The Hangover Won’t Go Away : Bush Administration needs to give Vietnam policy a fresh look

“The Vietnam syndrome is over!” proclaimed President Bush last week in celebrating the American victory in the Persian Gulf War. What he meant, of course, was that success in the Gulf may free the nation from insecurities about its military might. But the hangover from that worry continues to haunt U.S. foreign policy. Troublesome issues persist 16 years after the last U.S. helicopter beat a hasty retreat from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon. What’s needed now is new clarity and commitment to settle the festering issues of Vietnam and Cambodia.

NEW DIPLOMACY: Last summer, Secretary of State James A. Baker III initiated a new U.S. approach toward Indochina but the efforts were shoved to the sidelines when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Baker signaled a significant policy shift last July in announcing the United States was ending its support of a Cambodian resistance coalition that included the murderous Khmer Rouge. The new plan was to open talks with Vietnam to end the 13 years of fighting in Cambodia. Though Baker insisted that the talks would be confined to Cambodia and did not generate normalization of relations with Vietnam, the talks marked the beginning of a dialogue. Top U.S. and Vietnamese officials met for the first time last September.

So far, the effort has helped bring together Cambodia’s Vietnam-backed Communist government of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the triumvirate of non-Communist groups headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk that included the Khmer Rouge, which was responsible for 1 million deaths during its reign from 1975 to 1978. They accepted a United Nations peace plan but have failed so far to form a National Supreme Council to run Cambodia until free elections can be held. Meanwhile, there are signs of new military activity.

ECONOMIC NORMALIZATION: The United States, meanwhile, needs to reexamine existing policies and consider whether it should lift the trade embargo against Vietnam and Cambodia, release an authorized $20 million that Congress approved last year for humanitarian aid to Cambodia and rethink the U.S. stance on repatriation of the boat people and the MIA issue. One additional benefit: Settling the issues would give new pride to Vietnamese-Americans, who often have a hard time assimilating here.

Vietnam’s haunting legacy persists; it’ll take more than another military success to redeem it in the hearts and minds of Americans.