0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
and was a major hub in the VC's lines of communications, It was targeted
on a cluster of hamlets located along the road which connected the VC
strongholds known as the "Iron T-'iang",:" and "War Zone D",
and adjacent to
"War -one C." The area, selected by Nhu, was accepted reluctantly by the
US as a means to provide a test of the new concept and because the US
wanted to encourage Vietnamese initiative in pacification.49/ One observer
provided the following sage assessment of the operation:
The five hamlets mo\ d and rebuilt in Operation
Sunrise turned out to have few able-bodied male inhabicants;
they were all with the VC. The people were
sullen and uncooperative, and most had to be moved
forcibly while their homes and belongings were Jeliberately
burned. It was highly inau'spicious and not, in
fact, typical of the program, But first impressions
are lasting ones. The U.S. press found the spectacle
oepeiiant and said so; it questioned whether a movement
to "win the people" could succeed on such a foundation.
50/
Counselor Nhu traveled extensively, seeking to publicize and
to energize the Strategic Hamlet Program, Over and over he stressed a
theme of "self-sufficiency", the necessity for Vietnam and the Vietnamese
to rely largely on their own efforts and -esiurces.5_/
The US on the other
hand, saw the host government's role in the process to be key to the proagram's
success and responded by increasng the size and magnitude of US
T
aid. In order to meet perceived needs, a US-GVN committee structure was
createa, Rehabilitation Committees were formed in each province with the
province chief as chairman and the U3 military sector adviser as - key
member.
A USOM-appointed AID provi-,cial representative took his place on
the province committee,
and an assistant director for rural affairs provided
a US embassy o,'_,view of the prograw. Soon thereafter, CIA and USIS
nad representatives assigned to the provinces working with the local committee
members. The US ambassador, Frederick Nolting, appointed his deputy
chief of mission to Nhu's comrmittee for Strategic Hamlets t3 enhance cooperation
and coordination at the national level.
5-22 I
A
•" ••