[justshutupandtakeit]

There is a good discussion of it in Fletcher Prouty's book JFK. He was liason between CIA and Joints Chiefs and a briefer for JFK. This was a National Security Memoradum which reversed the slow buildup going on in Vietnam and was immediately voided when Johnson took over.

It is false that Kennedy encouraged the killing of the Diem brothers. Part of the problem was that the Intelligence operatives in this arena were not under any higher control than themselves and often acted without authorization. And much was hidden from the President.

[Barset]

Fletcher Prouty's endorsement of the existence of Vietnam troop de-escalation order Kennedy planned to sign is as reliable as Prouty's endorsement of "one of the craziest Kennedy assassination theories: The Umbrella Man in Dealey Plaza shooting a poison dart at JFK."

In the absence of the draw-down order (destroyed by an evil President Johnson)there is only the word of Prouty, who is "utterly unreliable about facts," to sustain the thesis of President Kennedy's intention to withdraw from Vietnam.

About the Diem murder, there is too much documented evidence as well as eyewitness accounts of President Kennedy's being directly involved to ignore in favor of the "will no one rid me of this pestilent priest" cop=out.

I hope that I do not regret responding to your post.