THE WAR AT THE GRASS ROOTS: 'PACIFICATION' IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000400120024-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 20, 2005
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: September 26, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 200~/~~/aQ ~ C~~DP67B00446R000400120024-9
;~, U. S. -News ~ World Report
T~-0E WAR
"P~CIF6C
T 8~9~ GRASS SOOTS:
TB~4V" 9V~ VIEThVAPP~
After the big promises at Honolulu last spring, are Americans
making any real headway in "pacifying" Vietnam's villages and
rice fields? Are schools, hospitals, money, other aid building a
new nation? A survey by "IJ. S. News 8~ World Report" staff mem-
bers reveals d mixed picture. +n some places the nonshooting war
goes well. In others, Viet Cong reign with few signs of change.
SAIGON
Now moving into a new phase is the
"other war" in Vietnam-the "pacification"
program.
Aim of the program is to make key
areas of South Vietnam militarily .secure,
then to lift living standards and attack
social problems, as promised by Presi-
dent Johnson and Prime Minister Nguy-
en Cao Ky at their meeting in Honolulu
S1X mnn4tic wrrn_
';~CAfNQODia ;
~uANC ~ar~
~_
dhist elements tried to overthrow the
Ky Government. ?
An Giang. In this delta Province,
dominated by Hoa Hao, a Buddltiist sect,
there is some suspected collaboration
with the Communists. But almost all of
the Province is reasonably secure. Amer-
ican officials say that a whole complex
of social and economic projects is going
forward-including new cash crops, farm
credits and land reform.
The Agency for International Devel-
opment is the main civilian instrument
of the U. S. in the pacification progrmn.
. Although AID began its schedule of im- .
ports for the program late last year,
shipping bottlenecks at Saigon ? impeded
the flow. Only now are the imports be-
ginning to move in large quantities.
Inflation, fed by U. S. military spend-
ing, has caused trouble. Yn early stages
of the U. S. build-up, AID was pumping
some commodities into the economy
while the U. S. military was baying the
same commodities, pushing prices up.
But that situation has eased.
In some instances, U. S. determination
to get things done quickly has boomer-
anged. For example, difficulties have
developed with an attempt to "mass
produce' Vietnamese pacification lead-
ers at a special school at Vung Tau, and
the school's enrollment has dwindled.
Generally, however, American o(lcials
find some reason for optimism. Gen.
Nguyen Duc Thang, Minister for Pacifi-
cation in the Ky Government, is regard- .
ed by Americans working with him as
A "hi~hli~ht" report on those a:?eas:.
Many of the pron-ems or pacmcauo~e p~nn unu.. ~+? Y..i~..?..,?.,?., ....~ .~ . ___
are older than the war itself. Exploits- ~ Ham's largest Province. Military security. Government-long a worry-have been
YlolY of those problems-land hunger, :.has been achieved to a large degree by impa?oved.
lack of education, for example-has been _ the crack South Korean Capital Division ' Reds' reaction waPched. Americans
one of the strongest weapons of the and the 22nd Vietnamese Division. Viet- in the program feel that it has reached a
Communists. New problems are created namese civilian leaders working in the point where it can begin to woek. The .
by the continuing build-up of U. S. pacification plan are beginning to get re- '~ big ciuestion is how the Communists will
forces. ,suits that please American officials. ' .react.
On-the-spot surveys out in the prov- Gia Dinh. This is the Province sur-' Should the Beds decide to switch
inces by membees of the Inten~ational rounding Saigon. The situation shows im- .back from conventional warfare involy-
.,._.r _e ..rr a *t.....- z ~xI,..1.1 Ra.,.,v~" .~rnvamPnt_ /\tt~~lcs bV the U. S. First ink fairly large Units t0 guerrilla-typo
a nti t.Vr!r
scow that wnee-s o[ [ne paomcauou Div- .~,~,~.~._ .... ??????---??-- ------o------ - - - -
gram have stopped spinning and the the north and northwest have blunted the country, the pacification program
program is moving ahead in some re- the threat to Saigon. American and Viet- would be in trouble.
pions, while in other regions there has .namese intelligence is well co-ordlnated- Some observers here believe that the
been little or no progress. a first step toward pacification. U. S. then would have no choice but to
One yardstick that can be used is 4uang Nam. This is the area around invade Communist North Vletnnm, risk-
what has been happening in the last six ; : the Da -Nang air base. There has been no ing intervention by Red China.
months in the four areas that have high- progress here-chiefly because of political 'The prevailing view !n Saigon is that
est priority in the rin }~ a feel Bud- the next few months may prove crucial
j5~'8ved For Release'/~t/~~ :,~1~-R~b~7B0044.fiR000400120024-9
5~ o U. S. NEWS L WORID RE1'ORt, S~pf. 26, 1966
realistic, aealous and imagmat~ve. Also,
budgeting procedures of the Vietnamese
 Approved For Release 20,Q5/06/29:CIA-RDP67B00446R000400120024-9
U. S. News ~ Wor{d Repart
in deciding wl~etlier pacification can pre- American volunteer organization, the In-
vent escalation of tine war into a much
larger conflict.
Following are close-up looks at the
progress and problems of pacification as?
seen by members of the ' U. S. News &
World Report" survey team.
? , QUANG NGAI PROVINCE
"We are late, but we have finally
started moving,?' said a top American
official in this Province, which is often
called "the cradle of Vietnamese revo-
lutions.'?
Delay in pacification is understand-
- able. Into this Province pour troops and
materiel from North Vietnam. A few
months ago, U. S. mariues launched a
series of massive "spoiling attacks"
? against Communist infiltrators. Then the
marines left. Now there are more Com-
to pacify a village, how do officials in
Washington know how long it will take
to clear up the whole country?"
After months of frustration, however,
a new and tougher approach to pacifica-
tion is 'starting to pay off.
As one American officer put it: "We
began by attempting Hasty clearing op-
eratfons and calling the areas secure.
Then we turned around to find the areas
still loaded with small units of Viet
Cong. We have had to settle down to
weeding them out, hamlet by hamlet."
Road Po security. It has been found
that there are three steps to success:
9. Clearing an area of Viet Cong
units.
2. Securing that area with an outside
`arc of Vietnamese and Allied troops and
stationing local militia in villages and
3. Injecting 59-man "new life devel-
opment" .teams which screen and classi-
fy 'residents, establish a government,
train local officials, adjust grievances, re-
organize social and economic activities
and rout out the remaining Communist ".
Drive through"the area and you find '.
that methods of farming- are being im- .
proved, new schools are being built,
markets are being constructed, medical
services are available, bridges and cul-
verts-some blasted as many as 17 times .
by the Viet Cong-are in place again.
"Grateful Po U. S:' A comment
from 41-year-old Nguyen Lac, a hamlet .
chief:
"Our people are still poor. That hasn't
changed. But now we have a new ;
Homes being rebuilt with village labor, Bvlarine help and U. S. AID material in 'a repaired dam. We don't know whetlY-
Quang ?Nam Province near Da Nang. i-lamlet was leveled during fighting earlier..,' er to thank the Vietnamese Government
monists here than ever before-infiltra-
tors plus local recruits.
ternational Rescue Committee. A Span-
ish surgeon under contract to AID is
working in the Province hospital. An
American couple assigned by the Amer-
ican Friends Service Committee is pre-
paring to open a day school for children
of working mothers and war widows.
A representative of the U. S. Informa-
tion Service has helped the Vietnamese
start a biweekly newspaper to counter
clandestine Communist propaganda. ?
Program is "rolling:' Sit in on work-
ing sessions of the AID group and you
hear discussion of such problems as
these: how to get asugar-cage expert
assigned to the Province, which is the
center of Vietnam's cane industry; how
to speed shipment of spare parts; how to
improve coastal-shipping facilities.
No one has any illusions about the.
': help fs from whom. Yet we are more
size of the pacification job: Almost every " grateful to the U. S. than to our Govern-:
opinion offered is prefaced by the coin- ment, because our Government did not
help us before the Americans came."
?ne big problem is the lack of quali-
However, x,000 South Korean marines ment:
are permanently in the Province now; "It is going to be a long war."
and it is hoped by the Allies that the .But, even in this relatively remote
bolstered military force will provide a part of the country, there is a feeling
shield for the pacification program; that American power has started to roll
which is picking dip momentum. A local schoolteacher and politician put
Pore is big help. A reporter return- it this way: '
ing to the Province after an absence of
eight months finds big changes. For ex-
ample, amakeshift port is in operation
where there was none before. It manages
to unload 75 to 100 tons of cargo daily, .comes without being killed or losing
brought down the coast from Da Nang, what little they have."
Last year, AID officials here com-
come maladjusted and have the choice
of becorhing corrupt, too, or being
thrown out."
Vigilance is necessary to prevent ]nss
_ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _
20 per cent of what had been promised' ', ~~' ~ ~ of AID commgdities. James Herbert, AID
them. Now, adequate shipments are Quang Nam Province representative in the Province, said this:
lik
h
h
d
"Y
s
e a
ou
ave to watc
goo
oming in by eir as well as by sea. In this area, just south of the huge Da
The. sick are being treated by ari Nang military complex, you find no hawk, from port to hamlet, then re?
`~ merican Red Cross team and two medi- 'valid timetable for pacification. check to see if they are being used on
cal teams of 'refugees from Red Cuba ~ A V. S. Marine officer remarked: projects for which they were intended."
who work under the spoJ1~?~~~~{~rE1~2a0?'S1t>~~~~C~i~'~f~00'44.6R~~Ob~J~?g?~
point, the American-edtacated chief of
the Province, Dr. Nguyen Huu Cl~i, 31, ,
made this blunt statement:
"Three graduates of the National Ynsti-
"People here are convinced that the lute of Administration are sent to eaclq "
Government and the Americans are go- Province each year. But they're send '
ing to win, but they worry about how to , with no support into a system which is
get through the period until victory ' 'corrupt and inefficient. Soon they be-
U. 3. NEWS !. WORLD REPORT, Sepf. 26. 1466 ? ~ 51
 Approved For Release 2005/06/29; CIA-RDP67B00446R000400120024-9
U. S. News ~ World Report
VIETNAM WAR AT
THE GRASS ROOTS
[continued from preceding page]
tpe biggest battles are still to come. plaint of Province officials is that the
Viet Cong forces in Quang Nam have pacification teams too often leave hsm-
increased to 10,000 men-3,000 more lets with developments uncompleted.
~
than a year ago. They are supported Without adequate security, assassins-
by the North Vietnamese 21st Regiment. .bons and kidnapings by the Viet Cong
American officers arE confident of mil- ,are an ever-present danger. In recent
nary victory. Said Lieut. Col. Van Bell, months, the Communists have been re-
commander of a U. S. Marine battalion: leasing kidnap victims nfter a few weeks
"Pacification problems are a lot hard- of "indoctrination."
er to handle than fighting:' Viet Cong harassment is causing more
and more people to leave this area. So
TAN r4N, Long An Province there is a manpower shortage and n re- '.
"To pacify a hamlet is usually easy. sultant shortage of rice. An American
To keep it pacified is very difficult." agriculture expert says, however, that '
That comment came from aVietnam- progress is expected in production of be-
ese official in this Province southwest of _ tween-seasons second crops, such as mel- .
Saigon. The Province is impo-?tant be-
cause through it stretches the last leg of
on, and sugar cane, that can be pro-
duced without disrupting rice planting.
National Highway 4, the main road from The security problem is complicated .
the Mekong Delta to Saigou. Priority is ' by the presence of about. tt,000 ~;onunu-
being given to pacifyini; hamlets along . nist soldiers in the Province.
both sides of the highway. The program . ? Fear of reprisal. If pacification real-
Water wells have a high priority among ~ is intended to fill the dual need of secur--' ly is to succeed here, military experts ,
fhe self-help ,projects at village level... ing the yital transportation link and .: say, the village militia must be built up,
U. S. All] provided a market place in Giang Nam hamlet as part of the pacifica-
Sion program. It cost $33d, plus 150 bags of cement, 150 aluminum roof sheets.
The big difficulty, according to a
U. S. adviser, is that "the Viet Cong ac-
? tually can operate anywhere-and in the ,
disputed areas, the people are more like-
ly to lean toward the Viet Cong be-
cause they are afraid of reprisals."
The pacification program is showing
some results, but there are just not
? enough troops to assure security so that ,:
ciency behind a military shield. _ _,
pear ready to put much of the increas- ...
ing U. S. strength into pacification mis- ?,
sions, to speed results.
Wh1t has been developed so far,
American officials say, are concepts of '
"how to do it"-training leaders, estab-
lisping close liaison with district and pro-'
vincial chiefs, and determining how and .
. where. troops can pest be used to saFe- ,
bringing the Province's 380,000 people ', 6ndireet benefits. Said a high-rank-
. under Government conhol, ?ing American:
bl
b
'
'
e
e a
You really cannot ex~~ect to
So far this year, 13 hamlets have un-' :
judge results until next summer or?
dergone 'pacification "treatment" by ScJ- to
One of the 13 has gone back ~ next autumn. This first year was a time
man teams
.
to the Viet Cong because the security ' of ~ getting our organization together and
forces were unable to prevent a Commtr? consolidating our ideas."
nist battalion from making its presence While the program has shown few
felt and intimidating the peasants. concrete results so far, there m?e indica-
A total of 8 teams will attempt to Lions of indirect benefits to the Allied
. pacify 10 hamlets in the Province this cause. A young U. S. Army medic re-
year; the goal next year is 11 teams, ported, for example:
pacifying 22 ham]ets. Official records "il4ost of the civilians I heat come
show that S43 hamlets in Long Art Prov- from Communist-controlled areas. N .
__.. ~??
^:. ~~ u' tnrv! are earmarked for uacification. ~ _ one expects gratitude. IIut tunny of tl
Seven-room Que San High School is be- -Col. Nguyen Van Nguu, Province chref. .Communist forces-and that helps us get
ing built by stude~ppitbv~A Rhs+IteFE~eas~~'I'~`0@~083~$~o01~A'-~8?~`1B00446RQ~A0'~dl?4~F~-~cificittfon." LEND)