• VN War Lecture at Air University (1/2)

    From nguon pham@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 16 18:55:49 2019
    Trần Bá Hợi, 20.2.2019

    Kính thưa quý độc giả,

    Sau gần 44 năm Cộng Sản cưỡng chiếm Việt Nam Cộng Hòa, nhiều người tưởng vậy là cuộc chiến đã tàn. Nhưng không phải. Dù tiếng súng đã ngưng, nhưng cuộc chiến đấu của quân cán chính VNCH chống l
    i chế độ phi nhân “xã hội chủ nghĩa” chưa hề ngừng nghỉ. Những chiến sĩ năm xưa vào sinh ra tử còn sống đến nay, ai cũng bước vào tuổi 70 hay 80 cả rồi, nhưng tinh thần chiến đấu không hề già
    nua, mà ngày càng thêm sắc bén. Chúng tôi muốn nói đến người anh hùng Không Quân Trần Bá Hợi. Ông đã một thời lái phi cơ ra miền Bắc dội bom, nay ông vẫn còn tiếp tục dội bom vào thành trì còn lại
    của chế độ phi nhân Cộng Sản để tiếp tục nêu cao chính nghĩa của quân cán chính Miền Nam Tự Do. Tiếng nói của người chiến sĩ VNCH chắc chắn không bao giờ bị lẻ loi, vì mới đây TT. Donald Trump cũ
    ng như phó TT. Mike Pence vẫn còn công khai nghênh chiến với “xã hội chủ nghĩa”. Các thành viên của nhóm “CodePink” của Hoa Kỳ vẫn còn đang hăng say vạch mặt chỉ tên những tên phản bội như Henri
    Kissinger, kẻ đã bán đứng VNCH cho Cộng sản quốc tế.

    Chúng tôi rất vinh hạnh và rất cám ơn NT Trần Bá Hợi đã chấp thuận cho Saigon Echo được đăng bài thuyết trình của ông về cuộc chiến Việt Nam do Tiến Sĩ Martin Scott Catino tổ chức vào ngày 12 tháng 2
    năm 2019 cho Trường Đại Hc Không Quân (Air University), thuộc Maxwell Air Force Base, TB Alabama và những nhận xét của thính giả sau khi nghe bài thuyết trình bằng Anh ngữ của ông.

    Dưới đây là đôi hàng về diễn giả Trần Bá Hợi:

    1953 – Quân dịch phục vụ Quân chủng Không Quân trong Quân Đội Quốc Gia Việt Nam tại Hà Nội, Bắc Việt. 1954 – Di chuyển theo đơn vị vào Nam sau Hiệp Định Geneve chia đôi Việt Nam.

    1955 – Du hc tại Hoa Kỳ ngành cơ khí hàng không qua Không Lực Hoa Kỳ.

    1958 – Du hc tại Hoa Kỳ ngành phi hành qua Không Lực Hoa Kỳ.

    1960 – Huấn Luyện viên phi công tại Căn Cứ Huấn Luyện Không Quân tại Nha Trang.

    1961 – 1964 – Phi Tuần Trưởng Khu Trục Phi Đoàn 516 Phi Hổ, Biệt Đoàn 83 Thần Phong.

    1965 – Chỉ Huy Trưởng Liên Đoàn 74 Tác Chiến thuộc Không Đoàn 74 Chiến Thuật.

    1967 – Chỉ Huy Trưởng Khối Chiến Tranh Chính Trị thuộc Không Đoàn 33 Chiến Thuật.

    1968 – Biệt phái ngoại ngạch sang Bộ Giao Thông Vận Tải – Hàng Không Việt Nam.

    1975 – Di tản sang San Jose, California Hoa Kỳ.

    Tháng 6 - 1975 - Phó Giám Đốc Cơ Quan Demonstration Projects for Asian Americans tại Seattle, Washington State.

    Tháng 9 - 1975 - Công Chức Tiểu Bang Washington điều hành Trung Tâm Việt Nam Di Cư.

    1980 – Di chuyển về San Jose, California. Giám Đốc Vùng (Area Manager) cho Công Ty Desert Petroleum, Inc.

    1981 – 2003 - Chuyên viên/Giám sát điều tra và bồi thường về thương tích vì tai nạn xe cộ với Công Ty AAA và Insurance Consulting Associates, Inc.



    VN War Lecture at Air University Feb 12, 2019


    TBH : Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Good evening Dr. Catino. Do you all hear me OK? I want to thank all of you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak about the Viet Nam War, a very controversial subject that our late U.S. President Nixon
    had written in his book No More Vietnams published by Arbor House in 1985 as follows, and I quote: “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Viet Nam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many
    people been so wrong about so much!!! Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic.” End of quote.

    Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Hoi Ba Tran and I am a former veteran of the South Vietnamese Air Force. I was born and grew up in Ha Noi, the Capital City of North Viet Nam in 1935. By 1953, at the age of eighteen I was drafted and I chose to serve in
    the newly organized Viet Nam Air Force (VNAF). As a soldier, I served in two Viet Nam wars, from the Dien Bien Phu battle in North Viet Nam in 1953 to the long war in South Viet Nam in various capacities. Following the collapse of the Republic of South
    Viet Nam in April 1975, I had to take my family to the U.S as political refugees. Today, as an old American of Vietnamese descent, I am very happy to relate to you my personal experience about the Viet Nam war as a living witness, a direct participant
    and as a victim of those two wars. At this stage of my life, I am now 84, I don’t belong to any political party either from Viet Nam or in the U.S, nor do I have any hidden political agenda to pursue so my only ambition is to voice the honest truth in
    hope to clarify, debunk as much as possible all the filthy lies propagandized by the North Vietnamese communist’s propaganda machine. Additionally, I want to refute all the misreporting, all distortions about the war in Viet Nam circulated by the
    liberal U.S. news media in the sixties and seventies.

    As you are aware, the Viet Nam War deeply and bitterly divided the American people. It was also a war that American veterans were denigrated and mistreated when returning home from the battle field after their tour of duty. To some people in America, it
    s been over forty years and it is no fun to talk about this dark chapter and they want to put a closure on this bitter event. But as an American, I firmly believe that we Americans have a duty to refute all the filthy lies propagated worldwide by the
    Vietnamese communists claiming that the American Imperialist forces invaded South Viet Nam and were defeated by them in their April 1975 Big Spring Victory. As a Vietnamese soldier who had fought in that war from the beginning, I am compelled to tell the
    truth about this war and now, as an American, I feel obligated to try my utmost best to erase this unjust stain smeared upon the U.S military annals by the bold-faced Vietnamese communists from North Viet Nam. To fulfill this task, I would like to
    address the six most distorted and misunderstood issues:

    1 – Did Ho Chi Minh fight and expel French government in 1945 to restore independence for Viet Nam?

    2 – Did the United States invade South Viet Nam forcing Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese communist to start the war to liberate South Viet Nam?

    3 – Did the United States and the Republic of South Viet Nam fight the North communist invaders the way it should have been fought?

    4 – Were the U.S Armed Forces defeated by the ragtag Vietnamese Communist forces in Viet Nam on April 1975?

    5 – What was the true cause leading to the collapse of the Republic of South Viet Nam?

    6 – Were people in South Viet Nam happy with the North Vietnamese communist invaders after the so-called liberation of the South in April 1975?



    Now let me begin with the first one:

    Did Ho Chi Minh fight and expel French government in 1945 to restore independence for VN?

    No, Ho Chi Minh did not!!! It was the Imperial Japanese Army that staged a surprise attack and overthrew the French government on March 9th, 1945. On the contrary, it was Ho who, later agreed for French forces to return to Viet Nam in 1946. After
    defeating French forces, a Japanese envoy met Emperor Bao Dai and granted Viet Nam her independence within Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Following this joyful event, Emperor Bao Dai appointed Prof. Tran Trong Kim to form a legitimate
    government. While the Vietnamese were enjoying their independence, the United States dropped two atom bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki in early August 1945 forcing Japan to surrender on August 14,1945. The capitulation of Japan created a political chaos in
    North Viet Nam. Ho Chi Minh promptly exploited the chaotic situation and mobilized his armed propaganda units embedded in Ha Noi to seize power. On Aug 28, 1945, he formally declared the country to be the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and proclaimed
    himself President and also Minister of Foreign Affairs concurrently. The following week, he convened a meeting at the Ba Dinh Square to introduce his government and he cited the Declaration of Independence he plagiarized from the United States.

    I was a naïve 10 year-old Vanguard Youth Troop and I was present along with my group to sing patriotic songs as taught by communist cadres.

    After becoming President of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, Ho showed his true colors as a cruel communist and a boldfaced traitor. He launched the brutal Land Reform Campaign that killed from 60,000 to 150,000 people that he labeled as wicked
    landlords and imprisoned about 50,000 to 100,000. And with his death squads, Ho cruelly assassinated many political opponents if they were non-communist patriots. Then on March 6, 1946, it was this traitor who signed an agreement with France government
    to allow French forces to return to Viet Nam for 5 years. In return France would recognize his government. But the honeymoon between Ho Chi Minh and the French did not last long. In Nov of 1946, a French ship bombarded Hai Phong, a coastal city in North
    Viet Nam. This incident and many subsequent clashes between French and Ho’s forces led to the first Viet Nam War at Dien Bien Phu in the Northwest of Ha Noi in 1953. Dien Bien Phu garrison was set up by French Gen. Navarre, to lure Ho’s forces into
    a set piece battle so they could destroy them with air power and artillery. But Gen. Navarre’s plan failed because communist China supplied Ho’s forces with modern weapons along with technicians and military advisors. They even had the deadly Stalin
    Organ rocket launchers from the Soviet Union. So they outgunned the French and numerically outnumbered the French defenders by five to one. French Air Force in North Viet Nam at the time was limited and ineffective. By May 7, 1954, Dien Bien Phu garrison
    fell into the hands of the communist attackers. The fall of Dien Bien Phu forced French government to sign an agreement in Geneva on July 21st, 1954 that divided Viet Nam into two countries at the 17th parallel. North Viet Nam remained under Ho Chi Minh
    as the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and south of the 17th parallel was a separate non-communist country under Emperor Bao Dai and Premier Ngo Dinh Diem.



    Now the second issue:

    Did the U.S invade South Viet Nam forcing Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese communist to start the war to liberate South Viet Nam?

    No, the U.S never invaded South Viet Nam. It was Ho Chi Minh who violated the Geneva Accords of July 1954 and invaded the Republic of South Viet Nam that caused the war. If Ho Chi Minh had been a true patriot, he should have contented with the
    independence that Viet Nam inherited bloodlessly at the departure of the Japanese after they were defeated by the U.S. He must have known that he was very lucky to be at the right place at the right time to, all of a sudden, have become president of the
    Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. Under the circumstances, Ho Chi Minh should have concentrated all his efforts and committed all available resources into rebuilding the war-ravaged country and reviving the dying economy in North Viet Nam.

    In principle, the Geneva Accords of July 1954 had afforded Viet Nam her independence with two political regimes similar to North and South Korea. What most Vietnamese had been longing for had been achieved, not having to live under French colonial rule.
    If Ho was not too greedy wanting to take over South Viet Nam by force, both countries, the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of (South) Viet Nam would have been peaceful and prosperous. There would have been… no war. But it was
    unfortunate for the Vietnamese people on both sides, North and South, to have such an evil man like Ho Chi Minh. And to stop communist expansion in South East Asia at the time, not only the U.S but the free world also jumped in to help South Viet Nam.
    Apparently, the U.S did not invade South Viet Nam as propagated by Ho Chi Minh’s propaganda machine. And clearly, it was Ho Chi Minh who caused both wars in Viet Nam. In my fair opinion, the free-world and the U.S involvement in Viet Nam to help a
    small country in their legitimate self-defense against the barbaric communist invaders was not only Just but also Noble.



    Now the 3rd issue:

    Did the United States and the Republic of South Viet Nam fight the North Vietnamese communist invaders the way it should have been fought?

    Based on my personal experience in the war coupled with the benefit of hindsight substantiated by declassified secret documents, I’m certain that we did not fight the communist invaders from North Viet Nam the way it should have been fought, militarily,
    politically & diplomatically!

    On the military front, President Johnson's limited war policy, his desultory strategy and his micromanagement of the war detrimentally affected the outcome of the war and the destiny of South Viet Nam. While our cunning enemy could use every dirty trick
    to destroy us and to kill us, we had to follow Pres. Johnson’s limited war strategy and abide by his Rules of Engagement. In March 1967, South Viet Nam Premier Nguyen Cao Ky had a meeting with Pres. Johnson & Defense Secretary McNamara in Guam. In this
    meeting Premier Ky proposed to President Johnson to equip the South Vietnamese Armed Forces properly, provide adequate logistical support and he would lead a counter attack in North Viet Nam with 100% South Vietnamese forces. This would most likely
    compel North Viet Nam leaders to retreat their regular forces from the South to defend their territory or they would face the risk of losing the war. But Premier Ky’s proposal was flatly denied.

    President Johnson’s limited war policy truly tied the hands of the Armed Forces of the Republic of South Viet Nam (ARVN). When the communist troops were equipped with modern weapons like AK 47s and AK 50s, the U.S equipped the ARVN with WW2 Garand M1
    rifle, Carbine and Thompson automatic rifle. When the South Viet Nam Air Force was equipped with WW2 propeller aircrafts like A1-H Skyraider, T-28 Trojan converted into light fighter/bomber, the communist Air Force was flying Mig 15, Mig 17, Mig 19 and
    Mig 21. Not until 1967 that we were given jet aircraft, the T-38 jet trainer converted into fighter F-5A and in 1969 we received the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, also a small jet trainer converted into a fighter to replace the A1-H Skyraider. We, the ARVN had
    no authority to conduct air or ground operations north of the DMZ. After the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in August 1964, Pres. Johnson ordered retaliatory air strike in North Viet Nam but the VNAF was not allowed to participate. Until Feb 8th 1965, Pres.
    Johnson allowed the VNAF to partake in the air strike against North Viet Nam but the VNAF had no authority to decide on which target in North Viet Nam to strike. Target in North Viet Nam must be selected by the U.S and assigned to the VNAF. Also the
    VNAF was restricted to fly only up to the 19th parallel, and subsequently, the VNAF was completely banned from flying strike missions in North Viet Nam.

    When Pres. Richard M. Nixon sworn in as the 37th President of the U.S. and became the 5th U.S. President handling the Viet Nam War, his inauguration speech on Jan. 20th, 1969 seemed to offer the North Vietnamese communist a tacit proposal that he wanted
    to end the conflict through negotiation, not war. This is what he said in the middle of his speech, and I quote: “After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation. Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of
    communication will be open.” End of quote. And by June 1969, President Nixon decided to gradually withdraw U.S combat troops from South Viet Nam as part of his Vietnamization plan. All these suggested to the communists that the U.S has changed their
    plan and no longer wanted to continue the war in Viet Nam.

    On December 13th, 1972, the intransigent North Vietnamese communist negotiators in Paris refused to continue peace negotiation with the U.S and the Republic of South Viet Nam because their unreasonable demands were not acceptable. The breakdown of the
    Peace talk in Paris caused by the communist negotiators infuriated Pres. Nixon and on December 18, 1972 he ordered the military to resume bombing of North Viet Nam with B-52 bombers. After 11 days of heavy bombing, North Viet Nam negotiators obediently
    agreed to continue with peace negotiation. Shortly thereafter, the Peace Accords were signed in Paris on January 27, 1973. In principle, the signed Peace Accords ended the Viet Nam conflict diplomatically.

    If President Nixon really wanted a military victory for the U.S, he could have achieved it by continuing the Xmas bombings of Hanoi in December 1972 only a few more days. A British expert on Asia, Sir Robert Thompson, assertively said and I quote: “In
    my view, by 30th December 1972, after eleven days of those B-52 attacks on Hanoi, you had won the war, and it was over. They fired 1,242 Surface to Air Missiles and had none left. They and their rear base at that point were at your mercy. They would
    have taken any terms. And that is why, of course, you actually got a peace agreement in January which you had not been able to get in October.” End of quote.



    On the political warfare front, the U.S. and South Viet Nam, in my opinion, were in a disadvantaged position. The freedom and democracy that we treasure was also a double-edged sword that really hurt our cause. For example; the tyrannical regime of North
    Viet Nam aligned well with communist China and the Soviet Union. They did not have an influential TV news anchor like Walter Cronkite who distorted the truth and publicly announced on Feb 27, 1968 following our victory in the TET offensive, and I quote:
    It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” End of quote. They did not
    have a horde of hostile war reporters to sully and denounce their military. They had no freedom of assembly allowing their citizens to gather in large number to organize antiwar or to protest against their government. They did not have celebrity like
    Jane Fonda or high-ranking government official like former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark to smear them while praising the enemy. They had no antiwar movements in Hanoi, in Peking or in Moscow. Because of increasing political turmoil & antiwar
    movements in the U.S and in South Viet Nam, the communist leadership in North Viet Nam believed they would win the war, not in the battlefield, but from Washington D.C.



    On the diplomatic front, communist China and the Soviet Union, two major allies who generously provided military and economic support to Ho Chi Minh in North Viet Nam dealt with Ho, at least publicly, very diplomatically while the U.S considered their
    South Viet Nam ally like their pawn. For example, when Pres. Nixon eagerly wanted to achieve his Peace with Honor plan, he sent a letter to Pres. Thieu of the Republic of South Viet Nam on December 17, 1972 threatening and coercing Thieu to sign the
    flawed Peace Accords! This is what President Nixon said in the last paragraph of his letter, and I quote: “I have asked Gen. Haig to obtain your answer to this absolutely final offer on my part for us to work together in seeking a settlement along the
    lines I have approved or to go our separate ways. Let me emphasize in conclusion that Gen. Haig is not coming to Saigon for the purpose of negotiating with you. The time has come for us to present a united front in negotiating with our enemies, and you
    must decide now whether you desire to continue to work together or whether you want me to seek a settlement with the enemy which serves U.S interests alone. End of quote. This undiplomatic treatment of the U.S coupled with the presence of over half a
    million U.S combat troops in South Viet Nam strengthened Ho Chi Minh’s propaganda claiming that “the American Imperialists were invading our country and we must liberate the South to save our fatherland.” Evidently, we offered the “just cause”
    to Ho Chi Minh, the barbaric communist invader.



    Now the 4th issue:

    Were the U.S Armed Forces defeated by the ragtag Vietnamese Communist forces in Viet Nam in April 1975?

    Regardless of how the communist propaganda machine in North Viet Nam shamelessly and unconvincingly propagated or how the antiwar movements and the liberal news media at the time distorted it, my answer is a resounding NO!!! And my following three facts
    are very difficult to deny or refute:

    1- Anyone with a minimum understanding of the war in Viet Nam would acknowledge that President Nixon forced the Republic of South Viet Nam to sign a flawed Peace Accords along with the U.S. on Jan 27th, 1973 in Paris to end the conflict diplomatically.
    And two months following the signing of this Peace Accords, on March 29, 1973 to be exact, the last U.S combat units left South Viet Nam in compliance with the signed Paris Peace Accords.

    2- After all U.S troops had completely left the theater, the North Vietnamese communist invaders continued to violate the signed Paris Peace Accords. South Viet Nam Armed Forces had to fight the well-supplied, better-equipped North Vietnamese invaders
    with no U.S ground troops for a little over two years after the signed Peace Accords and finally collapsed on April 30, 1975. How could the bold-faced communists of North Viet Nam brag about defeating the U.S militarily when there was not one single U.S
    combat troop on the battlefield in South Viet Nam in April 1975?

    3- I believe some of you have heard about the two-day summit meeting of the leaders of the (ASEAN) Association of Southeast Asian Nations hosted by the U.S. at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif on Feb 15, 2016. In this meeting Nguyen Tan Dung, the
    communist prime minister of Viet Nam asked the U.S. President for a greater U.S. role and Washington’s support in preventing militarization and island-building in the South China Sea and to curb China's maritime expansionism. Apparently, this stupid
    Vietnamese communist prime minister forgot what he had said only a year ago in Saigon South Viet Nam on April 30th, 2015 when commemorating their victory of April 1975. He arrogantly boasted and lied in his speech to accuse and insult the U.S. publicly
    on this event. Let me summarize what he had said, and I quote:



    “Following the victory in the war fighting against the French colonist the Vietnamese people deserve to live happily in a peaceful, independent and free country. But the U.S Imperialist arrogantly imposed a neo-colonial rule on South Viet Nam and
    transformed it into a military base to cruelly suppress the Revolution in the South and carried out a violent, destructive war in the North. But the Vietnamese people were not afraid. Under the brilliant guidance of beloved uncle Ho our entire nation
    overcame all hardships, steadfastly sacrificed and fought to expel the American imperialist and to defeat the South Viet Nam puppet troops in the Big Spring victory of 1975. The victory in the war against the American to save our country was a result of
    our thirst for independence, of our creative military strategy, of the brilliant leadership of our party and our skillful military generals.” End of quote.

    My point here is if they were that brilliant, that skillful, that powerful and had defeated the U.S. in April 1975 then why they had to beg the U.S. for help to save them from the communist China’s threat in South China Sea???



    Now the 5th issue:

    What was the true cause that led to the demise of the Republic of South Viet Nam?

    In all honesty, I’m not trying to defend or to vindicate the imperfect Armed Forces and the government of the Republic of South Viet Nam. I have to admit that they were not perfect. Like any other Armed Forces and governments in the world, they had
    their share of bad leaders, incompetent commanders and some coward troops in some units. Despite the imperfection, they served honorably and fought ferociously against their communist invaders from North Viet Nam. I am sure many of you have heard about
    the Big Tet offensive of 1968 in the Viet Nam War. Tet has always been an important, a very solemn holiday for all Vietnamese. Taking advantage of this solemn occasion, the North Vietnamese communist violated the signed truce agreement and launched a
    surprise general attack across South Viet Nam in an attempt to cause an uprising and to take over the South by force. But they miscalculated the anti-communist situation in South Viet Nam, underestimated the courage of the Republic of South Viet Nam’s
    Armed Forces and therefore, suffered huge casualty and failed.

    Four years later, taking advantage of President Nixon’s Vietnamization plan and the U.S’s decision to withdraw its forces from South Viet Nam, the North Vietnamese launched another major surprise attack known as the Easter offensive of 1972. This
    time they committed 12 North Vietnamese Army Divisions supported by many tank regiments and the deadly Soviet Made 130MM long range artillery to attack 3 South Viet Nam’s Military Regions, 1, 2 and 3. But in both operations, the TET Offensive of 1968
    and the Easter Offensive of 1972, the communists failed miserably. The failure of the Easter Offensive of 1972 caused North Viet Nam communist General Vo Nguyen Giap to loose his job.

    I cited these two major general offensives to prove that the Armed Forces and the government of the Republic of South Viet Nam were not as incompetent and bad as the biased mainstream news media and the antiwar movements in the U.S. slandered them.

    In my opinion the main factors leading to the collapse of South Viet Nam were as follows:

    1 – The flawed Paris Peace Accords that President Nixon coerced South Viet Nam to sign allowed over 200,000 North Vietnamese troops to remain in the South giving them the advantage.

    2 – Less than five months after the signing of the flawed Paris Peace Accords, U.S Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment forbidding any further U.S military involvement in Southeast Asia effective August 15, 1973. This nullified President Nixon’s
    promises to retaliate if the North violates the signed Paris Peace Accords.

    3 – In Sept 1974, U.S Congress cut military aid to the Republic of South Viet Nam to the bone while North Vietnamese communist received increasing logistical supports from the communist China and the Soviet Union. The shortages of fuel, ammunitions and
    spare parts crippled the Armed Forces of South Viet Nam and the fighting moral of the troops seriously deteriorated.

    4 – On Dec 13, 1974, North Viet Nam tested America’s decision toward Viet Nam by attacking the city of Phuoc Long in South Viet Nam. President Ford only protested diplomatically against this blatant violation of the Accords. Then in a press
    conference on January 21, 1975, President Ford firmly said, and I quote: “the U.S is unwilling to re-enter the war”. Clearly the U.S president gave Ha Noi a big green light to go ahead with the invasion of South Viet Nam.

    Evidently, the main factor that caused the collapse of the Republic of South Viet Nam in April 1975 was the balance of power was too lopsided in favor of the North Vietnamese communist invaders. If the South Vietnamese Armed Forces were properly equipped
    and adequately supplied, I am quite certain the outcome would have been different.



    Over forty years have gone by since the collapse of the Republic of South Viet Nam. Many secret documents have been declassified giving the general public an opportunity to know the truth of what happened in the Viet Nam War. I believe it is only fair to
    ask: “Would other Armed Forces of any country do any better under the conditions that faced the South Vietnamese Armed Forces in 1975? Would any military unit of any country fight better with shortages of ammunition and fuel, with broken vehicles and
    communications, with a crippled medical system, and little or no air support against a powerful, well-supplied & cruel enemy?” Ladies and gentlemen, you are the judge.



    And now the last one:

    Were people in South Viet Nam happy with the North Vietnamese communist invaders after the so-called liberation of the South in April 1975?

    At long last, the whole world now know that the North Vietnamese communist invaders were very tricky and dangerous. They shielded their fiendish revenge against those of the former regime they labeled “lackeys of the U.S Imperialists owing a blood debt
    to the Vietnamese people” by sending them to hard-labor death camps under a nice name: Re-education Camps. I have met and talked to my unfortunate classmate who was incarcerated in these re-education camps for 13 years and he came to the U.S. through
    the ODP program. He told me he was locked up in a big metal container placed under the sun where the temperature could easily reach 105 degrees because he refused to sign a written confession prepared by the prison wardens describing the war crimes he
    committed with the U.S. imperialists.

    Another inhumane invention the invaders from North Viet Nam created following their invasion of the South was nicely called: “New Economic Zone”. These New Economic Zones were set up in the wilderness, virgin jungles barely tolerable living
    conditions with serious threat of malaria disease. These zones were for the communist invaders to penalize all family members of military officers, politicians, bureaucrats, religious or labor leaders of the former regime in South Viet Nam. The brutal
    revenge committed by the communist invaders caused a large number of Vietnamese to escape Viet Nam in what became known as the exodus of the boat people.

    There are two high ranking communist cadres who revealed the true living condition in South Viet Nam under the regime of the North Vietnamese communist invaders after April 1975. The first one is Truong Nhu Tang, the founder of the National Liberation
    Front (NLF) in South Viet Nam. The NLF was a military and political arm of the communist from North Viet Nam. After only three years working directly under communist leaders coming from the North, Mr Truong discovered the bitter reality about communist
    manifesto and he escaped Viet Nam in a ramshackle boat. Another reason that urged the founder of the NLF to escape was because his two brothers were also incarcerated in the re-education camp by his communist comrades from the North. After resettled in
    France, he wrote his memoir titled “A Viet Cong Memoir – An Inside Account of the Viet Nam War and its Aftermath”. His book was translated into English and published in the U.S in 1985. He dedicated his book as follows, and I quote: “To my mother
    & father. And to my betrayed comrades who believed they were sacrificing themselves for a humane liberation of their people”. End of quote.


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