OPERATION PHOENIX

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, we're going to be looking at Operation Phoenix, the
Shadow War of Vietnam. It's also known as the Phoenix
Program and was one of the most controversial and secretive
counter insurgency efforts undertaken by the US during the Vietnam War.
Who Initiated in nineteen sixty seven. Officially run by the
CIA and coronation with the US military and the South
Vietnamese government, its primary goal was to neutralize the viet Cong,

(00:23):
the clandestine civilian support network aiding the Communists insurgency in
South Vietnam. Rather than engaging in traditional military combat, Phoenix
operated targeted suspected viet Cong operatives, informants, and political cadre
embedded within Southern Vietnamese villages and urban areas. The program
focused on identification, capture, interrogation, and assassination, often using local informants, defectors,

(00:49):
and Southern U Vietnamese security forces. Trained. At its peak,
the Phoenix Program at thousands of agents and operatives working
across Vietnam. US special forces, including navies in Southern or
South Vietnamese National Police, collaborated in raids and homes and villages,
extracting individuals of being tied to the Viat Kong. Many
were sent to interrogation centers, some of which were notorious

(01:11):
for their harsh and often brutal tactics. Others were executed.
From nineteen sixty seven and nineteen seventy two, they estimate
over eighty thousand individuals were neutralized, a term that included arrests, defections,
and killings, of which and estimated twenty six thousand could
have been assassinations. Proponents of Phoenix argued that it was

(01:32):
a necessary measure in an unconventional war where enemy forces
operated within civilian populations. By dismantling the Via Coong shadow
government and logistics, the US hoped to cripple the insurgency
from within. Some military strategists believe Phoenix had a meaningful
impact in weakening the Viat Kong's operational capabilities. However, the

(01:54):
program quickly became infamous for its lack of oversight, human
rights abuses, and mistaken identity. These innocent civilians were frequently
targeted based on fabricated intelligence or weak intelligence, and of course,
corruption and personal vendettas also shaped a lot of those
that were falsely accused. In nineteen seventy one, Operation Phoenix

(02:14):
came under public scrutiny, with congressional hearings exposed many of
its darkest aspects. Journalists, former operatives, and Vietnamese survivors testified
to the violence and lawlessness of the program. Critics labeled
a state sponsored assassination program. In response to the mounting pressure,
the program was officially disbanded in nineteen seventy two. Operation

(02:38):
Phoenix today remains a symbol of the ethical quagmire of
counterinsurgency and covert warfare. It is studied quite a bit,
not only for its tactical lessons, but for the profound
legal and moral questions it tends to raise about wartime conduct,
intelligence gathering, and the cost of victory. While the defenders
claim had disrupted the via cong networks, its legacy is

(03:00):
ever tarnished by the abuses. In many ways, Operation Phoenix
foreshadow the dilemmas the US would face in later conflicts,
such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fascinating operation indeed