Warship visit lifts US-Vietnam ties

BBC ^

[maui_hawaii]

A US frigate is due to dock in Vietnam on Wednesday, becoming the first US warship to visit since the Vietnam War.

The USS Vandegrift is to spend four days in port near Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon and a centre for US forces before they withdrew in 1973.

The ship's visit is being seen as a symbolic step towards healing relations between the two countries.

Diplomatic ties were re-established in 1995 and since then bi-lateral trade has been growing rapidly.

"In the past, the presence of US Navy ships reflected aggression against Vietnamese. This time, it's a sign of friendship and improving relations. That's a significant change," Vietnamese legislator and historian Duong Trung Quoc told the Associated Press news agency.

Defence

Analysts in the US have also remarked on the visit's symbolic significance.

"The idea that an American Navy ship will be calling in what used to be Saigon is stunning... visual images projected by that will be very powerful and powerful positively," said James Reckner, director of the Lubbock Vietnam Centre in Texas, and a Vietnam veteran.

The visit is the latest of several recent indications that relations have reached a new level.

Last week, Vietnam's Defence Minister Pham Van Tra was in Washington for talks with the US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.

It was the first time a senior Vietnamese military official had visited the United States.

Hanoi has said it did not want to dwell on the past, and that better bilateral relations were the best way to solve issues left over by the war.

Analysts said the improving relations also reflected changes in the regional balance of power.

"The Vietnamese now feel comfortable enough to share their strategic concerns with the United States - that means China," Nayan Chanda, editor of Yaleglobal Online Magazine, told BBC News Online.

China is now a regional superpower and an old rival of Vietnam, so Hanoi's relationship with the United States gives it a potential ally in the region to offset Chinese influence.

"I think there will be an increase in cooperation in military areas, like joint sea rescue operations... there could also be anti-terrorist operations," Mr Chanda said.

Missing

US troops started withdrawing from Vietnam in 1973 after a peace treaty was signed in Paris.

Two years later Saigon fell after the South Vietnamese, who the Americans had supported, were overrun by the Communist North Vietnamese.

A decade of frosty relations followed, with the first sign of a thaw appearing in the mid-1980s, when Vietnam first cooperated with the Americans in the search for US servicemen missing in action (MIA).

The MIA issue is an ongoing preoccupation for the United States, which lost 58,000 soldiers in the conflict.

An estimated three million Vietnamese were killed.

Under the Clinton administration relations between the two countries improved rapidly. By 1995 diplomatic relations had been re-established and since then bi-lateral trade has flourished.

[lovecraft]

How bout cruise missle strike against Hanoi?

Come on, please? For old times sake?

[onedoug]

We are winning the Vietnam War!

[.cnI redruM]

If you ever talk to Vietnamese on line, they often, but not always, are among the most Pro-American people you'll ever talk to in another country. One of history's ironies, I guess.

[pabianice]

We should send USS Hue City (CG-66).

"Up yours, you Marxist *ssh*les!"

[ALOHA RONNIE]

Praise GOD that...

President BUSH has promised...

During a BUSH Presidency...

FREEDOM's Return to:

Communist Vietnam
Communist N. Korea
Communist Cuba

...as our own best Self-Defense against future Terrrorist Attacks here at home.

A new Time of World War that sees Communist China's Power and influence engulfing East Asia ...now also sees Communist Vietnam moving to America for its protection as America moves to Communist Vietnam for the very same reason.

The World is new.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

Radio Free Vietnam

http://www.RFVN.com

[ALOHA RONNIE]

In the End...

It was worth...

...Everything.


Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-U.S. 7th Cavalry's Opening Days of the Vietnam War-1965

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
(Photos)

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

[onedoug]

I sure want it to be. And I believe that if we stay true to our values this time, it will.

Everything Good.

NEVER FORGET!

[pragmatic_asian]

You probably talked to people in the South. I've been back to Vietnam several times and I can tell you that the people in the South particularly envy South Korea. For all the idiots that criticize US involvement and conduct in Vietnam, consider where South Korea is today; that's what South Vietnam could've been. It pisses me off that the useful idiots in S Korea aren't more grateful to the US when they could be eating grass right now like their northern brethren. Luckily, the communists ruling Vietnam aren't as bad as that crazy midget destroying N Korea. It looks like the US will win Vietnam over the long haul. This concilatory development makes me wonder a bit about why Muslims are so irrational in their hatred for all the imagined slights of the US if Vietnam can forget about a hugely destructive war that hurt both sides.

[maui_hawaii]

I know tons of Vietnamese. A lot of the young generation (my age) were not even born when Vietnam was over.

They grew up poor, and see the stupid political ideologies, and don't like it.

[maui_hawaii]

bump

[maui_hawaii]

bump

[ALOHA RONNIE]

A Freeper Vet goes to the Vietnam Wall

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1019769/posts?page=47

[tubebender]

I talked to my friend Rich K last night about his 69-70 tour. He said he wouldn't talk about it until his trip to a renunion in DC and a visit to THE WALL four years ago. He was a Ranger in the 5th Infantry and later assigned as a leader in the G Co Rangers and did Recon in Laos and Cambodia. He can always find humor through his cynical mind. When he came home in one piece he joined the Reserves and on one weekend trip to a training exercise he was agitated by a group of "Dope Smokin Maggot Infested" protesters near Humboldt State here in Humboldt County. As the convoy passed this group on the return trip Rich stood up and emptied his AR at them. It seems he had not turned in all his blanks.

A few weeks later he became a qudriplegic due to a auto accident on his way to a Reserve meeting. He fought the VA for full benefits and He was able to continue teaching a HS auto shop class untill his retirement 2 years ago...

Thank You for your Service...

[ALOHA RONNIE]

Rich K = An American Hero


NEVER FORGET that...

...HILLARY Diane RODHAM in America and WILLIAM Jefferson CLINTON abroad along with their Anti-U.S. Anarchist Minions they led...

...were right there upon our Return from Vietnam just a'chompin' away at us Freedom Fighters on behalf of our Terrorist Enemy HO CHI MINH.


...Nothing has changed since.


'PART II. CLINTONS PLANNED TO USE TERRORISM TO REGAIN WHITE HOUSE'

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1023024/posts

[cmsgop]

Here She is.......

[.cnI redruM]

They've done a tremendous job getting past the whole situation. They deserve credit for that.

[maui_hawaii]

Once we can deal with China's anti-competitive, govt controlled business style, Vietnam is going to reap big time.