The Japan Times
Tokyo, Japan
Wednesday, May 27, 1998
Avoiding war with Ho Chi Minh
Let me begin this letter by pointing out some
problems I have with the May 17 letters by John T. Blackmore, "Ho Chi Minh
advocated class war" and Harold Solomon, "Painting Ho Chi Minh
red."
In
responding to my May 10 letter "Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist,"
Blackmore states that the South Vietnamese government was led by genuine
nationalists. Perhaps, but I don't
believe sending American teenage troops to be maimed and killed for the likes
of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky – who looked to Adolf Hitler
as a role model – was such a good idea. Maybe it would have been better if the United States had listened to Ho
Chi Minh during the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, when he had sought
support for Vietnamese independence.
Today,
the U.S. sees nothing wrong in engaging with communist regimes such as China,
as long as U.S. business interests are served. Perhaps engagement with Ho Chi Minh early on would have
saved us a lot of trouble down the road.
As
for Solomon's letter, I believe that since Ho Chi Minh and his followers only
found support for Vietnamese independence from communists, it's natural that
they wanted to give communists support in return.
Don
MacLAREN
Tokyo