Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Does this paragraph contain enough Parallelism?

The Phoenix Program was a counter insurgency program run by the United States during the Vietnam War with the aims of destroying the civilian infrastructure of Viet Cong. Vietcong, which was a mobile, smaller, and a more sophisticated network of the ordinary Communist army, had methodically created shadow government in small but critical areas of South Vietnam rapidly converting populations more perceptive to Communism. To combat this situation, the United States created Phoenix, which consisted of two major components, Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU) and regional interrogation centers. The former would kill/capture civilians suspected of beholding knowledge of Viet Cong’s activity. They then would be transported to close by interrogation centers, where barbaric and harsh methods such as rape, and mutilation of tongue would be employed to coerce suspected knowledge. The program was very successful in destroying the civilian infrastructure of its enemy, though most victims turned out to be innocent citizens. Around 81,740 were “neutralized” meaning either convinced to denounce Communism, forcefully brought under control or killed. The latter thought to be around 26,369 deaths. The program was shut down after public scrutiny.

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