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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 30 Sep 1992 19:14:13 CDT
From:         "(Zaida Mohammad-Shariff)" <zm1@RA.MSSTATE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Vietnam Insight
              Sep 30, 92 5:00 pm

>
>     In defense of Vietnam Insight...
>
> >While there are certainly no strictures against the practice, I certainly
> >have to question the use of this medium for blatantly self-serving
> >propaganda of the kind served up by "Vietnam Insight."  There is nothing
>  ^^^^^^^^^^
>      If Vietnam Insight were pro-Hanoi, would it still be "blatently
>  self-serving propaganda" ?
>
> >inherently "heroic" about dropping leaflets from airplanes with
> >unsolicited messages calling on the population below to rise up against
> >their government.  In this country (USA), the law expressly forbids this
>  ^^^^^
>      Excuse me, but you are operating on the mistaken assumption that the
>  Hanoi regime is a legitimate government which has the right to rule the
>  Vietnamese people.  The truth is, it is not "their" government, no more so
>  than the junta in Burma is the Burmese people's government.  The Hanoi
>  regime is a typical totalitarian police state. There is no right to protest,
>  no freeedom of speech, no due process, no free elections, no accountability
>  to the people.  People in Vietnam are imprisoned, tortured  or killed for
>  not supporting Communist rule in Vietnam.  Read Orwell's 1984 for further
>  details.
>
>    Oh, by the way...
>      If Ly Tong were an ANC member dropping leaflets in Pretoria, would you
>  still be so critical ?  (Or an FMLN member in San Salvador, etc.)
>
> >kind of behavior, although the CIA has frequently been found instigating
> >uprisings elsewhere.
> >
> >However, one has to ask what "Vietnam Insight" actually stands for.  Cer-
> >tainly the dictatorial regimes of Diem, Ky, Thieu and the other puppets of
> >the U.S. government in Vietnam were among the worst human rights violators
>
>       Yes, the South Vietnamese governments were corrupt and oppressive,
>  these facts played a major role in their downfall.  Unfortunately, the
>  current Communist regime is far, far worse than any of the South Vietnamese
>  governments ever were.
>
> >of the 20th century, murdering and torturing tens of thousands of civilians
> >who opposed foreign intervention in their country.  It seems rather obvious
> >that not many people, with the exception "Vietnam Insight," would be
> >nostalgic for these exiled reactionaries.  History is replete with examples
> >of "democratic" imposters, waiting their turn to reinstall the ancien regime
> >and the caste system of the bygone "golden era."
>
>       True, Vietnamese (VN Insight included) look on the old South VN
>  leaders with a jaundiced eye.  But the lion's share of their scorn is
>  for the Communists who are currently brutalizing Vietnam.
>
>       Don't you have anything to say about Communist atrocities in Vietnam ?
>  Atrocities which are going on as we speak ?  Or doesn't the suffering of the
>  Vietnamese people today count for anything ?
>
>       I have read most of Vietnam Insight's postings, as well as the printed
>  version of the newsletter.  Vietnam Insight does NOT want a return to the
>  corrupt regimes of the past.  Like all truly patriotic Vietnamese, they want
>  freedom and democracy for their people and country.  These goals are
>  incompatable with continued Communist rule in Vietnam.
>
> >Anyone interested in airplane drops like the one described by "Vietnam
> >Insight" propagandists should take a look at the CIA comic book, reproduced
> >by Grove Press in NY, that was dropped on and intended to destabilize the
> >Nicaraguan govt. several years ago.  The CIA publication is called "Freedom
> >Fighters' Manual" and is little more than a primer on urban terrorism.
> >I have no doubt that "Vietnam Insight" is inspired by if not funded by the
>         ^^^^^^^^
> >same camp.
>
>       You have "no doubt" ?  And on what do you base this ridiculous
>  accusation ?  Oh, I see... anyone who opposes Communism is a CIA Fascist.
>  Just listen to yourself!  Making wild and unsubstantiated accusations like
>  that, you sound just like a McCarthyist!
>
>       Look, I don't know who you are, or what your agenda is.  I know you
>  support the regime in Hanoi.  I'd like to know why, as any objective
>  examination of the facts clearly shows there to be no grounds to support
>  that regime.  It is nothing more than a brutal tin-horn dictatorship whose
>  mandate to rule comes from the barrel of a gun. It is also a modern dinosaur
>  whose days are numbered.
>
>
> Refer comments, suggestions, flames to
>
>                  Max Becherer    becherer@cs.uiuc.edu
>
>        Nothing Evil lasts forever -- the Future belongs to the Free.
>
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