0 - The Black Vault

THE BDMCORPORATION
k
stop, Tran Oinh Tho recalls the impact of the coup on the program and on
the people involved:-
I
J
Those cadre who had managed and directed the
program were either arrested or removed for having been
part of the old regime. The few cadre who remained
free disassociated themselves from the program, Soon
after the military junta took over, its president
officially announced the abolition of the Strategic
Hamlet Program in a pe'oclamation that w.s widely
acclaimed by the public and secretly enjoyed by the
enemy, In some localities, the gains achieved through
two years of hard toil disintegrated almost overnight.
The Military Revolutionary %ouncil had acted out of
political necessity but had not foreseen the detrimental
consequences.62/
5. The Civilians' Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG) Experiment
In the eav'ly sixties, William Colby and his CIA colleagues came
up with the idea of arming the Rhade tribe of Montagnards in toe Central
Highlands to counter the growing VC strength in the area.63/ Up to that
time, the GVN had made few attempts to gain the support of the Montagnard
people; indeed they had actually antagonized them.64/ In 1-,58, there had
been a movement among them advocating autonomy. The GVN, seeking their
assimilation, responded to the somewhat passive movemert by confiscating
the tribesmen's crossbows and spears, further alienating the hillpeople.
The VC,
on the other hand, were actively promising tribal autonomy.,
Counselor Nhu saw the CIDG program as a means of building a
political base for his brother's government, which is what its originators
,et as their goal. Coincidentally, the project was designed to get the
cribespeople to participate in their own self-defense as well as social and
economic improvement. 65/
The experiment began in the small Montagnard community of Buon
Enao outside Ban Me Thuot in December 1961. It was undertaken in collaboration
with the RVNAF's
Special Forces and in coordination with local
civil authorities. Though US participation was principally under CIA
d 4 rection, the US Army Special Forces provided a military presence as well
as tactical and small unit training. The GVN, with considerable US AID
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