[SOC] Vietnam War Article

[Bill Cunningham]

This will make interesting reading for our multinational group.  For =
those of us who dearly appreciate Hanoi Jane, more grist for the mill.



-Very interesting observations from the "other side"


In a recent interview published in The Wall Street Journal, former =
Colonel Bui Tin who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese =
Army and received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April =
30,1975, confirmed the American Tet 1968 military victory: "Our loses =
were staggering and a complete surprise. Giap later told me that Tet had =
been a military defeat, though we had gained the planned political =
advantages when Johnson agreed to negotiate and did not run for =
reelection.

The second and third waves in May and September were, in retrospect, =
mistakes. Our forces in the South were nearly wiped out by all the =
fighting in 1968. It took us until 1971 to reestablish our presence, but =
we had to use North Vietnamese troops as local guerrillas. If the =
American forces had not begun to withdraw under Nixon in 1969, they
could have punished us severely. We suffered badly in  1969 and 1970 as =
it was."

On strategy:  "If Johnson had granted Westmoreland's requests to enter =
Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi could not have won the war.  =
It was the only way we could bring sufficient military power to bear on =
the fighting in the South.

Building and maintaining the trail was a huge effort involving tens of =
thousands of soldiers, drivers, repair teams, medical stations, =
communication units, etc. Our operations were never compromised by =
attacks on the trail. At times, accurate B-52 strikes would cause real =
damage, but we put so much in at the top of the trail that enough men =
and weapons to prolong the war always came out the bottom.  If all the =
bombing had been concentrated at one time, it would have hurt our =
efforts. But the bombing was expanded in slow stages under Johnson and =
it didn't worry us. We had plenty of time to prepare alternative routes =
and facilities. We always had stockpiles of rice ready to feed the =
people for months if a harvest was damaged. The Soviets bought rice from =
Thailand for us.

And the left:  "Support for the war from our rear was completely secure =
while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would =
listen to world news over the radio at 9AM to follow the growth of the =
antiwar movement.  Visits to Hanoi by Jane Fonda and former Attorney =
General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should =
hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane =
Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that =
she was ashamed of American actions in the war and would struggle along =
with us ... those people represented the conscience of America ....part =
of it's war-making capability, and we were turning that power in our =
favor."

Bui Tin went on to serve as the editor of the People's Daily, the =
Official newspaper of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Disillusioned with the reality of Vietnamese communism Bui Tin now lives =
in Paris.=20


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