Vietnam’s New Leadership: Opportunities to Move Toward Freedom and Democracy?

About 30 years too late, thanks to people whom I won't name...

Vietnamese people are capitalists. Their government will catch up soon.

Yeah, sure. The commies suddenly had a change of heart?
I doubt it. They are up to something.

I think if they package themselves as moderately democratic, it attracts more business prospects than if they have a closed society. Same goes for China.

They are appearing to become more compatable with western style Democracy in order to attract business and investment, which strengthens their economic base and makes them more powerful as an economic factor, and not just a military factor.

John Kerry will scramble to sell more Ketchup in Nam. Since he has been a loyal minion of the commies, business is looking good.

"It's extraordinary that hundreds of citizens across Vietnam have boldly shown their support for political change in a written petition," said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. "In Vietnam, the mere act of signing such documents routinely triggers a police investigation, detention and often imprisonment."

Where do you think the dissidents and petitioners are??? Constantly under police investigation, detention and imprisonment!!! Anything changed? Not a bit... The journalist Nguyễn Vũ BÃ¬nh, Doctor Phạm Hồng Sơn and countless others are some of the well known dissidents STILL in jail!!! The VN communists STILL claim that have no political prisoners!!! It's a joke. As long as communist dominate the political scene of VN, there won't be democracy.

Well when they change the name of "Ho City" back to it real name Saigon I'll know Communism has really started to die off in Vietnam of it own natural causes ...

some of the well known dissidents STILL in jail

And Cuba the same thing....Never ever let the lying dirt bag liberal/"progressive"/left snooker you with their all the high an mighty talk of human rights, & freedom for the people, bla, bla, bla....

These are the government's they love and support.....

I will put all the dirty laundry of conservative right against the left any day

The current liberal/"progressive"/left loves an worships people that have kill and imprisoned millions

I'm so surprised to see a lot of people value so much freedom in this country but somehow look the other way when dealing with VN communists. The execution of million for the so-called land reform of the VN communists was always ignored and millions from the South were systematically terminated in innocuous-sounding re-education camps. When will we look at the communists for what they are: murderous regime!!!

I don't want readers to think we are soft of the Communist government of Vietbam. Qyite the contrary: Vietnam needs to make many reforms before the international community welcomes them back into the arms or normal government undertakings.

While the new leaders in Vietnam, for example, taken an active role in eliminating corruption and organized crime: decades-long blights on the Communist system in Vietnam, a lot of the activity is verbal without needed action. Progress has been slow: in 2005 Vietnam was ranked 107th of 158 countries on transparency of government corruption according to the annual survey by the Berlin-based organization Transparency International. Despite strong talk about reforms by the government of Vietnam, Transparency International says Vietnam’s ranking has fallen every year since 2001.

Human rights issues, undoubtedly, will become an issue between the U.S. and Vietnam. The U.S. Department of State lists just about every kind of human rights violation as part of Communist Vietnam’s troubling record: including child prostitution, trafficking internationally in human beings, torture, attempts to eliminate undesirable indigenous people (the Hmong) and harassment and beating of religious leaders.

The government of Vietnam practically sanctions the enslavement of its own people. Taiwanese businessmen adventure to Vietnam on sex tours and even buy VN woman as "wives." The government doesn't just look the other way: it makes this a business deal and profits from it.

The U.S. Department of State’s latest report on human rights in Vietnam can be summed up with this quote: “The [Vietnam] Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses.” But that clinically correct statement almost sugar-coats the reality. A reading of the State Department’s report along with the report from Human Rights Watch is terrifying or nauseating, depending upon one’s point of view.

International Government Corruption: On the Agenda
Special to The Washington Times
By John E. Carey
Monday February 13, 2006

Few Americans will probably take note today of a critically important meeting to the state of the future world, the “Long War” against terrorism, and the fostering of corruption-free world-wide democracy. Today the President of the United States meets with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, at the White House.
Perhaps for the first time during his presidency, President Bush will have meaningful praise for the Secretary General. On December 14, 2005, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption entered into force. The Convention, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in October 2003, has been signed by 140 countries and ratified by 38.
The Convention is the first legally binding global instrument designed to help member states fight corruption in both the public and private sectors. It contains provisions for the freezing, seizure, and confiscation of stolen funds or property hidden abroad, and requires member states to comply with anti-corruption complaints of other member states upon request.
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption is the result of great effort, arm twisting, diplomacy and persuasion by the Bush Administration, supported by Great Britain, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. The Convention contributes to the objectives of the “Long War” by starting processes to prevent and deal with international corruption: a force that allows dictators like Saddam Hussein to feather their nests with US and UN money while they defy international regulations and promote a decidedly anti-US agenda, including support for Islamic extremists.
But the Convention is only a small part of the discussion today. One would expect the president to talk to Kofi Annan about the UN’s own scandals and corruption. These include corruption surrounding the UN administered oil-for-food program for Iraq, accusations of sexual exploitation of minors by some UN peacekeepers and staff, and tainted procurement practices. The United States, the largest contributor to the UN's budget, is among the UN’s sternest critics for not addressing these problems earlier, again supported by Great Britain, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany.
Despite critics’ assertions that the Bush Administration avoids close cooperation with the UN and only pays lip service to allied coalitions and other accepted parts of the international diplomatic community, the Convention Against Corruption and the insistence of the United States that the UN deal with it’s own scandals proves otherwise.
In fact, the Bush Administration, in both it’s rhetoric and actions, in close cooperation with Great Britain, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany, is pushing ahead an agenda that fosters openness, accountability and “clean government” in the international arena. This effort toward “clean government” might be considered one front in the war against terror and the president’s stated goal of increasing democracy in the world.
The key point men of the president’s “clean government” front are two of the toughest American public servants: John Bolton and Paul Wolfowitz.
The day after the Convention Against Corruption went into effect, US ambassador to the UN John Bolton told assembled representatives of the UN: “With regard to corruption, the United States has and will continue to take a policy of zero tolerance. As President Bush has noted, the stakes are very high. In his own words, the President noted how corruption ‘hinders sustainable development, erodes confidence in democratic institutions, and facilitates transnational crime and terrorism.’”
Yasser Arafat’s PLO and it’s successor governments have long been considered likely proponents of corruption by the US. Last month Mr. Bolton sent a strongly worded letter to the UN Secretary-General after a UN event with a decidedly pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli theme. “Given that we now have a world leader pursuing nuclear weapons who is calling for the state of Israel to be wiped off the map,” Mr. Bolton wrote, the UN cannot be seen as an enemy of a member state or the proponent of any regime supporting corruption.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has also sworn to crack down on corruption by governments and officials in developing nations where the bank operates.

Speaking to World Bank employees worldwide on February 7, Mr. Wolfowitz said the bank had to move “more decisively and energetically.” He said the bank was withholding millions of dollars worth of loans to Kenya, which is embroiled in a high-level government scandal and corruption.
Other US government initiatives and activities linked to the war against terror and the campaign against corruption include the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center in the Department of State. Created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the Center works to identify and thwart transnational trafficking in human beings. The Center fights alien smuggling, trafficking in persons, and the criminal support of clandestine terrorist travel.
Human smuggling has become a huge source of income for corrupt governments and groups and is considered a threat to US national security. The US believes that the UN’s Human Rights Commission has looked the other way while grave human rights violations proliferated.
Richard G. Lugar, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said to the UN General Assembly on February 7, “One reform that is critically necessary is establishing a respected Human Rights Council to replace the [UN’s] Human Rights Commission, which has been discredited because of the membership of repressive and undemocratic regimes. The membership criteria of the new council must ensure that those elected to it observe human rights and abide by the rule of law.”
When Kofi Annan sits down with the President of the United States today, and when he meets with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later in the day, he is likely to hear some praise; followed by a diplomatically spoken but unmistakable message on openness, accountability, “clean government,” and human rights: critical factors to our democracy and cornerstones of the war against terrorists.

Mr. Carey is a retired U.S. military officer and former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc.

Then my question to you John. Why CAN'T we read it anywhere? I've followed VN political scene closely but I didn't see where it's written that VN government sanctioning child prostitution and trafficking. What about the government sanctioned land robber through out VN. All we read from the MSM is how the two countries now kissed and hugged!!!

You are looking at a Communist Country that controls the media. Look around elsewhere: Human Rights Watch for example, the U.S. State Department's own web site on Human Rights,

http://hrw.org/doc/?t=asia&c=vietna

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41665.htm

http://afreevietnam.blogspot.com/

Human Rights: Vietnam’s Ugly Policy May Keep Them from Acceptance by the World Community
By Honglien Do and John E. Carey

Vietnam desperately wants to rejoin the world community. The new leaders in Vietnam are seeking entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and hope that their economic reforms and financial incentives will lure new investors into their economy.

But Vietnam’s Communists don’t seem to understand that a thirty year record of human rights abuses is not going to help them win over the west.

As the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, travels to Hanoi to discuss Vietnam’s expected entry into the World Trade Organization and President Bush’s trip to Vietnam this coming November, this might be a good time to review Vietnam’s human rights record.

Since the Communist take-over of Vietnam in 1975, that government has a 30-year record of repression, imprisonment, harassment and torture carried out upon those remaining Vietnamese who value free speech, religion, press or tolerance and openness of any kind. The crimes of the Communist government continue today.

We don't hear much about Vietnam. It has no missiles and poses no apparent threat to regional neighbors. But Vietnam's leaders terrorize their own people and this places them into a special category that should interest us all.

When Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City) fell to the communists in 1975, the new government began a tenure of hate, agony and human destruction. Millions of people were sent to "re-education" camps. Most Americans, upon observation, would call these concentration camps.

No courts, no sentences, no possibility of parole accompanied one's detention in postwar Vietnam. No writ of Habeas Corpus, no warrant approved by an independent judiciary, and no “probable cause” exists in Vietnam. The lucky ones stayed imprisoned until they were deemed suitable for a return to society. The unlucky ones just disappeared. A local Vietnamese immigrant, now a U.S. citizen, told me recently her brother was "dismissed" in the camps. He was killed for his apparent wrongs: He was a teen-age school leader who chafed under communist rule.

Religious repression of an unprecedented scale also accompanied the communists' arrival in Saigon. The Catholic bishop of Saigon, Nguyen Van Thuan, disappeared into a communist prison for 13 years.

After the war ended in 1975, every Christian was forced to renounce his faith or suffer added imprisonment. Bishop Van Thuan is emblematic of the religious intolerance and repression that continues. His more modern replacement, Father Nguyen Van Ly, has been in a communist jail since 2001.

On April 28, 2005, largely due to Bush administration pressure, a 21-year old Sunday school teacher named Li Thi Hong Lien was released from a prison in Vietnam. Her offense: She is a Mennonite. In prison, one of the beatings by her captors broke her jaw. She suffered a nervous breakdown. Two days after her release, Miss Lien was rearrested for attending a bible study. Her captors figured she just didn't get the message.

The Montagnards from the Central Highlands are among whole groups marked for continued harm. In April 2004, Vietnamese soldiers and police opened fire upon a Montagnard protest, killing scores and wounding hundreds. The international community might not have noticed except hundreds fled into Cambodia, reporting the Vietnamese demanded the Montagnards renounce Christianity.

The U.S. Department of State reported recently Vietnam's communists repress "independent Buddhists, Baptists, Mennonites, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Baha'is, independent Cao Dai and Hoa Hao groups, independent Sunni Muslims, and ethnic Cham Hindus." In other words, the communists violently oppose just about every faith that exists in Vietnam.

The 2005 World Report from Human Rights Watch begins:

"Human-rights conditions in Vietnam, already dismal, worsened in 2004. The government tolerates little public criticism of the Communist Party or statements calling for pluralism, democracy, or a free press. Dissidents are harassed, isolated, placed under house arrest, and in many cases, charged with crimes and imprisoned. Among those singled out are prominent intellectuals, writers and former Communist Party stalwarts."

The United Nations and a host of other international groups have condemned Vietnam's record on human rights.

Human rights issues, undoubtedly, will become an issue between the U.S. and Vietnam. The U.S. Department of State lists just about every kind of human rights violation as part of Communist Vietnam’s troubling record: including child prostitution, trafficking internationally in human beings, torture, attempts to eliminate undesirable indigenous people (the Hmong) and harassment and beating of religious leaders.

The U.S. Department of State’s latest report on human rights in Vietnam can be summed up with this quote: “The [Vietnam] Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses.” But that clinically correct statement almost sugar-coats the reality. A reading of the State Department’s report along with the report from Human Rights Watch is terrifying or nauseating, depending upon one’s point of view.

The Communist Vietnamese government has been on a long-term economic improvement effort called “renovation” (Doi Moi). But this reform movement is entirely economic: there are no perceptible renovations in freedom or human rights to date.

The repressed include not just members of the former democratic regime (most of them dead or gone), "lunatic religious fanatics" (people of almost any faith), or other "extremists." "Former Communist Party stalwarts" suffer the consequences of any enlightenment they profess.

Vietnam and the United States today share trade topping $6 billion annually. Vietnamese-Americans, U.S.-born Vietnam war veterans and others, frequently visit Vietnam as cash-stuffed tourists. Vietnamese communists recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the "normalization" of relations with the U.S.

But all is not normal. Today's leaders in Communist Vietnam support terrorism, torture and the control of the population as did former leaders of Afghanistan and Iraq. The current leadership of Vietnam is full of terrorists who deny the most basic rights and freedoms to the people they subjugate.

The U.S. Secretary of State will visit Vietnam soon. The President of the United States will go to Vietnam in November 2006.

Vietnam has earned a place at the table with the president of the United States. But to truly join the world community and stay out of the "axis of evil," the Vietnamese leadership needs to emulate more the U.S. record of freedom and human rights and not follow the record of the neighboring Communist country: China.

Honglien Do escaped from Communist Vietnam and is now a U.S. citizen. John E. Carey is the former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc. They can be reached through:
http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

Thanks very much John. That's what I call a real report. Unfortunately, these reports aren't much of interest in the MSM nor in congress. It's a real shame!!!

I'd definitely look forward to your report in the future. It seems the ONLY way to find out the truth about attrocity imposed on the VN people.

Thanks again for your outstanding report.

Well: We did get into The Washington Times on Vietnam: and more than once too! One has to persevere!

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20060703-102900-2045r.htm

http://afreevietnam.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_afreevietnam_archive.html

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20050115-095708-2766r.htm

No Time For Victimhood
By John E. Carey
The Washington Times
January 12, 2003

Senator Trent Lott’s remarks at Strom Thurmon’s birthday cannot be condoned. But the entire episode tells us a lot about America.

We wanted to introduce you to a family we recently met from Vietnam. But the main player is a middle aged woman who ran from the Communists starting in 1975 as a young woman. She got to America in 1998!

Everything in this story was prefaced with “this is not a complaint.”

When the communists captured South Vietnam after the U.S. pulled out in 1975, all the former “democratic” and free people in the South were subjected to the worst kinds of abuses. Provincial government officials in the South were assassinated. Officers who had served in South Vietnam’s Army were imprisoned, as were their families. One such family member, we’ll call her Lee, was a 26 year old lady who had the misfortune of being married to an officer in the Army of South Vietnam by an arranged marriage.

Lee’s parents were killed the first day the communists took over. All her siblings were jailed. Their property was seized. Lee’s husband was tortured. To death. In front of Lee. Lee was imprisoned for what can only be called brainwashing. She spent 10 years as a prisoner of the communists.

When Lee finally had the opportunity to escape, she joined a group of poor people in a leaky, undependable boat. The motor worked for about 8 hours. For 22 days, she endured the drifting bobbing boat and storms at sea. She had no food and drank rain water to keep alive. Four people died. Including her own child.

In the boat, people killed each other to obtain custody of a small can of milk.

Lee says she lived only because she had a small cup that she used to collect rainwater for drinking. I think she lived because she has a deep, inner toughness.

When the boatload of some 60 refugees reached the land, it ran across a coral reef. Only 20 people were rescues by Philippine fishermen.

Lee reached the Philippines, only to be “detained” by a government that did not know what to do with these boat people refugees. For seven years she lived in a bamboo hut the size of a typical American living room with about 20 people.

When the captive village was called to a camp meeting in the eighth year of their detendion, the Philippine government burned down the village and marched all the people to an aircraft. Everyone was sent BACK to the Communist country they had escaped from.

Escape from Communist Vietnam was a crime. When the people arrived back in Vietnam they were enemies of the State. They had no papers, no leagal documents and they were wanted.

Like Jews escaping the Nazi's, these people were not "home," they were again on the run.

Lee told me stories of how she hid hersl;f and her children. She was eventually caught and imprisoned.

Finally she escaped the Communists in Vietnam and made her way here to America.

Lee didn’t know a word of English, and she was lost in a strange new world: America. She learned, applied herself, and today she holds down two jobs. The day after Thanksgiving, she worked an eighteen hour day without complaint.

Lee never complains and doesn’t think her story is any different from that of thousands of other people. “The past is the past,” she says. “You have to move on, and I didn’t want to be a victim. Once you are a pickle you can't go back to be a cucumber.”

She wouldn’t let herself be a victim.

Every person born in American I told Lee’s story to responded in about the same way: “She must have post traumatic stress disorder,” or “She must be terribly scarred.”

Typical American responses but neither could be further from the truth. We expect “victimization” so readily that we are surprised when we don’t find it. Many Asians, having lived during a century of wars, have no time for “victimization” or victims. Life is too short.

And that’s the point.

Today, Lee’s family still endures all kinds of racial harassment and down-right terrorism. As the only Asians in an all-white neighborhood, their cars frequently get vandalized. House windows get broken. They don’t complain. To the Vietnamese, the benefits of life in America so out-weigh the injustices they have endured before that they don’t even call the police when they are the subjects of racial violence. They don’t want to complain and they refuse to become victims.

So, as we listen to many Americans complain about their lot in life; I always remember Lee. She lost more than 17 years of her life, and she is happy to be here. She was a slave before she was 30 years old.

And she has no time to complain or assume the role of a victim.

Mr. Carey is active in the immigrant community in Arlington, VA.

Oh: One more thing for you. Rep Christopher Cox of NJ is one of the champions of Human Rights and Refugees in the US Congress. He deserves our thanks and a lot of credit for all he has done. Thanks to Chris and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I had a nephew refugee arrive he from Vietnam just last October. That guy already has two jobs and bought a new car! His English is perfect and I am sure he'll become a model, contributing citizen, just like all the other VN refugees I know.

Regards, John

Ditto!!! Bravo Zulu.

"One more thing for you. Rep Christopher Cox of NJ ..."

I think you meant Christopher Smith, 4th District from NJ ;). Rep Smith is a real good man. I'm glad we have Rep Smith as a real champion for human right.

I think if you look at some of the web sites like Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Department of State abd others you'll learn more and change your point of view. Here's one:
http://www.vietnamhumanrights.net/IndexE.html

A few people also said there was nothing in the media on this so I also went to my archives to get you this:
The Open Letter in USA Today, published July 11, 2006:

Open Letter on Vietnam from Human Rights and Fair Trade Advocates to:

The President of the United States and Members of Congress

June 15, 2006

The U.S. Congress is about to consider granting Vietnam Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status which will pave the way for Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). We urge you to demand that in order for Vietnam to gain PNTR, the Vietnamese government must release all religious and political prisoners, end house-arrest practice against them, allow and recognize independent churches and labor unions, and truly practice free trade by allowing the importation of American media (print and audio-video) products.

As you may already know, the human rights situation in Vietnam has not improved in recent years. Consequently, the U.S. Department of State has retained Vietnam on its annual list of countries of particular concern (CPC).

Further, on January 25, 2006, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted resolution 1481 (2006) which strongly “condemned the massive human rights violations committed by totalitarian communist regimes and expressed sympathy, understanding and recognition for the victims of these crimes.”

On April 6, 2006, the House of Representatives passed Resolution. 320, calling on Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience, and comply with the terms of the European Parliament resolution. Not surprisingly, Vietnam’s communist leaders have rejected our appeals.

Further, recent widespread labor unrest in Vietnam reflects the reality that labor rights in Vietnam are not protected. The average salary of Vietnamese workers is less than $1/day and working conditions are extremely poor. This state of affairs is due to the fact that workers in Vietnam have been denied the right to form independent labor unions to protect basic worker rights.

In the meantime, Vietnam enjoys the privilege of freely exporting to the U.S. all forms of print and audio-video products including cultural products, books, newspapers, and other audio / DVD releases, many of which explicitly promote communism and government policies. Yet, none of our media / music products including those produced by Americans of Vietnamese origin are allowed to be imported into Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government, through its state-owned enterprises, maintains a monopoly and, in effect, an absolute ban on these imports into Vietnam. Vietnamese American artists are routinely harassed and required to obtain government permits before they could perform in Vietnam. This ‘free trade’ concept is neither fair nor free – both core principles of our WTO agreement with Vietnam recently signed.

In your second inaugural address, you stated definitively that “it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world”. We hope that you will personally see to it that America will live up to its promise regarding Vietnam and its conduct.

We hereby call upon you to deny the communist dictatorial regime in Vietnam the free PNTR status until the aforementioned conditions are met.

Thank you for your leadership and continued support for universal human rights. May God bless you and America.

Respectfully,

Democracy advocates in Vietnam

Tran Kim Anh, Pham Que Duong, Father Nguyen Huu Giai, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, Do Nam Hai (pen name: Phuong Nam), Nguyen Chinh Ket, Father Phan Van Loi, Father Nguyen Van Ly, Father Chan Tin and others.

Organizations in the United States

Alliance for Democracy in Vietnam, Asia Entertainment Inc., Asian Pacific American Cultural Arts Foundation, Assembly of Vietnamese Veterans, Assembly of Vietnam Veterans - Youth Affairs, Association of Vietnamese Cultures - California, ATC Consulting Group, Bolsa Radio, Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam (CRFV), Council for Human Rights in Vietnam - New York, Council on Democracy and Human Rights for Vietnam - California, Dan Chim Viet, Inc., East Coast U.S.A. Vietnamese Publishers Consortium, Florida Viet Bao Newspaper, Freedom & Democracy Voice for Vietnam, Jubilee Campaign USA, Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Institute on Religion & Democracy, Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers, Montagnard Foundation, National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition, Ngay Nay Media, Inc., Nguoi Viet Daily News, North Carolina Vietnam Veterans, Inc., National Hoa Hao Buddhist Church, USA, Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Congregational Church, USA, Quarterly Human Rights / Droits de l'Homme Magazine, Rallying for Democracy in Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam Navy & Marine Association, USA, Rolling Thunder, Inc., Rural Reconstruction Cadre Association of California, Saigon Broadcasting Television Network (SBTN), The China Support Network, The Movement of the Vietnamese Laity in Diaspora, The Movement of Writers and Performing Artists to Restore Vietnam, The South Florida Buddhist Association, The United Buddhist Church of Vietnam in the USA, The United Methodist Church - San Diego - California, The Vietnam Helsinki Human Rights Committee, The Vietnamese American Community of South Florida, The Vietnamese American Voters’ League of Pennsylvania, The Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Congregation of California, The Vietnamese Community in Arizona, The Vietnamese Community of Central of Florida, The Vietnamese Community of Colorado, The Vietnamese Community of New York, The Vietnamese Community of Southern California, The Vietnamese Community of St Cloud - Minnesota, The Vietnamese Community of Tacoma - Washington, The Vietnamese Community of Thurston County - Washington, The Vietnamese Community of Washington State, The Vietnamese Community of Wichita and Vicinity - Kansas, The Vietnamese Federation of San Diego - California, The Vietnamese Veterans Association of South Florida, Thuy Nga Productions, U.S. - Vietnam Fair Trade Committee, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Viet Bao Daily News, Viet Minnesota Radio, Vietnam Democracy Forum - Washington DC, Vietnam Human Rights Network - USA, Vietnam Reform Party, Vietnam Restoration Party, Vietnam Review, Inc., Vietnamese American Council of Voters - California, Vietnamese American Medical Research Foundation, Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee (VPAC), Vietnamese American Science & Technology Society (VASTS), Vietnamese American Television (VATV), Vietnamese American Veterans Association Coalition of the Washington - D.C. Metropolitan Area, Vietnamese American Voters Association, Vietnamese Culture and Science Association – Washington DC, Vietnamese Lawyers Association, Vietnamese National Military Academy Alumni Association, Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment (VOICE), Vietnamese Youth Club for Human Rights - Sacramento - California, Visual Artists Guild, VNQDD - Overseas Coordinating Council.

Individuals: Tran Dung Minh Dan, Phan Tan Hai, Trang Khanh, Pham Lam, Francis Pham, Scott Pham, Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, Ho Van Sinh, Phong Thu, Do Thi Thuan, Chu Xuan Vien, Ma Xai.

Organizations in Other Countries

Association for Democracy and Development of Vietnam, Association of Vietnamese Physicians in Canada, Committee to Rethink Vietnam - Paris, France, Forum Asia Democracy & Que Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam – Paris - France, Friends of Vietnam - Findland, General Association of Vietnamese Students in France, International Committee Tran Van Ba - Paris -France, International Foundation for the Development of Vietnam - The Netherlands, Movement of Democracy for China, The Canadian Vietnamese Society for Vietnam Political and Social Studies, The Buddhist Association of “Grass Hut” - Moscow - Russia, Vietnam Center – Hanover - Germany, Vietnam Center for Human Rights - Paris - France, Vietnamese Canadian Federation - Canada, Vietnamese Community in Australia, Vietnamese Community in Montreal - Canada, Vietnamese League for Human Rights - Switzerland, Vietnamese Physicians of the Free World, Vietnamese Writers in Exile Centre - Switzerland.

Submitted by John E. Carey
http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

I did mean Chris Smith. Good for YOU!

I am retired Navt so I sure know Bravo Zulu!