The schedule called for 7.000 hamlets to be completed by the end of 1962, with the rest to be completed by early 1964. According to government figures the program got off to an encouraging beginning. By the end of September 1962, the Interior Department claimed a total of 3,235 completed strategic hamlets with 4,322,234 people housed in them. It was expected that by the end of 1962, two thirds of the population would be living in safety in strategic or fortified hamiets.3 On 7 October 1962, just a few days after the Department of Interior issued the figures for 4.3 million people in hamlets. President Diem claimed a total of 7,267,517 people housed in strategic hamlets, completed or under construction.4 It is common to find similar discrepancies and contradictions in government figures. Figures used by Robert Thompson in a September 1963 report to Diem do not correspond with any of the figures provided above.5

These discrepancies raise a number of points. First, the figures were not presented uniformly. At times, figures were presented for completed hamlets; at other times, they were presented for completed hamlets and those under construction. Second, it is clear that construction goals were accelerated as the program progressed and more funds became available. This was especially the case after May 1962. when U.S. funds were readily available. Third. information received from the field was usually exaggerated and inaccurate, concerned more with quantity than quality.