vidence, though, is ambiguous on this topic; although after the war ended, many Buddhist leaders were put on house arrest.In 1961, Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, carried out a program designed to stop communist insurgency in the countryside. Diem and Ngu believed that security should begin from within the villages and set out to build thousands of fortified hamlets. Nhu established three goals. First, the government would link the people in fortified hamlets in a communications network, allowing them to summon local defense and reaction forces in case of emergency. Second, the program would unite the people and bind them to the government. Third, the government would work to improve living standards. However, in reality the hamlet program only further separated Diem from the peasants that were protected by the hamlets. In the past, many rural Vietnamese viewed Diem as a distant annoyance, but the strategic hamlet program brought government policies to the countryside. Many villagers resented being forced off of their ancestral farmland, and some have suggested that the failure of the strategic hamlet concept actually increased cadre ranks in the NLF. The program imposed onerous burdens on the people, such as controls on their movement and demands for guard duty. Villagers began to see the hamlets as concentration camps, and many deserted the fortifications.The hamlet program inaugurated in 1961 is called “Ap Chien Luoc” by Khiem and the Vietnamese people. Khiem believes Diem’s idea was the only way to contain the Viet Cong. Khiem reflects,“At night the village belonged the enemy. Viet Cong would secretly come in and start their work. They convince the people and their families through threats of death. The people then gave away the position of every South Vietnam troop in the village. The next morning, hostile fire was met from everywhere like rain.” Khiem says that if the villages were not fortified,...
