THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00472A001900030002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 17, 1965
• Content Type: MEMO

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP79T00472A001900030002-7 ?
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
17 March 1965
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam as of 0600 EST
Results of the US Air Strike on Phu Qui
1. Additional post-strike photography of Phu Qui
taken on 16 March indicates that damage was more severe
than wasP revealed earlier. The preliminary photography
was made while smoke still partly obscured the target.
2. It now appears that there were 55 buildings
in the target complex. Eighteen of the buildings were
completely destroyed and 11 were severely damaged.
Communist Military Developments
3. No unusual Chinese Communist or Soviet military
movements which can be directly related to the Vietnamese
situation have been detected during the past 24 hours.
5. Hanoi radio claims in an international broadcast
today that hundreds of thousands of youths--30,000 in
Hanoi alone--have applied to join the army. These are
said to include demobilized soldiers.
6. According to press reports from Saigon, a
traveler returning from Hanoi has stated that the North
Vietnamese capital is engaged in evacuating children and
digging a network of bomb shelters.
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Communist Political Developments
7. There is still no authoritative Soviet or
Chinese Communist comment on the 15 March US air strike
against the DRV: and their sparse propaganda coverage
of the Vietnam situation contains no new themes.
8. One Moscow commentary on 15 March again
asserted that the "barbaric attacks on the DRV" have not
shaken the steadfastness of the Viet Cong fighters, and
that the Soviet government is taking "practical measures" 25X1
to strengthen the security and defense of North Vietnam.
10. President Ayub's public references in Peiping
advocating negotiations were ignored by the Chinese and
the joint communique on 7 March made no mention of Vietnam.
Peiping's official statements since then have reiterated
the unyielding Chinese position that removal of US forces
from South Vietnam is the "only road to peace." The
French Foreign Office, moreover, reportedly sees signs
of still greater intransigence in Peiping.
11. Peiping continues its efforts to make propa-
ganda capital out of the 4 March anti-American student
demonstrations in Moscow. In a protest delivered to the
Soviet Embassy in Peiping yesterday and publicized simul-
taneously, the Chinese "categorically rejected" Moscow's
12 March note justifying Soviet actions and accused the
USSR of attempting to "reverse right and wrong." Peiping
reiterated its charges of police brutality and once again
demanded Soviet apologies.
12. Hanoi's radio: in a domestic broadcast
on 16 March: claimed that many youths in foreign coun-
tries had volunteered to come to Vietnam to join in the
battle "against the US imperialists." This statement
appears designed in part to bolster North Vietnamese
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morale by indicating that the North Vietnamese do not
stand alone in their battle. The broadcast alleged that
youths in the ?ovi,et Union, Communist China, Burma, Cuba
and Indonesia had volunteered for service in Vietnam.
13. The Hanoi statement could also be intended to
serve as propaganda groundwork for any eventual decision
to use an actual "volunteer" force in North Vietnam,
Viet Cong Developments
14, The Chairman of the Viet Cong's Liberation
Front has called for a "day of unity against the Americans"
to be commemorated on 19 March. This appeal, directed
mainly to urban dwellers in South Vietnam, urges all
elements of the urban population to "open wide the
struggle movement" and to "continuously attack the enemy."
15. Although this call is undoubtedly designed
more for its propaganda value than as a directive for
action, it is possible that the Viet Cong may attempt some
spectacular terrorist act against US personnel in order to
give some substance to their "day of unity."
16. The clearest statement yet on the Liberation
Front attitude toward negotiations on Vietnam was con-
tained in a 13 March broadcast from Hanoi, quoting the
remarks at a press conference by the head of the Front
delegation at the recent Indochinese People's Conference
in Phnom Penh. He stated that "the NFLSV stand concerning
the convening of a Geneva type conference on Vietnam
requires first of all, that the US imperialists must
withdraw all their troops, military persqnpel and weapons,
and other war materiel from South Vietnam and let the
South Vietnamese people settle their own internal affairs."
This statement is the strongest indication since the air
strikes began that Vietnamese Communists will insist on
the withdrawal of US troops as a precondition for negotia-
tions.
South Vietnamese Political and Military Developments
17. No major political or military developments have
been reported in South Vietnam during the past 24 hours.
18. ?The final contingent of the South Korean force,
consisting of engineering, transportation and security
troops, arrived in Saigon yesterday. The total force
numbers 2,000.
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