Trần Ngọc Châu

Trần Ngọc Châu (fødselsdag satt til 1. januar 1924 i Vietnam i  Fransk Indokina, død 17. juni 2020 i Los Angeles i California i USA), var en vietnamesisk oberstløytnant, borgermester, provinsguvernør og leder for den sør-vietnamesiske nasjonalforsamlings underhus, og politisk fange både under sørvietnamesisk tid (1975] og under kommunistene (1975-1978).

Liv og virke

Bakgrunn
Trần Ngọc Châu ble født i 1923 eller 1924 i en konfuciansk–buddhistisk familie innen regjeringsbyråkratet (historisk kalt mandariner, eller quan på vietnamesisk), som levde i den gamlee keiserbyen Huế. Fødselsregistreringen var den gang ikke opptatt av dato; senere ble den av bekvemmelighet angitt 1. januar. Hans bestefar Tran Tram var en kjent høylærd og minister i den keiserlige regjering, og hans far  Tran Dao Te var en ledende dommer.

Trần Ngọc Châu var i syv ungdomsår student-bhikkhu (munk) på en buddhistisk skole og seminar. Dessuten fikk han fransk skolegang ved et lycée. En tredje sterk innflytelse var den vietnamesiske frihetstrang: Den delta han med sine brødre og sin søster,og respekterte eldre slektninger, som mente at det var helrt unaturlig å være styrt som koloni av et europeisk land.

Militær og politiker
I 1944 sluttet han seg til kampbevegelsen Viet Minh for å kjempe for sitt lands frigjøring og uavhengighet. Men som overbevist buddhist vendte han seg i 1949 vendte han seg resolutt mot kommunistene i Vietnam, og sluttet seg Den vietnamesiske nasjonale armé, som var opprettet av franskmennene og var nominelt understilt keiser Bao Dai av Vietnam.

Da landet ble delt i to i 1956, ble han hæroffiser i de sørvietnamesiske væpnede styrker. Han steg til graden oberstløytnant. I mange år arbeidet han umiddelbart under president Ngô Đình Diệm (1954-63). Han ble borgermester i Da Nang, og senere guvernør for en provins i Mekongdeltaet, provinsen Kien Hoa (senere kalt Bến Tre).

Han ble kjent for sin innovative tilnærming til de teoretiske og praktiske sider med counterinsurgency (opprørsbekjempelse), altså det å vinne Vietnamkrigen med å skape sikre forold for sivilbefolkningen, og slik nå frem til fred. Regjeringens endelige mål måtte være å vinne befolkningens tillit og dette var årsaken til at han gikk inn i politikken.

I 1967, etter at han hadde forlatt den sørvietnamesiske hær, ble han valgt inn i nasjonalforsamlingen i Saigon og ble en ledende skikkelse der. Han prøvde samen med andre å overbevise sin gamle venn Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, den tidligere general som var blitt president (1967–75), til å arbeide i retning av en forhandlingsfred. Han ble også engasjert i arbeidet mot noen deler av måten krigen ble utkjempet på, og mot den alle steds nærværende korrupsjon.

Fangenskap, flukt
Under det påskudd at han hadde kontakt med sin bror Trần Ngọc Hiền, som var kommunist og som var blitt arrestert, ble Trần Ngọc Châu anklaget for forræderi i 1970, da regjeringen hadde en aksjon mot dissiderende krefter. Rettsforfølgelsen som fulgte fikk stor oppmerksomhet, tildels bestyrtelse, i Sørvietnam og i internasjonal presse. Trần Ngọc Châu ble dømt til mange års fengsel. Deretter ble han holdt i husarrest.

Kort etter Saigons fall i 1975 ble han arrestert også av det nye kommunistiske regime, og sendt i omkoleringsleir. Han ble løslatt derfra i 1978, og deretter klarte han med sin familie å flykte med båt fra Vietnam. De slo seg ned i USA i 1979.

Død
Trần Ngọc Châu døde den 17. juni 2020 i West Hills i Los Angeles som følge av covid-19, i en alder av 96 år.

Litteratur

Primærlitteratur
 Tran Ngoc Châu with Ken Fermoyle, Vietnam Labyrinth. Allies, enemies, & why the United States lost the war (Lubbock: Texas Tech University 2012).
 Tran Ngoc Châu, "The curriculum was designed to 'detoxicate' us" pp. 475–480 in Appy (2003).
 Tran Ngoc Châu with Tom Sturdevant, "My War Story. From Ho Chi Minh to Ngô Đình Diệm" at pp. 180–209 in Neese & O'Donnell (2001).
 Tran Ngoc Châu, "Statement of Tran Ngoc Chau" in The Antioch Review (Fall/Winter 1970–1971), pp. 299–310, translated, annotated, and with an introduction by Trần Văn Dĩnh and Daniel Grady.
 Tran Ngoc Châu, two papers (via Daniel Ellsberg) and open letter, pp. 365–381, 357–360, in United States Senate (1970).
 Tran Ngoc Châu, a 1968 book on the peace talks [in Vietnamese].
 Tran Ngoc Châu, From War to Peace: Restoration of the Village (Saigon 1967) [In Vietnamese].
 Tran Ngoc Châu, Pacification Plan, 2 volumes (1965 ) [unpublished].
 Ken Fermoyle, "Hawks, Doves and the Dragon" in Pond (2009), pp. 415–492.
 Mark Moyar, "Could South Vietnam Have Been Saved? New scholarship raises questions about antiwar consensus of Vietnam historians", in Wall Street Journal of June 28, 2013.
 John O'Donnell, "The Strategic Hamlet Program in Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam: A case study of counter-insurgency" pp. 703–744 in Kunstadter (1967).
 Neil Sheehan, "Ex-Saigon Official Tells of 'Re-education' by Hanoi" in The New York Times, January 14, 1980, pp. A1, A8.
 Zalin Grant, Facing the Phoenix. The CIA and the political defeat of the United States in Vietnam (New York: Norton 1991).
 Elizabeth Pond, The Châu Trial in Vietnamese translation as Vụ Án Trần Ngọc Châu (Westminster: Vietbook USA 2009).<ref>Châu is also discussed in the following: Ahern (2010), Colby (1989), Ellsberg (1972), Ellsberg (2002), FitzGerald (1972), Moyar (1997), O'Donnell (2001), Phillips (2008), Sheehan (1988), Valentine (1990), and elsewhere, e.g., U.S. Senate, Comm. on Foreign Relations, Impact of the War..." hearings of May 13, 1970 (in Ellsberg 1972, pp. 191–196, 197–233). Cf. Neese and O'Donnell (2001) p. 180.</ref>

Vietnam War

Counterinsurgency
 Thomas L. Ahern Jr., Vietnam Declassified. The CIA and counterinsurgency (University of Kentucky 2010).
 Dale Andradé, Ashes to Ashes. The Phoenix Program and the Vietnam War (Lexington: D.C. Heath 1990).
 William Colby with James McCargar, Lost Victory. A firsthand account of America's sixteen-year involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary Books 1989).
 Richard A. Hunt, Pacification. The American struggle for Vietnam's hearts and minds (Boulder: Westview 1995).
 Edward Geary Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars (NY: Harper & Row 1972; reprint: Fordham University 1991).
 Mark Moyar, Phoenix and the Birds of Prey. The CIA's secret campaign to destroy the Viet Cong (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press 1997).
 Nguyen Cong Luan, Nationalist in the Viet Nam Wars. Memoirs of a victim turned soldier (Indiana University 2012).
 Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters. A eyewitness account of lessons not learned (Annapolis: Naval Institute 2008).
 Douglas Pike, Viet Cong. The organization and techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (M.I.T. 1966).
 Ken Post, Revolution, Socialism & Nationalism in Viet Nam. Vol. IV, The failure of counter-insurgency in the South (Aldershot: Dartmount 1990).
 Thomas W. Scoville, Reorganizing for Pacification Support (Washington: Center of Military History, US Army 1991).
 Tran Dinh Tho, Pacification (Washington: Center of Military History 1980), Indochina monograph series.
 Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix Program (New York: William Morrow 1990).
 Samuel B. Griffith, "Introduction" 1–34, to his translation of Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare (1940; reprint: NY: Praeger 1961).
 Robert W. Komer, "Impact of Pacification on Insurgency in South Vietnam" in Journal of International Affairs vol. XXV/1 (1971), reprinted in U.S. House of Reps. (1971) at pp. 290–311, introduced at 289.
 Robert W. Komer, "Was There Another Way?" at pp. 211–223, in Thompson and Frizzell (1977).
 Bruce Lawlor, "The Phoenix" at pp. 199–202, in Santoli (1981, 1982).
 John O'Donnell, "Life and Times of a USOM Prov Rep" at pp. 210–236, in Neese and O'Donnell (2001).
 Lorenzo Zambernardi, "Counterinsurgency's Impossible Trilemma", in The Washington Quarterly, v. 33/3, pp. 21–34 (July 2010).
 United States Dept. of the Army, The U.S. Army * Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manuel (2006; reprint: University of Chicago 2007).
 United States House of Representatives, Govt. Ops. Comm., U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam, First Session (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Ofc. 1971).
 United States Senate, Foreign Rels. Comm., Vietnam: Policy and Prospects 1970, Second Session (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Office 1970).

Oppfatninger om krigen
 Bùi Tín, From Enemy to Friend. A North Vietnamese perspective on the war (Annapolis: Naval Institute 2002).
 Daniel Ellsberg, Papers on the War (New York: Simon & Schuster 1972; reprint: Touchstone 1972).
 J. William Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power (New York: Random House 1966).
 Ernest Gruening and H.W. Beaser, Vietnam Folly (Washington, DC: National Press 1968).
 David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest (New York: Random House 1972; reprint Penguin 1983).
 David Harris, Our War. What we did in Vietnam and what it did to us (New York: Times Books 1996).
 George McT. Kahin, Intervention. How America became involved in Vietnam (New York: Knopf 1986, reprint Anchor 1987)
 Stanley Karnow, Vietnam. A history. The first complete account of Vietnam at war (New York: Viking 1983).
 Henry Kissinger, Ending the Vietnam War (New York: Simon and Schuster 2003).
 Robert W. Komer, Bureaucracy at War. U.S. performance in the Vietnam conflict (Boulder: Westview 1986), introduced by Wm. E. Colby.
 Andrew C. Krepinevich Jr., The Army and Vietnam (Johns Hopkins University 1986).
 John Prados, Vietnam. The history of an unwinnable war, 1945–1975 (University of Kansas 2009).
 Harry G. Summers Jr., On Strategy: The Vietnam War in Context (Carlisle Barracks: US Army War College [1981]).
 Trần Văn Đôn, Our Endless War. Inside Vietnam (Novato: Presidio 1978, 1987).
 Christian G. Appy, editor, Patriots. The Vietnam War remembered from all sides (New York: Viking 2003).
 Harvey Neese and John O'Donnell, editors, Prelude to Tragedy. Vietnam 1960–1965 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press 2001).
 Al Santoli, editor, Everything We Had. An oral history of the Vietnam War by thirty-three American soldiers who fought it (New York: Random House 1981; reprint Ballantine 1982).
 W. Scott Thompson and Donaldson D. Frizzell, editors, The Lessons of Vietnam (New York: Crane, Russak 1977).
 Spencer C. Tucker, editor, The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. A political, social, & military history (Oxford University 2000).
 Military History Institute of Vietnam, Victory in Vietnam. The official history of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975 (Hanoi 1988, revised ed. 1994), translated by William J. Duiker (University of Kansas 2002).
 U.S. Dept. of Defense, United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: Study proposed by the Department of Defense, 12 volumes, (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Ofc. 1971); the narrative history with analyses, supported by contemporary documents, was published in a condensed and annotated form as The Pentagon Papers (The New York Times 1971, reprint: Quadrangle 1971).

Det sivile samfunn
 Larry Berman, The Perfect Spy. The incredible double life of Pham Xuan An Time Magazine reporter and Vietnamese Communist agent (New York: HarperCollins/Smithsonian 2007).
 Bùi Diễm with David Chanoff, In the Jaws of History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1987).
 Joseph Buttinger, Vietnam. The unforgettable tragedy (New York: Horizon 1977).
 Dennis J. Duncanson, Government and Revolution in Vietnam (Oxford University 1968).
 Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets: A memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (New York: Viking Penguin 2002, reprint 2003).
 Bernard B. Fall, Viet-Nam Witness 1953–1966 (New York: Praeger 1966, 1967).
 Frances FitzGerald, Fire in the Lake. The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (New York: Atlantic Monthly-Little, Brown 1972).
 Piero Gheddo, Cattolici e Buddisti nel Vietnam (Firenze: Vallecchi Editore 1968), transl. as The Cross and the Bo-Tree. Catholics and Buddhists in Vietnam (New York: Sheed & Ward 1970).
 Allan E. Goodman, Politics in War. The Bases of Political Community in South Vietnam (Harvard University 1973).
 David Halberstam, Ho (New York: McGraw-Hill 1971, 1987).
 Hồ Chí Minh, Selected Writings 1920–1969 (Hanoi: Foreign Languages Pub. Hs. 1973).
 Hồ Chí Minh, Selected Articles and Speeches (New York: International Publishers 1970).
 Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution (Harvard University 1992).
 Charles A. Joiner, The Politics of Massacre. Political processes in South Vietnam (Temple University 1974).
 Le Ly Hayslip with Jay Wurts, When Heaven and Earth changed Places. A Vietnamese woman's journey from war to peace (New York: Doubleday 1989; reprint: Plume/Penguin 1990).
 John T. McAlister Jr. and Paul Mus, The Vietnamese and their revolution (New York: Harper Torchbook 1970).
 Nguyen Duy Hinh & Tran Dinh Tho, The South Vietnamese Society (Washington: Center of Military History 1980), Indochina monograph series.
 Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire (New York: Hill and Wang 1967).
 Thích Nhất Hạnh, Love in Action. Writings on nonviolent social change (Berkeley: Parallax Press 1993).
 Howard R. Penniman, Elections in South Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute & Stanford: Hoover Institution 1972).
 Pham Van Minh, Vietnamese Engaged Buddhism. The struggle movement of 1963–1966 (Westminster: Van Nghe 2002).
 Phan Thi Dac, Situation de la Personne au Viet-Nam (Paris: Center d'Études Sociologiques 1966).
 Robert Shaplen, The Road from War. Vietnam 1965–1971 (New York: Harper & Row 1971; revised edition: Harper Colophon 1971).
 Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie. John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (New York: Random House 1988).
 Robert J. Topmiller, The Lotus Unleashed. The Buddhist peace movement in South Vietnam, 1964–1966 (University of Kentucky 2002).
 Trương Như Tảng with David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai, A Viet Cong Memoir. An inside account of the Vietnam War and its aftermath (New York: Random House 1985; reprint: Vintage 1986).
 Denis Warner, The Last Confucian. Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and the West (New York: Macmillan 1963; reprint Penguin 1964).
 Alexander B. Woodside, Community and Revolution in Modern Vietnam (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1976).
 David Chanoff and Đoàn Văn Toại, editors, Portrait of the Enemy (New York: Random House 1986).
 John C. Donnell and Charles A. Joiner, editors, Electoral Politics in South Vietnam (Lexington: D. C. Heath 1974).
 Keesing's Research Report, editor, South Vietnam. A political history 1954–1970 (New York: Scribner's Sons 1970).
 Edward P. Metzner, Huynh Van Chinh, Tran Van Phuc, Le Nguyen Binh, Reeducation in Postwar Vietnam. Personal postscripts to peace (College Station: Texan A & M University 2001).
 United States Senate, Foreign Rels. Comm., The U. S. Government and the Vietnam War. Executive and legislative roles and relationships, Part IV (U.S. Govt. Printing Ofc. 1994).

Tertiærlitteratur
 Joseph Buttinger, The Smaller Dragon. A political history of Vietnam (New York: Praeger 1958).
 William J. Duiker, Historical Dictionary of Vietnam (Metuchen: Scarecrow 1989).
 Hien V. Ho & Chat V. Dang, Vietnamese History (Scotts Valley: CreateSpace 2011).
 K.W. Taylor, A History of the Vietnamese (Cambridge University 2013).
 Peter Kunstadter, editor, Southeast Asian Tribes, Minorities, and Nations (Princeton University 1967), volume two.
 Harvey H. Smith, et al., editors, Area Handbook for South Vietnam (Washington: American University 1967).
 Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala. A two-wheeled voyage through the landscape and memory of Vietnam (NY: Picador 1999).
 Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a different Shore. A history of Asian Americans (Boston: Little, Brown 1989).
 William Colby and Peter Forbath, Honorable Men. My Life in the CIA (New York: Simon and Schuster 1978).
 Peer de Silva, Sub Rosa. The CIA and the uses of Intelligence (NY: The New York Times 1978).
 Richard Helms with William Hood, With a Look Over my Shoulder. A life in the Central Intelligence Agency (NY: Random House 2003).
 Ralph McGehee, Deadly Deceits. My 25 years in the CIA (New York: Sheridan Square 1983).
 John Prados, William Colby and the CIA. The secret wars of a controversial spymaster (University of Kansas 2003, 2009).
 Robert M. Cassidy, Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror. Military culture and irregular war (Westport: Praeger 2006).
 John W. Dower, Cultures of War (New York: W. W. Norton 2010, 2011).
 Thomas E. Ricks, The Generals. American military command from World War II to today (New York: Penguin 2012).
 Robert Aldrich, Greater France. A history of French overseas expansion (London: Palgrave Macmillan 1996).
 Daniel A. Bell, China's New Confucianism (Princeton University 2008, 2010).
 William Theodore de Bary, The Trouble with Confucianism (Harvard University 1991).
 Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (Yale University 1968, 1970).
 Pankaj Mishra, From the Ruins of Empire. The intellectuals who remade Asia (London: Allen Lane 2012; reprint Picador 2013).
 Lucian W. Pye, The Mandarin and the Cadre. China's political cultures (University of Michigan 1988).
 Merle Goldman and Leo Ou-fan Lee, editors, An Intellectual History of Modern China (Cambridge University 2002):
 Arnold Kotler, editor, Engaged Buddhist Reader'' (Berkeley: Parallax 1996).

Referanser 

Vietnamesiske politikere
Offiserer
Personer fra Hue
Dødsfall relatert til covid-19 i USA
Politikere ofre for covidpandemien
Militære ofre for covidpandemien