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Phoenix Program
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Short description|CIA-led effort to eliminate the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War}} {{For|other uses of "Operation Phoenix"|Operation Phoenix (disambiguation)}} {{Campaignbox Vietnam War}} [[File:Phoenix Program (edit).png|thumb|Original unissued patch]] The '''Phoenix Program''' ({{langx|vi|Chiến dịch Phụng Hoàng}}) was designed and initially coordinated by the United States [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) during the [[Vietnam War]], involving the [[US military|American]], [[South Vietnamese military|South Vietnamese militaries]], and a small amount of [[special forces]] operatives from the [[Australian Army Training Team Vietnam]]. In 1970, CIA responsibility was phased out, and the program was put under the authority of the [[Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support]] (CORDS).<ref name="Lewy">Lewy, Guenter (1978), ''America in Vietnam'', New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 280-281</ref> The program, which lasted from 1968 to 1972, was designed to identify and destroy the [[Viet Cong]] (VC) via infiltration, [[assassination]], [[torture]], capture, [[counter-terrorism]], and [[interrogation]].<ref>Harry G. Summers, Jr., ''Vietnam War Almanac'' (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985), p. 283.</ref><ref>Guenter Lewy, ''America in Vietnam'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 283</ref><ref>[[William Colby|Colby, William]] (1978). ''Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA''. [[Simon & Schuster]]; First edition (May 15, 1978)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070711065505/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol51no2/a-retrospective-on-counterinsurgency-operations.html A Retrospective on Counterinsurgency Operations]. Andrew R. Finlayson, cia.gov</ref> The CIA described it as "a set of programs that sought to attack and destroy the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070711065505/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol51no2/a-retrospective-on-counterinsurgency-operations.html A Retrospective on Counterinsurgency Operations]. cia.gov</ref> The Phoenix Program was premised on the idea that North Vietnamese infiltration had required local support within noncombat civilian populations, which were referred to as the "VC infrastructure" and "political branch" that had purportedly coordinated the insurgency.<ref name = Ward>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Vietnam War: An Intimate History |date=2017 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |pages=341–343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4KyDQAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1-5247-3310-0 }}</ref> Throughout the program, Phoenix "neutralized" 81,740 people suspected of VC membership, of whom 26,369 were killed, and the rest surrendered or were captured. Of those killed 87% were attributed to conventional military operations by South Vietnamese and American forces, while the remaining 13% were attributed to Phoenix Program operatives.<ref name=Andrade>{{cite journal|author1=Andrade, Dale|author2=Willbanks, James|title=CORDS/Phoenix. Counterinsurgency Lessons from Vietnam for the Future|journal=Military Review|date=March–April 2006}}</ref>{{rp|17–21}} The Phoenix Program was heavily criticized on various grounds, including the number of neutral civilians killed, the nature of the program (which critics have labelled as a "civilian assassination program,"<ref name = Ward/>) the use of torture and other coercive methods, and the program being exploited for personal politics. Nevertheless, the program was very successful at suppressing VC political and revolutionary activities.<ref name = Ward/> Public disclosure of the program led to significant criticism, including hearings by the [[US Congress]], and the CIA was pressured into shutting it down. A similar program, Plan F-6, continued under the government of [[South Vietnam]].
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