Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part-V-B-4-Book-I.djvu/57

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011


SECRET

1. Pacification - to end the internal Communist threat in South Vietnam.

2. Stabilization to promote the growth of healthy democracy in South Vietnam.

3. Unification - to provide a favorable climate for a free choice by the Vietnamese to unify their country, and then to give them the opportunity to make that choice.

Tasks


Pacification

- Assign top priority to the defeat of Viet-Cong forces and the denial of South Vietnam to further entry of Communist para-military and subversive.

- Aggressively implement the Counter-Insurgency Plan, while recognizing that it probably requires adjustment to fit both native Vietnamese needs and the newest U.S. military techniques and hardware.

- Give Vietnam stronger U.S. psychological-political support. The Vice President might visit Saigon and announce U.S. determination to support Vietnamese desire to remain free.

- Concentrate U. S. military research and development to develop better military equipment for use in resolving insurgency problems in Vietnam. The area should be treated as a laboratory and proving ground, as far as this is politically feasible.

- Eliminate artificial restrictions imposed by the strict U.S. interpretation of the Geneva Agreements to permit as many U.S. personnel in Vietnam as are needed to help the Vietnamese help themselves effectively.

- Use the force of world opinion to stop Viet-Cong transit of Cambodia. A task force of journalists should visit Cambodia to report on activities in border provinces such as Svayrieng and on policies being implemented by Sihanouk and other officials.

SECRET

29