European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse T7i South Vietnam. By was far More anxious thai his american visitors see 1o other buildings Bolh Small mansions painted a restful Bamboo teen Walls Are scrubbed walkways swept grounds and Interior Kepi in spotless order. It looks As if the last american tenant moved out yesterday rather than 32 years before. Until 1954, this was the american consulate in Hanoi vacated when the French led the City to the rebel Viet Minn. It s occupied now by an outfit called the fatherland front but by says their presence is temporary and portable. They could be out in a few hours. When you want it of softly tells an american it s yours. Your he s upfront about his government s Alibi us on normalizing diplomatic relations with the United slates. They urgently want it. Recognition Between Washington and Hanoi could mean Milons an preciously needed foreign Exchange and the United Stales As a stabilizing hand in Southeast Asia what is so bad about us by asks. Don t you want to stabilize his area and assure la Security of your allies your friends for years you would t recognize China and treated them As if they were the worst people in the world. Now they re your friends and we re fighting them on our by throws up his hands As if the complexities of Carousel politics Are too much for him. But by knows and his superiors in the vietnamese foreign ministry know that normalization talks were suspended in 1979 because the vietnamese broke into Cambodia. And there is the feeling of millions of americans frankly spoken by Deputy Secretary of defense Richard Armitage when he lad a diplomatic probe in Hanoi that the Gates of the old prison did t close on the last released american in 1973. Could there Lilli be postwar prisoners of War in Vietnam held behind wire and prodded to forced labor no says Hoang Bich son Deputy minister or foreign affairs. There Are no americans in Vietnam either by Force or Choice. I think you had better make it Clear to the american photos of Ftp lured . Pilot Ami flight gear. Public he tells the newsmen. We reaffirm that in Vietnam there Are no american pos still being kept. But i Don t know Why that s been speculated about the last sighting and so on. And so i ask the question ii there Are live americans who Are they if them Are any live americans then they must be the people who were planted in Vietnam alter the War for postwar subversive purposes. They must fall into the second category of spies. So this is something up to the americans to he stressed that Vietnam had committed itself o returning All known and retrievable remains of americans within two years. This could be hard on a country that has Only peasant labor and is Short on technology he said. The United Stales has offered help and at least once flew in bulldozers and other gear to recover remains he acknowledged. But hey Are not in the Long run showing enough cooperation and Good will americans Ere using a vietnamese willingness to put past bitterness aside. They started the War they brought the Els Here they got killed and it s an american obligation to search Lor them and resolve the Issue. So they have to show More responsibility. We Are prompted Only by our humanitarian policy. We sympathize with the agony of Mia families son said. While the americans visted Hanoi an air Force c 141 Star lifter wearing the camouflage colors of the War years landed at nol Bai to receive 21 remains the vietnamese had excavated themselves bringing to 136 the total returned Over the last 13 years. The remain went ram wooden Case to aluminium coffin carried into the aircraft by servicemen and women who moved at slow step and solemn cadence. Vietnamese watched impassively arme folded frowning with indifference and disdain. Very often. By says peasants in the paddies ignore government pleas to report any discovery of remains a Pilot where he crashed a Soldier where he fell we Tell them it is very important to normalization but they Are indifferent or still very bitter because so Many people were killed by your mines and bombs. They ask what about the missing vietnamese " there was one More place to see but Only from the outside. A former French movie studio. It was converted into a jail Tor american pos who called it the zoo. It appears now As a miniature of the larger prison stucco skin Concrete Bone Knuckles of Glass along the High Walls by says it is now a Headquarters Lor the stale subsidized film Industry and was recently visited by a Dele a Rion of american congressmen. They became aggressive and fired Olf questions about captive Amer fans by relates suggesting that there could be some on these very premises one Man broke away from the others and threw open the door loan office that had been a cell. George he called softly the name of an Mia. By thought thai was hilarious laughing As he idd of it. Bui the people in lie office were offended and chagrined now. No More americans visit the zoo. Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday january 25. 1sb7
