Look ahead, shelve pain of war, Vietnam says of 1967 atrocities
This is one of the other things Kucinich has been involved in. Originally published in the Toledo Blade
Article published Thursday, April 8, 2004
Look ahead, shelve pain of war, Vietnam says of 1967 atrocities
By JOE MAHR
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Two days after The Blade won a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the longest-known series of atrocities by a U.S. battle unit in Vietnam, the government of Vietnam applauded the newspaper's award but said the communist country wanted to "set aside the past" as it improved relations with its former enemy.
In a statement released yesterday, the spokesman for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, Le Dung, commended the four-day, October series "Buried Secrets, Brutal Truths," saying it helped "bring about justice to the victims" and may help "prevent the recurrence of similar crimes in the future."
Still, at a time the Vietnamese government is trying to boost trade with the United States - and faces its own complaints of human-rights abuses - the communist government repeated the forgiving tone it had offered when The Blade first revealed how an elite Army platoon known as Tiger Force was estimated to have killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in 1967.
Mr. Dung said yesterday that government officials "advocate shelving the past, looking forward to the future and, through cooperation, enhancing mutual understanding, bettering bilateral relations, and thereby forming foundations for the settlement of the war consequences."
The sentiments for improved relations, reiterated yesterday by the State Department, comes two days after three reporters from The Blade won journalism's highest honor for exposing Tiger Force's seven-month rampage in 1967 through Vietnam's Central Highlands.
A State Department official declined to comment directly on the Vietnamese statement but confirmed that U.S. diplomats "want to improve relations with Vietnam."
The series revealed how some soldiers from the highly trained platoon repeatedly targeted unarmed men, women, and children in an effort to clear two provinces of enemy soldiers. Their commanders not only knew of the unit's actions, they sometimes encouraged them.
Investigators concluded that 18 soldiers committed war crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to murder. But no charges were ever filed, and the case was buried in government archives, never to be revealed until The Blade's series.
The series prompted the Army to begin an "active review" of the case. After prompting by Amnesty International and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Cleveland, the Army in February interviewed two former soldiers who witnessed the atrocities.
The review, initially set to be done by the end of last month, remains open - with no timetable by the Army on its completion. The delays anger Mr. Kucinich, the top Democrat on a House government reform subcommittee. "To this date, the Army has been dragging its feet," Mr. Kucinich said in a prepared statement yesterday.
"I hope and expect that the Department of Defense and the Army will expedite its investigation. For too long this issue has been swept aside and covered up."
An Army spokesman did not return a phone message yesterday.
But with its statement yesterday, the Vietnamese government reaffirmed that it did not intend to make the revelation of the 1967 atrocities an issue as it continues to push for friendlier relations with the United States - relations that thawed under the Clinton administration and a bilateral trade agreement that took effect two years ago.
With Vietnamese exports to the United States doubling in each of the last two years, to nearly $5 billion in 2003, the Vietnamese government is in no mood to offend a top trading partner, said one Vietnam expert.
"For the communist party now, their legitimacy is based on economic growth," said Dr. Robert Topmiller, a history professor at Eastern Kentucky University who frequently visits and writes about Vietnam.
Dr. Topmiller said the sentiment not to offend is mutual as the United States tries to build a broad coalition of countries committed to tackling global terrorism.
While State Department reports have routinely criticized Vietnam for continued human rights abuses - such as barring the basic freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion - the tough talk has softened as U.S. diplomats now tout improvements in trade as a way to eventually improve human rights.
But Dr. Topmiller said many Vietnamese who survived the war - particularly those who supported the communists - remain upset at the actions of some U.S. soldiers more than three decades ago.
"You talk to individual Vietnamese, and they're still really bitter about things that happened during the war, particularly these atrocities," he said.
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