NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011 TOP SECRET – Sensitive
…the war in South Vietnam will be won primarily through the South Vietnamese efforts; it is a South Vietnamese war. It is a war of the counter guerrillas as against the guerrillas. We are only assisting them through training and logistical support.
We started the major program of assistance in training and logistical support toward the latter part of 1961. I think it is reasonable to expect that after four years of such training we should be able gradually to withdraw certain of our training personnel.
Following this, Representative Stratton addressed an inquiry to the Secretary:
Mr. Secretary, I am a little bit worried about your statement in answer to Mr. Chamberlain, that you still contemplate continuing withdrawal of our forces from Vietnam, in line with your previously announced plan. Isn't this a little unrealistic, in view of the fact that when you first made the announcement things were going a bit better than they appear to be going at the moment? And would't you say that in the event that things do not go as well as you hope they will, that unquestionably we can't continue to withdraw any more of our forces?
Secretary McNamara's reply:
No Sir, I would not. I don't believe that we as a nation should assume the primary responsibility for the war in South Vietnam. It is a counter-guerrilla war, it is a war that can only be won by the Vietnamese themselves. Our responsibility is not to substitute ourselves for the Vietnamese, but to train them to carry on the operations that they themselves are capable of.
The theme was next picked up by Representative Kohelan. He said that "One of the things that some of us are quite concerned about is this constant tendency toward a sanguine approach to the problem of Southeast Asia." He went on to recall that when he and other committee members had been out to South Vietnam in November of 1962, when General Harkins was saying the war would be won in 2 years and Admiral Felt said it would be won in 3 years -- although Halberstam and other newsmen were pessimistic at that time and now seemed, to Representative Kohelan, to have been right.
