The book is definitely not a fair and accurate portrayal. In fact, not only does it miss the fact that eliminating the insurgents infrastructure at a ground level is a basic counterinsurgency tactic, the book itself has such a clear agenda which would make even the orthodox school of the Vietnam War blush. It feels that the war and its methods were unjustified, and does so in a very clear 'in-your-face' manner that becomes tiring after a while for someone looking for an objective analysis. It clearly lacks any insight into how counterinsurgency works.

Now, Elton Manzione has been widely discredited and rightfully so. His story and descriptions of what he was involved simply stinks of sensationalism, even going as far as to claim that the South Vietnamese he worked with ate the vital organs of those killed. There is little to no proof that Manzione ever served as a SEAL. He uses the classical "my files were destroyed by the CIA" excuse, which is rubbish.

While it is true that transgressions did occur, the Phoenix program served the war strategically since removing the infrastructure on a hamlet level, for example, would weaken the VC grip on it, if not eliminating it completely. However, for different reasons involving incompetence, unreliable intelligence, no effective co-operation between the US and South Vietnam, the post-1969 use of the body count system as well as corruption, the program was not as successful as it could have been had it been carried out earlier and done by a government not as focused on conventional warfare as the US was in South Vietnam. Despite that, even the North Vietnamese admitted that the Phoenix program had a great impact on their influence on rural South Vietnam. It is also worth to note that the VC had their own genuine doctrine of terror and assassination, as laid out in the COSVN Resolution Number 9 [July 1969], even though it was an unofficial tactic since the start of the insurgency.

We shouldn't take the word "elimination" literally (as in, assassination) either. Less than 35 % of all "eliminations" ended up with the individual in question being killed and most being captured and incarcerated by the South Vietnamese government (even though they could find themselves being released shortly depending on where due to bribes or fear for communist reprisals).

More accurate books on the topic is Dale Andrade's Ashes to Ashes: the Phoenix Program and the Vietnam War and Mark Moyar's Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam.