Lessons and Legacies of the Vietnam War

In recognition of the anniversaries of the end of the war in 1975 and of normalization of relations in 1995, the Fund for Reconciliation and Development is offering members of the Vietnam generation, and their children, a unique opportunity to complete the circle by visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

· backward: challenges of social and economic reconstruction and reconciliation faced by each country at war’s end; renovation and reform policies; successes and mistakes

· at the present: impact of ten years of normal relations; legacies of war; investment and trade opportunities; social and economic consequences of market based economic growth

· forward: cultural/political opportunities and conflicts with US; shared strategic interests; regional role

The itinerary will include historical sites and cultural performances, but also an unusual opportunity for in-depth discussions with former and current high level officials, university specialists, private citizens, domestic and foreign NGOs, international organizations, the business community, and US embassies.

The program is being organized and guided by an American non-governmental organization that has twenty years of diverse involvement with the three countries and Americans engaged there. The tours will be led by executive director John McAuliff whose personal involvement with Indochina began with the anti-war movement when he headed the Committee of Returned Volunteers (primarily from the Peace Corps) and the Indochina program in the Peace Education Division of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization. The tours will be co-led by FRD staff members and colleagues who have lived and worked in the region.

Departure date from the US is April 16, 2005. Participants can choose to only visit Vietnam (two weeks) or to include Cambodia (six days) and/or Laos (5 days).

The program will appeal to those who have never been in Indochina, who have not returned since the end of the war, or who have already visited as a tourist. Costs will be set at both an economy and “business class” level to incorporate a range of lifestyles and budgets and will include a tax deductible contribution in support of FRD’s long term work with Indochina.

Clear Path International www.cpi.org
US-Indochina Educational Foundation http://www.usief.org/

US NGOs and academic institutions with programs in Indochina are invited to cosponsor the Lessons and Legacies tour. Cosponsors notify their network about the tours and can offer an opportunity for participants to make an in-country site visit

Cost: The estimated direct cost per person for the 30th anniversary trip, including flights within the region, but excluding air fare from the US*, is

Vietnam only: $1,500
Addition of Cambodia: $900
Addition of Laos: $900

These costs are based on 15 participants. If the number is less than 15, the estimated costs will increase.

* Estimated cost of economy air fare between the US and Indochina is approximately $1,000 but we are awaiting final prices from our probable carrier, Korean Air Lines. Costs will vary according to departure city.

Tentative dates of July tenth anniversary trip July 9 – July 24 / July 30 / August 3

Direct US military intervention ended in Indochina three decades ago, then it took two decades to normalize relations. How did we get from where we were to where we are, and what lies ahead? The US was profoundly changed by the Vietnam war. Did we truly learn its lessons? Have we adequately addressed its legacies?

For millions of Americans now in their fifties and sixties, the Vietnam war was the defining experience of their generation. Whether in the army, or in the anti-war movement, or both, by 1975 they had faced existential choices that would shape the rest of their lives: to serve in the military, find a deferment, manipulate the system, resist the draft, join the GI movement, desert, and/or move to Canada; follow patriotic tradition, support the troops, write Congress, demonstrate, provide draft counseling, practice civil disobedience, staff GI coffee houses, embrace the counter culture, and/or go underground.

Today the US has normal, indeed friendly and positive, diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, countries with which we fought the most divisive war in our history. We are the largest market for regional exports and a primary source of tourists. Our nation has been enriched by populations who arrived as refugees and became a living bridge between the US and their country of origin. Thousands of graduate and undergraduate students come to the US with government or family support. Investments by US corporations play a growing role in high rates of development. Artists, performers and social scientists exchange skills and launch collaborative programs. Government to government ties grow stronger through strategic dialogue on countering terrorism and promoting regional stability.

For most Americans the war ended in 1973 after the Paris Peace Agreement when US troops and POWs came home. Many veterans were the exception. Some were disabled by wounds to their bodies that mandated a different way of life. Others bore psychic scars, as they wrestled with memories of the unprecedented military intervention they had been ordered to implement and the actions taken to protect the lives of themselves and their comrades.

For the people of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the second Indochina war (the “American war”*) segued into the third. The Lon Nol regime, and the secret US bombing of Cambodia that sustained it, were replaced by the even more calamitous Pol Pot. His overthrow by Vietnamese forces led to a ten year civil war, in which the interests of Vietnamese and Cambodians were subject once again to superpower rivalries. For geopolitical reasons the US provided political and indirect military support to the Khmer Rouge and their royalist and republican allies, while punishing our former enemies with economic embargoes and diplomatic isolation

In economic, political and military terms the third Indochina war did not end until cooperation began during the Reagan and Bush administrations to find MIA remains and information; peace negotiations led to successful UN conducted elections in Cambodia; and President Clinton ended trade embargoes and normalized relations. American non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Vietnam veterans, academic institutions and foundations, and the business community played a vital role by opening doors and creating the atmosphere for normalization.

Yet even in 2005, the Vietnam war is not truly over for people on both sides of the Pacific who still struggle with psychological wounds such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or whose health was permanently compromised by exposure to dioxin in the defoliant Agent Orange.

Every day, in fact, the war claims new victims from land mines, unexploded ordnance, and birth defects. Less recognized is the long term economic, emotional and environmental impact of carpet bombing, of defoliation, and of mass relocations; from rogue military units that violated the rules of war; among the family members of three million people killed during the war; and as a result of becoming refugees.

Americans tend not to focus on history and the injustices of the past. We are forward looking and optimistic that good intentions will overcome the consequences of previous wrongs.

Our attitude toward the war in Indochina carries a cultural tendency to the point of societal amnesia. We do not accept that our country bears long term responsibility for its actions--regardless of motive, geopolitical interests, and democratic process.

As a nation we have yet to address what it means to have given support to France’s effort to reestablish colonial control (1945-1954); to have sought without international authority to shape the destinies of peoples and countries who never invited us (1955-1975); and finally to have punished them for our defeat (1975-95).

Americans can be generous, but we resist any concept of moral or legal obligation to the collateral victims of our military power. Should we care about long term environmental damage or still existing chemical contamination? Must we provide assistance to people who are still losing limbs and lives from unexploded US ordnance and land mines? Ought we find ways of helping children whose birth defects could be traced to dioxin contamination in Agent Orange, and the families that care for them, or must that await definitive scientific proof of individual causality? When American soldiers commit crimes of war, how often is that acknowledged and punished and should their victims receive compensation?

These are questions that not only affect our past, present and future relations with Indochina, but have implications for new targets of unsanctioned US military intervention such as Iraq. If we cannot recognize and address the costs of past errors, we are more prone to repeat them elsewhere, especially as memories fade. Destroying a village in order to save it evolves into destroying a city in order to save it. We sink into a new quagmire because we have forgotten how we slipped into an old one.

Working in partnership with other NGOs, FRD organized between 1989 and 1997 eight national conferences in the US to foster cooperation with Indochina. They focused on the developing role of NGOs, universities, foundations and corporate philanthropies and the obstacles to a full range of normal relations. Representatives of the US and host governments and international development organizations also took part. Subsequent conferences held in Phnom Penh (1999) and Vientiane 2001) broadened participation to representatives of non-American NGOs active in Indochina, domestic civil society groups, and regional development agencies.

FRD believes it is time for the conference (held under the auspices of the Forum on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) to return to the US to consider unresolved legacies of the war as described above, current bilateral issues, and lessons for the solution of other international conflicts.

As US relations with Indochina achieve a solid multidimensional character, conflicting attitudes about war legacies and political values emerge. War time protagonists now resident in the US and their American allies have renewed efforts to restrain or roll back the process of reconciliation. Their rhetoric on human rights and religious freedom is reminiscent of justifications for the war. Domestic economic interests in the US have sought to block imports from emerging free market economies to which other US business sectors demand greater access.

Acknowledging the legacies of the past and facing honestly new conflicts reinforces existing relationships and opens the door to new levels of cooperation. In addition, addressing these legacies contributes to learning the lessons that must not be unconsciously replicated.

FRD is prepared to organize a three-day convocation at a university or conference center in Washington, DC in late 2005 or early 2006 to gather activists and experts from Asia, North America, and Europe. The conference will review the physical, psychological and political legacies of war that affect the people of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and their relationships with the US--and propose solutions.

Topics for potential consideration include landmines and unexploded ordnance; Agent Orange and other chemical weapons; impacts of the war on former combatants; efforts to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity; repercussions in refugee and diaspora communities; Indochina’s expectation of mutual respect vs. US criticism of domestic policies and governance; potentials and problems in current economic relations; lessons from the Indochina war and normalization process for present-day political and military conflicts such as Iraq and North Korea and for embargoed countries like Myanmar and Cuba.

Organizations and individuals that would like further information about the conference, to be part of the process of developing the agenda, or to provide financial support should contact Susan Hammond shammond@ffrd.org, 1-212-760-9903

* The first Indochina War was fought by France to restore colonial control with strong financial and political backing from the US. The Truman Administration in 1945 reversed Roosevelt’s commitment to independence and wasted the goodwill created by the Organization of Strategic Services provision of weapons and training to the Viet Minh.