Hoffmann Scores Vietnam Tactics

Stanley H. Hoffmann, professor of Government, said yesterday that the bombing of North Vietnam by the United States will neither lead to victory in the South nor help to bring about a compromise settlement to the war in Vietnam.

In a letter to the New York Times Hoffmann said that revolutionary wars have always been won on the ground and that decisive ground battles cannot be won in South Vietnam since the rebellion is too large and the central government too ineffective.

Compromise

"The bombings will not help induce our adversaries to accept compromise." Hoffmann said, since they do little to "bring the common interest in peace of powers outside [Southeast Asia] to bear upon [the war]."

"Even if the bombings are accompanied by a 'peace offensive,'" he continued, "they would make it difficult for the Soviets to help get Ho Chi Minh to the conference table."

Dismissing the effectiveness of offering "carrots" such as economic aid to the Communists, Hoffmann said that the United States can end the war only by finding "relevant sticks."

Hold the Cities

In an interview yesterday, Hoffmann suggested threatening a city-country partition of South Vietnam, as a means of attaining political leverage. "If we really want to force the North Vietnamese or the Vietcong to negotiate," he said, "we might send in many more troops to protect the cities, leaving the countryside to the Vietcong."

Hoffmann said such a move would alter the military situation in South Vietnam itself without risking massive Chinese or North Vietnamese intervention.