January 3, 1957 The International Control Commission (ICC) declares that both North Zone and South Zone had failed to comply with the Geneva Agreements. Richard Falk points out:
. . . the weight of evidence suggests a great disproportion between the violations of international law by North Vietnam and by the United States. . . . a powerful state, here the United States, is seeking by means of its superior military power to thwart the expression of the domestic balance of political forces in Vietnam.
On the disproportion, the U.S.-backed proxy force murdered 70,000 defenseless people during 1955–1960. Buttinger and others say the Diem forces used force first. The U.S. State Dept says (in a 1961 White Paper) that communist activity after the 1954 Geneva Conference was mainly “political action—promoting discontent with the government in Sai Gon. . . .”. Most observers say the DRVN had the Geneva Accords on its side, so it was not trying to break them.
May 24, 1957 The illegal proxy State of Viet Nam, in violation of the Geneva Accords, and upon being advised by the U.S., requests that MAAG (American Military Assistance Advisory Group) advisors fill the vacuum left by the final withdrawal of French Air Force and Naval advisors on May 31st. To accommodate the request 44 military personnel engaged in housekeeping functions are shifted to the Embassy’s role. This makeshift illegally enables the total military personnel to be increased from 692 in MAAG and TERM (Temporary Equipment Recovery Mission) to a total of 736.
July 26, 1957 During TERM’s first nine months of operations it ships out more than $36,000,000 worth of MDAP equipment from Viet Nam. This is beyond the $137,000,000 worth of MDAP equipment that had be shipped out prior to TERM’s introduction.
October 22, 1957 U.S. Army officers injured in a dynamite explosion and in a separate incident a number of U.S. enlisted men are injured when their bus is dynamited.
