© The Japan Times
Tokyo, Japan
Wednesday, May 27, 1998
Avoiding war with Ho Chi
Minh
Let me begin
this letter by pointing out some problems I have with the May 17 letters by John
T. Blackmore, "Ho Chi Minh advocated class war" and Harold Solomon, "Painting Ho
Chi Minh red."
In responding to my May 10 letter "Ho Chi
Minh was a nationalist," Blackmore states that the South Vietnamese government
was led by genuine nationalists. Perhaps, but I don't believe sending American
teenage troops to be maimed and killed for the likes of South Vietnamese Prime
Minister Nguyen Cao Ky – who looked to Adolf Hitler as a role model – was such a
good idea. Maybe it would have been better if the United States had listened to
Ho Chi Minh during the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, when he had sought
support for Vietnamese independence.
Today, the U.S. sees nothing
wrong in engaging with communist regimes such as China, as long as U.S. business
interests are served. Perhaps engagement with Ho Chi Minh early on would have
saved us a lot of trouble down the road.
As for Solomon's letter,
I believe that since Ho Chi Minh and his followers only found support for
Vietnamese independence from communists, it's natural that they wanted to give
communists support in return.
Don MacLAREN
Tokyo
To contact Don MacLaren, please email him at: info@donmaclaren.com
You can learn more about him here.