 Since earlier efforts to clear the VC from the Iron Triangle had failed, Operation Cedar Falls was intended to achieve nothing less than its complete eradication as an enemy sanctuary and base of operations.Therefore, Operation Cedar Falls was to involve not only an assault on regular VC forces and their infrastructure, but also the deportation of the area's entire civilian population, the complete destruction of their homes, the area's defoliation, and its categorization as a free-fire zone.American intelligence indicated that the VC's Military Region IV headquarters were located in the Iron Triangle; their destruction thus was a principal aim of Operation Cedar Falls.