From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Fri Dec 13 2002 - 07:24:09 MST
I noticed this showed up on the BBS, but not the mailing list. Since I saw
no replies to it's points, and they seemed to be good ones, I thought I
would make sure it had shown up on the mailing list for those that do not
check both.
Michael
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I must take some issues with your interpretations of the 1954 Geneva
Accords. For starters, I cannot see how anyone can rationally argue that the
government of South Vietnam (already recognized by 30 nations and up for UN
membership at the time of the conference) should have submitted to an
election to unify the country with the North when one considers that
population alone would've guaranteed the Communists victory. With a
population of 17 million to the South's 13 million, the Communists simply
could've herded more unwilling participants to the voting booth to insure
victory. Forgive my skepticism regarding the North's intentions, but perhaps
you could provide an example of a fair and honest Communist election?
Another problem I have is your contention that the United States 'sabotaged'
the Geneva Accords. Given that the Accords were nothing more than a victory
lap for the Soviet/Chinese proxy communist entity of the North, it is not
surprising that neither the U.S. or South Vietnam ratified them. As I've
noted, the Republic of Vietnam was already recognized by 30 countries and up
for UN membership, so that in my mind gives them the right to determine
their own political future. You are strangely silent, however, on the
blatant violations of these 'sacrosanct' agreements by the North Vietnamese.
One of the few provisions agreed to by all parties in the Geneva Accords was
the assured neutrality of Cambodia and Laos. This neutrality was respected
by the United States and South Vietnam, but was constantly trampled on by
the North Vietnamese. Worse yet, as illustrated by David Chandler and
others, the North Vietnamese created the rebel entity known as the Khmer
Rouge in Cambodia that would eventually lay waste to that nation.
You also suggest that somehow the United States was responsible for making
the lives of the Vietnamese people miserable, thus somehow undermining the
legitimacy/authority of the North. The US was not the one behind Ho Chi
Minh's class driven 'land reforms' of the mid 50's that led to the deaths of
30,000 Vietnamese peasants. Additionally, is it not more realistic to assume
that the persecution of religion by the Communist North was responsible for
the mass exodus of 100,000 northerners to the South during the 300 day
period of 1956, rather than some mass CIA plot? For comparison, one only
need look at similar migrations from Hungary, Poland, and East Germany
(where 3 million out of a population of 18 million fled before a certain
Wall was built to keep the rest in.)
I must also take issue with the way you cavalierly dismiss the role of the
Communist Chinese in the success and ability of the North Vietnamese to wage
war. Mao's aid was essentially in the development of logistics, and supply
of men and materiel. It would've been impossible for Ho Chi Minh to achieve
victory at Dien Bien Phu without the Chinese. The French severely
underestimated the VietMinh's capability, specifically because they weren't
aware of the supplies provided by the Chinese.
The reason the United States intervened in Vietnam is obvious. To prevent
the spread of communism. Considering the horrors that befell the peoples of
Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam following the short-sighted extrication of
the US from Indochina in 1975 by the US Congress, I would think the nobility
of the cause should be obvious too. No one is suggesting that the regime of
Ngo Dinh Diem in the South was perfect. It wasn't, it was an authoritarian
regime ripe with nepotism. But is was no worse than the regime of South
Korea's Syngman Rhee in 1950 that the US saved from a communist invasion.
Compare the South Korea of today with its' Northern communist neighbor. I
cannot believe anyone could argue with a straight face that the quality of
life is better in the communist North than in the democratic South.
MaxPlumm
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