◆ SpookStack

The co antiest ote oe heatyaan Ar Sas en an tho br iefing officers of JUSPAO (ene wees States Public Affairs Office) is notorious end the head of JUSPAO recently was changed primarily, es one newsman said to me, "because of the bad relations between the U.S. estzblishment and the press _ in Vietnam". Part of this is because the Johnson Administration has been pressing sharply for good reports from the field which show progress. IJ ran wh KRoewem Te ‘__ into this in several interviews which revealed the pressure on American personnel to send encoureging reports from their areas which Washington could use to present an optimistic picture. This was confirmed in a news story by R. W. Apple of the Nev York Times on the front page of the January 1, 1968, issue in a release entitled » "U.S. Said to Press Sharply for Good Vietnam « Reports". Besic to this reporting is the operation of "H.E.5.", a hamlet evaluation system by which each hamlet in South Vietnam is classified on a grade from A through E as to degree of security or pacification. It is this besic system of analysis which produces the figures by which the Administration claims we control two-thirds of the people. Basic data as to whether a hamlet is under ve control or Saigon government control. or a variation in between is produced at the district level. The American military district advisors, the overwhelming majority of whom speak no Vietnamese, are entirely dependent upon information given by the district chief who is Vietnamese. This district chief is a South -« Vietnamese army officer operating with an extremely limited English vocabulary and not particularly desirous of presenting a gloomy picture. The resuit is that an almost totally false set of data is being received as to what area is secure and what is insecure, what roads are open or closed, which roads can be traveled without military escort and those which are open only in the sense that ‘they can be traversed in heavily armed convoys. Yet the Pentagon continues to issue press releases based on this data creating a wholly false impression which irritates even the military personnel in Vietnam. For example, one U.5. military officer responsible for ay éntire province in the Dalta said, "The VC had this area for 25 years. Out of 450 hamlets in this province we have perhaps pacified Fae on te wees a. ee en er temeee rnd affamt an that arm A VU es It alo unrealistic to expect Wi thout enormously AILS aot ELL vo aa HO could pacify this province within the six months to one year goal Saigon has . givenus. No doubt there will have to be an American presence for 25 years if we are to accomplish the long range goals of building a viable economic and political society. After all, this is Asia!" 3- The War for the People: It is a contention of the Administration that there are more and more fect ors from the Viet Cong, that there is a diminution of ‘anti-American feeling a result of increasing security and pacification. Once again a visitor to the Tieid must report that this conclusion appears to be almost wholly at variance with the facts. Quaker personnel which now number 30 in South Vietnam report universally a rising anti-Americanism based largely on the continued enormous growth of American presence with its concomitant increased military activity, particularly bombings, with the creation of masses of refugees and civilian casualties. This opinion is confirmed by other volunteer agency personnel, such as those with International Voluntary Service,. who report that it is more difficult than ever to have close Vietnamese friends and that as the American presence ae We oS set a SL SS increases they as Americans begin to feel more and more isolated from their Vietnamese counterparts._ ea —23- eo