Vietnam forgives but cannot forget

By Owen Bennett Jones

HANOI: Bill Clinton's last scheduled foreign trip as president will take him to Hanoi this week where, according to U.S. officials, he will try to promote reconciliation and bring "closure" to a war that cost 58,000 American and over two million Vietnamese lives.

"There was a war in Vietnam. It ended in 1975. It's past tense. Way past tense," said Pete Peterson, the U.S. ambassador to Hanoi. Peterson was himself a prisoner of war in Vietnam and symbolizes the Clinton administration's attitude to the country. "I was deeply involved in the conflict. But I have come back here because I want to build bridges not destroy them," he said.

Most Vietnamese express remarkably little resentment about the war and the huge loss of life it caused. U.S. veterans who have returned to Vietnam are often surprised by the welcome they receive. While the conflict is not forgotten, for the most part it is forgiven.

Back in the 1960s Chuck Searcey was a Saigon-based U.S. military intelligence analyst. He has returned to manage various development projects in Hanoi.

"Over the last six years I have traveled all over Vietnam. In all that time only three people have asked me in a negative way if the United States knew what it was doing back then," he said. "It is remarkable to me that only three people have asked me that."

While the Vietnamese seem at ease with their 1975 victory, the White House is well aware of the sensitivities that still exist in the United States. Unsurprisingly, President Clinton, who arrives today, will not visit the mausoleum of Vietnam's revered wartime leader, Ho Chi Minh.

Nor will he visit a less politically charged alternative -- the tomb of the unknown soldier. Too many U.S. veterans are not ready for such a gesture; especially from a draft dodger.

Clinton's decision to study in Oxford rather than fight in Vietnam may have caused him persistent political difficulties in the United States but it will play well in Hanoi.

"We welcome President Clinton because he was himself against the war," said Lt. Gen. Xuan Vinh Vu. Like other senior Vietnamese leaders, he recognizes that there are limits beyond which Clinton will not able to go. "The Americans were at fault here but we do not expect him to apologies -- it is better to make up for what happened by action."

Clinton's actions have already spoken louder than words. Over the last eight years he has lifted the U.S. economic embargo on Vietnam, normalized relations, exchanged ambassadors and, crucially, signed the bilateral trade agreement which will give Vietnam access to U.S. markets.

These developments, combined with the policy of Doi Moi or renovation, have transformed Vietnam's economic prospects. While western companies complain about the bureaucratic obstacles they face, they are still investing in Vietnam.

Andrew Steer of the World Bank says: "Compared to where Vietnam was 12 years ago, there has scarcely been in the history of the world a more dramatic transformation. Few countries have ever grown as rapidly or shared their growth as equitably."

Vietnam's rulers know that as long as they deliver economic growth, people will be content to leave politics to the party. But they are taking no chances: the country remains a one party state in which the press is tightly controlled and dissidence not tolerated.

Party leaders watched Belgrade's recent street protests with dread. "For the politburo that is their nightmare," said one Vietnamese businessman with close links to the upper echelons of the party.

Vietnamese diplomats are resigned to the fact that Clinton is bound to raise human rights. Going by past practice, Hanoi will hit back with statements on Agent Orange, the chemical which the United States sprayed over extensive areas of Vietnam to deny the communist forces cover and food.

Agent Orange contained highly poisonous dioxin. Recent research shows that some parts of Vietnam -- especially former U.S. air bases -- still have dangerously high dioxin levels.

The U.S. compensates American, but not Vietnamese, veterans who have Agent Orange-related illnesses. The two sides have agreed a major research project on the issue. That may explain why Vietnamese officials have dropped their longstanding and strident demands for reparations in favor of softer language.

Cynics, though, have another explanation. Vietnam is increasingly reliant on agricultural exports such as coffee and seafood. High profile campaigns on Agent Orange could allow international competitors to claim that Vietnamese produce contains dioxins.

Another legacy of the war left in Vietnam's soil is thousands of tons of unexploded bombs and mines. Since 1975 about 38,000 people have been killed by accidental detonations. Many of the victims are farmers who hit mines with their ploughs. Others are dealers who want to sell the shell casings and explosives.

Children are also vulnerable. Ten-year-old Phan Huu Lan was badly injured by a mine last year. "I was feeding a buffalo by the hill and met two friends there," he recalled. "They had found a mine and we played with it. It exploded and they died." Lan has huge scars on his legs, a limp right hand and metal lodged in his skull.

His 68-year-old grandmother, Le Thi, witnessed the war at first hand. But for her the conflict has not ended. "More people will die. There are so many bombs and mines in this area. Whenever we get heavy rain, they come to the surface," she said.

Mine clearance has begun but is painfully slow. One British mine clearer, Mark Thompson, said: "The Americans still deny they laid mines in Vietnam. We have tried quite a few avenues such as the state department and former veterans on the internet. But there is very limited information available."

U.S. officials insist that attitudes are changing and that librarians are now trawling the Pentagon's archives to establish what mines were laid and where.

-- Guardian News Service