THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: March 9, 1965
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/30: CIA-RDP79T00472AO01900020009-1
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/30: CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020009-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
9 March 1965
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam as of 0600 EST
.Internal Developments in South Vietnam
1. Elements of the South Vietnamese military
leadership are reported increasingly dissatisfied
with General Tran Van (Little) Minh, recently ap-
pointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
3. Despite statements from both the
Tam Chau and Tr Quang wings of the Buddhist hier-
archy.that monk Quang Lien was being ordered to
cease his peace movement activities, Lien presented
a four-point proposal for ending the war at a public
meeting yesterday. Essentially, he called for with-
drawal of Viet Cong regular forces to North Vietnam
and an. end to guerrilla attacks in the South, cessa-
tion of US air strikes against the North, withdrawal
of US and bloc advisers from both Vietnams, and
eventual peaceful reunification..
4. By, leaving implementation of his proposals
up to the Saigon and Hanoi governments, Lien may
,have intended the meeting as his swan song, but the
attendant publicity and the presence of another
official of the Buddhist Institute at the meeting
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suggest- tacit endorsement by the Buddhist hier-
archy. A follower of Tri Quang recently stated that
he considered the air strikes useful to bring the
war to a "decisive phase," and inquired of the Em-
bassy whether diplomatic soundings by foreign capi-
tals had brought any results.
Viet Cong Military Activity
5. The Viet Cong are continuing to apply in-
tensive pressure in the countryside, both through
armed attacks and widespread harassing actions,
minings and sabotage of land communications. Sharp
fighting was reported in Binh Dinh Province, about
265 miles northeast of Saigon, where the Communists
lost a reported 100 dead in an unsuccessful attack
against a government strongpoint on 8 March. Ac-
cording to a late MACV report on the engagement,
the South Vietnamese casualties included 30 killed,
18 wounded and 4 missing. Three US advisers were
wounded.
6. In Kontum Province, the Viet Cong on 7
March, entered two government-controlled hamlets
located near the Laotian border, They reportedly
kidnapped 87 civilians in addition to capturing
several of the defending militia.
Communist Political Developments
8. Moscow is continuing its efforts to fan
international concern over the dangers of the Indo-
china situation. A front page Izvestia commentary
on 8 March called the landing of US marines in Viet-
nam a "new phase in the aggressive policy of the
US," showing that Washington has decided to widen
the Indochina war. Using unusually strong language,
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Izvestia alleged that this "provocative step trampled
on the demands of peaceloving mankind to avert the
danger of an explosion of war in the whole world."
9. The latest statements from Peiping and
Hanoi reiterate standard formulations on US "aggres-
sion" and continue to omit any specific threats of
Communist counteraction.
10. Hanoi propaganda has noted the arrival of
the second detachment of Marines at Da Nang and
charged the US with "barefacedly intensifying" the
war. A Peiping People's Daily editorial of 9 March,
hailing Ayub's recent visits couched in terms
designed to imply that the Pakistani President, in
endorsing.a wide variety of Chinese policy positions,
also concurred in the Chinese charge that the US is
trying to "extend its aggressive venture and.thereby
retrieve defeat." Actually the joint communique
signed at the conclusion.of the top-level Sino-
Pakistani talks on 7 March omitted mention of Viet-
nam.
11. Chinese Communist propagandists also con-
tinue to hammer away at the Soviets for police
brutality at the student demonstration on 4.March
in Moscow. Peiping has publicized a protest by the
All-China Students Federation calling on Moscow to
"acknowledge its error and apologize."
.Communist Military Developments
12. There have been no unusual movements of
Chinese Communist or North Vietnamese forces detected
within the past 24.hours.
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