Thieu, Ky Back in Leadership Roles

You would think that after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 we would have had sufficient time to evaluate the leadership of its former premiers. For that reason, I was appalled to read that Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky were attempting to reestablish their influence over the Vietnamese community in Orange County.

Thieu and Ky never demonstrated any qualities of good leadership and, in fact, were concerned only with themselves and their own families. It is also well-documented that their administrations were nothing more than corrupt regimes that showed very little regard for their own people.

The most tragic result of their ineptitude was the loss of more than 58,000 Americans who fought a war that Thieu and Ky had no interest in fighting. While we saw our friends leave the battlefield in body bags, the South Vietnamese army conducted “search-and-avoid missions.” This was the result of policies established and implemented by both Thieu and Ky.

How little have we learned from history and what does it say about our own leaders who fail to confront these two “glorious heroes”? Instead, they are allowed to live and flourish here and to attempt to recapture a semblance of statesmanship.

FERNANDO ALDECOA

Yorba Linda