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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04848.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04848
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Title
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Saigon Snafu: Security Lax, Taxes Paid to Reds
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the difficulty of tax collection and authority in South Vietnam, page unknown
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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Saigon Snafu: Security Lax, Taxes Paid to Reds
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
one
"We always goof up the
littlest, little things,"
Ainerican adviser in the
Mekong Delta explained.
"And it's these little things
that will make the difference
in this war. If we lose, it
won't be because the Viet
Cong are so good-it's be-
cause our side is so bad."
The lack of meticulous
control-because of American
bureaucracy and Vietnamese
inefficiency and corruption-
is an important element in the
problem of security, so essen-
tial in this country exper-
iencing a guerrilla war.
While Americans here
camouflage uniforms of the
U. S. and Vietnamese marines
can be purchased from ordi-
nary shops in Thu Duc,
a suburb of Saigon.
American servicemen have
lost over the years here hun-
dreds of their U. S. govern-
ment identification cards.
U. S. authorities hope they
are not being sent to Europe
for the Communists to infil-
trate American bases there.
In short, the Viet Cong have
the means and identification
to outfit themselves exactly
like a Vietnamese or an Ameri-
can soldier.
UNIFORMS
The Viet Cong have also
openly ridicule the Vietna-seized hundreds of Vietnamese
mese for their flagrant cor-
ruption, the Americans find it
easier to go along rather than
try to eliminate it.
For example, foreign eco-
nomic experts are shocked at
the indirect way in which
United States military and
economic funds and goods con-
tribute to the Viet Cong Com-
munist guerrilla strength.
TAXES
"All the aircraft gasoline
trucked to the big American
helicopter base at Soc Trang
is taxed twice by Viet Cong
roadblacks," one of them ex-
plained. "Then it is piped into
American helicopters to kill
Viet Cong. It does not make
sense. It might have been ex-
cused in 1962 at the begin-
ning of American involve-
ment, but in 1965 it is a sign
of weakness."
Soc Trang, 100 miles south-
west of Saigon, has been hit
by mortarfire at least three
times by the Viet Cong, in-
cluding once immediately fol-
lowing the February bombing
raids on North Viet Nam. The
aircraft fuel is purchased
from petroleum companies,
which sublet the trucking of
the gasoline to Vietnamese
contracting companies.. These
firms, in turn, pay off the
Viet Cong to get through their
roadblocks, according to pe-
troleum company officials.
In another case, American
military officials contracted to
Vietnamese construction com-
panies the building of Ameri-
can billets and compounds in
the provinces, especially in
1962-'63. But to cut the trees
for the lumber, the contract-
ing firms paid Viet Cong
taxes-and this cost was
added onto the price paid by
the U. S. government.
DRAWINGS
In some cases, Viet Cong
construction workers built the
American compounds. In other
cases, Viet Cong sympathizers
later came in to repair fixtures
or re-paint the buildings. In
short, the Viet Cong have ac-
cess to the drawings of the
interior of almost every Amer-
ican compound.
Following the Tonkin Gulf
bombing of North Viet Nam
last August, when American
policymakers moved a squad-
ron of B-57 jet-fighters to
Bien Hoa, just outside Saigon,
government security agents
captured a Viet Cong sergeant
who had sent to his higher
headquarters the complete
drawing of the Bien Hoa air-
base. He told Vietnamese
security officials that the Viet
Cong were planning an attack
on the airbase-and on Nov.
1 it happened.
Several weeks ago a young
Vietnamese peddler girl on
the main street of Saigon at-
tempted to sell to this cor-
respondent an American-
made blueprint of an Amer-
ican compound in Nha Trang,
200 miles north of Saigon.
A laxity in the control of
plans and material allows the
Viet Cong to buy on the open
market whatever they need
at a cost to the U. S.-South
Vietnamese war effort.
FOR SALE
Reliable sources indicate
that Viet Cong guerrillas
regularly purchase large
quantities of Sun Tan lotion
in the Long Dien open mar-
ket (a market in Viet Cong
controlled territory southeast
of Saigon in Phuoc Tuy
province). They use it for
treating napalm burns.
On the main street of
Catinat shops sell American
captain's and major's insig-
nia and fatigue caps with
U. S. insignia. American
servicemen regularly buy
their boots from local shop-
keepers-which could easily
be copied by the Viet Cong,
Eurasian or Caucasian Com-
munists. The black and green
government green fatigues-
they once captured more than
500 of them in a truck only
20 miles outside of Saigon. It
now appears only a question
of time before they over-
run government installations
by appearing to be Viet-
namese government troopers
they have repeatedly done
this at the village level.
In the sabotage attack on
U. S. installations at Pleiku
on Feb. 7 Viet Cong sui-
cide squads threw explosive
charges plunked into Ameri-
can beer cans.
Two years
ago Marine helicopter pilots
learned that American beer,
soda cans and coke bottles
had to be destroyed or else
the Viet Cong would salvage
them and use them as con-
tainers for boobytraps and
explosives. Yet, two years
later, in another part of the
country, American GIs were
unaware of the importance
of destroying these items.
Similarly, when American
and Vietnamese GIs practice
shooting on rifle ranges,
young Vietnamese children
scurry around and pick up the
empty brass cartridges-which
are turned over to the Viet
Cong, who can melt them
down for their own purposes.
CUT THE GRASS
One extraordinary example
of the lack of detailed atten-
tion to security matters was
revealed in the isolated out-
post of Ashau in the north on
the Laotian border. Last sum-
mer the plane carrying the
American military command-
er, Gen. William C. West-
moreland, was shot at and hit
more than six times as it
lumbered down the runway
and turned around for take-
off. The American Special
Forces captain in charge of
the camp explained to a cor-
respondent that the Viet Cong
had walked through the
American minefield, hid in
the high elephant grass and
boldly peppered the general's
airplane. The captain said
the general was understand-
ably disturbed about this-
and ordered all the elephant
grass, some of it 10 feet high,
to be cut.
But, he later explained,
while the Viet Cong knew
where his minefields were sit-
uated-he did not. For the
mines had been laid by. Viet-
namese and Americans during
the two previous years and
they had been moved to other
camps. Because the location
of the camp itself had been
slightly changed the maps
showing the American mine-
fields were useless.
Finally, an American ex-
pert in mines was flown out
from the corps headquarters
-to determine the location of
the government mines-and
then days were spent cutting
the elephant grass.
INTELLIGENCE
It is often heard in Viet
Nam that one of the key
problems of security and of
winning the war is that of
intelligence.
It is openly acknowledged by
Vietnamese military officials
that Viet Cong agents are in
the highest levels of the Viet-
namese military, the police
and the government.
Some Vietnamese security
officials also believe that they
have penetrated into the
American military command
headquarters. These officials
say Vietnamese working in
the American command—sec-
retaries, office boys and jan-
itors have been cleared by
Vietnamese personnel and
security forces on the basis of
payoffs. For the price of four
months' salary, these security
officials maintain any Viet-
namese can get a job in the
American command (the price
has risen, however-once the
price was a month's salary).
Another example fringing
on security and intelligence-
gathering is the suspected Viet
Cong penetration of bars and
cafes frequented nightly by
American GIS.
Vietnamese security officials
report that within the past
six months, the Viet Cong
I have established a ring of 40
girls in the Chinese twin-city
of Saigon, called Cholon-and
these girls are trained to be
girl friends of American serv-
icemen.
The most lavish and expen-
sive night club in Saigon, is
considered part of the French
espionage network (which has
contacts with the Viet Cong).
Above the nightclub is one of
the most sophisticated broth-
els in town. In the northern
city of Da Nang, the Viet-
namese corps commander re-
ceived SO many complaints
about the American-fre-
quented bars, he closed down
nine on main street-but 33
were left open.
Perhaps the most striking
example of the mis-directed
bureaucracy,
this correspondent-was im-
witnessed by
mediately following the Bien
Hoa mortar attack on Nov. 1
and the Pleiku attack. What
was shocking was not that
American GIs were killed by
American
ammunition and
suspected American mortars-
or that Vietnamese sentries
had not been patrolling ac-
tively enough. It was the fact
that a Viet Cong mortar at-
tack could have been ren-
dered less lethal by the con-
struction of a more practical
and substantial roof on Amer-
ican billets.
of
In both the Bien Hoa and
the Pleiku mortar attacks, the
mortar rounds-because
their high trajectory-crashed
directly through the insub-
stantial roofs and exploded on
impact with the floor. some of
the first rounds-through
fragmentation or concussion-
killed or wounded American
GIS before they ever got out
of bed.
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Date
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1965, Mar. 21
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Subject
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Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Tax collection
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Container
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B4, F6
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
