U.S. AIDE DEFENDS PACIFICATION PROGRAM IN VIETNAM DESPITE KILLINGS OF CIVILIANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01720R001100060029-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2004
• Sequence Number: 29
• Content Type: NSPR

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J.S. Aide Defends Pacification Program
Ap yed For Releap, 2004/1.0/28 ft~[FPMR017 11 0029-!
In V ietnam Despite ngs ox iviiiians
/A
By FELIX BELAIR Jr.
WASHINGTON, July 19-
The former head of the Ameri-
South Vietnam acknowledged
today that the agency's anti-
subversion program had result-
ed in "occasional" political as-
sassinations and the killing of
civilians suspected of being
Vietcong agents.
But the official, William E.
Colby, told the House Foreign
Operations and Government In-
formation Subcommittee that
the benefits derived from the
program-Operation Phoenix-
In uprooting Vietcong intelli-
gence apparatus "more than
overcome these occasional
abuses."
In prepared testimony Mr.
Colby gave the number of peo-
ple killed under Operation
Phoenix since 1968 at 20,587,
of whom 3,560 were killed from
January through May this year.
For earlier periods the number
of deaths were put at 2,559
for 1968,, at 6,187 in 1969 and
at 8,191 last year.
Two Republican Representa-
tives, Ogden R. Reid of West-
chester and Paul N. McCloskey
of California, charged that Op-
eration Phoenix had been re-
sponsible for "indiscriminate
killings" of civilians and the
imprisonment of thousand of
others in violation of the
Geneva Convention.
Mr. Reid contended that
"it is far from an ideal program
even in a war situation." He
said that "no court anywhere
would uphold the practice of
imprisoning a civilian - Viet-
cong or otherwise--without a
trial, denying him right to
counsel and without acquaint-
ing him with the nature of the
charges against him"
The Now York Times
William E. Colby
Asked by Mr. Reid whether
"unjustifiable abuses," such as
assassinationy, had been
brought to his personal atten-
tion, Mr. Colby replied afirma-
tively. He said that "in collab-
oration with. the Vietnam au-
thorities, we put a stop to this
nonsense."
South Vietnam in 1967 and
1968 was in a "wild and un-
stable period and a lot of things
were done that should not have
been done," Mr. 'Colby said.
"We have been trying to get
it stopped. with some measure
of success," he declared.
A former senior official of
the Central Intelligence Agency,
Mr. Colby resigned his post in
March, 1968, to join the staff
of the executive office of the
President. He was promptly as-
signed to Saigon as deputy to
Gen. Creighton W. Abrams, who
was ttr2n head of the United
States Military Assistance Com-
mand and director of the paci-
fication and development pro-
gram.
Formerly In Diplomatic Service
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Mr. Colby said the United
States should continue its sup-
port of operation Phoenix as
"an essential part of the war
effort" whose effectiveness had
been proved in "neutralizing"
the Vietcong underground.
`Not an Ideal Program
"It is not an ideal program,"
Mr. Colby said, but there are
some other things that are not
ideal that we are associated
with in Vietnam,. The Phoenix
program is not a a program of
assassination. In the course of
normal military operations, of,
police actions 'to apprehend
them, however, VCI [Vietcong
infrastructure] are killed , as
members ' of military units or
while fighting off arrest"
Thieu Accuses Minh of Lying;
Defends Role in Ouster of Diem
Continued From Page 1, Col. 7
night, however, was to rebut a
suggestion by General Minh in
several recent interviews that
Mr. Thieu was responsible for
the murder of Mr. Diem at the
time of the coup. Mr. Thieu,
then a colonel in the army, was
among the officers who over-
threw the controversial leader.
"General Minh has slandered
me," President Thieu said. "This
is undeserving of an officer. A
military man must have the
courage to tell the truth. I chal-
leApl ihavtedcFai"Release
it was clear from his com-
ments that ,who killed Diem?"
was developing as a campaign
Mr.. Colby served during
World War II in the Office of
Strategic Services. He was
twice parachuted behind Ger-
man lines-once in France to l
disrupt communications and!
later in Norway, to blow up a
vital railroad line. After the war;
he held United States Embassyl
posts in Stockholm, Rome and
Saigon before joining the Cen-I
tral Intelligence Agency.
The main thrust of his argu-1
Keens English I
serves a $6.25 a;
that will. please
of any rniiliona
Or any pauper
Or any person j
Phoenix was "entirely a South
Vietnamese program" although
originated by the Central Intel-
ligence Agency and supported
since its inception by United
States military and a few
civilian personnel and backed
by funds from the Defense De-
partment, Agency for Interna-
tional Development and the
C.I.A.
The United States role in
Operation Phoenix, he said, is
entirely advisory except for the
use of military personnel in
eral Minh who retired in 1964,1
has said that Mr. Thieu was
late in bringing ' his troops to
the Presidential Palace the day
of the coup, thus enabling Mr.
Diem to escape. He said that
Mr. Diem and his brother
would not have died had Gen-
eral Thieu turned up in time
and taken them into custody.
General Minh said that in
the midst of the coup, Ambas-
sador Henry Cabot Lodge
called him and asked that the
brothers be allowed to leave
the country. He said this would
n h
had not been allow" to e~s-
cape the palace to a hiding
place in Cholon.
preparation of dossiers against!
suspected Vietcong agents an
leaders and employment of
troops to run them to ground.
After capture, the prisoners
are turned over to south Viet-
namese authorities, he said.
When Mr. Reid and Mr. Mc-
Closkey pressed their com-
plaints, Mr. Colby argued with
quiet persistence that Opera-
n;
tion Phoenix was "designed to l
mese people 4;n
protect the Vietn
a
suovNsive pressure i ie
Communist clandestine organi-1,
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