Prados unconvincing history of the Vietnam war

12 years old Vietcong child soldier Nguyen Van Thang of the Vietcong Quyet Thang Regiment, captured by the Vietnamese Marines at Go vap during the TCK-TKN Tet offensive of 1968. Thang is one of many children employed as soldiers by the Vietcong during the war (source Trận chiến Tết Mậu Thân 1968 by Phạm Văn Sơn)

In recent years with an influx of de-classified information from the U.S, the Communists and memoirs from former S. Vietnamese soldiers and officials, we get a much better and clearer view of the Vietnam War and its aftermath. This gives rise to the “revisionist” historians who show the Vietnam War in a much different light, dispelling many of the myths from the left. John Prados’ “Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975″ is an attempt to hold back the more accurate view of the Vietnam War and resuscitate the old leftist view of the Vietnam War.

Prados argues that America's failure in Vietnam was due to the lack of understanding of the Vietnamese revolution. Prados portrayed Ho as a “nationalist”, the George Washington of Vietnam. However, Ho Chi Minh in his twelve volumes “Ho Chi Minh Toan Tap”[Ho Chi Minh Complete Works] documents Ho extensive works for the Third International and even how much Ho was paid each month by Moscow for his works[1]. These documents made it clear that Ho was a devout Communist since the early 1920’s and not a “nationalist” forced to ally with the Communist.

It’s interesting that Prados would consider Ho a hero contrary to the view held by former Communists such as Bui Tin, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, Vu Thu Hien. In his book “From Enemy to Friend” and his interview with Radio Free Asia on July 12, 2006, Bui Tin admits that Ngo Dinh Diem was a better person and a patriot. Diem did not give an inch of Vietnamese soil to the Americans, unlike Ho who ordered Prime Minister Pham Van Dong in 1958 to send a letter to the PRC recognizing the PRC claimed to the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos [2]. At the time, the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos belong to the Republic of Vietnam (the archipelagos have been acknowledged as Vietnamese territories by European countries and China since the 17th century). The PRC interest in the archipelagos is understandable since the archipelagos have been found to contain huge oil deposit.

There were three major land reform programs in Vietnamese history, conducted by Ho, Diem and Thieu. Diem and Thieu use foreign aids and bonds to buy land from land owners and give the land to poor, landless tenants for free. Diem program was smaller in scale and Thieu “Land to the Tiller” program in 1970 was the biggest land reform program in S. East Asia and no one was executed or dispossess. On the hand, the Vietnamese Communist recently admitted in the book “Lich Su Kinh Te Viet Nam 1945-2000” that 172,008 people were labeled as “landowners” were “punished” (i.e. executed) by Ho’s government [3].

Bui Tin, a former Vice Editor of the Communist newspaper Nhan Dan and a participant in the Land Reform Program said that at least 500,000 North Vietnamese died during the land reform programs. Land confiscated from landowners were given to landless tenants but later Ho’s government levied high taxes against the new landowners and the peasants ended up “donating” their land to the Hợp Tác Xã [Cooperatives] because they could not afford to pay the taxes. According to Bui Tin from the time of the Land Reform Program up to 1985, many North Vietnamese were starving because of the low output from the Cooperatives. The private gardens in North Vietnam which comprise of only 5% of the total cultivated land produce as much food as the output from all of the Cooperatives [4].

Images from the Land Reform Program (source Dmitri Baltermants)

Prados portrait the U.S and the South Vietnamese as incompetent fools who can do nothing right. Prados claim that in 1959, the Communist forces in South Vietnam totaled only 2,900 and that the ARVN outnumber the Communist 40 to 1, this is contrary to the official Communist sources such as the National Liberation Front official history “Chung Mot Bong Co” , the Communists claim they have a presence in all 44 provinces of South Vietnam. In the Đông–Nam-Bộ area consisting of 4 provinces Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngai, Bình Định, Phú Yên, the Communist number over 150,000 during the war against the French and few of these people repatriate North after 1954. On the other hand, the ARVN total only around 119,000 from 1955 to 1959. The Communists also admit that in many provinces, the number of Communists dwindles from 30,000 to 160 after massive defection and losses to the Diem government [5].

Prados made a big deal of the ARVN desertion rate while ignoring the fact that the ARVN desertion rate is roughly the same as those of the Communists. Moreover, Prados ignore the 300,677 Communist, who defected to the South Vietnamese from the inception of the Chieu Hoi program in 1963 to 1970 while only one ARVN regiment surrendered to the North Vietnamese during the war[6].

Prados claimed that the Tet offensive was a defeat for the U.S. The bombing of Kampuchea was branded as secret and illegal and the U.S and ARVN incursion into Kampuchea in 1970 to break up North Vietnamese sanctuaries was presented as a move that widened the war. Prados ignore the fact that the Sihanouk was openly helping the North Vietnamese. The Khmer army helps transport weapons and materials for the North Vietnamese. Sihanouk was pay for his “cooperation” of up to 10% of the values of the materials shipped to the Vietnamese Communist forces in Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge first started arm insurgency in the 1950’s under the name Khmer Issarak. The Khmer Communists harass South Vietnamese forces along the Vietnam-Kampuchea border long before the U.S-ARVN Cambodia incursion [7]. If anyone is to blame for the Kampuchea debacle it’s Sihanouk, who thought he could “play” his enemies not knowing it was he who was being play.

Norodom Sihanouk, Saloth Sar (Polpot) and victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide

During the Vietnam War, Communist laws required that each able body men and women in North Vietnam spend several months out of each year to work for free for the government to support the war effort. Those who do not are often labeled as reactionary, counter-revolutionary activists and sent to work as slaves in the Corrective Labor Re-Education camps. The conscripted laborers have been use in the past in Viet Nam, especially during the Lý and Trần dynasty. However, the feudal governments always pay and grant tax exemptions to their civilian laborers unlike the Communist. The system of conscripted laborers has been employed by the Communist since the war against the French and made into law in June 1967 with Nghi Quyet 161/NQ/TƯ [8]. The Communists extensive use of civilians and POW to transport weapons and war materials is a blatant violation of the Geneva Conference, had the U.S and the South Vietnamese conduct war in such a fashion, Prados would probably be up in arms but since it’s being conducted by the North Vietnamese, we hear no complaints from Prados.

Prado' book contains a picture of a mascot of the in ARVN Airborn wearing an ARVN uniform and Prados was quick to insinuate that the ARVN was drafting younger recruits, although there is absolutely no evidence that the ARVN was using children as a tool of war. However, the North Vietnamese have no qualm in using children as part of their war effort with the creation of the Đội Thiếu Niên Nhi Đồng Cứu Quốc in 1941 which later become the Đội Thanh Niên Tiền Phong.

Children were used by the Communists to retrieved bombs and anti-personnel mines with their bared hands, Communist documents boasted about their system of using children soldiers such as Le Van Tam of Sai Gon who killed many Frenchmen by lighting himself with gasoline and become known as the “human torched”. Little Duong Van of Ha Noi singlehandedly killed 3 Frenchmen and “died heroically in battle” during an ambush at Xay Gia, Son Tay. There were other child soldier groups such as the Doi Thieu Nien Du Kich Thanh Hue, Doi Thieu Nien Du Kich Dong Thap Muoi.

A children book about the Children Guerrilla Group of Hue

Children of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam celebrating the anniversary of the Children Guerrilla Group of Dinh Bang

A children book glorifying the exploits of the Children Guerrilla Group of Dinh Bang

Members of the Vietcong Children Guerrilla Group

Communist books are full of glorious stories about children as young as 8 or 10 killing and dying for Uncle Ho such as child hero Ho Van Nhanh near Dong Tam who uses his bare hand to retrieve several thousands mines which he gave to the local guerrillas and they in turn uses it to kill 300 Yankees and many puppets[ARVN] soldiers. One children group in August 1968 stole over 13 rifles from the Yankees and puppets. At Cu Chi, in April 1968, children stole 23 weapons from Yankees and puppets. Child hero Ho Thang, a 14 years old boy who in April 6 1964 along with his group shot down a Yankee plane and capture a Yankee pilot named Thompson. Ho Thang received the prestigious Huan Chuong Chien Cong Giai Phong medal, and he was later killed in battle.

Another child hero, a 12 years old boy called Rít in Quang Nam help shot down several Yankee planes in 1967. There were many famous children Guerrilla groups employ by the Communist forces such as the “Du Kich Tre Con Dieu Cai” and the famous “Du Kich Tre Con Phan Khu I” [Children Guerrilla Group of Zone I] who help planted mines that destroy 5 Yankees and puppets tanks. The Thieu Nhi Du Kich Dau Tieng [Children Guerrilla Group of Dau Tieng] uses mines to kill 50 Yankees and puppets. At Dien Ban, the children guerrilla group there in six months of operations killed 80 Yankees and puppets and received the highest medal of honor from the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, Huan Chuong Chien Cong Giai Phong Hang Nhat. Communist sources claimed that the children combat group at Dien Ban fought over 100 battles with the Yankees and puppet troops winning every battle[9].

The gravestone of Private LeTrung Tuong born in 1959, drafted into the Vietcong on April 1968 sacrificed on May 1, 1971 (source http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-OIVyEUo6danA1OYCzH9d?p=78)

A Vietcong Children Guerrilla Group
The lower class and peasant's children often have the honor of fighting and dying for Uncle Ho, while children from the Communist ruling elites were usually sent to study abroad (source http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-OIVyEUo6danA1OYCzH9d?p=78)

Children and teenagers as members of the 559th Group on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (source http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-OIVyEUo6danA1OYCzH9d?p=78)

Mr. Prados ends his book in 1975, conveniently covering up and ignoring what happen to Vietnam after communists took over. Prados ignore the millions of Vietnamese were sent to work as slaves in the “Corrective Labor Re-Education” camps, the slave laborers in the New Economic Zone, the fate of children who were forbidden from attending schools because of their parents' background. Massive confiscation of personal property and businesses through the “Danh Tu San, Mai Ban” [Smash the bourgeois] programs resulted in ten of thousands of people losing their homes and livelihood. Hundred of thousands of Vietnamese escape Vietnam by boats or by traveling through Cambodia and at least 1 million South Vietnamese out of a population of 18 millions died after the Communist takeover of South Vietnam [10]. Vietnam could have become another South Korea or Taiwan with the huge number of Western trained professionals; intellectuals and merchants instead Ho and his descendants drove these people out to the sea and destroy Vietnam' future for generations.

[1] Hồ Chí Minh, Toàn tập tập 2 (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Chính trị Quốc Gia, 1996), pp.324. Hồ Chí Minh, Toàn tập tập 3 (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Chính trị Quốc Gia, 1996) , pp.90.

[2] Đặc Khảo Hoàng Sa và Trường Sa, Tập San Sử Địa. Saigon 1974. PRC’s declaration over the islands in 1958 Xinhua archives. Far East Economic Review March 16, 1979, pp. 11. Beijing Review August, 25 1979, pp.25. In 1992, Nguyen Man Cam the Foreign Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam admits that the Communists under Ho gave away the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos to the People Republic of China:

“Our leaders’ previous declaration on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos was made in the following context: At that time, under the 1954 Geneva agreement on Indochina, the territories from the 17th parallel southward including the two archipelagos were under the control of the South Vietnam administration. Moreover, Vietnam then had to concentrate all its force on the highest goal of resisting the US aggressive war to defend national independence. It had to gain support of friends all over the world. Meanwhile, Sino-Vietnamese relations were very close and the two countries trusted each other. China was according to Vietnam a very great support and valuable assistance. In that context and stemming from the above-said urgent requirement, our leaders’ declaration [supporting China’s claims to sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands] was necessary because it directly served the fight for the defense of national independence and the freedom of the motherland.

More specifically, it aimed at meeting the then immediate need to prevent the US imperialists from using these islands to attack us. It has nothing to do with the historical and legal foundations of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagos (remarks to a press conference in Hanoi on 2 December 1992 carried by Vietnam News Agency, 3 December 1992).”

[3] Đặng Phong, Lịch sử kinh tế Việt Nam 1945 – 2000. Tập II: 1955 – 1975 (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Khoa Học Xã Hội, Ngày 29 tháng 10, 2006), pp. 575-615.

[4] Bùi Tín, “ Nhìn lại cuộc Cải cách ruộng đất: Những bài học còn nóng hổi” Novermber, 11 2006.

[5] Chung Một Bóng Cờ (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất Bản Chính Trị Quốc Gia, 1993), pp. 50-51.

[6] Xuân Vũ và Dương Đình Lội, 2000 Ngàn Ngày đêm Tử Thủ Củ Chi (Houston: Đại Nam,1991), pp.348 . Dương Đình Lôi was the military commander of the Communist forces at Cu Chi from 1965 to 1970.

[7] 77 Conversations Between Chinese and Foreign Leaders on the Wars in Indochina, 1964-1967( COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL HISTORY PROJECT. WOODROW WILSON CENTER, WORKING PAPER, NUMBER 22) . Trường Sơn. Cuộc Hành Trình Năm Ngàn Ngày Đêm Đường Hồ Chí Minh (Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh: Nhà Xuất Bản Văn Nghệ, 1992), pp.145. Ibid, Đặng Phong 575-615. Trường Sơn is the pen name of the People Army of Vietnam Colonel Phạm Tề.

[8] Bùi Ngọc Thanh, Giải Toán Nhân Lực Thời Chiến – Một Trí Tuệ Tuyệt Vời của Đảng. Tạp Chí Cộng Sản (Số 2 (146) 2008). Văn kiện Đảng toàn tập, Tập 28 (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất bản Chính trị quốc gia, 2003) ,pp. 346-358 [Official documents of the Vietnamese Communist Politburo Volume 28]. Tạp Chí Cộng Sản is the official magazine of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

[9] Lich Sử Đoàn Thanh Niên Cộng Sản Hồ Chí Minh Tổng Kết Cuộc Kháng Chiến Chống Mỹ Cứu Nước Thắng Lợi và Bài Học (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất bản Chính trị quốc gia, 1996). Văn kiện Đảng toàn tập, Tập 28 (Hà Nội: Nhà Xuất bản Chính trị quốc gia, 2003) ,pp. 346-358 [Official documents of the Vietnamese Communist Politburo Volume 28]. Đào Ngọc Dung , Lịch Sử Đội Thanh Niên Tiền Phong (Hà Nội : Nhà xuất bản Thanh Niên, 2004), pp.314 -325. 15-5-1941 Thành lập đội thiếu niên nhi đồng cứu quốc, http://maxreading.com/?chapter=2999.

[10] Rummel, R. J., Death by Government. (Transaction Publishers, 1997). Desbarats and Jackson, “Vietnam 1975 1982: The Cruel Peace,” 8 Wash. Q. 4 (Fall 1985), at 169. Anh Do and Hieu Tran Phan, Millions of lives changed forever with Saigon’s fall. Orange County Register (Sunday April 29 2001). Sagan, Ginetta, and Stephen Denney. Violations of Human Rights in the SRV, April 30, 1975-April 30, 1983. (Atherton, California: Aurora Foundation, 1983).Như Hằng, Đời Ông Chủ. Tuổi Trẻ Online (April 13 2006). Nguyễn Văn Tiến Hùng. Những chuyện ai cũng muốn quên. Tuổi Trẻ Online (July 10 2008).