Phoenix was far more than a mere assassination program ,
however. It was a Counter-Insurgency, COIN, program, using the
tactic of counter-terrorism, including assassination, against
the insurgent’s so-called infrastructure. This was the
Vietnamese civilian population in which the insurgent, the Viet
Cong guerilla, operated and from some of whom they drew their
support. To the U.S., these civilians were the Viet Cong
Infrastructure, the VCI. And the VCI was the target to be
terrorized by any means necessary in the hope that they would
turn against the Viet Cong.
The VCI would have included the families, close and extended
kinship groups, of alleged active Viet Cong combatants, fellow
villagers, and other Vietnamese civilians who were not actively
opposed to the Viet Cong. Some of this “support” was voluntary
and some coerced. As the Phoenix Program went on, with its
assassinations, torture practices, and “disappearances,” more
support became voluntary as Vietnamese peasants turned against
the U.S. and the South Vietnamese government as a result of the
program. An error in identification of a victim was irrelevant
to those in control of the program, the CIA, as it still served
the purpose of terrorizing the civilian population, which was
the true purpose of the program.
