Fight of the Phoenix
Order of the Delta Dragon
by
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Symbolically Phoenix is about rebirth and regeneration. The mythical Phoenix bird burns its own nest, is reduced to ashes, and experiences a glorious rise in beauty and majesty from the flames and resulting debris. Throughout Europe, Asia, and Southeast Asia the symbolism of Phoenix is a powerful vision of enduring redemption and reincarnation.
Begun by the Central Intelligence Agency, Phoenix, as the alter ego of the ICEX program, was extended to the U.S. Army due to the sheer numbers of agents needed in the Vietnam War. Detractors of the Phoenix program focus on what they consider to be the less than humanitarian actions and fail to understand either the symbol or the accomplishment.
Fight of the Phoenix: Order of the Delta Dragon, is all about achievement. My only apology is that I waited 40 years to write my personal account of participation in the Phoenix Program. Phoenix was essential to the victory America achieved in Vietnam despite protests to the contrary either about victory or achievement. Somewhere in the archives is a 1971 (before it was over) study on “Lessons Learned in the Vietnam War”. I know. I was a contributor and editor on behalf of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI), General McChristian. If I had access to that product and the opportunity to rewrite portions, I would do so, because my work on the special report was done in 1971, just before my assignment to Phoenix and Vietnam.
Phoenix is a paradigm for all future political engagement, whether military, paramilitary, or civil affairs and certainly pertains to operating in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2011, and to all other countries where direct involvement in nation building is part of the battle. The paradigm needs improvement in terms of authority establishment, chain of command, civil/military coordination, operational imperatives and constraints, and neutralization targeting and decision making, but it is more than rudimentary, it is as lethal as needed.
I checked the Internet with absolute satisfaction that my name has never been associated with the Phoenix Program, not because I do not want to be associated with it, but because my activities remained in the shadows as they should have. I am about to change that, but now it does not matter.
I was privileged to be selected by U.S. Army Military Intelligence to become a Phoenix Advisor in Vietnam. I have read some disparaging works about Vietnam and the Phoenix Program that use the terms “horror, terrible, secret,” and the like to describe the program. They are wrong. Phoenix was none of those. I hope this book corrects corrupted thinking by the few that cannot visualize how to win a war with intelligence sources and methods, those who were too timid to cause assassinations of a vicious enemy, and those who sat on the sidelines in the United States and criticized without understanding. May they all join the assassinated VCI in perdition.
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About the Book
Fight of the Phoenix is a historical personal account of duties as an Advisor in the Delta of Vietnam in 1972. The author counters claims of other Advisors and Academics and sets the record straight on the vicious nature of the Communist insurgency that killed their own people and the spectacular success of the Phoenix Program throughout the country and especially in the Delta Region MR-4 in targeting and neutralizing the enemy Viet Cong insurgents.
About the Author
LTC Roy Peterson as an Army Captain was a Phoenix Program Advisor in Vietnam in 1972 and one of the last Americans in the Delta of Vietnam. LTC Peterson served at Military Region 4 Headquarters first as the Legal Advisor and Interpreter/Briefer to the Military Assistance Commander and Deputy for CORDS. With the American drawdown of troops, LTC Peterson acquired successive duties including Operations, MR-4 Advisor with Counterpart, and Advisor to the National Police.
Phoenix was the military version of the CIA ICEX Program and was designed by the CIA and deployed by the Army to neutralize the Viet Cong Infrastructure in South Vietnam through any and all means necessary including assassination. As an Army Captain, Roy Peterson aggressively pursued the goals and intentions of the program to the maximum in an advisory capacity while Phoenix was transitioning under “Vietnamization” into the Phung Hoang Program with all activities under Vietnamese control.
LTC Peterson was a Military Intelligence Unit Commander, Army Attache in Moscow (See his book, American Attache in the Moscow Maelstrom), Manager of all US Army Security Clearances, the Military Intelligence Advisor on the Army Staff in the Pentagon, Commander of the INF Portal Monitors in Votkinsk, Russia, and was assigned to various undisclosed duties and locations.
After retirement, LTC Peterson was the first US Department of Commerce, Foreign Commercial Officer in Vladivostok, Russia Far East; first IBM Regional Manager in the Russian Far East; President of his own exporting company; and taught for the University of Phoenix.
LTC Peterson holds two MA (University of Arizona and University of Southern California) degrees and one MBA degree (University of Phoenix and completed work for the doctorate. He is a graduate with honors from the US Army Russian Institute in Garmisch, Germany and the Military Assistance Security Advisor Course at the JFK Center at Fort Bragg. LTC Peterson is an expert in Soviet/Russian affairs, Diplomacy, American History, Political Science, Global Business Management, American Politics, Global/International Trade, International Relations, and World Politics. LTC Peterson authored American Attache in the Moscow Maelstrom, Between Darkness and Light, and Magnetism to Marriage.