Nike's man in Vietnam?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

McCain, in Vietnam, Launches Attack on Communist Rule

 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- Sen. John McCain, who played a key role in
normalizing relations between the United States and its one-time enemy,
launched a broadside against Vietnam's communist regime today.

The ex-navy pilot and prisoner of war earlier said he has still not
forgiven his captors for killing and torturing fellow prisoners of war. The
comments drew fire from the Hanoi government, which accused Americans of
"horrendous crimes" during the war.

"It runs counter to the norms of morality that those people who brought
bombs and shells to sow death among our people and wreak havoc with a
country now pass themselves off as having the right to criticize their
victims-cum-saviors," foreign ministry spokesman Phan Thuy Thanh said in a
statement made available today.

Vietnam denied McCain's torture allegations earlier this year.

Today, McCain said he thought "the wrong guys" won the war.

"I think that they lost millions of their best people who left by boat,
thousands by execution and hundreds of thousands who went to re-education
camps," McCain told reporters as he toured Ho Chi Minh City, known as
Saigon when it was the capital of U.S.-backed South Vietnam.

He also criticized what he said was increasing corruption in the country
and an unwillingness on the part of some officials to improve
U.S.-Vietnamese ties.

"The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds
that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a
positive relationship," he said. "Apparently some in the Vietnamese
government don't want to do that and that's their decision.

"THERE'S A DIFFERENCE IN THE ATTITUDE HERE OF THE GOVERNMENT TOWARDS
FOREIGN INVESTMENT, TOWARDS A TRADE AGREEMENT. I SEE THE HAMMER AND SICKLE
OUT HERE ON THE BANNERS," he said. "I'M A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT BOTH THE
POLICIES AND ATTITUDES, AND THE INCREASE IN CORRUPTION IN THIS COUNTRY."


Louis Proyect
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