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The Phoenix Program ((ベトナム語:Chiến dịch Phụng Hoàng), a word related to fenghuang, the Chinese phoenix) was a program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), United States special operations forces, special forces operatives from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), and the Republic of Vietnam's (South Vietnam) security apparatus during the Vietnam War. The Program was designed to identify and "neutralize" (via infiltration, capture, terrorism, torture, and assassination) the infrastructure of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF or ''Viet Cong'').〔Harry G. Summers, Jr., Vietnam War Almanac (New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985,) 283.〕〔Guenter Lewy, America In Vietnam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978) 283〕〔Colby, William (1978). ''Honorable Men: My Life in the CIA''. Simon & Schuster; First edition (May 15, 1978)〕〔(A Retrospective on Counterinsurgency Operations. ) Andrew R. Finlayson, cia.gov〕 The CIA described it as "a set of programs that sought to attack and destroy the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong".〔(A Retrospective on Counterinsurgency Operations ) cia.gov〕 The major two components of the program were Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs) and regional interrogation centers. PRUs would kill or capture suspected NLF members, as well as civilians who were thought to have information on NLF activities. Many of these people were then taken to interrogation centers where many were tortured in an attempt to gain intelligence on VC activities in the area.〔 The information extracted at the centers was then given to military commanders, who would use it to task the PRU with further capture and assassination missions. The program was in operation between 1965 and 1972, and similar efforts existed both before and after that period. By 1972, Phoenix operatives had neutralized 81,740 suspected NLF operatives, informants and supporters, of whom between 26,000 and 41,000 were killed. ==History== The interrogation centers and PRUs were developed by the CIA's Saigon station chief Peer de Silva. DeSilva was a proponent of a military strategy known as "counter terror" which held that terrorism was a legitimate tool to use in unconventional warfare, and that it should be applied strategically to "enemy civilians" in order to reduce civilian support for the Viet Cong. The PRUs were designed with this in mind, and began terrorizing suspected VC members in 1964.〔 Originally, the PRUs were known as "Counter Terror" teams, but they were renamed to "Provincial Reconnaissance Units" after CIA officials "became wary of the adverse publicity surrounding the use of the word 'terror'". In 1967 all "pacification" efforts by the United States had come under the authority of the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support, or CORDS. CORDS had many different programs within it, including the creation of a peasant militia which by 1971 had a strength of about 500,000.〔()〕 In 1967, as part of CORDS, the Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation Program (ICEX) was created,〔 from a plan drafted by Nelson Brickham partly inspired by David Galula's ''Counterinsurgency Warfare'' (1964), a book based on Galula's experiences in the Algerian War which Brickham was "very taken" with and carried with him around Vietnam.〔Ann Marlowe (2010), ''(David Galula: His Life and Intellectual Context )'', Strategic Studies Institute, p15〕 The purpose of the organization centered on gathering information on the NLF. It was renamed Phoenix later in the same year. The South Vietnamese program was called ''Phụng Hoàng'', after a mythical bird that appeared as a sign of prosperity and luck. The 1968 Tet offensive showed the importance of the NLF infrastructure, and the military setback for the US made it politically more palatable for the new program to be implemented. By 1970 there were 704 US Phoenix advisers throughout South Vietnam.〔 Officially, Phoenix operations continued until December 1972, although certain aspects continued until the fall of Saigon in 1975.〔http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army-usawc/ksil241.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Phoenix Program」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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