<P> As historian James Gibson summed up the situation: </P> <P> Strategic hamlets had failed...The South Vietnamese regime was incapable of winning the peasantry because of its class base among landlords . Indeed, there was no longer a' regime' in the sense of a relatively stable political alliance and functioning bureaucracy . Instead, civil government and military operations had virtually ceased . The National Liberation Front had made great progress and was close to declaring provisional revolutionary governments in large areas . </P> <P> Discontent with Diệm's policies exploded following the Huế Phật Đản shootings of nine majority Buddhists who were protesting against the ban on the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the Buddha's birthday . This resulted in mass protests against discriminatory policies that gave privileges to the Catholic Church and its adherents . Diệm's elder brother Ngô Đình Thục was the Archbishop of Huế and aggressively blurred the separation between church and state . Thuc's anniversary celebrations shortly before Vesak had been bankrolled by the government, and Vatican flags were displayed prominently . There had also been reports of Buddhist pagodas being demolished by Catholic paramilitaries throughout Diệm's rule . Diệm refused to make concessions to the Buddhist majority or take responsibility for the deaths . On 21 August 1963, the ARVN Special Forces of Colonel Lê Quang Tung, loyal to Diệm's younger brother Ngô Đình Nhu, raided pagodas across Vietnam, causing widespread damage and destruction and leaving a death toll estimated to range into the hundreds . </P> <P> U.S. officials began discussing the possibility of a regime change during the middle of 1963 . The United States Department of State was generally in favor of encouraging a coup, while the Defense Department favored Diệm . Chief among the proposed changes was the removal of Diệm's younger brother Nhu, who controlled the secret police and special forces and was seen as the man behind the Buddhist repression and more generally the architect of the Ngô family's rule . This proposal was conveyed to the U.S. embassy in Saigon in Cable 243 . </P>

What was the reason for the us and vietnam war