Officer sees future U.S. military role in Vietnam<\/p>\n
HANOI (Reuter): The top U.S. military officer in Asia said
\nyesterday he sees U.S. military cooperation with former enemy
\nVietnam once relations are normalized.<\/p>\n
But continued cooperation in U.S. efforts to account for the
\nmore than 2,000 U.S. pilots and soldiers still listed as missing
\nin action (MIA) from the Vietnam War was critical to advancing
\npolitical and economic relations, Admiral Richard C. Macke said.<\/p>\n
The Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Pacific Command had said
\nearlier during his two-day visit to Vietnam that Hanoi's
\ncooperation on the MIA issue had been "wonderful", "tremendous"
\nand "impressive".<\/p>\n
But it had to continue, he told a news conference at the end
\nof his visit.<\/p>\n
"Cooperation in the MIA issue is absolutely critical to
\nfurther cooperation in the political and economic areas between
\nour two countries," he said.<\/p>\n
"We are very pleased with the cooperation that we see now. We
\nneed to continue and enhance that cooperation and let the
\npolitical masters make the decisions down the road from there."<\/p>\n
The U.S. and Vietnamese governments are preparing to establish
\ntheir first diplomatic missions since the war ended nearly two
\ndecades ago -- liaison offices, not embassies -- in Hanoi and
\nWashington.<\/p>\n
A decision on when to establish diplomatic relations is up to
\nPresident Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n
Macke said he did not rule out a future U.S. military presence
\nin Vietnam and indicated he was interested in the old U.S. naval
\nbase at Cam Ranh Bay in southern Vietnam, now a Vietnamese base
\nwhere Russia has a small presence.<\/p>\n
Cooperation<\/p>\n
"I think that once the rest of the political and economic
\ncooperation starts to advance, that the military to military
\ncooperation could also advance," he said.<\/p>\n
The United States and Hanoi were enemies in the war, which
\nended in April 1972 when Vietnamese communist tanks rolled into
\nSaigon, defeating the former South Vietnam government which U.S.
\nforces had supported for more than 10 years.<\/p>\n
U.S. troops withdrew and Vietnam released U.S. prisoners of
\nwar after peace accords signed in Paris in 1973.<\/p>\n
Macke said neither military cooperation nor Cam Ranh Bay were
\nraised in his talks with Vietnamese ministers on Tuesday. But he
\nadded: "I am a naval officer and naval officers are always
\nlooking for good ports."<\/p>\n
He said unilateral Vietnamese efforts on the 2,214 U.S.
\nsoldiers and pilots still listed as MIA were important.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials said earlier that researchers wanted Vietnam to
\nturn over more wartime documents to help them pinpoint the fate
\nof missing individuals.<\/p>\n
Macke said he was not concerned that cooperation would
\ndecrease if diplomatic relations were established, and said it
\nhad improved after Clinton scrapped the U.S. economic embargo
\nagainst Hanoi last February.<\/p>\n
Military units searching for MIAs in Vietnam, Cambodia and
\nLaos fall under Macke's command, and he flew by helicopter to see
\ntwo sites in northern Vietnam where U.S. warplanes were shot down
\nduring bombing raids in 1972.<\/p>\n
He saw wreckage, especially at a site in Quang Ninh province
\nwhere a Navy F-4 fighter was lost, and was told bones had been
\nrecovered.<\/p>\n
Macke spoke with U.S.-Vietnamese search teams working on the
\nsites and thanked gangs of Vietnamese -- the men wearing khaki
\nhelmets and the women in conical hats -- for their hard work.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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