By the end of 1958, a few days before the Phu Loi massacre, Ngo Dinh Diem declared at a sitting of the south Viet Nam ‘National Assembly’:
“Last year, I stated that 1957 was a year of postwar stabilization, and that 1958 would be the year in which we should start shifting to a peace-time economy.” (1)
However in early 1959, the same Ngo Dinh Diem in person declared to the special envoy of the French newspaper Le Figaro:
“Viet Nam (i.e.. south Viet Nam) is a nation in a state of war.”
About the same period, the Saigon Radio and the newspapers of the south Viet Nam ruling circles started a noisy campaign on the ‘state of war’ in south Viet Nam.
The Cach Mang Quoc Gia (National Revolution), known for a long time as the semi-official mouthpiece of the ruling circles, not only gave a prominent place to this question, but went so far as to outline a whole programme of intensified terror.
It put forward the slogan: “Let us wipe out the Viet Cong (that is: the patriots in south Viet Nam) mercilessly, not regarding them as human beings; just as in a state of war.” It advocated “a combination of all military and para-military forces into a single bloc, operating together under a common plan, and actively working under the leadership of a central body”.
On the basis of this line of action, it outlined a plan to carry into effect “the wiping out of Viet Cong just as in a state of war” (2). This plan included the following main points:
“A. To apply the radiating tactics: to muster all the operating forces in one or several centres; the Army is to be organized into mobile groups specializing in guerilla warfare, encirclements and raids.
“B. To set up a secret information network in the villages with a view to studying the identity of Viet Cong cadres carefully. Once the latter are identified, (sometimes simultaneously in several localities), to launch simultaneous raids in the said localities.
“C. Communal authorities as well as simple citizens have the right, and are duty-bound, to denounce the Viet Cong and their actions. After the denunciation, they will benefit by guarantees in regard to their security and life (for instance: they are allowed to settle in provincial towns, together with their families).
Those who do not denounce the Viet Cong are liable to severe punishment just as the Viet Cong themselves.
“D. To reshape the whole judiciary system with a view to annihilating the Viet Cong, to set up special military courts to judge on the spot, to enforce new draconian anti-communist laws, to mete out harsh punishment to the Viet Cong’s sustainers.
“E. After the elimination of the Viet Cong from a village, (and this elimination will be radiating), to re-organize its administration, chiefly in the field of security, in order to consolidate it, and to make the return of the Viet Cong impossible.”
The ‘radiating tactics’ in particular were expounded in detail:
“a) South Viet Nam will be divided into several zones. If we have enough forces and troops, we shall carry out the plan simultaneously throughout the country. Otherwise, we shall delimit a few particular zones where we shall resolutely strive to wipe out the Viet Cong (such zones can include several provinces).
“b) The said zones will be divided into operational sectors, each of which will be entrusted to particular units.
“c) Before the carrying out of the plan, census registers are to be duly established in villages and districts.”
This plan as a whole was strictly carried into effect by the south Viet Nam ruling circles. In other words, the persecutions and repressions in south Viet Nam since early 1959 are merely the strict application of the plan for “wiping out the Viet Cong just as in a state of war”.
(1) Ngo Dinh Diem’s message to the annual session of the south Viet Nam ‘National Assembly’ (October 6, 1958 sitting).
(2) All quotations from the Saigon daily Cach Mang Quoc Gia are from the series of articles carried by this paper from February 21 to March 31, 1959.
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