Operation Phoenix

I have recently heard of an operation entitled Operation Phoenix. I was wondering if there is anyone who has any information about it or possibly knows any links on where I can find information on it. Is there anyone that can knowleadgeably respond?

Thank You,
Faith

ahhh, an intriguing subject indeed.
Operation Phoenix was created by Nixon in 1967 as a way of dissassembling the North Vietnamese chain of command. American military units working under the CIA trained South Vietnamese "death squads" as they are called.
Varying accounts have reported between 20,000 and 50,000 VC deaths.
anyone else?
- Tass

Thanks Tassadar. Using that information I will do a more in depth search for anything remotely related to opeeration phoenix.

Heres a little

bitwww.serendipity.li...

This should help...

Operation Pheonix
Created by the CIA in Saigon in 1967, Phoenix was a program aimed at "neutralizing"-through assassination, kidnapping, and systematic torture-the civilian infrastructure that supported the Viet Cong insurgency in South Vietnam. It was a terrifying "final solution" that violated the Geneva Conventions and traditional American ideas of human morality. Officially Phoenix was a massive intelligence program to collect information on suspected Vietcong, who could then be "neutralized" by South Vietnamese security forces. According to most reports �Operation Phoenix� in Vietnam, consisted of American run death squads, which killed up to 20,000-50,000 people.

Links to Operation Phoenix
www.redrat.net...
vietpage.com...
www.vietnamvetcontacts.com...


Good luck with your research Faith, let us know what you find...

Here's what I have figured out so far. Operation Phoenix was a covert CIA mission carried out during the latter part of Vietnam. The CIA up until then had been responsible for several assasination attempts on many different enemy political leaders. Basicly what Operation Phoenix was a list of Vietcong that needed to be arrested, but about a third of them actually ended up being shot. With this list, the CIA was responsible for roughly 1800 Vietcong leaders being shot each month from the years of 1965 and 1968. That adds up to 648,000. The most commonly used teams for the job were special forces, more specifically Green Beret and Navy Seals. This is just a small portion of everything that I have found. For more information, go to www.serendipity.li...

Sincerely, Faith



[Edited on 21-9-2003 by FaithDefender]

Excuse my scrutiny Faith, but where do you get 648,000 points from?
I am very interested in your search into Operation Phoenix...
- Tass

All I did was punch in 1,800 times 36in a calculator. It came up as 648,00. Here is your answer Tass.
-Faith

Its not like the VC cared about the GC. Tough # I say. Thats the risk you take in war.

From wha I hear. It was the elite of the elite that did the "neutralizing"

Originally posted by FaithDefender
Here's what I have figured out so far. Operation Phoenix was a covert CIA mission carried out during the latter part of Vietnam. The CIA up until then had been responsible for several assasination attempts on many different enemy political leaders. Basicly what Operation Phoenix was a list of Vietcong that needed to be arrested, but about a third of them actually ended up being shot. With this list, the CIA was responsible for roughly 1800 Vietcong leaders being shot each month from the years of 1965 and 1968. That adds up to 648,000. The most commonly used teams for the job were special forces, more specifically Green Beret and Navy Seals. This is just a small portion of everything that I have found. For more information, go to www.serendipity.li...

Sincerely, Faith



[Edited on 21-9-2003 by FaithDefender]

This is spot on. Nice job, Faith...

My father was a special forces operative and took part of Operation Phoenix. He was in Vietnam from 1964 - 1969. Ironically, he hates the CIA. Calls them "arrogant a$$holes..."

Originally posted by omega1
From wha I hear. It was the elite of the elite that did the "neutralizing"

Funny, because what I heard was the the CIA was paying anyone to acquire recon information and assassinations for Operation Phoenix. The kill estimate that I've heard was more like 100,000 too. South Vietnamese police squads were trained by the CIA to torture suspects, in all cases to force confessions. Rumor has it that rarely did anyone survive the torture procedures, because after the false confessions they would be executed (or die during torture).

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

Originally posted by omega1
From wha I hear. It was the elite of the elite that did the "neutralizing"

Funny, because what I heard was the the CIA was paying anyone to acquire recon information and assassinations for Operation Phoenix. The kill estimate that I've heard was more like 100,000 too. South Vietnamese police squads were trained by the CIA to torture suspects, in all cases to force confessions. Rumor has it that rarely did anyone survive the torture procedures, because after the false confessions they would be executed (or die during torture).

I'm sure there were likely rogue agents who did whatever they felt was necessary to get the job done, including what you've mentioned. However, I don't think this was the norm. My father was very clear that it was American military who were being sent out to do the assassinations. My father, a Green Beret, was sent to kill people all over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia as part of Operation Phoenix.

Originally posted by CIAGypsy

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

Originally posted by omega1
From wha I hear. It was the elite of the elite that did the "neutralizing"

Funny, because what I heard was the the CIA was paying anyone to acquire recon information and assassinations for Operation Phoenix. The kill estimate that I've heard was more like 100,000 too. South Vietnamese police squads were trained by the CIA to torture suspects, in all cases to force confessions. Rumor has it that rarely did anyone survive the torture procedures, because after the false confessions they would be executed (or die during torture).

I'm sure there were likely rogue agents who did whatever they felt was necessary to get the job done, including what you've mentioned. However, I don't think this was the norm. My father was very clear that it was American military who were being sent out to do the assassinations. My father, a Green Beret, was sent to kill people all over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia as part of Operation Phoenix.

Yeah, special forces were a part of it. But like always, the CIA operated by handing out straight cash to anyone (mostly civilians in poverty from the war) who could provide intel. Bounties were issued by the CIA for evidence of dead VCs. CIA also focused on hiring regional mercenary forces (like Chinese or Cambodian) to conduct these ops because they proved to be much more discrete and cost effective than US soldiers. Police forces were trained to torture suspects captured, in order to extract confessions to legitimize Operation Phoenix.