To: Dayuhan who wrote (108250 ) 7/26/2003 10:42:12 PM From: Brumar89 Respond to The information gap. I understand you. You're an expert, have read virtually every serious work ever written on the subject of Vietnamese history, have intervened numerous elderly Vietnamese, and whatever. Great. I have done none of the above and am just some schnook posting from Houston. So it's pretty impertinent for someone like me to disagree with such a renowned figure as yourself. Pretty damn frustrating, I'm sure.Message 19136032 If the US had stepped in as guarantor of Vietnamese independence, probably with a bit of a military presence, the popular support that eventually accrued to Ho Chi Minh as defender against the French could have accrued to us instead, and we would have had a great deal of influence that could have been used to steer the nationalist movement away from Communism. Message 19131809 If the US had refused to allow the British to bring French forces into Vietnam in 1945, credit for freeing Vietnam from the French would have gone to us, not to Ho Chi Minh , and much unpleasantness might have been averted. As it was, the only force that had the discipline and mass appeal to stand against the French was the Communist party. The Vietnamese had to go through a Communist phase to free themselves, largely because we refused to help them.
