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Phoenix Project

In 1965, the the Infrastructure Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation Structure (ICEX) or “Phoenix” Project was created by the CIA as an effort to disrupt the Viet Cong infrastructure through a series of civilian assassinations and systemic torture. They build torture facilities in all 44 provinces of South Vietnam, murdered disruptive citizens, and blackmailed or extorted information from South Vietnamese citizens to root out Viet Cong sympathizers. The CIA’s responses to Freedom of Information Act requests suggest that they would prefer to forget the whole thing. They would prefer that everyone else forget it, as well: after Saigon fell, most of the Phoenix documents were destroyed. The only remaining documents are now safely ensconced at Langley.

Fortunately, Neil Brickham was responsible for a good part of the program, and saved all of his material. Douglas Valentine (who’s writing a book on the subject, and seems dedicated to implicating the Department of Homeland Security in the matter) got his hands on Brickham’s library and passed it on to the good people at the Memory Hole, who have posted the documents for all to see.

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The Phoenix Project by Gunnar Hellekson, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
This was written by gunnar. Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2003, at 9:26 am. Tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Post a comment or leave a trackback.
  • Jessica

    I have to say that people call men who were involved in the phoenix project murderers still- you call it crazy what they did, but you probably weren’t there. My father was. To this day he is ashamed by what he had to do in Vietnam. It was his job. You can not judge what these heros did until you walked the miles to Phu Bai in thier shoes. How dare you cast stones at these men – they wanted to help their country and were forced to kill. Shame on you people for comparing their misery to an episode of the x-files.

  • Victor

    I don’t pretend to know what these men had to go through. Nor would I ever. All I know is that I had a lot of family that died in that war. The Vietnam war was a mistake and should never have happened. More then 2 million on both sides died over an idea and fear. You can call them ‘hero’ or ‘patriot’ or whatever it is you feel like. When the day of judgment comes for any man who’s taken the life of another…the ‘just doing my job’ excuse won’t cut it.

  • Brigitte

    Hi, Jessica
    I wasn’t there either, but I grew up in Germany, immediately following the war.
    My generation had to grapple with the fact that it was our fathers and uncles who did the horrible things that were brought out in the Nuremberg Trials. We, all my friends and I, found it a very difficult task, but none of us believed that inhumane behavior was justified at any time, under any circumstances, even when following orders.
    Yes, war is an extreme situation and should be avoided at all costs. The fact that it was even started remains the biggest immoral act, in Vietnam as in Iraq, but there is a distinction. When you shoot someone before he shoots you it is an understandable act of self preservation. When you slaughter or torture unarmed civilians it is an act of inhumane brutality, which goes against every notion of justice developed in civilized society. Even receiving an order from a superior does not justify such an action. Nuremberg settled that “I just followed orders” is not an acceptable excuse. We all know that in cases of conflict we must follow our own conscience. So, my dear, I am sorry it was your father who was dehumanized, as was mine. You can still love him as a father and have compassion for the difficult choices he faced, but you can not justify those actions. You can wish like me that he might have risen to be a noble human being, but could not. I say this fullly aware of the fact that I do not know if I would be able to be noble in those circumstances, and therefore withold my judgement on mem like your father and mine, but I will not condone their actions.

  • http://www.webestablish.com/ Tim Branyen

    Victor, please do not bring in religion as you do not know what you are talking about. Do you think God punished Samson, David, or Solomon for using his power to win wars and/or struggles? I think not. The country of the United States of America, seems unnaturally blessed and I find it nearly offensive to have one speak as if they know whom God will judge during judgement day. Anyone who fights in the name of the United States in my opinion shall die a hero, lest they denounce it.

  • Hal Evans

    You bleeding hearts! You think Freedom is free? Somebody has to get their hands dirty or even bloody to pay for it and maintain it!

    I was part of Phoenix! I am proud of it! My spoter and I took out our targets, we were assigned! We did our job and we were good at it! That’s what we were trained to do! I’d do it again in a heart beat!

    You never had to pick up pieces of you buddies and put them in a rubber bag, have you? You never saw the bodies of U.S. servicemen pilled up like cords of wood, outside the Morgue in Da Nang, because there wasn’t any more room inside , have you? Well, if you had been there for the Tet, you would have! Nobody used the word MURDER, then! You think only one side is unjust in a war? That’s why they say, “War is HELL!” Because those of us who have been there know it is!
    Those of us involved in Phoenix had to keep quiet for years. Well, most of it is declassified now, and we can finally speak out and defend our actions! Our motto was, “One Shot, One Kill.” On one high level target I got to take out two targets with one shot! And they were confirmed kills! I am extremely proud of that shot!
    Because of Murders like me and my spotter you can safely sleep at night. Another Phoenix Project is what we need after 9/11, to take out 1800 al-Quida a month! To use LBJ’s farm analogy, “If you kill the roosters, the hens will scatter!”
    Did we throw captured enemy out of chopper, if they didn’t talk? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! Did the NVA cut off captured American’s gentials and sew them in their mouth, while they were alive? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!
    Do I think you should shut up, because you don’t know what you’re talking about? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!

  • H. O.

    Semper Fi yo HAL!: Hal is correct, the operative in the field does not have luxury or ability to “Not Follow Orders” that they are given, or tasks that are assigned. To the contrary, doing so would or could have landed a transgressor in the Brig or even Levanworth Prison.
    Clearly, Phoenix was a mistake, both in concept and implimentation. However, the man on the ground has NO CHOICES.
    Every military organization since the beginning of time has been based solely on everyone carring out the orders they are given. At 19 years of age, being patriotic and angry at the loss of friends, I was an enthusiastic participant in the Phoenix Program, as Hal, I was a sniper. I have no remorse for my actions. I am pragmatic about Phoenix and war in general. We went and fought for our country and freedom, or so we were told!
    If you want to place blame, put it on the paranoid politicians that that started, promoted and conducted the war.
    Finally, please note that our country had little or no real regard for the loss of life to our own men! I fought for a misguided belief in my own country, Spoon fed, served to me on the souls of my fallen brothers! We the people elected the cooks of this fiest! We are ultimately to blame!!!

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