CRITICS CONCEDE GAINS BY(Classified)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200220011-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: July 10, 1957
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 1999/g 7Rj=
CRITICS CONCEDE JUL x o ,
GAINS BY ~ODTIER
! . ? CPYRGHT
'Say Now Pacification Chief
Is Off to a Good Start.
was named Deputy Amoassa- civilians and 25 are military threatened to resign when Mr,
dor on May 11. He was as officers. At the end of July, '
signed as an aide to Gen.. when two officers end their Komer's appointment was art.
William C.? Westmoreland, the tours of duty, they will be their nounced, "but he seems to have
-C-1 I
America mllitaiytyomm nd r, placed by civilians, bringing brought it off. He does, his
with
for 1 ratio to 24 to 23 1 homework he puts in Iona!
1e
y
.
.
.
SpeclAl to The Now Yock Times Lary logistics With the rolitical'oncc to persuade military staff
SAIGON, South Vietnam,
his
tin
ff
g
ec
were dismayed. Mr. Komer in-issuing directives a
July 9-Critics of Robert W. officers'
komer, the controversial for-j%lould see to it that civilians are resentful of his presence
'mer Presidential assistant, con-'got at least. a third of the jobs., and his power.
(cede that he has accomplished When the appointments were;! More difficulties may conic,
more than they had expected' approved, but not annomicrd,l'when the pacification unit,
during his first two months in(last week?Mr. Kamer had his;' which was grafted almost!.
South Vietnam. 1wAY whole onto the military com-i
A nun-,.her of officials who. Of the 47 officials involver!,( mand, tries to absorb somel
:threatened to resign when theylinformed sources said, 22 are; traditional military function's,!
learned that Mr. Komer was civilians and 25 are militaryi such as intelligence and psy-
being sent here have not only officers. When one of the chological warfare.
(reconsidered but have become. cers ends his tour of duty on l ' For the most part, how
this ardent supporters. July 15, he will be replaced by ever, observers say Mr. Komer
Mr. Komer, whose sometimes a^ civilian, bringing the ratio to has accomplished the organ-
2., to 24. izational phase of his job well.
abrasive personality earnedhim ~.
Of the 47 .officials involved, It isn't easy to admit,"
informed the nickname "the Blowtorch,'! nformed sources said, 22 arc (said a }oung civilian who had
antiguerrilla pacification drive.)
Expected ! hours and he'll fight for his
The' program is run by tha! Less Fight Than E.
South Vietnamese, with the l "What surprised mc," said; ideas."
Americans functioning as ad- 'one civilian," is the degree to "I'm quite pleased," said an
visers and suppliers of logisti-,which the military gave us! older civilian, who is known
cal assistance. The purpose of 1 what we wanted. They put ups as a critic of Saigon planning.
the program is to improve liv- much less of a fight than I, for, "We're beginning to the
ing conditions in rural villages; one, had expected them to." 1 g g get
in order to win the allegiance; Civilians had expected to be, benefits Komer talked about-
of the villages and to make theCtold they were unqualified fort military transport and sup-
areas secure from the Viet-' the key jobs because advisers plies and that sort of stuff
cong. will, at least in theory, advise plus our ideas. A general I
Mr. Komer has spent his Vietnamese provincial chiefs know said the other day he
first eight weeks on the job! not only on pacification and wasn't sure who had taken over
trying to build a more effective political issues byt also on the . whom in this thing."
support organization and work- deployment of national guards _---
ing out a plan for accelerating men and militiamen. In addi
the pacification effort. The
plan, called Operation Take- tion, all but one of the provin-?
off, was presented to Secretary; cial chiefs are themselves sol-.
of Defense Robert S.' Mc- Biers.
Namara but has not been made;` A number of civilians with
public. ..I1wide experience in Vietnam
Substantive Problem Remains have been called back to as
The major test, in the view isume the new jobs.. The post
of most observers, will come
when Mr. Komer turns to the
substantive problem - getting
the Vietnamese Army and civil-
ian officials to do their job
with greater efficiency and
zeal.
When the plan was an- morcland's command, there arenounced, it was predicted that eight civilians for every soldier.almost all the jobs would go i? rile changeover was not ac-1,
to military men. Pacification complished without grumbling.
experts, who had hoped to Mr, .Komer is reported to
gilt,- ,ve raised his voice more than
combine knowledge of !,
of adviser in Binhdinh Prov
ince, for example, has been as
signed to Chalmers B. Wood,
a relatively senior Foreign'
Service officer who headed the-'
Vietnam task force in the State,
Department after serving here. ?
The senior American in each'
of the corps areas will be a
general officer. Mr. Komer is
"So far," one former critic
remarked, "Komer has not been
able to speed up the over-all
effort nu'?h. But I'm no longer
he won't he able P ported to have hoped to name
to, If this organ, -a Lion he has nc.theiaMekonghcDelta, Corbps out
no
ether c
to
't do it
we
,.:,
,
g
an
sufficiently qualified man could'
!ought to quit."
As part of the reorganiza-! be found, according to in-
tion, a single American offi-':formed sources.
lcial, either a military officer Civilians at Hcadquarter~
lor.a civilian, has been named(. Civilians redominate in the
to IMF ? 1A 8 067s: 01 DP75-00001 R0002002200
, 5 spe j5VIA
provinces and in the ! been estab is red in Saigon
try's 44 p to oversee the pacification
cities of Vungtau, Danang and
effort. Although the headquar-
B
W
APPLE JR
R
1-0
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