PACIFICATION GAINS SEEN BY(Classified) IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200220009-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: July 17, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON PO6?
Approved For Releast1 9VI X tDP7
JUL 1 7 1967
pacification Gains S
By Isomer in_ Vietnam,
e ea o the n e c
States pacification effort in increase in the number of
Vietnam said yesteday we roads open to passage-"about
can't help but do a better job 90 per cent of the more impor-
can't tant roads militarily."
in pacification than we did be- He also said there have been
fore" because Allied forces 18,500 "returnees" from the
now have the "military initia- Vietcong over the' course of
'five." six months, compared to 20,000
Robert W. Komer, who as- for all of 1966.
sumed the post 15 months ago, The number of hamlets con-
said "the Vietnamese can take sidered "secure" at the end of
over a very substantial role in 1965 was 3900, he said, and
what they can do best-pacifi- 4400 at the end of 1966. He
cation of the countryside." said the 1967 program has
Komer said the trend of the "moved fairly slowly," but saidi
war has permitted the South he had had no figures. He said
Vietnamese Army to work the definition of "secure" was
more on pacification. He men- being reconsidered.
tioned the figure of 57 batta- Komer, executive assistant
lions and said the Vietnamese to Gen. William C. Westmore-
"should and will increase their land, U.S. commander in Viet-
forces." nam, said the request for more
Earlier, pacification efforts, troops "does not necessarily
Komer said, were "practically mean you're not winning the
(overwhelmed" by enemy mils- war." He said additional
nary activity and "never really troops would be used-to "com-
rgot off the ground." plete the, process" of winning.
1 "Now we have the military Enemy .'strength,, Komer
initiative," he said, "so you said, is not "constantly in.
now have the military Ares- creasing" but "has really prac-
sure off the pacifiers ... tically leveled off over the last,
oom to maneuver and operate six months." Sharp increases
without main force attackal' seen in the past; he. said,
Romer, : appealing on the "don't seem. jo be'. taking
.
flews ptogram Face: the, . lya- place " ~' ~? ` ? , "s ,, ", ` ,
Approved For Release 1999/09/07 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000200220009-3