July-September 2001
Vol.17, No.3
 Vietnamese BULLETIN vietnamien
 ISSN 0828-5403

FEDERATION NEWS


Secretary of State (Asia Pacific) Met with Vietnamese Canadian Federation Delegation

Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, Secretary of State (Asia Pacific), met with a delegation of the Vietnamese Canadian Federation (VCF) on July 13, 2001 to seek the view of the Vietnamese community on Vietnam before travelling to Hanoi to attend an ASEAN meeting.

The VCF delegation included the following members: Dr. Tuyen L. Nguyen, Representative of the Council of Presidents, also President of the Vietnamese Community in Canada - Montreal Region; Mr. Danh T. Nguyen, President; Dr. Can D. Le, Commissioner for External Affairs; Mr. Diep V. Trinh, Executive Director; Dr. Van T. Lam, representing the Centre for Democracy in Vietnam, Montreal Chapter; and Mr. Khanh V. Nguyen, representing the Vietnamese Catholic Community of Montreal.

On the side of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, in addition to Dr. Pagtakhan, Ms. Patricia Marsden-Dole, Director General of the South Asia and Southeast Asia Branch; Ms. Christine Nakamura, Deputy of the South Asia Division; and Ms. Stephanie Ashton, Dr. Pagtakhan's Legislative Assistant were also present.

In opening the meting, Dr. Nguyen gave an overview of the political, social, and economic in Vietnam following the takeover of South Vietnam by the Communists in 1975. According to him, under the rigid control of the Vietnamese Communist Party, after 25 years following the end of the war, Vietnam is still one of the poorest country in the world, full of corruption and social vices. After the government put in place the Doi Moi (Reform) policy in 1986, many international companies decided to invest in Vietnam because they expected that with a new market of over 70 people they would easily succeed. Recently, things have not turned out well for them: since Vietnam doesn't have a consistent legal framework and the government loosely applies the laws to suit its current needs, and corruption is widespread, many investment projects have failed and a number of international companies have left the country.

The suppression of Vietnamese religious freedom was then presented by Messrs. Khanh Nguyen and Danh Nguyen, and Dr. Van Lam. Mr. Khanh Nguyen mentioned two main points: the imprisonment of Father Nguyen Van Ly, and the government's control of the Vietnamese Catholic Church. On the Buddhist side, Mr. Danh Nguyen cited the house arrest of the Most Venerables Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, and the harassment of the Hoa Hoa Buddhist followers in South Vietnam. Regarding the Vietnamese Protestant Church, Dr. Van Lam alluded to the government's suppression of members of this church in the mountainous region of Central Vietnam.

Addressing the violations of human rights by Vietnamese authorities, Dr. Van Lam presented the case of Professor Nguyen Dinh Huy who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to organize a conference on plural democracy in Vietnam, and the cases of Dr. Nguyen Dan Que and writer Ha Si Phu who --though previously released from prison -- are still under house arrest.

After summarising the presentation of the delegation, Dr. Can D. Le presented a number of recommendations from the Federation to the government as follows:

A. Freedom of Religion

That the Government of Canada use its good office to demand that the Government of Vietnam:

Release immediately and unconditionally the Most Venerables Thich Huyen Quang, Thich Quang Do, Father Nguyen Van Ly, and Mr. Le Quang Liem;

Cease all harassment against members of religious organizations in Vietnam; and

Abolish the inhumane decrees 26/CP and 31/CP in order to return religious freedom to all Vietnamese churches, and stop all forms of unjust administrative detainment.

B. Human Rights

Link respect for human rights to all forms of trade and official development aid agreements;

Ask the Government of Vietnam to release all political prisoners and to stop all forms of harassment of political dissidents;

C. Official Development Aid

Make transparency and equity of beneficiaries primary conditions of aid to Vietnam;

Promote and assist the work of non-government organizations (NGOs) in Vietnam in such areas as: elimination of poverty, promotion of social justice, protection of the environment, education, and human rights

Encourage and help Vietnamese students to come to Canada to study social sciences in addition to the regular areas such as physical sciences and engineering.

In responding to the VCF delegation, Dr. Pagtakhan explained the position of the government as follows:

The Government of Canada will continue to raise the human rights issues in all its contacts with the Vietnamese government;

The Government of Canada will continue to use moral persuasion and common sense to urge Vietnamese authorities to respect human rights;
The Government of Canada believes that a positive engagement will lead to concrete results.

The meeting ended in an open and friendly atmosphere following a discussion on these recommendations.

It should be mentioned that before being elected to the House of Commons in 1993, Dr. Pagtakhan held the position of Vice-President of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, a non-profit organization consisting of 35 national ethnic associations, of which the Vietnamese Canadian Federation is a member.

WORLD NEWS

Proud to be Vietnamese

Speech by an Asian-America Navy Cadet (Nguyen Thi Cam Van, Class of 1999, Stanford University) to the Vietnamese community in Oklahoma, U.S.A., April 30, 2001

Kinh thua qui vi quan khach va cac ban tre. That la mot niem vinh du lon lao cho chau duoc den day de chia se va hoc hoi nhung kinh nghiem va nhung uu tu trong cuoc song cua chung ta, la nhung nguoi Viet Nam tha huong va cua the he tre Viet Nam, voi hai que huong. Hay noi cach khac,chung ta nhung nguoi tre Viet Nam co hai ba me: me Viet Nam va me Hoa Ky. Doi voi ca hai ba me, chung ta deu phai co bon phan.

Kinh thua qui vi.

Chau xin phep duoc dien dat bang tieng My de chau noi de dang hon.

(Ladies and gentlemen and friends. It is a great honor for me to come here to share with you, and to learn from you, our common experience and thoughts about our life, the life of Vietnamese who are away from our motherland, and the experience and thoughts of young Vietnamese with two motherlands. In other words, we, the young people, have two mothers: a Vietnamese mother and an American mother. We have duties towards both of them. Ladies and gentlemen, with your permission, I would like to speak in English in order that I could express myself more easily).

I can remember my first day at the Naval Academy. It was Plebe Summer.

Plebe Summer is 6 weeks of pure hell - getting yelled at, intense physical activity, shooting guns, running obstacle courses. In short, being exposed to the military life. After we took our oath of office, I had to run upstairs to where all of the Plebes (a degrading name for us freshman) stayed. I was so scared. I almost started to cry.

One of the officers saw this and took me aside into her office. She told me that it would be okay. She said I shouldn't take the yelling personally and they were only doing it to make me a better person. I left her office, determined to be strong, determined to succeed. I wanted to show everyone that this Vietnamese girl was there to stay.

I didn't merely want to get through. I wanted to be at the top. It was this determination that carried me through the four years.

Many people asked me, "Wasn't it difficult to compete against all those guys, because they're stronger than you." All I can say is, "sure they're stronger than I am, but when we're all in the same boat, when it's 105 degrees outside, when we're all exhausted from lack of sleep, from doing hundreds of push-ups, from running numerous miles, it's your determination that will keep you going. I never gave up; I never fell out of the runs. When they asked for a volunteer to do the dirty jobs, I was always the first one in line. I earned the respect of my upperclassmen AND my classmates.

The four years there was a wonderful leadership experience. Many people believe great leaders can only be born. I believe otherwise.

EACH ONE OF YOU has the potential to be successful and be a great leader. It just takes practice, hard work, and most importantly learning from your mistakes. I think THAT was the best thing about the Academy. It was a leadership laboratory where you practice your leadership skills.

With each consecutive year, you were put in charge of more and more people.

Finally in my senior year, I was put in charge of half of the Brigade, which is approximately 2000 people. I'd like to share some of the things I learned that year with you:

1. Put the welfare of your people before yourself.

Your people will know whether or not you really care for them by how you treat them. Only then will they give you 100% rather than merely the minimum.

2. Don't micromanage.

If you assign someone a task, don't tell him or her how to do it. Show them that you have confidence in their abilities. Let them think of a way to accomplish the task. Allow them to discuss it with you and let them carry out the task. It will give them more pride in their abilities and they'll work harder than ever. People work harder if they know someone believes in them.

3. Set the example

If you expect your people to be there at 8:00 AM, don't come strolling in at 8:05 or 8:10. Be there at 7:50. As the military saying goes, to be early is to be on time.

4. Always do what is right, even if no one is looking. Because it can come back and haunt you.

5. Praise in public; discipline in private.

I have seen many leaders AND parents make the mistake of yelling at one of their subordinates in front of other people. What does this accomplish? It simply demeans the person or embarrasses your child. You'll not only lose the respect and loyalty of that worker but the respect and loyalty of your other subordinates.

I think the most important attribute of a great leader is service to others. In today's fast-paced society, people forget the most important things in life. It's not money, status in society, the clothes you wear, or the things you have. It's how you live your life everyday knowing whether or not you've made an impact on society, or made someone, just one person's life better. That's what is important. Live your life to make others feel better about them AND THEN you will feel better.

After I found out that I was graduating second in my class, that the navy was going to pay for medical school for me, that Stanford had accepted me, I didn't feel joy in my heart. I just felt that I had done what was expected of me. I didn't feel true happiness until my graduation party.

My sister and I stood in front of 500 Vietnamese people, and it suddenly hit me. I felt happy because I was giving the Vietnamese community something to feel proud about - one of their own had succeeded. I felt privileged to be given that honor. Fifty of my father's Vietnamese navy buddies flew to my sister and my graduation from all over the United States. They were proud that a Vietnamese female had done so well.

When I think about it now, I feel blessed that God has granted me the opportunity to bring happiness and pride to our Vietnamese culture.

Because I was born in the United States, I've always struggled with my identity. Am I Vietnamese or am I American? I'm sure many of you young adults have struggled with that too! I used to be embarrassed about being different, because I went to an all white school. I remember asking my mom: Why is our skin yellow? How come our noses are so flat? How come our eyes are so funny looking? It took me a long time to accept these differences, to love my heritage, to love the community I came from.
I've learned to love myself just as how I look, because that's God's gift to my. My self-acceptance has made me more self-confident, more open to diversity and different ideas. I seek out the differences in people, because that's what makes each person beautiful to me.

I'd like to share with you a book named Catfish and Mandala, written by Andrew Xuan Pham.

Andrew and his family escaped from Vietnam in 1979 and settled in San Jose, CA. After 20 years he is unsure of his heritage and who he is as a person - is he Vietnamese? Is he American? Is he Vietnamese-American? And what exactly does it mean to be Vietnamese-American? In order to find out his roots and his heritage he decides to take his bike and ride through Vietnam. During his ride, he encounters many, many young Vietnamese people his age who were unable to obtain an education because they had to help the family make a living, so they end up staying out in the streets all day trying to sell anything and everything, sometimes resorting to selling their own bodies.

Andrew sees this and he comes face to face with the realization that if his parents had not taken the incredible risk of escaping from Vietnam, he would be one of those poor young people trying to make a living by selling anything and everything. He sees this and realizes how much he owes his future to the risk his parents took to give him and his siblings a better life/future. I see this and I realize that this could have been my situation as well, if my parents had not risked their lives to give my brother and sister and I a better future, I would not be here today speaking with you. I see this and I realize how much I owe my future to my parents and how much they have given me.

I'd like to take the time now to honor all parents: for their sacrifice, for their hard work, for even risking their lives so that their children could have better futures..

Students and friends, I hope you see this and realize that could be your situation as well and thank your parents. Maybe some of you feel awkward and can't thank them verbally, so you thank them by studying hard, getting good grades, making a better future for yourselves, making them proud of you. Your parents have given you the incredible gift of a better life, take advantage of that gift, and use your talents to their fullest potential. This country has SOOOO much to offer you if you only know where and how to use it. DO not let their sacrifices for you go to waste.

Parents, I ask that you try to understand us. We grow up torn between an American culture and a Vietnamese culture. The American culture stresses independence. But in the Vietnamese culture cha me muon con hoc gi, con phai hoc cai do (we have to study in whatever field our parents wish to see us study) . Most Vietnamese parents I've met want their kids to be doctors, engineers, or lawyers. I would love for the parents to realize the United States is a country of diversity. It's possible to be successful in any type of profession: singer, actor, businessman, electrician, whatever. What matters most is if you are happy with what you are doing.

I have also seen a lot of parents who are so worried about making money for their family that they spend all of their time at work. I hope you realize that before you know it, the kids will be all grown up and you won't have that time to spend with them anymore. I beg you to take out at least 1 or 2 hours each week to sit down and talk, have a picnic, or even better, do a community service project together. Not only are you instilling in them the importance of family, but also the importance of contributing to society. Be there for your children. Guide them but listen to them and respect their ideas. Tell them that you believe in them. Children are like seeds. Your words of love and encouragement will nourish them and help them grow.

I encourage you to learn about our history, to learn our language, and learn our culture. Don't forget your heritage. No one else has any like it. For example, hai Ba Trung. What other country can say that two women single-handedly tried to fight back the country of China. And Ba Trieu. At the age of 20, she raised an army of more than 1000 people to fight the Chinese and committed suicide rather than surrender herself to the enemy.
I am so proud that these are the type of ancestors we have. I am proud to be Vietnamese. Chau han hanh duoc dai dien nguoi tre tai Okalahoma noi rieng va Hoa Ky noi chung duoc gop loi trong ngay quoc han hom nay. Chau xin duoc noi tieng noi cua rieng chau va chac chan cung la tieng noi cua nhung nguoi tre Viet Nam tai hai ngoai. Chung chau mong duoc dong gop kha nang cua chung chau cho que huong Viet Nam khi dat nuoc duoc hoan toan tu do dan chu.

Xin cam on tat ca qui vi da lang nghe.

(I am honoured to represent Vietnamese youths in Oklahoma in particular and in the United States in general to share our thoughts with you on the occasion of the National Day of Mourning this year. These were my own words, but I believe that they also reflect the thoughts of all overseas Vietnamese youths. We hope that we will be able to contribute our energy to the rebuilding of our motherland when it is completely free and democratic.

Thank you for listening.)

E-mail Firewall in Vietnam

(by Mark McDonald,
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau, 13/8/01)

HANOI -- When the entire e-mail system suddenly went dark throughout Vietnam last month, the government-owned agency that administers the Internet told its subscribers not to panic: The disruption was caused by routine maintenance on the country's firewall.

Vietnam and other Asian governments have installed nationwide firewalls, or electronic filters, that keep Internet users from connecting to Web sites that the regimes consider politically, religiously or sexually offensive.

But one of the principal custodians and censors of the Vietnamese firewall now acknowledges his wall is overmatched and doomed.

"Control through the firewall is no longer effective," said Do Quy Doan, chairman of the Vietnam Website Project at the Ministry of Culture and Information. "If anyone who has a wish to get over the wall, they will. It is just a technical measure. If we put all our future hopes on the firewall, we will fail."

This startling admission from a senior technocrat doesn't mean it's curtains for Hanoi's Internet Iron Curtain. The ruling Communist Party here still takes many of its political and ideological lessons from China, and Beijing has recently reinforced its already draconian restrictions on Internet use. China uses its firewall to block all manner of sites, including Western media outlets, human rights organizations and the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

Other countries in Southeast Asia also are worried about the growing political reach and grasp of the Internet, particularly when it's used by opposition parties and activists.

Singapore, with a general election coming up, has announced it will impose new restrictions on political Web sites and chat forums. And Malaysia, which advertises itself as the most tech-friendly nation in Southeast Asia, is said to be drafting tough new revisions to its existing "cyber laws." In Vietnam, the firewall already blocks well over 3,000 Web sites -- and those are just the pornographic ones.

Countless political and religious sites also get firewalled, in addition to proxy servers and so-called back-door sites that usually can be used to leap tall firewalls in a single bound. Doan declined to give statistics on the number of those sites deemed to be off-limits, although it's believed there are more than a thousand of them on Hanoi's blacklist.

"Of course we have those bad political sites, but those people can also get you their information through e-mail, fax, radio," Doan said. "Nobody can control all that."

One of the sites that escapes Hanoi's firewall is Viet Mercury, the Mercury News' Vietnamese-language weekly. (The regime's postal inspectors and the censors in the Ministry of Culture and Information confiscate, however, all newsprint copies of Viet Mercury mailed from San Jose.)

The government clearly recognizes that its foreboding firewall drives off potential foreign investors while hamstringing domestic entrepreneurs. Indeed, firewall-free office space is dangled as an inducement for businesses to relocate to Quang Trung Software City, a 92-acre corporate park in Ho Chi Minh City. Quang Trung is the only place in the country -- other than the defense and public security ministries -- that's legally beyond the firewall.

Nguyen Anh Dung, 37, managing director of SSL Vietnam, said his company would simply not exist if not for the firewall exemption inside the Quang Trung park. SSL Vietnam is developing a handheld computer called Mine Terapin that they hope to launch next month.

"When we had an office in the city, we had to go through the firewall and that made the Internet so slow," Dung said. "If we were still in our old place, we couldn't do this project. It would be impossible."

There are countless anti-Hanoi political sites operating on the web, of course, most of them run by refugees and emigres living outside Vietnam. These sites are routinely blocked from users inside Vietnam.

"Of course they block us, but it's not because of our content," said Pham Ngoc Lan, the San Jose-based Web master for Thong Luan, the online newsletter of the Rally for Pluralism and Democracy, a Vietnamese emigre group. "We're moderates who are simply talking politics, and that's enough for them to block us. The culture police read us."

Lan said friends in Ho Chi Minh City and Dalat occasionally can access his site when temporary holes open in the firewall. "So it appears the system isn't reliable," he said.

Government censors in Hanoi also recently began to discover a disturbing new phenomenon -- politically objectionable sites originating inside Vietnam.

"Yes, we're finding these sites now," Doan said with no further comment.

To deal with the handful of domestic dissidents who try to operate over the Net, Hanoi will likely continue its highly effective strategy of raiding homes, disconnecting telephone lines and confiscating computers.

The pluckier dissidents have resorted to using Internet cafes - which seem to be growing exponentially in the major cities -- to send out their anti-government broadsides. One activist who has had two computers and a fax machine taken from him by the security police said he now wears a hat and a disguise when going to Internet cafes. He uses different cafes from day to day and repeatedly changes taxis en route.

Vietnam first opened up to the Internet 3 1/2 years ago. There are five Internet service providers, all of them state companies that lease access to the country's sole gateway from a state-owned agency, the Vietnam Data Communications Co. Even with a population of 77 million, Vietnam has just 135,000 Internet subscribers, due largely to some of the world's highest sign-up costs and user fees.

Even with piles of complaints from businesses and consumers, even in the face of a losing technological battle, the Vietnamese authorities show no signs of tearing down their firewall. Doan said Hanoi will launch a "propaganda campaign" to educate and warn its citizens about the accessing of inappropriate sites. Also, new laws and decrees will make it illegal to connect to naughty sites, with large fines being the principal deterrent.

In the meantime, the task of tracking down new, offending web sites falls mainly to the service providers. Every ISP has its own censorship team to prowl the Internet, ever on the alert for sex, violence and political danger.

Poking anonymously through customers' accounts is part of the search, particularly the accounts of foreign subscribers. Even the in-boxes of foreign diplomats are not off limits.

One Western diplomat fluent in Vietnamese recalled the day a couple of repairmen arrived at his embassy to fix a problem with the e-mail delivery system.

While the men were working at the computers, the diplomat overheard one repairman tell the other that the problem had been caused by one of the government's ham-handed Internet snoopers.

Secret Society in Vietnam Challenging Constitution NCM Online

(Andrew Lam, August 7, 2001)

An open letter, distributed by a secret society called The National Restoration Organization, has been creating chaos inside Vietnam.

No one knows who actually belong to this secret society and, for that matter, how many, but their message is clear: The communist party should not claim to represent the people of Vietnam and it should not therefore force the communist Marxist Leninist doctrine down the people's throat.

Thousands of these letters have somehow been circulating throughout the country via the post office. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City citizens are the primary recipients but so are Vietnamese newspapapers overseas. Newspapers like Viet Merc, Tin Viet News, Nguoi Viet and Calitoday have all been recipients of these letters.

The letters demand that the communist party repeal the Fourth Amendment of its consitution, which is a direct translation of the USSR's constituion. That amendment basically says that the Vietnamese Communist party represents the hope and dreams of the Vietnamese people and it is committed to Marxist-Leninist ideology and the socialist ideals of Ho Chi Minh.

"But the communist party is an unworkable party," the letters claim, "It is full of infighting and factionalism... It manages to have complete power over the people of Vietnam because of the 4th Amendment and it continues to oppress religious groups and all social activities that it deems threatening to its survival."

Last week dissident Nguyen Dan Que publicly called for the involvement of overseas Vietnamese in his effort to undermine the communist regime by investing heavily in Vietnam in the private sectors and by demanding for greater transparency in the country. Freedom of expression and democracy are the basic human rights that all Vietnamese deserve, Que said.

Yet Que is clearly not the person responsible for these letters. He's a southerner with no connection to the communist party and is still under house arrest. Vietnamese observers, both inside and outside the country, believe that the letters come from "insiders," that is to say some communist officials themselves.

In the last decade or so, many prominent communist members have publicly spoken out against the communist party, ridden by the problem of corruption. They demanded for more human rights in Vietnam and a multiparty system.

It must be noted that anti-communist activities have been largely an activity that is monitored by Hanoi's secret service. The service is notoriously cruel and efficient. In 1988 a post office worker in Ho Chi Minh city helped circulated similar anti- communist letters and was arrested and tortured. When released, she was blind and her legs broken.

But with the recent visit of Colin Powell, the American Secretary of State, during the Asean conference in Hanoi, and the trade agreement with the US about to be ratified in September, there's a feeling in Vietnam that the country will be somehow held accountable in international eyes.

With the return of the Americans, those who champion Vietnamese democracy and human rights are all feeling bolder by the moral boost. It would not be surprising that, when the multiparty system does happen in Vietnam and the fourth amendment repealed, The National Restoration Organization will become the National Restoration Party, with a few ex-communist members as its main operators.

Sources: Viet Merc, Tin Viet News, Nguoi Viet and Calitoday

Vietnamese American donated $2 million to September 11 victims

Buffalo News, NY

September 15, 2001 - When Tran Dinh Truong - who donated $2 million Thursday to the Red Cross - lost everything in the Vietnam War, it was an American that came to his rescue.

As the country reels from Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Truong - now the successful owner of the Hotel Lafayette in Buffalo and the Hotel Carter in New York City - returned the favor in an unprecedented way. The donation to the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the American Red Cross is for its national disaster relief fund, which is aiding people affected by the attacks in New York City and Washington. Nancy Blaschak, executive director of the chapter, said Truong's generous gift is the largest single donation by an individual that the chapter has ever received.

"We are just overwhelmed," she said. "What can you say ? This family is really grateful to America. We cannot thank him enough for such a tremendous donation."

Blaschak and other Red Cross workers, joined Truong's wife, Hung, on Thursday afternoon for a news conference and presentation of a ceremonial check in the Hotel Lafayette's hobby on Washington street.

Truong, who is in midtown Manhattan at the Hotel Carter, was unable to attend the ceremony because of the disruption in airline service in the aftermath of the attacks. In a telephone interview, Truong said he and his family were saddened and outraged by the attacks and wanted to help the victims and their families in anyway they could.

"This is our country, too," he said, "I'm very sad about the attack. When I saw the people, I thought I must do something. We want to help the people."
Truong, who came to this country in 1975 with just the shirt on his back, said the donation was the least he could do.

He lost his business in Vietnam during the war and was able to rebuild his life here. "Nothing is enough to show that you care and you want to help," Hung Truong said. "We went through suffering, and we care for the victims' families. We want to show that we care and that we share."

The family is also calling on other local companies and individuals to follow suite and donate to the effort.
MEDIA REVIEW

Washington Post -- Reviewed by Stanley I. Kutler
Sunday, July 29, 2001; Page BW05

NO PEACE, NO HONOR
Nixon, Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam
By Larry Berman
Free Press. 334 pp. $27.50

History is fast diminishing the reputations of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. The emerging documentary record is effectively challenging their extravagant claims of achievements. Nixon, like Winston Churchill, believed that for history to favor him he had to write the record himself. Both he and Kissinger certainly have tried, delivering extensive memoirs and self-serving books to enhance their reputations. Nixon fought desperately to keep his papers and tapes out of the hands and minds of historians; Kissinger deeded his papers to the Library of Congress, with very restricted access during his lifetime.

Larry Berman's No Peace, No Honor resurrects the agonizing, painful end of the Vietnam War. We negotiated the end -- our end -- and in a large sense abetted North Vietnam's ultimate victory, leading to unification of the country, a goal that the United States vigorously had contested with blood and treasure for more than two decades. Berman probes hitherto classified sources and documents, measures them against Nixon's and Kissinger's version of events, and demolishes their accounts as utterly lacking in credibility.

The American leaders lied to and abandoned their South Vietnam client, in the face of repeated assurances that they would not. When Gen. Thieu came to San Clemente to visit his alleged patrons in March 1973, John Negroponte, one of Kissinger's top aides, told him, "We really screwed you guys."

Nixon devoted much of his post-Watergate writing to desperately trying to explain away what had happened. He even resorted to classic stab-in-the-back notions. He won the war; "Congress," he maintained, "destroyed our ability to enforce the Paris Agreement and left our allies vulnerable . . . If it sounds like I'm blaming Congress, I am."

Kissinger put a slightly different spin on things, claiming much for the Peace Accords but then complaining that the tragedy was "domestic," as the administration was "castrated" after Watergate. Yet 20 years after the Accords, Nixon, the maestro of playing both sides of the street, sheepishly admitted that the "biggest flaw" was allowing the North to keep troops in the South. Nixon's lies engulfed him, brought him down, and linger to assail his historical record and reputation.

Following the collapse of the South Vietnam government and the unification of Vietnam, President Gerald Ford said that "History must be the final judge of that which we have done or left undone . . . . Let us calmly await its verdict."

Berman carefully traces Nixon and Kissinger's lengthy negotiating efforts to end our Vietnam involvement. He has combed the enormous documentary record that both men left, including transcripts of the secret Paris meetings between Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho. His conclusion is devastating: Their efforts amounted to a "massive historical shell game called peace with honor." Building on his earlier Vietnam studies, as well as others', especially Jeffrey Kimball's Nixon's Vietnam War, Berman delivers a crippling blow to the exorbitant claims of the president and his foreign policy consigliere.

After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, Nixon characteristically baited his media critics. "We finally have achieved peace with honor. I know it gags some of you to write that phrase, but it is true." He instructed Kissinger to emphasize "the lonely & heroic image" of the president to Joseph Alsop, a friendly columnist. But Nixon's Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt -- certainly not the kind of critic Nixon anticipated -- later wrote: "There are at least two words no one can use to characterize the outcome of that two-faced policy. One is peace. The other is honor."

Berman's evidence clearly gives the verdict to Zumwalt. Peace? The Accords provided for the total withdrawal of American troops, the return of the prisoners of war and the release of civilian political prisoners. But the agreement pointedly ignored the reality of North Vietnamese regulars remaining in the South, thereby signalling that the North could resume its war of unification without American interference.

Honor? The government of South Vietnam collapsed in short order; so much for Nixon's repeated, pious assurances that we would not abandon our ally.

No decency, and not much of an interval.

Honor? Berman conclusively demonstrates that Nixon and Kissinger ultimately deceived the American people. They operated in secrecy, but Berman's unraveling of the record reveals their true intention to resume the war.

Although they ignored the North's military presence in the South, they fully realized that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam planned to resume the war.

Nixon and Kissinger believed that the peace agreement provided "legal" authority to resume extensive bombing raids to maintain our South Vietnamese clients -- no matter what Congress thought, no matter what a large part of the nation (if not a majority) thought, no matter whether it would be effective. And then Nixon would not, as he often insisted, "lose" this war.
The common wisdom is that Watergate deterred Nixon from carrying out his clearly intended policy. But renewed bombing might have solidified antiwar sentiment in Congress. In any event, we ought to be worried that Nixon's penchant for secrecy almost carried the day. With his vast corps of PR-oriented White House staffers, he easily deluded the media and then the public into thinking that he indeed had secured peace with honor.

Throughout these negotiations, the administration subordinated policies, such as they were, to the politics of Richard Nixon's self-interest.

Nixon established the tone, with his passion for secrecy, grand strategizing, petty jealousies and peevish behavior. Kissinger fit quite well in all this; it was a match made in heaven. Nixon and Kissinger believed that they could play either the Soviet or Chinese cards to bend the Vietnamese.

The vaunted policy of "linkage" similarly proved powerless to resolve the Vietnam conflict. Had they paid attention to history, and particularly to the record of the previous 20 years, they might have gained an insight into how to treat their enemy. Nixon's "Vietnamization" policy -- whereby U.S. troops would gradually be supplanted by South Vietnamese soldiers -- clearly was a chimera throughout these negotiations.

Yet he clung to the illusion for more than two years, and more than 20,000 American soldiers lost their lives during his peace charade; several hundred thousand Vietnamese, North and South, perished as well. The years of peace negotiations brought increased casualties, more American POWs, more deterioration of the South Vietnamese government and Kissinger's tortuous dealings with Le Duc Tho, which achieved precious little.

So much effort went for such meager results, as Berman demonstrates. We are in his debt. Somehow, the Accords generated Nobel Prizes for Kissinger and Tho, an outcome that only confirms Voltaire's dictum that if we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities. Their work failed the basic test: It offered no peace; it offered only an appearance of peace accompanied by not-so secret plans to continue the war. Tho maneuvered for the day of renewed conflict and the eventual unification of Vietnam; removing the United States from Indochina offered the quickest, least costly way for him and his colleagues to gain their ends.

Nixon and Kissinger sought to extricate the United States from that conflict, secure our POWs and then prepare for further war.

Some peace. Richard Nixon, that self-styled man of peace, resented his exclusion from the Nobel awards, an exclusion that probably spared him even further embarrassment. For whatever reason, Tho never accepted his award; Kissinger should have the grace to return his ?

Stanley I. Kutler is the author of The Wars of Watergate and editor of The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War.

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