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Vietnam opens secret bunker under shrine
The Associated Press ^
| Oct. 28, 2004
| Margie Mason
Posted on 10/28/2004 11:17:16 AM PDT by Dubya
HANOI, Vietnam - Behind thick concrete walls and iron doors, Ho Chi Minh and other top North Vietnamese leaders hid out in secret underground tunnels during U.S. B-52 bombing raids and plotted key military strategies that led to the United States' defeat in the Vietnam War.
For the first time, Hanoi has opened the bunker used by the late president, his military leader, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, and others. It's in the same building where the 1968 Tet Offensive and the final assault on Saigon in 1975 were planned from about 30 feet below the surface.
But the site's history goes far deeper than that.
Visitors are also being given a rare, firsthand glimpse of nearly 1,000 years of Vietnamese history through tours of the site of the Kinh Thien shrine, which dates to the 11th century.
The area includes two large stone dragons, made in the 15th century during the Le Dynasty, that extend up nine stairs -- all that remain of the shrine that was once part of the imperial forbidden city, off-limits to everyone but royalty. It was rebuilt three times during different dynasties.
When the French invaded Vietnam in the late 19th century, they destroyed everything but the stairs and gate, and constructed a two-story building to house an artillery headquarters, which was taken over by the North Vietnamese after they defeated the French colonialists in 1954.
The communist military, with help from the Soviets, built its headquarters there in 1967. It housed the elaborate tunnel system, including the underground bunker, which has narrow submarine-style corridors and vaulted metal doors leading into two larger rooms. During U.S. bombing raids, Politburo members and top military brass took cover there and held meetings.
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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1
posted on
10/28/2004 11:17:16 AM PDT
by
Dubya
To: Dubya
key military strategies that led to the United States' defeat in the Vietnam War
Don't mean to take any wind out of the commie's sails, but Vietnam wasn't lost in the battelfield strategies of Vietnam, it was lost in the U.S., courtesy of John Kerry.
To: babyface00
...with Hanoi's help of course
To: Dubya
An 11th Century shrine? Drat. I thought from the title that it was a shrine dedicated to John Kerry.
4
posted on
10/28/2004 11:21:42 AM PDT
by
Question Liberal Authority
(How do you ask a goose to be the last goose to die for the Kerry campaign?)
To: Dubya
Wonder if a picture of John F"in" Kerry is hanging in there someplace.
5
posted on
10/28/2004 11:22:17 AM PDT
by
Militiaman7
(Jesus is my personal Physician.)
To: chemical_boy
Of course. If the author of this piece had said that HCM and his clowns had been planning "key political strategies that led to the United States' defeat...", I would agree wholeheartedly with him.
To: Dubya
" United States' defeat in the Vietnam War" So, can anyone tell me how/when the US was defeated in Vietnam?
Tet, Easter Offensive, Paris Accords????
7
posted on
10/28/2004 11:26:57 AM PDT
by
Dead Dog
To: Dubya
This AP article absolutely drips with admiration for the North Vietnamese. Ugh.
Listen, lady. Why do you think it was admirable to dig a military bunker under an 11th century shrine?
What this reminds me of is the Muslim rulers of Greece who stored ammunition in the Parthenon and badly damaged it when it exploded.
These are not the guys who built the ancient shrine. These are the guys who ruthlessly blow up shrines.
Not to speak of the fact that they are cruel oppressors of the Vietnamese people and enemies of freedom and the west.
8
posted on
10/28/2004 11:35:18 AM PDT
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: Militiaman7
Ho Chi Ming in my view from here in the hills of west virginia was a far better man than John Kerry.He was loyal to HIS people.
To: Dubya
To: Drillerman
From one ridgerunner (in SW Virginia) to another, Ho was a loyal commie, Kerry is loyal to only Kerry.
11
posted on
10/28/2004 12:25:37 PM PDT
by
Militiaman7
(Jesus is my personal Physician.)
To: Militiaman7
I think Ho Chi Minh was loyal to Viet Nam's independence. We had a chance to buy his loyalty after WWII. He had fought bravely against Imperial Japan and earned his country's freedom. We could have had his loyalty for the price of some weapons, ammo, and equipment (most which was thrown overboard...) and dissing the Frogs.
We blew it - thanks to some idiot diplomat's attempt to accommodate France. Since only the Commies would help him, he became a Commie.
12
posted on
10/28/2004 12:33:00 PM PDT
by
Little Ray
(John Ffing sKerry: Just a gigolo!)
To: Militiaman7
"Wonder if a picture of John F"in" Kerry is hanging in there someplace."
You know, it well might be based on the info in this Oliver North article from Feb. '04.
Gen. Giap: Kerry's Group Helped Hanoi Defeat U.S.
The North Vietnamese general in charge of the military campaign that finally drove the U.S. out of South Vietnam in 1975 credited a group led by Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry with helping him achieve victory.
In his 1985 memoir about the war, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap wrote that if it weren't for organizations like Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Hanoi would have surrendered to the U.S.
Image that ~ even the VC's top General knew that, without Kerry's help, the VC probably would have lost the war. I can't help but wonder why the MSM doesn't find this a 'credible' enough source!
13
posted on
10/28/2004 12:41:13 PM PDT
by
Zacs Mom
("The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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