THE GHOSTS OF VIETNAM: OPERATION WANDERING SOUL
As it Was in the Beginning, Is Now, and Ever Shall Be: War Without End.
At night, deep in the jungle during the Vietnam War, eerie sounds were used to represent the dead. The U.S. military would broadcast an audio mix called Wandering Soul (also known as Ghost Tape Number 10) to try to persuade North Vietnamese troops to go home. It exploited the Buddhist belief that once a person dies, his body must be buried in the family plot or his soul will wander aimlessly. (01:14)
I was watching a youtube presentation about little known historical facts. For the first time, I learned of Operation Wandering Soul. Part of the Phoenix Program which was a program of targeted assassination, torture, infiltration, interrogation and psychological warfare against the people of Vietnam—as if the actual warfare wasn’t brutal enough. This interested me enough to look further into this strange footnote of military (fucked-up) history and I thought I’d share my discovery with you. (Besides being a math geek, I am also a history buff). It’s also very relevant for today because this is ongoing crap.
LOUD SPEAKERS IN THE JUNGLE…BECAUSE THE RESISTANCE IN VIETNAM WERE ALL SUPERSTITIOUS IDIOTS?
In the deep, dark, moist, shadows of the Vietnam War, a haunting operation known as "Wandering Soul" unfolded, buried in the annals of history. This was a psychological warfare campaign, as illegal as it was morbid, an eerie symphony of sounds that had mixed results in intimidating the enemy, and was one of the many crimes from that war kept from the US people.
The trumpet of trumped-up war was tarnishing the worsening moral horizon, and Operation Wandering Soul, a sordid footnote in the unending saga of violence, which should have been a soul-searching moment for those who supported that war. The story of Wandering Soul resonates today as a testament to the negative effects of war, inviting anti-war activists, like myself, to underscore the immediate and lasting effects of brutal, inhumane conflict. Through the lens of history, we explore the grim lessons Operation Wandering Soul imparts and how activists can wield them to change the tenor of modern conflicts.
Uncovering Operation Wandering Soul
In the late 1960s, the CIA and U.S. military's psychological operations (PSYOP) unit conjured the macabre and monstrous specter that became Operation Wandering Soul. The purpose was simple in its complexity—strike a chill into the hearts of the North Vietnamese soldiers and incite fear with what the CIA deemed that they held dearest, their spirituality. Recordings of ghostly voices, supposedly fallen Viet Cong, lamenting their decision to fight and warning against the futility of war, were blasted into the night across the Vietnamese jungle.
CF: CIA Vampires: US Meddling in the Philippines
It's essential to dissect the operation not merely through the lens of military strategy, but through the broader spectrum of its impact on the cultural and ethical landscape. Wandering Soul wasn't just a tactical ploy; it was a repertoire of tragedy that underscored the heart-wrenching drama behind any conflict — the loss of life, of purpose, and of innocence.
Wandering Soul had a darker parent known as the Phoenix Program. A child of the CIA, Phoenix was a covert, intelligence gathering program that quickly metastasized into a campaign of indiscriminate violence. Phoenix devolved into a mechanism for torture, assassination, and rampant human rights abuses, cloaked under the excuse of counterinsurgency. Thousands perished, many under the auspices of unsubstantiated suspicions and coerced 'intelligence'.
This section of history shines a harsh light on the negative aspects of intelligence and clandestine operations, where accountability and morality become casualties alongside the reported body counts. The Phoenix Program was the Grim Reaper in the fertile fields of destabilization that war creates. However, the intended harvest was of the innocent, occupied, and oppressed. Detailed here is one of the darkest chapters of American foreign policy—an excursion into the labyrinth of fear and loathing that intelligence-gathering became.
Vignettes of the CIA's involvement in Vietnam are multi-faceted, but they collectively paint a grim picture of aggressive intelligence agencies run amok. Within the fertile chaos of the Vietnam War, the CIA found rich soil for experimentation in covert activities that would have been untenable in more transparent environments. These activities bled into the warfront, with agents posing as aid workers, leading double lives that often resulted in further destabilization rather than resolution.
Peeling back the layers of covert CIA activities in Vietnam reveals a tapestry of meddling that marred the war's already questionable legitimacy. It is a narrative of shadowy figures and shrouded motives that plays like a cautionary thriller, where the protagonists wield the double-edged sword of plausible deniability. It was a potion of fear, misinformation, and power: the volatile byproduct of which was Wandering Soul and its haunting echoes that still resonate today, just like the landmines the US military left there keep blowing up children.
During his regime, Barack Obama ear-marked tens of millions of dollars to sanitize the legacy of the US War against the people of Vietnam; one where the US left there gloriously victorious and left a Vietnam that was not profoundly demolished. Operation Wandering Soul beckons a reckoning with our past and a sober reflection on our present. For we anti-war activists, our responsibility is the illumination of this past, not just as a remembrance of the slaughtered (millions of Vietnamese and 60k US troops), but as a beacon to deter future war crimes. Activists can learn from the lessons of the US war crimes in Vietnam—giving voice to those silenced by the cacophony of violence, and weaving a narrative that doesn’t glorify war but elevates the sanctity of life that it obliterates.
It demands that we reject the official version of events, to look past the statistics and into the hearts and minds of those affected—on both sides. Anti-war activism should draw from the well of ALL those waylaid by war, amplifying their stories, their losses, and their journey towards peace. It is a discourse of empathy, understanding, and a dedication to dismantling the machinery of war that stubbornly persists. It just won’t go away.
Actionable Insights for Activists
For antiwar activists, the story of Operation Wandering Soul offers actionable insights. It calls for a concerted effort to ensure that the past remains palpable, that the living memory of the horrors of war is preserved to dissuade its never-ending repeat. Activists could:
Foster a human connection to war by sharing stories from those who experienced it firsthand, or their descendants.
Engage with education systems to inject the curriculum with first-hand accounts and perspectives from nations on both sides of the conflict, not just the victors (the Vietnam resistance, in this case).
Collaborate with media to present alternative narratives that humanize the individuals affected, challenging the depersonalization of war.
Advocate for transparency in government activities, especially in foreign affairs and military operations, to hold those in power accountable for their choices and consequences.
Support programs that offer assistance to those still suffering from the effects of war, to reinforce the commitment to healing and peace.
Operation Wandering Soul is not just a paragraph in a history book; it is a living testament to the depths of desperation reached during war. In its ghostly echoes, there lies a call for impassioned activism that memorializes the dead, seeks redemption for the crimes of war, and confirms our resolve to make the world a more peaceful place.
How can we keep allowing this barbarism to continue?
"The Wandering Soul"
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The Phoenix Program was hideous as cited. Think of McCarthyism gone lethal.
Thank you senator Sheehan.