Westminster Vietnamese and Former CIA Chief

After reading “Ex-CIA Chief Defends Role of Vietnamese in Little Saigon” (April 17), and not exactly being an admirer of William Colby, I resent Colby’s reference to the attitude toward the Vietnamese mirroring the one toward Italian immigrants. There is no comparison between the Vietnamese and the Italians.

Remember, an Italian discovered America--not a Vietnamese--and the Italian has a greater right to be in this country. What have the Vietnamese contributed to the United States?

Their presence is a constant reminder of a very dark page in American history when our young men died needlessly so some Vietnamese can immigrate here and proceed to satisfy his greed for wealth.

The inscription at the foot of the Statue of Liberty reads “Give me your poor, your hungry . . . yearning to be free” and not “yearning to get rich.” These people will never be accepted by the rest of us who worked so hard to make this country what it is today.

SAL GIARDINO

Irvine