Editing Phoenix Program (section)

== Public response and legal proceedings ==
The Phoenix Program was not generally known during most of the time it was operational to either the American public or American officials in [[Washington, DC|Washington]].{{sfn|Hastedt|2012|p=38}} In 1970, author [[Frances FitzGerald (journalist)|Frances FitzGerald]] made several arguments to then-U.S. National Security Advisor [[Henry Kissinger]] against the program, which she alludes to in [[Fire in the Lake]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Becker |first1=Elzabeth |title=You Don't Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War |date=2021 |publisher=Public Affairs Books |pages=164–165}}</ref> One of the first people to criticize Phoenix publicly was [[Ed Murphy (activist)|Ed Murphy]], a peace activist and former military intelligence soldier, in 1970.<ref name="assass">''Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia''; Michael Newton; [[ABC-CLIO]], 2014; p. 427</ref><ref name="Hearing2">''Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates''; Congress, Volume 117, Part 4; pp. 4240–4249; U.S. [[Government Printing Office]], 1971; (Original from Indiana University)</ref>

There was eventually a series of [[United States Congress|U.S. Congressional]] hearings. In 1971, in the final day of hearing on "U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam", Osborn described the Phoenix Program as a "sterile depersonalized murder program."<ref name="assass" /> Consequently, the military command in Vietnam issued a directive that reiterated that it had based the anti-VCI campaign on South Vietnamese law, that the program was in compliance with the laws of land warfare, and that U.S. personnel had the responsibility to report breaches of the law.<ref name="Hearing2" />{{sfn|Andradé|1990|pp=xvi–xviii}}

Former CIA analyst [[Samuel A. Adams]],<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/how-cse-s-existence-was-first-revealed-by-cbc-tv-1.3064951 The Espionage Establishment] The Fifth State – CBC News – accessed May 2015</ref> in an interview with [[CBC News]], talked about the program as basically an assassination program that also included torture. They would also kill people by throwing them out of helicopters to threaten and intimidate those they wanted to interrogate.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/a/cbc.ca/file/d/0B0wdLKxvw1xsam9FSU9XcXRPSWs/edit?pli=1] Documentation – Espionage Establishment – includes The Phoenix Program</ref> While acknowledging that "No one can prove the null hypothesis that no prisoner was ever thrown from a helicopter," Gary Kulik states that "no such story has ever been corroborated" and that the noise inside a helicopter would make conducting an interrogation impossible.<ref name=Kulik/>{{rp|138}}

According to [[Nick Turse]], abuses were common.<ref>[[Nick Turse]], [http://gradworks.umi.com/31/74/3174910.html Kill Anything That Moves: U.S. War Crimes And Atrocities In Vietnam, 1965–1973], a doctoral dissertation, Columbia University 2005{{dead link|date=December 2016}}</ref><ref>[[Nick Turse]], [http://www.japanfocus.org/-Nick-Turse/2956 "A My Lai a Month: How the US Fought the Vietnam War"], ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'', Vol. 47-6-08, November 21, 2008</ref> In many instances, rival Vietnamese would report their enemies as "VC" in order to get U.S. troops to kill them.<ref>[[Myra MacPherson]], ''Long Time Passing'', New York: Signet, 1984, p.&nbsp;625</ref> In many cases, ''Phung Hoang'' chiefs were incompetent bureaucrats who used their positions to enrich themselves. Phoenix tried to address this problem by establishing monthly neutralization quotas, but these often led to fabrications or, worse, false arrests. In some cases, district officials accepted bribes from the VC to release certain suspects.{{sfn|Andradé|Willbanks|2006}}

After Phoenix Program abuses began receiving negative publicity, the program was officially shut down, although it continued under the name ''Plan F-6''{{sfn|Folly|2014|p=303}}{{sfn|''Nomination of William E. Colby''|1973|p=112}}{{sfn|Frazier|1978|p=119|ps=. AID Director John Hannah stated in a letter dated May 9, 1973, that: "Plan F-6 is an acceleration of the Phuong Hoang (Phoenix) operation which the GVN directed in view of the North Vietnamese invasion of 1972."}}{{sfn|North American Congress on Latin America|1974|p=6}}{{sfn|Frater|2014|p=464}} with the government of South Vietnam in control.{{sfn|North American Congress on Latin America|1974|p=6}}{{sfn|Frazier|1978|p=119|ps=. AID Director John Hannah stated in a letter dated May 9, 1973, that: "Plan F-6 is an acceleration of the Phuong Hoang (Phoenix) operation which the GVN directed in view of the North Vietnamese invasion of 1972."}}{{efn|For more information F-6, see {{harvnb|Andradé|1990|pp=246–250}}; {{harvnb| ''Vietnam Courier'' | 1972|p=116|quote=Under [[Plan F-6]], any South Vietnamese citizen with even the slightest tie to a member of "the other side" is subject to immediate arrest, interrogation and confinement}};{{efn|For the reliability and biases of this newspaper, see {{harvnb|Gidlund|1967}}}} {{harvnb|''In Thieu's Prisons''|1973|pp=152–152}}; {{harvnb|''Nomination of William E. Colby''|1973|p=156}}; {{harvnb|''CounterSpy''|1973}}; {{harvnb|''Subversion of law enforcement intelligence gathering''|1976|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Moyar|1997|p=208}}; {{harvnb|Hunt|1995|p=243}}}}