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“s . unt ‘4 a ie ~ : <7 ¢ : - * “2 One wondered whether or not thismight be done over and over again with other cad) being discovered next week. Jt would appear that the pacification was based —~espentielly on ea total ecohomic sybsidy and give-awey program. It was apparent that this emell herlet could be ettacked and overcome at any time even granting the will ef those inside the berbec wire to resist. an During the militery briefing I had pointed to en outlying government ne-ep end -Eesived why the Ve ted not attacked such an 150lated post. ~~ The psychological werfere officer replied thet in many cases the VC Jeft isolate: posts alone in a kind of working agreement with the Saigon government troops who in turn left them elone. This was one of the problexs the Americans sapd they faced and could account for the ability perhaps of some of these isolated “"pacified" hanlets to survive, at least for a time. I wes aware, of course, thd ~“gome hanlets hed yndergone pacification up to six times. . ____The_ sound of the returning helicopter cut short our visit and we_said eur goodbyes and shortly were eirborne over the hamlet flying almost vertically vp to avoid crossing over hostile country where VC might take the helicopter und “-~ Lirey— It wes we bitter compleint ef the psychological warfare officer that most of the operations in the province were’ conducted from the 2ir or by shelling a jong distance from the ground. He felt that real pacificetion could never occur L__—anntil personnel -were—actueliy-on—the-ground and working throughout the -prevince. A likelihood ef this occuring in the near future did not seem bright to him. On could only conclude that with over 400 hamlets to go any idea that the "end inde ie in sight"-is a myth, As ea matter of fact, this was clearly recognized by the Provrep who ruefully said we really have only one pacified province in all of Vietnam, He was referring to An Giang which is a province with specific ethnic end tribal minorities which heve historically been hostile to the VC. During my visit, I once again made the trip by land through Phouc Tuy Province which had been declared pacified several times. There were the same forts where Americans and Vietnamese lived in encampments behind concrete and darbed wire. -There were?the same regrouped peasants in meke-shift villages amid @ devastated and destroyéd countryside. The only difference was that this time the American militery presence had been augmented by Austrelian militery personn who traversed the main road with enormous canon carried om great, wide half-trac vehicles. There were also extensive mobile mortar companies which shelled the hills ef the province both by day and by night. Aerial surveillance continued with observer planes being the pilot fish for air strikes. Any idea that this province was "pecified" any more than it was a year ago would be hard to sustain And it is important to realize that, basically, pacification has meant to the military not winning ever the Vietnamese people but making it possible to enter the province without being shot at, - . I held long conversations with Dr. Au Truong Thanh who was Minister of Finance under Diem but was later imprisoned by Diem. He was also briefly Minist of Finance under President Ky but was later imprisoned’ by him as well. Dr. Than was @ peace candidate fof president but ruled off the ballot by the military jun In response to a question regarding the rise of anti-Americanism he said, "There dis almost’ a total lack of support for the American position." He indicated that Af a poll were taken among say 50 of his friends none would think that the U.S could in any sense win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese. ~~ : ame -zs-