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Invoking Viet Nam to cover up Iraq abuses
Viet Nam News ^ | June 11, 2004 | Diem Quynh

Posted on 06/15/2004 10:54:27 PM PDT by Interesting Times

US prisoners share some smiles and a game of chess.— VNS File photos

Invoking Viet Nam to cover up Iraq abuses

The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal calls forth questions over the American War in Viet Nam: "How were captured US troops treated?" and "How did the Americans treat the Vietnamese?"

Diem Quynh

The Voice of America has attempted to deflect criticism of American soldiers’ treatment of Iraqi prisoners by claiming recently that captured US troops were treated worse in Viet Nam.

Besides begging the fundamental question "what were the Americans doing in Viet Nam in the first place?" the claim is also patently false.

In fact, like in any of the dozens of countries they invaded, it was the Americans who perpetrated well-documented atrocities in Viet Nam, both at the individual and mass levels.

American POWs treat themselves to a refreshing game of volleyball.

My Lai is a byword for callous mass murder while the Bach Mai hospital and Kham Thien street bombings, though less well-known outside Viet Nam, were no less brutal for their manner of execution. As if to show they were not merely capable of ‘impersonal’ atrocities (by dropping bombs), the Americans helped run the notorious Con Dao prison with its ‘tiger cages’. In each of these 3m by 1.5m cages, they held five Vietnamese prisoners.

Conditions at the prison prompted a visiting US legislator, William R Anderson, to write to then-president Richard Nixon slamming the human rights violations and asking him to reconsider American involvement in the south of Viet Nam.

Candidate in this year’s American presidential elections, John Kerry, who fought in the war, went further in his criticism. In a statement to the US’ Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971, he said the war crimes committed by US soldiers in Southeast Asia "were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

But despite these abuses, the Vietnamese did not reciprocate in kind; instead, they treated captured US troops humanely.

A letter written to his family by the US navy’s Lt Stephen Anthony Rudloff shows a glimpse of the treatment received by American troops in captivity. He wrote, "Since my capture, I have been treated very well by the people of the DRVN [Democratic Republic of Viet Nam]. I am well fed, have had my injuries tended to by a doctor, and am in excellent condition."

Another navy man, Lt Albert Molinare, wrote home, "my treatment and the treatment of all the others I’ve talked to has been very fair. I feel we’re eating and living better than many Vietnamese outside the walls. I live with a group of other prisoners and we pass the time playing bridge and pingpong and doing some gardening. It’s nothing like home of course but the treatment has been a pleasant surprise."

Molinare was right that the detainees were living better than most Vietnamese who were subsisting on food rations and under extremely tough conditions.

It was also true that except for their incarceration, the American soldiers lived normal lives in prison though many of them had been caught red-handed committing crimes against humanity. They got fairly good food, exercised, played on the guitar and read books, received letters from home and celebrated Christmas with trees just like they would have at home.

They received periodic medical checks and treatment for injuries and illnesses.

In the three decades since the war, the Americans have used their hegemony over the world media – including films – and short public memory to gloss over their atrocities and to demonise Viet Nam.

The VOA report is merely another such attempt. — VNS



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: johnkerry; pows; vietnamnews; vvaw; warcrimeslies
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Communist Vietnam agrees with John Kerry that Americans were the bad guys during the Vietnam war -- unlike the noble North Vietnamese who treated American POWs with kindness and compassion even when they had so little for themselves...
1 posted on 06/15/2004 10:54:27 PM PDT by Interesting Times
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To: Howlin; eddie willers; cajungirl; wirestripper; Southflanknorthpawsis; Peach; prairiebreeze; ...

Ping.


2 posted on 06/15/2004 11:00:15 PM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times

Oh, brother. Ask John McCain about it and get back to me.


3 posted on 06/15/2004 11:01:07 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

You beat me to the punch. LOL


4 posted on 06/15/2004 11:02:24 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Interesting Times

Oh how nice .. another endorsement from the Commies to Kerry


5 posted on 06/15/2004 11:07:46 PM PDT by Mo1 (That's right Old Media .... WE LOVED PRESIDENT REAGAN)
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To: Mo1

Correction .. I should have said .. an endorement from Kerry to the Commies


6 posted on 06/15/2004 11:09:21 PM PDT by Mo1 (That's right Old Media .... WE LOVED PRESIDENT REAGAN)
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To: Mo1
Correction .. I should have said .. an endorement from Kerry to the Commies

Apparently it works both ways.

7 posted on 06/15/2004 11:12:06 PM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times



Photograph of Hanoi Kerry meeting with Comrade Do Muoi,
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Photo is displayed in the War Remnants Museum
(formerly the "War Crimes Museum") in Saigon.
CLICK ON PHOTO for proof that Hanoi Kerry is a traitor!


Kerry’s Soviet Rhetoric
(The Vietnam-era antiwar movement got its spin from the Kremlin)

8 posted on 06/15/2004 11:13:04 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Hanoi Kerry is a traitor)
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To: Interesting Times

BTTT!!!!!!


9 posted on 06/16/2004 3:07:07 AM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: Interesting Times
Where was the mega Barf Alert?

But despite these abuses, the Vietnamese did not reciprocate in kind; instead, they treated captured US troops humanely.

Then why did so many die in prison as a result of this “humane” treatment?

He wrote, "Since my capture, I have been treated very well by the people of the DRVN [Democratic Republic of Viet Nam]. I am well fed, have had my injuries tended to by a doctor, and am in excellent condition."

How much torture did he endure before writing this?

http://www.powmiafamiliesagainstjohnkerry.com/

10 posted on 06/16/2004 3:12:32 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: Interesting Times

thanks. this is repulsive.


11 posted on 06/16/2004 5:20:37 AM PDT by bitt
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To: bitt
thanks. this is repulsive.

Yes... and enlightening.

12 posted on 06/16/2004 7:10:41 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: R. Scott
Thanks for the link.

The barf alert is implicit.

Interesting how Vietnamese communist propaganda hasn't changed after all these years, and how Kerry's lies are still a valuable asset to their cause.

13 posted on 06/16/2004 7:18:44 AM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: Interesting Times

Jeepers. Thanks for the ping!


14 posted on 06/16/2004 8:01:26 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Interesting Times

A well orchestrated "conspiracy", interesting none of these that are squealing like pigs have any complaints about how the UN does business daily.


15 posted on 06/17/2004 3:47:24 AM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: af_vet_rr; ALOHA RONNIE; American in Israel; American Soldier; archy; armymarinemom; bad company; ..

PING!


16 posted on 08/27/2004 4:29:47 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

bump


17 posted on 08/27/2004 5:29:39 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: Interesting Times; Cannoneer No. 4; ALOHA RONNIE; The Mayor

~*~

"Tighten your seatbelts, America. The Left means to shake this country to its foundations....Just as in Chicago 1968, a lot of innocent people may get hurt." - Jesse's War.

Deceive, divide, distract - old MO of the enemy of every human soul.


18 posted on 08/27/2004 5:55:28 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl (No, brave, free, reporter in Baghdad, reading daily AP news wires - that is *not* "ALL from Iraq.")
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To: Interesting Times

Kerry better not contradict this guy or they'll take his picture out of the museum!


19 posted on 08/27/2004 5:58:51 AM PDT by Howlin (John Kerry & John Edwards: Political Malpractice)
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To: Interesting Times

You forgot to post the mega-barf alert.


20 posted on 08/27/2004 6:25:07 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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