- Robert Komer
Robert William "Blowtorch Bob" Komer (
February 23 ,1922 -April 9 ,2000 ) was a key figure in thepacification effort to winSouth Vietnam ese "hearts and minds " during theVietnam War , headingCivil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support .He was born in
Chicago , but raised in St. Louis. A graduate ofHarvard , he served inWorld War II and joined theCIA in 1947.Before his service in Vietnam, Komer served on the staff of the National Security Council, which was led by
McGeorge Bundy . After Bundy's departure, Komer briefly succeeded Bundy as interimNational Security Advisor , before he was assigned to the pacification campaign.While in Vietnam, Komer was to head up the
Phoenix program , a CIA inspired operation which Komer testified resulted in 20,587 deaths. [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE5D7153EF931A25757C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
accessdate=2008-10-11
title=Robert Komer, 78, Figure in Vietnam, Dies
work=New York Times
date=2000-04-12
first=Tim
last=Weiner ]Noam Chomsky argues that the Phoenix program's death toll should be estimated at 60,000 dead during the Komer period. Chomsky also considers Komer a legendary "Cold Warrior," of "a particularly vicious stripe." [Chomsky, Noam. "American Power and Third World Fascism".pn]Komer also had a hand in South Vietnam's
Strategic Hamlet Program .As the first civilian head of the "new model" pacification in Vietnam, beginning in 1966, Komer believed that "sustained local security" was the first and primary objective. Though he initially reported directly to President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was happy to fit his program under the structure of the
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), then headed by Gen.William Westmoreland , because he felt the military was less bureaucratic and more action-oriented than civilian agencies, and also it had most of the resources, whether U.S. or Vietnamese.In a revealing discussion with military historians, ["Organization and Management of the 'New Model' Pacification Program -- 1966-1969," declassified in 2005.] Komer said: "Everybody and nobody" was responsible for counter-insurgency against the Communist Vietcong guerrillas. He said it "fell between stools which accounted for the prolonged failure to push things on a large scale even though many correctly analyzed the need."
Following his Vietnam service, he served as
ambassador toTurkey , in theRand Corporation , and in theJimmy Carter administration as theUnder Secretary of Defense for Policy .In 1968, when Komer was named ambassador to Turkey, he was succeeded as pacification chief by
William E. Colby , who later became head of theCentral Intelligence Agency .Ambassador Komer has left a special mark in the Turkish history. In the beginning of his tenure as the US Ambassador to Turkey, his car was set on fire in Middle East Technical University by a group of students who then formed the core of the
Marx ist-Lenin ist movement in Turkey under the banner ofDev Sol . Speculation goes that the group includedTaner Akcam and that the car was torched byTaylan Ozgur , a close of friend of leftist leaderDeniz Gezmiş , who was then killed by the police during a demonstration. It is also speculated that the scarf used to set the car on fire belonged to Sinan Cemgil, another famous leftist student of the time.The torching, often referred to as "Komer incident" is an integral part of an era in Turkish social history.
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