hesitate to take strong and effective measures to deal with that situation. Despite that warning, North Vietnam has increased its m ilitary aggression in all these areas, and particularly in Cambodia Af ter full consultation with the National security Council, Ambassador Bunker General abrams and my other advisors, i have concluded that the actions of the enemy in the last 10 days clearly endanger the lives of Americans who are in Vietnam now and would constitute an unacceptable risk to those who will be there af ter withdrawal of another 150, 000. To protect our men who are in Vietnam, and to guarantee the continued success of our withdrawal and vietnam ization program I have concluded that the time has come for action Tonight, I shall describe the actions of the enemy the actions i have ordered to deal with that situation, and the reasons for my decision Cambodia--a small country of se las been a neutral nation since the ge neva Agreement of 1954, an agreement incide nta lly which was signed by the government of North Vietnam. American policy since then has been to scrupulously respect the neutra lity of the Cambodian peo ple. We have mainta ined a skeleton diplomatic mission of fewer than 15 in Cambodia's capital, and that only since last August. For the previous four years, from 1965 to 1969, we did not have any dip lomatic miss ion whatever in Cambodia, and for the past five years we have provided no mi litary assistance w hatever and no economic ass istance to Cam bodia North Vietnam, however, has not respected that neutrality For the past five years as indicated on this map, that you see here north vietnam has occupied military sanctuaries all along the Cambodian frontier with South Vietnam Some of these extend up to 20 miles into Cam bodia. The sanctuaries are in red and as you note they are on both sides of the border. They are used for hit-and-run attacks on American and south vietnamese forces in south vietnam These Communist-occupied territories contain major base camps, training sites, logistics facilities, weapons and ammunition factories, airstrips, and prisoner of war And for five years neither the United States nor South Vietnam has moved against these enemy sanctuaries because we did not wish to violate the territory of a neutral nation. Even after the Vietnamese Communists began to expand these sanctuariesRichard M. Nixon: Cambodian Incursion Address Good evening my fellow Americans. Ten days ago, in my report to the nation on Vietnam, I announced a decision to withdraw an additional 150,000 Americans f rom Vietnam over the nex t year. I said then that I was making that decision despite our concern over increased enemy activity in Laos, in Cambodia, and in South Vietnam. And at that time I warned that if I concluded that increased enemy activity in any of these areas endangered the lives of Americans remaining in Vietnam, I would not hesitate to take strong and ef fective measures to deal with that situation. Despite that warning, North Vietnam has increased its military aggression in all these areas, and particularly in Cambodia. Af ter full consultation with the National Security Council, Ambassador Bunker, General Abrams and my other advisors, I have concluded that the actions of the enemy in the last 10 days clearly endanger the lives of Americans who are in Vietnam now and would constitute an unacceptable risk to those who will be there af ter withdrawal of another 150, 000. To protect our men who are in Vietnam, and to guarantee the continued success of our withdrawal and Vietnamization program, I have concluded that the time has come for action. Tonight, I shall describe the actions of the enemy, the actions I have ordered to deal with that situation, and the reasons for my decision. Cambodia -- a small country of seven million people -- has been a neutral nation since the Geneva Agreement of 1954, an agreement, incidentally, which was signed by the government of North Vietnam. American policy since then has been to scrupulously respect the neutrality of the Cambodian people. We have maintained a skeleton diplomatic mission of fewer than 15 in Cambodia’s capital, and that only since last August. For the previous four years, from 1965 to 1969, we did not have any diplomatic mission whatever in Cambodia, and for the past five years we have provided no military assistance whatever and no economic assistance to Cambodia. North Vietnam, however, has not respected that neutrality. For the past five years, as indicated on this map, that you see here, North Vietnam has occupied military sanctuaries all along the Cambodian f rontier with South Vietnam. Some of these extend up to 20 miles into Cambodia. The sanctuaries are in red, and as you note, they are on both sides of the border. They are used for hit-and-run attacks on American and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. These Communist-occupied territories contain major base camps, training sites, logistics facilities, weapons and ammunition factories, airstrips, and prisoner of war compounds. And for five years neither the United States nor South Vietnam has moved against these enemy sanctuaries because we did not wish to violate the territory of a neutral nation. Even af ter the Vietnamese Communists began to expand these sanctuaries