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Speaker 1: Today, we're going to be looking at Operation Phoenix, the

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Shadow War of Vietnam. It's also known as the Phoenix

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Program and was one of the most controversial and secretive

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counter insurgency efforts undertaken by the US during the Vietnam War.

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Who Initiated in nineteen sixty seven. Officially run by the

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CIA and coronation with the US military and the South

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Vietnamese government, its primary goal was to neutralize the viet Cong,

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the clandestine civilian support network aiding the Communists insurgency in

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South Vietnam. Rather than engaging in traditional military combat, Phoenix

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operated targeted suspected viet Cong operatives, informants, and political cadre

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embedded within Southern Vietnamese villages and urban areas. The program

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focused on identification, capture, interrogation, and assassination, often using local informants, defectors,

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and Southern U Vietnamese security forces. Trained. At its peak,

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the Phoenix Program at thousands of agents and operatives working

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across Vietnam. US special forces, including navies in Southern or

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South Vietnamese National Police, collaborated in raids and homes and villages,

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extracting individuals of being tied to the Viat Kong. Many

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were sent to interrogation centers, some of which were notorious

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for their harsh and often brutal tactics. Others were executed.

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From nineteen sixty seven and nineteen seventy two, they estimate

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over eighty thousand individuals were neutralized, a term that included arrests, defections,

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and killings, of which and estimated twenty six thousand could

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have been assassinations. Proponents of Phoenix argued that it was

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a necessary measure in an unconventional war where enemy forces

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operated within civilian populations. By dismantling the Via Coong shadow

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government and logistics, the US hoped to cripple the insurgency

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from within. Some military strategists believe Phoenix had a meaningful

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impact in weakening the Viat Kong's operational capabilities. However, the

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program quickly became infamous for its lack of oversight, human

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rights abuses, and mistaken identity. These innocent civilians were frequently

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targeted based on fabricated intelligence or weak intelligence, and of course,

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corruption and personal vendettas also shaped a lot of those

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that were falsely accused. In nineteen seventy one, Operation Phoenix

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came under public scrutiny, with congressional hearings exposed many of

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its darkest aspects. Journalists, former operatives, and Vietnamese survivors testified

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to the violence and lawlessness of the program. Critics labeled

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a state sponsored assassination program. In response to the mounting pressure,

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the program was officially disbanded in nineteen seventy two. Operation

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Phoenix today remains a symbol of the ethical quagmire of

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counterinsurgency and covert warfare. It is studied quite a bit,

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not only for its tactical lessons, but for the profound

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legal and moral questions it tends to raise about wartime conduct,

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intelligence gathering, and the cost of victory. While the defenders

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claim had disrupted the via cong networks, its legacy is

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ever tarnished by the abuses. In many ways, Operation Phoenix

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foreshadow the dilemmas the US would face in later conflicts,

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such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fascinating operation indeed