Dear Fellow Citizens,
I am reaching out to you as current official friends and former enemies of Vietnam because I want you to know the truth about what could have been, an alternative and viable path of history that both countries could have trod together for mutual benefit and a more peaceful world.
One milestone that inspired me to write to you at this auspicious moment is the 45th anniversary of the end of what you call the “Vietnam War” and what the Vietnamese logically know as the American War because it was a war that the US fought on Vietnamese soil.
Tragically, but not surprisingly, based on your history and foreign policy since the late 19th century, you chose the road to war – not once but thrice – the first time with money and materiel, the second time through a client state and, finally, via direct involvement until a quick withdrawal that was coined “peace with honor,” a Nixon/Kissinger turn of phrase that did George Orwell proud.
For you, there was no honor, only national disgrace, international ignominy, and a dark period of history that the US has yet to overcome, nearly half a century after the fact, in the sense of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, a wonderfully descriptive German word that refers to coming to terms with and overcoming the past.
For the Vietnamese, there was untold suffering and wholesale death but also martyrdom and triumph. They emerged victorious and the US, the mortal enemy of the day, hastily returned home to nurse its wounds and attempt to justify the unjustifiable, a futile process that continues to this day and will only end with a national truth and reconciliation commission either on- or offline.
The Vietnamese had no choice but to defend themselves and do everything in their power to force the US and its surrogates to pack up and go home, and its client state to surrender. A history of invasion, occupation, and war taught them many survival lessons. Vietnam was left to pick up the pieces but at least it was unified and at peace, a lofty goal achieved and a longstanding dream fulfilled.
In addition to the 45th anniversary, another reason for missive is the upcoming celebration of Vietnam’s National Day on September 2, 2020, the day Ho Chi Minh (HCM) declared independence from the French 75 years ago in 1945, after five years of economic exploitation by the Japanese and over 80 years of brutal French control of all three regions of the country.