NATION BUILDING

by David Nuttle

The U. S. has had little or no success when it has attempted "Nation Building." A primary reason for such failures is the fact that most developing nations have populations that they have socially, politically, and politically isolated. One example is the case of South Vietnam where the Viet government so isolated its So killing the Montagnard (tribal) populations, about 620,000 tribesmen from several tribes. The Viets had been in conflict w/ Montagnard tribes for over 2,000 years. Viet hatred for Montagnards was expressed when the S. Vietnam government made it illegal for any Viet health worker to treat a Montagnard for an injury or disease. If a part of any population is isolated and alienated, nation building has little chance of success.

During the Vietnam War, U. S. and SVN (S. Vietnam) military commanders attempted to obtain official support for putting the 620,000 Montagnards in concentration camps to have a free fire zone in SVN highlands where they presided. This horrific request failed due to the facts that: 1) Communist forces had gone underground to dramatically reduce effectiveness of U. S. forces using aerial bombing and artillery fire; and 2) Most Montagnard would likely find ways to escape such confinement and would probably be angry enough at the Viets & U. S. to support communist forces. The U. S. Army's related policy request that should have been declined, but was approved, was to use Agent Orange to kill a neutral jungle simply because they lacked jungle warfare skills. Killing the jungle had no military benefit but did cause great harm to the environment, wildlife, local populations, and our own troops.

To counter the above clearly dangerous plans, I had been working with CIA's Special Ops Chief, Col. Gil Layton, CIA's Saigon Station Chief, Bill Colby, and U. S. Ambassador, Fredrick Nolting, on alternative plans to motivate and assist the Montagnard to take actions to fully secure their tribal areas from communist forces. These individuals asked me to contact my Montagnard friends to ask what they were willing to do, with our help, to secure their own villages and territory to deny access and use by communist forces, the Viet Cong as well as conventional military units from North Vietnam (PAVN forces). I agreed to talk with Chiefs of

Montagnard tribes I had been working w/ for 2-years on agricultural development for tribes.

A U. S. Army Special Forces Medic, Paul C., had just arrived in S. Vietnam and did not have a duty assignment, so I asked for him to go with me to talk with Montagnard tribes about possible health program assistance while I discussed village defense. After lengthy and hesitant discussions in several Montagnard villages, Y-Ju, the tribal Chief at Buon Enao agreed to try a village defense effort starting with construction of a double security fence and signs saying no communist force was allowed entry. President Ngo Dien Diem approved a demonstration security effort and assigned a Viet officer to work with me as well as one ARVN (S. Viet military) Special Ops Team (composed of tribal members) to train a village defense force initially approved to only have crossbows and spears.

The above effort started what Bill Colby named the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that was also referred to as the VDP (Village Defense Program) also approved by the Viet Provence Chief for Darlac Province and area ARVN Generals. Military weapons were soon approved for use by project participating Montagnard and U. S. Army Special A-Teams & USAF Air Commandos, with aircraft, were assigned to provide training and support. Within the first year 60 Montagnard villages joined the VDP network. Armed combat with Viet Cong and PAVN became a regular event as communist forces attempted to destroy this effort. The VDP effort is detailed in the book entitled "Vietnam's High Ground," by J. P. Harris.

Basic "nation building" concepts were used on said VDP effort. This included agriculture, food security, health/ sanitation, potable water, safe housing, green energy, cottage industry, entrepreneurship training, business starts, community development, and safety programs were all provided. All of this facilitated self-sufficiency and motivation for VDP participation. The bonus effort was to provide village health clinics and a field hospital at Buon Enao to treat wounds, injuries, and diseases the Viets refused to provide. Tribal courts were also a creation to help improve tribal resolution of conflicts. Typically, U. S. "nation building" lacks most of the above critical inputs. POTUS JFK supported all of these efforts & such POTUS support has been lacking on other U. S. "nation building" efforts.

Due to corruption and incompetence by the Diem regime prevented replication of the above development program for all of South Vietnam. The VDP effort was soon killed after POTUS JFK's assassination. His replacement, POTUS LBJ, directed the abandonment of South Vietnams' populations, including the Montagnards, and achievement of a quick and conventional military victory using as many U. S. troops as needed. U. S. Army Special Forces A-Teams were ordered to abandon the VDP effort and construct as well as defend forts on the SVN-Laos border. This allowed communist forces to gain control of SVN's total population while said forts only provided target practice for PAVN's forces moving from North to South Vietnam. POTUS LBJ made a fundamental error in assuming an unconventional war could be won by conventional means. Sec. of Defense Robt. McNamara added to this error be declaring that communist forces would soon be defeated if we killed 10 of their soldiers for each of our soldiers lost in combat. The fallacy was that the Viets had been in wars for over 2,000 years and were psychologically conditioned to loss of sons & daughters in armed conflicts. Moreover, the Viets were highly skilled in jungle warfare and U. S. forces were sorely lacking in this vital skill for Vietnam.

The lesson in all the above is that we do not, and have not, had the policy, programs, or leadership to be successful in the complex "nation building" process. Much detail on "nation building" is yet to be developed. Massive errors in doing so are common, such as Taliban terrorist's prohibiting the Afghan female population for participating in national development, The Taliban have thus created a near future national collapse for Afghanistan.