A Big Win Within the Grasp : Resuming ties with Hanoi would be another foreign-policy coup for Bush

In a move signaling the first direct communication between the heads of state in Washington and Hanoi, President Bush has sent a letter to Vietnam’s President Le Duc Anh.

The letter, to be delivered by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who is in Hanoi this week, is said to encourage the Vietnamese leader to fully cooperate with Pentagon efforts to account for U.S. servicemen missing since the Vietnam War.

In his effort to end the long breakdown in communication--and in seeking to normalize diplomatic relations and eventually lift the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam that has cost American business dearly--Bush is doing the nation a real service. For a number of reasons, the Republican President--a military veteran--is better positioned politically to broker this change than Bill Clinton, who as President might not go for the same deal.

Bush should do Clinton--and the country--a favor and press forward to cut an honorable deal with Hanoi before leaving office Jan. 20. If the Vietnamese play ball, Bush should remove or at the least relax the economic sanctions. That would be another achievement for the President in foreign policy--parallel to, though of course not equal to, President Richard M. Nixon’s extraordinary opening of ties with China in 1972.

Since the Administration began moving toward normalization in 1991, the President has reflected in his own words how the Vietnam War continues to haunt the nation. In celebrating the Persian Gulf War victory, he declared, “The Vietnam syndrome is over!”--meaning that the new victory helped to resolve the nation’s insecurities over its military capability. Last month, when Vietnam opened its war archives to U.S. investigators, Bush said, “Finally, I am convinced that we have begun writing the last chapter of the Vietnam War.”

The epilogue may soon be provided by the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, which will hold final hearings next month. The committee, chaired by Kerry, is expected to report that Vietnam is making a good-faith effort to assist the Pentagon’s MIA investigation.

That would allow Bush to feel free to lift the trade embargo and begin normalizing ties. And that would be a fitting foreign-policy end note to a presidency distinguished by considerable success in that arena.