The Village War

Episode Twelve covers the war for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese peasantry. Without their support you will not win the war. Cooperation with one side brings destruction from the other. Some policy makers in Washington think that the war should be fought politically, Not militarily. The Vietcong use selective assassination as the first step in taking control of a village. The US doctrine is one of "Pacification" they go into a village and search, if they find evidence of Vietcong affiliation they evacuate the village and burn it to the ground. The North portrays pacification as a brutal war against a helpless population. The North controls the politics, the US controls the firepower, the people looked upon the Americans with hate.