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Organization: Vietnam Insight
Editor: Chan Tran
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Phone: (408) 226-2261
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Date:         Tue, 21 Jul 1992 15:37:21 PDT
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From:         Vietnam Insight <vinsight@NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      VI: Hanoi's Sincerety & Honesty (or lack thereof)

*****************
Hanoi's Sincerity and Honesty (or lack thereof)
*****************

The Hanoi regime has an image problem.  Of course, this comes as no
surprise to anyone familiar with the plight of the Vietnamese people.
The purpose of this article is not, however, to rehash the regime's
miles-long list of human rights abuses.  Instead, we will discuss the
sincerity of Hanoi's attempts to remedy its image problem.

Despite the Hanoi regime's ignorance in many fields, they do seem to be
acutely aware of the fact that their image in the world community could
stand a lot of improvement (to put it mildly). They have probably known
this for some time, but only in the past few years has their economic
situation become dire enough to compel them to do something about it.

Criticism of the Hanoi regime comes on three fronts: its abysmal human
rights record, backward economics, and its misadventures in Cambodia.
To this end, the Communists have demonstrated a determination to make
changes (in their image, not their behavior!) In the following
paragraphs, we will examine the lies behind Hanoi's so-called reforms.
The focus will be on humanitarian issues, as they are both the most
pressing and controversial.

Of all the humanitarian issues in Vietnam, none strikes a deeper chord
in Americans than the painful MIA issue.  For the past seventeen years,
Hanoi has vehemently denied that it held any U.S. servicemen after 1973.
It has been official U.S. government policy to take Hanoi at its word on
this issue, because that is far easier than dealing with the political
fallout of Americans held against their will in Southeast Asia. For many
years, this policy has succeeded, because evidence against it has been
sketchy at best. Unfortunately for Hanoi and many U.S. officials, more
substantial evidence of Communist dishonesty on this issue is surfacing.

Maj. Gen. Oleg Kalugin, who headed Soviet counterintelligence in the
late 1970's, claimed that KGB agents had interrogated American prisoners
in Vietnam in 1978.  Kalugin said the agents questioned "at least three
Americans" for about a month in or near Hanoi. This is followed by Boris
Yeltsin's MIA bombshell where he stated that Americans had been shipped
from Vietnam to the Soviet Union as late as 1986. Vietnamese officials
defecting the communist system also testified that they have witnessed
truckloads of alive American Prisoners in Hanoi in 1986, and knew
friends who guarded American POWs, whom were later transported to the
Soviet Union. This seems to confirm what many have suspected for many
years, namely that the Hanoi regime, and perhaps some in the U.S.
government, have not been entirely forthcoming on this explosive issue.
Whether or not any of these unfortunate souls are still alive remains to
be seen; the fact remains that Hanoi lied about American POW's. Just how
many prisoners "vanished" in this way is still unclear. Perhaps when the
KGB's archives have been more thoroughly studied, we will have a better
idea.

The MIAs are not, however, the only humanitarian stain on Hanoi's image.
Another glaring example is the continued imprisonment of dissidents in
the so-called "Re-Education Camps".  Recently, Hanoi claimed to have
released the last of re-education prisoners -- a claim it had made
several years ago, while refusing to comment on the huge number of
political prisoners it still holds, and denying visits to these camps by
Amnesty International or Asia Watch. Political oppression in Vietnam has
worsened over the years. Secret trials and harsh sentencing of
dissidents are common. The most notable case in recent times is that of
Doan Thanh Liem and Do Ngoc Long, both of whom once helped run an
internationally acclaimed project that aided Saigon's street kids. These
two men were imprisoned on the barest suspicion of dissident activity.
Their treatment at the hands of the Hanoi regime is such a travesty of
justice that even the likes of Jane Fonda and Ed Asner were harshly
critical of it!

We could go on and discuss the bogus economic reforms, phony
troop withdrawals and other examples of communist attempts to reform
their image without substantially changing their behavior, but
unfortunately space considerations prohibit it.  What has been printed
so far should, however, be enough to cast serious doubt on Hanoi's
sincerity and honesty.


--
Vietnam Insight (vinsight@netcom.com)
Chan Tran, editor
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