7/29/2019 Cooper, Wayne L - Operation Phoenix- A Vietnam Fiasco Seen From Within ( 1972)

1/4

~ ~Operation Phoenix:A Vietnam FiascoSeen From Withinf f 3J3 wP (,-10-'7.By Wayne L. CooperA former Foreign Smlice officer,

COOP" spent 18 months tn Vietnammoat of it 4.' a Phoenix adviser atCantho, in the: Mekong Delta.MANY OF THOSE who r"",ognl,eour military mistakes in Indochina fan to acknowledge th e blundersof our quieter war for "hearts andminds." Yet we made most of the samemistakes in this other war of pacification that ou r armed forces made inapplying American weaponry.

Take, for instance, '''Operation Phoenix": That disreputable, CIA-inspiredeffort, often deplored as a bloody,handed assassination program, was afailure. I t was a failure for many relaDS, 1Il0st of them Vietnamese. I t wasa success in a way none of us intendedor would have wanted.

Th e origins of most CIA failures areobscure; the assault on the Vietconginfrastructure (VCl) was no exception.In the. midl96Os, th e Central lntellii""",,--Agencjr.hegan.lI..JlI:Q&!"am whichcame to be known as"Counter-Terrorlfor ,"CT." I t ~ w a s a unilateral Ainerit!anpr

7/29/2019 Cooper, Wayne L - Operation Phoenix- A Vietnam Fiasco Seen From Within ( 1972)

2/4

7/29/2019 Cooper, Wayne L - Operation Phoenix- A Vietnam Fiasco Seen From Within ( 1972)

3/4

7/29/2019 Cooper, Wayne L - Operation Phoenix- A Vietnam Fiasco Seen From Within ( 1972)

4/4