nd citizens were shocked to see the people they have known and worked with all their lives to be Viet Cong. The only way to get them out of Saigon and the south was to arrest them, and I believe the majority of the people arrested were guilty. I lived in the north for many years, and I have seen the methods of the Viet Cong. They come in your home at night, and try to get you to join their propaganda. They say if you do, you will be rich beyond imagine. If you refuse, they tell you they will slit your throat and kill your family. You have no choice, and so anyone can easily be Viet Cong. You just don’t know.” Khiem argues that Diem knew the true faces of the Viet Cong and how they operated. Only by arresting everyone suspected can you prevent insurgence. However, there is no guarantee that innocent people won’t be arrested, and even if most of the ones arrested were communist, there is still the risk of condemning the innocent. Diem’s next actions included returning to wealthy landlords the land given to peasants by the Viet Minh. The Vietminh originally took this land from wealthy French and Vietnamese landlords and gave them to peasants to gain their favor. Diem, on the other hand, saw it better to gain the loyalty of the wealthy Saigon citizens and proceeded to return their land back, forcibly moving rural villagers from their ancestral homes and placing them in controlled settlements that were intended to suppress any Communist activity; also male villagers were conscripted into the ARVN. The communist had ended heavy taxation and abuse, but Diem saw it fit that the peasants pay back due taxes. The peasants, a large part of the population, were only alienated and resentful, making communist support favorable. Khiem attacked the criticism of Diem’s returning of land to landlords: “I understand that Diem gave the land back to gain support, but let me ask you this. South Vietnam was about free...
