This study explodes prevailing myths about the Phoenix Program, the CIA's top-secret effort to destroy the Viet Cong by neutralizing its “civilian” leaders. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with American, South Vietnamese, and North Vietnamese sources, Mark Moyar examines the attempts to eradicate the Viet Cong infrastructure and analyzes their effectiveness. He addresses misconceptions about these efforts and provides an accurate, complete picture of the allies’ decapitation of the Viet Cong shadow government. Combining social and political history with a study of military operations, Moyar offers a fresh interpretation of the crucial role the shadow government played in the Viet Cong's ascent. Detailed accounts of intelligence operations provide an insider’s view of their development and reveal what really happened in the safe havens of the Viet Cong. Filled with new information, Moyar’s study sets the record straight about one of the last secrets of the Vietnam War and offers poignant lessons for dealing with future Third World insurgencies. This Bison Books edition includes a new preface and chapter by the author.
Mark Moyar is an associate professor at the U.S. Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, and the author of Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965. Harry G. Summers Jr. (1932–99) served in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War and was an instructor and distinguished fellow at the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Bison Books Edition Foreword, by Col. Harry G. Summers, Jr., USA (Ret.) Preface Acknowledgments PART ONE ORIGINS 1 Vietnam at War: Before Phoenix 2 The Shadow Government and the Viet Cong 3 The Shadow Government and the People 4 The War against the Shadow Government: Before Phoenix 5 The New Attack on the Shadow Government PART TWO INTELLIGENCE 6 Targets 7 Informants and Agents 8 Prisoners: Interrogation, Torture, and Execution 9 Ralliers, Documents, and Photographs 10 Misinformation PART THREE COORDINATION 11 The Challenge: Phoenix Centers 12 Attempts to Make Phoenix and Phung Hoang Work 13 Other Intelligence and Operations Coordination PART FOUR OPERATIONS 14 The Nature of Operations 15 The Birds of Prey 16 The South Vietnamese 17 The Americans 18 Neutralization of Non-Communist Civilians 19 Assassinations PART FIVE DAMAGE INFLICTED ON THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT 20 Neutralization Statistics 21 Actual Viet Cong Cadre Losses 22 Additional Setbacks for the Shadow Government 23 The Shadow Government in Decline PART SIX VILLAGER ATTITUDES 24 Abuse of the Population 25 Changing Attitudes 26 The Impact of the New Attitudes PART SEVEN POSTLUDE 27 Theories of Revolutionary Warfare 28 Reflections 29 Lessons Learned Glossary Notes Selected Bibliography Index
