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 sørvietnamesiske 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 Sør-Vietnam 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.&nbsp;475–480 in Appy (2003).
* Tran Ngoc Châu with Tom Sturdevant, "My War Story. From Ho Chi Minh to Ngô Đình Diệm" at pp.&nbsp;180–209 in Neese & O'Donnell (2001).
* Tran Ngoc Châu, "Statement of Tran Ngoc Chau" in *The Antioch Review* (Fall/Winter 1970–1971), pp.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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).

### 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.&nbsp;290–311, introduced at 289.
** Robert W. Komer, "Was There Another Way?" at pp.&nbsp;211–223, in Thompson and Frizzell (1977).
** Bruce Lawlor, "The Phoenix" at pp.&nbsp;199–202, in Santoli (1981, 1982).
** John O'Donnell, "Life and Times of a USOM Prov Rep" at pp.&nbsp;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 (protester)|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 Krepinevich|Andrew C. Krepinevich Jr.]], *The Army and Vietnam* (Johns Hopkins University 1986).
* [http://johnprados.com/about/ 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 (journalist)|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