The visit of President Trump to Vietnam more that forty-two years after the end of the war between our countries suggests several lessons that should be on his agenda:
The Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee (VPCC) was created in 2014 by civilians and veterans who worked to end the war in Indochina. It is devoted to learning from the experience of a painful past and to applying its lessons to the present and future. Its most recent activities have included celebration of the historic April 4, 1967, anti-war message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church, engagement with the PBS series “The Vietnam War”, and remembering the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon. VPCC plans special attention to the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 2018 as a time for national recognition of responsibility for the legacies of war.
--John McAuliff, 11/6/17
1) US-Vietnam relations today are very positive based on shared economic and security interests, notably concern about Beijing’s destabilizing behavior in the South China Sea. We have developed real friendship and cooperation between people, universities and businesses. A fundamental prerequisite is non-intervention and mutual respect, despite different economic and political systems.
2) It is easier to get into a war in Asia than to get out. As painful as our losses are of military personnel and equipment, the magnitude of death and destruction is overwhelmingly greater in the countries where conflict occurs, especially among non-combatants.
3) The deadly legacies of war are still felt on a daily basis by tens of thousands of innocent civilians from the residue of land mines, unexploded ordnance and the environmental, medical and genetic effects of the defoliant Agent Orange.
4) The US has provided limited financial and technical assistance to address these legacies, but we have not yet addressed the breadth and magnitude of need or of our national responsibility for the consequences of the kind of war we fought. The FY 2018 Congressional Budget Justification released by the Trump administration cut the budget by a third for “non-proliferation, antiterrorism, de-mining and related programmes”, from US$10.5 million to US$7 million. Fortunately that modest amount was restored by Congress.
The Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee (VPCC) was created in 2014 by civilians and veterans who worked to end the war in Indochina. It is devoted to learning from the experience of a painful past and to applying its lessons to the present and future. Its most recent activities have included celebration of the historic April 4, 1967, anti-war message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church, engagement with the PBS series “The Vietnam War”, and remembering the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon. VPCC plans special attention to the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 2018 as a time for national recognition of responsibility for the legacies of war.
--John McAuliff, 11/6/17
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