"That kid left his shine box." "Yeah." "VC will create havoc any way they can." "They'd put a grenade in a baby's blanket with a baby still in it if they thought it'd do." "Come on." "I want to file this story." "You're gonna have Charlie boogying in the rice paddies before you're done, McKay." "That's what I like about these milk runs." "Gives you plenty of time to entertain the natives." "Blue Velvet, this is Golden Eagle 3." "Over." "Make it good, 3." "You're interrupting the Temps." "Over." "Say again, Blue Velvet." "Over." "You wouldn't understand, Golden Eagle." "What can I do for you?" "Over." "You can pick up a squad of rifles we've got under fire." "Over." "Give me the coordinates, 3." "Over." "That's Echo Lima, 1-5-niner-7-0-4." "Over." "Blue Velvet on the way, 3." "Out." "Lay down some fire, boys." " Everybody stay low." " Move, move, move." "Let's go." "Let's go." "All right, all right." "I'm coming." "Go." "Go." "I'll buy you a beer after that one." "Not a chance, buddy." "I got a date with an angel." "Flight 806 from Tokyo will be arriving at gate six." "There you go." "Zeke, I..." "I just want you to know how much you mean to me." "Hey, hey, listen." "It's just you and me here, you know?" "We..." "We never kidded each other before, not even when things got real bad." "And really, it's..." "I'm the one who should be grateful." "I mean, look at it like this:" "Uh, what other wife would come all this way just to keep her husband from getting a Dear John letter?" "God, if there's one thing" "I'm going to miss about you, it's your sense of humor." "Yeah." "I might miss that my own self." "Oh, I promise, I swear..." "I will not forget Katie's birthday again." "I'm gonna have it tattooed on my forehead." "Don't..." "Don't worry about Katie, about us." "You've got enough to do worrying about your men, Zeke." "Just..." "keep yourself alive." "Okay." "Carol, I've seen some things over here." "I'll tell you, it's, uh..." "It's just like everything you hear." "It's..." "It's death and destruction." "It's hell on earth." "It's a twisted limb..." "I just want it to be over." "You can't win this war all by yourself." "I realize that." "I'm just living one day at a time." "I've been having these nightmares." "It's like a bad double-feature or something." "And I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel." "I just see more of my people going home to their mamas in body bags." "Zeke, if I could do anything..." "There is." "There is." "There is something you can do for me." "And it's real important to me." "Well, baby, I just want you to be happy." "God." "I just wa..." "I don't wa..." "I just want you to live your life and be happy." "Get on a plane today with a smile on your face and just don't look back." "Oh, Zeke." "I love you, girl." "I love you and I know you love me, and that's all I need to carry me through." "Oh, Zeke." "Final boarding call for flight 1023 to Honolulu." "Hey, hey." "Where's my smile?" "I'll give Katie a kiss." "Newsweek bureau chief was tossed out of Saigon for writing articles critical of the ARVN forces and South Vietnamese government, and yet the press still has a responsibility to report the truth, even when they won't tell us what that truth is." "Ah, but the problem being that some of your people wouldn't know the truth if it jumped up and bit them." "Look, I'm starving." "Is anybody else here starving?" "Yeah, what we get is canned releases and staged briefings about structures destroyed and acceptable casualties." "All right, ARVN's a poor excuse for an army, and sometimes we got to second-guess the strategy that our guys run by us." "But the press is not helping win this war." "I mean, I'm not about to get excited whether they get it right or wrong." "I heard you got a little excited about Rivera's death and didn't want it reported." "I say that's none of your damn business, McKay." "Hmm." "Well, you know what I get excited about?" "It's when Alex gets excited." "Passionate about just any old thing." "It's only because of my undying respect for you that I would ever ruin a dinner date like this." "We're having dinner." "Hmm." "With a different agenda and some excess baggage." "The thing is, McKay," "I remember seeing your name on the duty roster." "I wouldn't want you to blow that for a night on the town." "Oh, no." "That's my chopper that has the duty, not me." "One of the generals uses it to ferry orders of pizza out to his commanders in the field." "Pizza?" "Mm-hm." "Pizza." "Last time it happened, I'd just evac'd some wounded from a bad situation, and I got my butt chewed because I had blood and vomit all over the chopper right before the pizza run." "Ain't war grand?" "Devlin." "Yeah." "Okay." "Yeah." "I appreciate it." "Thanks." "My source at MACV." "Something's happening up north." "There's now reports of increased VC activity in the highlands, Da Nang and Qui Nhon." "I think the VC are gonna violate the cease-fire and Saigon's gonna be hit." "You are looking for Jake Bridger?" "Uh, are you Miss Kwan?" "My name's Johnson, Marvin Johnson," "Sergeant Bridger's new partner in the hotel." "Yeah, where is Bridger, our idol, purveyor of the American dream?" "Where is my main man?" "There." "Excuse me." "Where?" "The urn." "Bridger is in the urn." "He was killed last week." "Killed?" "Oh, God." "No." "It's not true." "He was killed by the VC." "Who are you?" "Stacy Bridger." "Bridger?" "Jake Bridger was your father?" "Enjoy yourselves." "Alex, it is so good of you to come." "Well, thank you." "Lunar New Year's Eve, why would I stay home?" "Ah, yes." "The Year of the Monkey." "Down in Dogpatch, they will be shooting up enough fireworks to drive away the evil spirits for another year." "This is Jimmy." "Lieutenant Mc..." "Lieutenant Goldman and Lieutenant McKay." "Gentlemen, welcome to my humble establishment." "I have the greatest respect for you and what you are trying to do for my country." "Jimmy's a genuine philosopher." "Well, I'm glad somebody appreciates us." "I got to stop by the men's room." "Yes, but I am afraid that the masses are not attuned to the Americans as I am, but you can't blame them." "They have seen the Chinese, Japanese, French, come and go in their time." "And I suppose they think we'll be leaving too." "One difference:" "The Americans come and crusade to improve our standard of living, our lives, but we cannot afford what you want to give to us." "Motorcars, television, better homes, air conditioning..." "You know, the prices of food have doubled and redoubled since you arrived." "So, what do the people do?" "Oh, but war is good for business, Jimmy, right?" "Depends upon the, uh, clientele." "Listen, what did you hear from Jake Bridger before he went to that great PX in the sky?" "I heard he was killed a week or so ago." "He was merely a passing acquaintance." "Please, sit down and enjoy yourselves." "Excuse me, please." "Thank you." "Ahem." "Jimmy's heavy in the black market." "This Bridger owed his soul to the company store, and in Saigon, Jimmy owns the store." "Well, Bridger put in his 20, and he was on his way out when I was on my way in, but some of the guys in my outfit had an investment going with him." "Whatever it was, they can kiss it goodbye." "So how did Bridger die?" "Well, the word on the street is the VC killed him." "I talked to him about five or six days before it happened, and he knew he was in deep." "Excuse me, Lieutenant Goldman." "Telephone call for you." "Don't rush." "Alex, you work too hard." "You got to learn how to relax." "Yeah." "Right." "Lieutenant Goldman." "Yes, sir." "Captain Johnson..." "Yes, sir." "I'm aware of the story and of the pr..." "Yes..." "Yes, sir." "If you could just wait until..." "Yes, sir." "Tell the colonel I'll be there right away." "I thought I told you not to write the story about Rivera." "What are you talking about?" "You agreed not to use Rivera's name." "I didn't use his name." "Well, then, something you put in that story tipped off the brass." "Look, Myron, I know how to do my job, all right?" "I changed enough details to totally obscure his identity." "Why does Colonel Phillips want to speak to me right away, then?" "I don't know." "Look, something's wrong here, Myron." "Yeah, something is wrong." "Your holier-than-thou attitude and pontifications about the war, about the Army, and about people's right to know." "You can kill somebody in print just as easily as you can with an M-16." "Myron." "I knew the guy had a short fuse, but I think he was tough on you, no matter what happened." "I'm telling you, Johnny, there was no way they could have gotten Rivera from what I wrote." "Look, I'm sure you're right, but let's not let it ruin our evening, okay?" "You mean, Bridger didn't mention anything about our partnership?" "He wouldn't do this to me." "He was my buddy." "He was anybody's buddy when he smell a scam." "I was his wife." "I ran the hotel for him." "Then what about my money I invested?" "There is no more money." "Bridger gambled it all away." "Sorry." "Yo, Johnson, my man," "I've been scoping the establishment here, and this place is full of hot and cold running hookers." "Man, what are you talking about?" "I'm talking about I think you bought yourself into a piece of a cathouse, or at least thought you bought yourself a piece." "That damn Bridger." "Purveyor of the American dream, huh?" "Well, your "main man" has stole all my money." "Yeah, well, that serves us right for trusting a honky." "Wait, look." "Maybe Bridger had a will." "Yeah, a will." "And he mentioned the partnership in it." "Yeah, and maybe I'm Ann-Margret over here to entertain the troops." "Look, the money's gone." "Forget about it." "Come here." "I've got to show you something." "Check this out." "Now, check this out." "Open..." "Poker game." "I'll stake from the base dice game." "We're going to get your money back, Johnson, and then some." "Where are you going?" "You want to party?" "Please let me by." "Your number one guys." "We're the party guys." "Hey, what do you have in your bag?" "Please, just leave me alone, okay?" "Hold it." "Hold it right there." "Whoa, whoa." "Please, leave me alone." "Darling, honey." "Sweetheart, where did you go?" "I'm standing there in the lobby of the hotel, look around and you're gone." "This is my little darling." "See, we were having an argument, and she took off and, you know, fellows like you, you could understand something like that." "Honey, this is not the neighborhood to go wandering off in, so you stay right here, now, and I'll just get your bag, and we'll be on our way." "I take it y'all ain't from the Chamber of Commerce, are you?" "Aah!" "All right." "All right." "Zeke, please." "I don't care about the bag." "All right, tell you what." "Let's be reasonable." "You make an offer, name your price, and you got it." "We'll take the bags, be on our way." "Ah!" "No, we would like the bags first." "But we'll make an adjustment." "Welcome to Saigon." "Then you didn't make out much better with your meeting than I did." "No." "I did one tour too many." "A job in the military is not like a job at the local plant, 9 to 5." "I mean..." "I mean, you see your buddies get killed, one by one, and each time a little bit of you gets killed along with them." "This is my third tour now, and I'm probably tempting fate myself." "You loved your wife a lot." "Mm-hm, yeah." "I remember the day our daughter Katie was due." "I was coming in off maneuvers, and I got word that Carol was in labor." "I drove like a wild man to get to the hospital." "I did." "I got there, and I was running down the hallway and knocking people aside and..." "And there Carol was, holding our baby girl." "I've never seen her more beautiful in my entire life." "The trouble is," "I can remember everything about that day," "I can remember every single detail, but I can't, for the life of me, remember the date." "Was it the 6th or the 8th?" "I don't have the head for some things." "Maybe some things aren't meant to be." "Mmm." "Stacy?" "I'm sorry about your dad." "I mean, aside from trying to con me and every other GI in the hemisphere out of our life savings, your old man wasn't a bad guy." "I had to go through a lot to get over here, but I came to thank him for a letter that he sent." "Now it's almost as if he knew what was going to happen... and wanted to make contact with me after all of those years." "The safest thing for you to do now is to just get on a plane and go back to Minneapolis." "I want to go back to the hotel." "At least find out who he was." "That's why I came here to begin with." "And I want to take his ashes back home with me." "It's been a gorgeous day here in Saigon, boys." "So how has it been where you are?" "Vanessa wants to know." "There she is again, Ru." "I'm telling you, that's the sexiest voice I ever heard." "Then we'll didi back to the Club Savoy, where we're locationing every night this week." "The Club Savoy." "You know, maybe old Taylor's right." "When we get into Saigon," "I ought to be looking this woman up." "Come on, man." "There's more to life than something soft and warm, you know." "Oh, yeah, right." "Like what, voodoo?" "You know, you shouldn't knock what you don't understand, man." "You know, I've got an uncle who they call the chicken man." "That's because once a year he bites the head off a chicken, he drinks the blood, then eats the raw liver." "Gives him great strength." "You're right, buddy." "I don't understand." "Let's go." "Let's go." "What's the matter with you, Johnson?" "It's Taylor." "He's into a heavy-duty poker game downstairs, and those players are some bad customers." "All right, then, let's just go down, get him out of the game, get him back to base." "Uh-uh." "He ain't buying that." "And I tell you, there's something weird about this place." "If I didn't know any better," "I'd say we're in the middle of VC country." "I'm getting the MPs." "There's a Marine with a gun and a baby." "Hold it, now." "Hold it, now." "It would be a national crime for you to waste all your ammo on me instead of on Charlie." "Don't come in here." "There's a Marine in there with a gun." "He has a baby." "That would be Krusak." "Bridger tried to help him, but he's a crazy kid." "Tried to help him like he helped me, right?" "Don't judge Bridger until you know all the facts." "Looks like a pretty little girl there." "Am I right?" "Now, listen to me." "I got a little girl too." "When's the last time she had something to eat?" "Eat?" "I don't know." "Where's Kim?" "You take her away?" "No, no." "Now, you've got to believe me." "I didn't do nothing like that." "Somebody, uh, find out if anybody knows a Kim." "She's one of the girls who works here." "Is that the baby's mama?" "Her name's Kim?" "I..." "I love her... so much it hurts." "Yeah, well, love's a mighty powerful notion." "It's not her fault." "Ought to be gone from here, but Bridger never showed with what we needed." "I don't want to hurt anybody." "I know you don't." "I know you don't want to hurt anybody." "So you gotta listen to me." "I'm going to walk across the room now, real slow, and I want you to hand me the pistol." "Just real slow." "No problem." "Real slow." "Kim?" "Does she always leave her door open like this?" "Are you in there?" "Kim?" "Oh, my God!" "I was stationed at the embassy, but I'm AWOL." "I was gonna take Kim with me if Bridger got the forged passports." "Why would anybody do something like that?" "Kill her like that?" "Why did you go AWOL?" "I wanted to marry her, adopt the baby." "But they jerked me around on the forms I had to fill out." "So the commander got upset, was transferring me to a rifle platoon up north with the DMZ." "Hey, Sarge, there's MPs outside in the lobby." "MP?" "No way." "I can't deal with that, man." "No..." "No way." "All right." "Just calm down now." "I'll go downstairs." "I'll talk to them." "I'll help you any way I can." "They're here to take me, right?" "Yeah, they might take you, but as long as you didn't have anything to do with Kim's death, you're gonna be all right." "No, man, they're going to say I'm AWOL and that I killed her." "I can't take that!" " I'll go around back." " All right." "I'll take the baby to the other room." "I killed her." "I killed her." "I loved her, and I killed her... because she was using what I told her." "Her brother's VC." "She wanted to know about the embassy:" "the layout, where the guards were, the defenses." "And she just kept pumping me and pumping me." "I just..." "I just couldn't take it anymore." "So you did tell her things?" "I told her everything." "I told her everything." "All right, all right." "Look, listen to me." "Listen to me." "I hate what you did... but I just figure you're another victim of this whole mess that we're all involved in over here." "So now, you try to hold it together while we sort things out here, all right?" "Hold it together, man?" "This whole place is crawling with VC." "MPs don't get me, VC will." "All right, Johnson, you stay here and keep him company." "I'm gonna go downstairs and talk with the MPs." "Maybe I can get them to keep it under wraps." "No!" "Sorry." "That's all I can tell you." "Yeah." "I wrote it down." "Oh, man, that was a damn shame." "You tell them about the girl asking about the embassy?" "No." "I want to get back to base and tell Command." "Johnson, you go yank Taylor out of that card game and let's get going." "Come on." "May I speak with you for a moment?" "It's important." "And you're listening to the uptown sounds of yours truly, Vanessa Brown, live from the Club Savoy in beautiful downtown Saigon." "I wonder if she's a blond, brunette, maybe a redhead." "I'm telling you, buddy, a voice like that, this girl has got to be from the Midwest, strictly class, probably from Chicago." "Look, I'm telling you, Danny, this isn't where we ought to be, man." "Let's just get out of here." "Come on, Ru, I'm getting fed up with this hoodoo voodoo crap of yours." "Danny, I'm a marked man." "You're fine." "Oh, buddy, there she is." "She ain't from Chicago." "She is gorgeous." "Hey, I'm in love." "Hello." "Hi there." "Are you a soldier?" "Hey, what tipped you off?" "That's right, yeah, and proud of it." "Well, you should be." "We're proud of all you boys here." "So where are you stationed?" "Well, I just got transferred into Tan Son Nhut." "Really?" "I have some friends who work there." "You do?" "Well, maybe I know them." "Well, what do you do?" "Um, well, me and my buddy..." "Well, actually, right now we're working on some stuff that's..." "Well, it's top-secret." "It's classified and all that." "Lieutenant McKay, Miss Devlin." "Great place, huh?" "Yeah, it's a great place." "Uh, sir, is there any chance" "I can get a ride with you back to base when you leave?" "Not a chance, Ruiz, but no offense." "Yes, sir." "Listen, you see that lieutenant of yours, tell him I'm looking for him, all right?" "Yeah, sure." "Thanks." "Hey, Ru." "Ru, it's all set, man." "Let's get a beer." "What's all set?" "I got a date with Vanessa as soon as she gets off her shift." "She's got a girl for you." "Forget it, Percell." "I told you I got a bad feeling about Saigon." "I just want to get out of here." "Look, man, I got it all greased." "You know what I told her?" "I told her the stuff you and I are doing at the base is totally strategic and completely classified." "There you go, man." "You're lying again." "I'm also here killing people, Ru, but that doesn't make me a bad person, does it?" "You okay?" "You know, Myron didn't want me to file that story." "Maybe I should have listened to him." "Well, believe me, he'll be all right." "He's not in any trouble with anyone, just on a little snipe hunt down the Phu Loc highway." "Snipe hunt?" "What are you talking about?" "Myron didn't say anything about the Phu Loc highway." "Yeah, well, we were told it was dead out there anyway." "You don't listen to a thing I say, do you?" "What you're told sometimes has nothing to do with the way it is." "Now, what's going on?" "What can I say?" "The call Goldman got was staged." "Staged?" "Mm-hm." "So hate me." "Look, I wanted to be with you, okay?" "Alone." "When I left you at the restaurant and went to the men's room," "I set it up." "That call was phony?" "Yeah, a buddy who owed me impersonated Captain Judson." "Why the Phu Loc highway?" "I figured the further the wild-goose chase, the better." "My buddy told Goldman that Colonel Phillips was out there with a Swedish news team." "Wait." "Where are you going?" "Where the hell do you think?" "There's VC activity all over there." "Look, hold on, hold on, hold on." "Okay, I'll take you." "I never would have sent Goldman out there if I knew there was any real danger." "That was a stupid thing to do!" "Hey, he's probably back at base by now short-sheeting my rack." "Or tying a grenade to it." "Look, there he is." "Aah!" "Ugh!" "Aah!" "Five hundred dollars." "Taylor, come on." "I got to talk to you." "Not now, breeze, I'm on a roll." "Four nasty nines, meet four lovely ladies." "Go downstairs." "I'll go around back." "Hey, what's going on?" "I've been trying to tell you." "There's been a shooting." "There's White Mice and MPs all over." "MPs?" "Hold up." "Hold up?" "Hell, she got our money." "Damn it, Marcus, would you listen to me?" "You told me." "There's been a shooting." "But it ain't more important than getting this money back." "You give me more." "Listen." "I get it." "You give me more." "Bridger!" "Uh, go ahead." "Hey, you're supposed to be..." "Yeah, dead, right?" "I know, but that ain't exactly the truth." "You will be when I get my hands around your neck!" "Hey, man, Johnson, lighten up." "I invested every penny I had in this world." "I was gonna make good... until the VC moved in." "They got our hotel." "They won't get me." "He's telling the truth for the first time in his life." "Zeke-a-deke!" "You got the papers from Lisa?" "Yeah, I got the papers from Lisa." "I ought to let Johnson have you for what you put him through." "Listen, man." "I don't blame you if you do." "But first, take a look at the papers." "Coffin full of AK-47s." "Obviously, he doesn't read Vietnamese." "They're VC operational orders." "Tells you where the weapons caches are, satchel charges." "Yeah, more AK-47s." "So what?" "No, no, no." "That's what I'm talking about." "I mean, they're storing them in graves, and not just cemeteries in Saigon." "All over, man." "Zeke, this is a major move." "Keep talking, Bridger." "No." "Next time I talk will be in front of that big air conditioner in MACV." "You son of a bitch." "The only reason you know what Charlie's doing is because you've been working with him." "No." "I just sold the rooms." "It's not my fault some dumb GI's gonna tell those hookers their whole life story." "The least you could have done was told the dumb GI the hookers were VC." "I did my 20 years, and I'm done educating GIs." "Besides, you think MACV cares where I got my information?" "I don't like the smell of this, and I definitely don't like you." "The best thing to do is just get him back to MACV." "You're right, and I got the jeep downstairs." "I'm telling you, he's incredible." "Johnson, get the jeep." "Wait a minute." "Whoa, whoa." "It's already past curfew." "We need something." "Here, take this." "Dad?" "They told me you were dead." "I know they did." "Uh, honey, I'm sorry about that." "What do you mean?" "You mean, you knew I was here, and you let me believe?" "Look, I was gonna tell you." "Believe me." "When?" "When were you going to tell me?" "Stacy, you got to understand something." "Your old man, he makes big mistakes, and I had to make people think I was dead, and if you knew that, you would have been in danger." "Bridger, let's go." "Zeke, this is important." "Let me bring her to the hotel..." "No!" "I'm going with you." "Look, you came a long way to find your father." "You didn't find much." "I'm still glad I found you." "Let's do it." "Myron." "Myron, look, the whole thing was stupid, and Johnny's admitted it." "I damn near got killed out there!" "Hey, Goldman." "I'm sorry." "What can I say?" "Right here, if you feel like it." "I guess I deserved that." "I don't like playing games." "Neither do I. Are you gonna deck me too?" "All right, fine." "You wanted a story on Tet?" "This is a map outlining the defenses of Tan Son Nhut." "These are blank civilian ID cards so you can get on the base." "I took them off the VC that I killed." "Damn." "Charlie's gonna be paying us a visit." "You know, Danny, you're a real disappointment." "Oh, hang on." "I thought you were going to tell me more about that exciting job of yours." "Why is it all you seem to want to know about is my exciting job at Tan Son Nhut?" "You know, you never one time asked me where I was from." "Ru, old buddy, did anyone ever ask you where you were from?" "I don't care where I'm from, just where I'm headed, huh." "Hey, hold up." "Jeez, we're in no man's land." "Where are we?" "I told you." "I live here." "Don't you want to come to my house?" "Percell." "But it is after curfew, and..." "Old buddy, tell me that that was firecrackers." "Firecrackers, hell." "That was gunfire." "We've got to get back to base." "Percell!" "Oh!" "Uh!" "Damn it!" "Ru!" "Ru, buddy, tell me you're okay." "Yeah." "Come on, sit up." "I'm telling you, another bullet with my name on it." "I told you." "I told you I'm a marked man." "Look, Ru, they were VC." "Buddy, we got to go." "Come on." "Come on." "That ain't fireworks for the Tet New Year," "I can tell you that." "Take cover!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "All right, there's an MP with a radio." "Taylor!" "Yo!" " Can you cover us?" " Yo!" "All right, let's go!" "Okay, Taylor, let's go!" "All right, we're moving up." "Watch the rooftops." "Let's do it!" "What the hell is going down here?" "Fighting's going on all over the city, including the American Embassy and government radio station." "We got two American civilians here." "Where do we take them?" "There's an Army headquarters about two blocks that way." "We'll cover you." "All right, we're going across." "Zeke!" "Ugh!" "No!" "Aah!" "Ohh!" "I tried, huh?" "Well, I messed up, huh, Stacy?" "No." "Hey, you saved my butt." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!" "Look alive, stay alive." "All right, the 199th has everything from Thong Nhut Boulevard south." "We got everything from here to the embassy." "The Marines got that situation under control?" "Well, they took the VC off the grounds this morning, but they took some casualties." "I don't know how many." "All right, well, LT, do me a favor." "Next time that lady correspondent tries to tell you something, you listen." "Sergeant, I told her I would listen." "She told me she would buy me dinner." "If you live till dinner." "I'll just take the high ground." "LT, in Saigon, there is no high ground." "I know that." "All right, let's go." "Let's do it." "Let's do it." "Watch the roofs." "Watch for booby traps." "Keep your intervals." "Stay alive." ""Dateline Saigon." ""The bold, massive attacks on Saigon" ""and nearly every province and district capital" ""across South Vietnam" ""were shocking." ""For years the North Vietnamese and Vietcong" ""have fought in the rice fields and jungles." ""Now, for the first time, they're fighting in the cities" ""in their biggest offensive of the war," ""demonstrating an ability" ""to plan and coordinate a nationwide attack." ""This raises new questions about enemy strength" ""and the prospects for American victory." ""To say we are now closer" ""to the light at the end of the tunnel is to fly in the face of all evidence.""