I had two days in Ho Chi Minh city to enjoy. Driving and walking in and around the Cu Chi tunnels took most of the day.
We then returned back to visit the presidential palace, post office, cathedral and most importantly the War Remnants Museum. The last day in Vietnam will be spent touring the Mekong Delta which will take all day and then back to the hotel for the last two hour massage, packing and trying to sleep a few hours before my long flights home.
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| I can't imagine having to fear meeting this fate by taking the wrong step |
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| Single string instrument played by lovely Vietnamese musician |
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| Five star hotel - one of many |
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| Post Office |
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| inside beautiful post office |
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| Cathedral |
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| At nightclub called Maxim opened in 1924 where you can find lovely Vietnamese girls to dance with |
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| A beautiful park near my hotel |
Presenting a bunch of war artifacts did little to interest me but it was the pictures and the narrative told from a Vietnamese perspective that got to me. My eyes were teary from the start and it only got worse. I cannot believe the contrast from how the Vietnam war was understood by Americans at the time of the war, and the harsh realities of the resultant aftermath. Told from the Vietnamese perspective, the imperialistic motives of the US were coupled with numerous crimes against humanity committed against the Vietnamese people - sounds unfathomable and resoundingly un-American. But we cannot deny the historical facts, that we subjected the VC to torture and harsh treatment of prisoners, committed mass killings, and utilized napalm and agent orange that still is having aftereffects....both in the Vietnamese as well as Americans I might add. But it was no party for the Americans either, especially if you were caught by the VC, but that is another story.
Importantly, our involvement in this civil war had no positive benefit in attaining the primary outcome sought, which was to limit the spread of Communism and to protect the south Vietnamese people from the VC. Instead, it contributed to an increase in carnage of the civil war, as well as contributing to the destruction of many parts of the country through relentless bombing and the use of poisons that we covered much of the country with. And we clearly were responsible for creating generations of deformed Vietnamese at the hands of Agent Orange.
The stories at the museum are told from the eyes and mouths of the Vietnamese; I did not want to attribute this outcome to the country of my birth, until now, when I can no longer deny its veracity.
Importantly, our involvement in this civil war had no positive benefit in attaining the primary outcome sought, which was to limit the spread of Communism and to protect the south Vietnamese people from the VC. Instead, it contributed to an increase in carnage of the civil war, as well as contributing to the destruction of many parts of the country through relentless bombing and the use of poisons that we covered much of the country with. And we clearly were responsible for creating generations of deformed Vietnamese at the hands of Agent Orange.
The stories at the museum are told from the eyes and mouths of the Vietnamese; I did not want to attribute this outcome to the country of my birth, until now, when I can no longer deny its veracity.
I couldn’t pray for more
I still feel guilty as sin
Its not because we didn’t win
For what we did to the Vietnamese
Burning and shooting them down with ease
Young soldiers were brainwashed to kill
Nearly 60,000 now lie still
In the end the North still WON!
Out of their country they made us run
We left them their country destroyed
From the guns and solders we deployed
To see it as told by the War Remnant Museum
A perspective few Americans have every seen
From the moment of entry I began to cry
My tears were real, I do not lie
For pictures do not lie
Still smiling until they die
They show the dead and deformed
To this I was sadly informed
Americans have fought with incredible zeal
Our soldiers are brave with nerves of steel
But we continue to mistake wrong from right
We seem only to know how to fight
We have not learned our lesson today
We continue to fight far far away
We have created a monster
That no one will sponsor
The world disorder has been created
It still has not abated
We know not what to do
This I believe as you
This violence is a cancer
For which there is no answer
The Vietnamese have forgiven us now
I really do not comprehend how
We still have not learned our lesson
God only knows what is in store
Except for more, more, more and still more
Guns and death and sadness abound
The earth will be left with no one around
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