News, 9-10/5/99
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* Vietnam puts graft on trial with 77 in the dock
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, May 10 (Reuters) - Vietnam's biggest graft trial
began on Monday with 77 defendants accused of involvement in a series of
major scams that caused losses of some $280 million.
The accused, dressed in black and white striped prison clothing and plastic
sandals, were surrounded by around 100 police officers as they crowded onto
wooden benches in Ho Chi Minh City's colonial-era People's Court.
One source at the court said the state investigators now believed total
losses could be higher than the previous official figure of $280 million, a
staggering sum in a country that has an average annual per capita income of
around $300.
The case centres around two firms called Minh Phung and EPCO. Executives
from the firms, former government officials and bankers are charged with
fraud, appropriating socialist property and lacking responsibility.
The bulk of the losses was suffered by two of Vietnam's largest state-owned
commercial banks -- Vietcombank and the Vietnam Commercial & Industrial
Bank. A number of former senior executives are among those accused.
Lead defendants Tang Minh Phung, owner of the company he named after
himself, and EPCO chief Lien Khui Thin stood with heads bowed as the 45-day
hearing got under way with the presiding judge reading the charges.
During a break in the procedings some relatives of the accused attempted to
pass bottles of water in through the courtroom's sidedoors, but most were
stopped by uniformed police, while others tried to wave and call out to
family members.
But one court observer had no sympathy for those on trial.
``I hope they will hand down more death sentences than they did at the Tan
Truong Sanh trial because the charges are much more serious,'' said one man
present.
Last month's hearing of the so-called Tan Truong Sanh case saw two people
sentenced to death and 72 others given terms ranging up to life for
involvement in a ring that smuggled goods worth $71.3 million into Vietnam.
The Minh Phung group, with interests from textiles to property, was a
shining star in the communist country's nascent private sector. EPCO was
once a partially state-owned trading firm.
The case, which involves a tangled web of alleged bribery, cronyism and
credit scams to shore up soured business and property deals, was swept into
the limelight in March 1997 when police swooped to arrest Phung and Thin.
Other arrests followed, sending shivers through Ho Chi Minh City's growing
private business circles.
The trial, which was delayed from late last year, had been expected to begin
last Friday but was unexpectedly put off at the last moment.
Corruption and smuggling in Vietnam have emerged as major problems in recent
years and Hanoi has vowed to get tough on them.
* Child Trafficking Trial Adjourned
HANOI, Vietnam (AP, 10/5/99)--A Vietnamese judge has halted the trial of 11
people charged with child trafficking and bribery in connection with foreign
adoptions.
The presiding judge in An Giang province ordered further investigation into
the case, an official said today. No date for a retrial has been set.
He said the defendants denied the charges, saying they only carried out
adoptions on a humanitarian basis.
The defendants include former officials of the Long Xuyen nurturing center
for orphans and the elderly, the provincial Justice Department, the
provincial hospital and adoption brokers.
They were accused of selling 199 children for adoption over three years
until the case was uncovered in late 1997. Residents of France, the United
States, Canada, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium reportedly paid about
$2,000 per child.
The children were adopted even though they had parents or other close
relatives who had not given the required written approval, press reports
have said.
Local press have reported that the ring, allegedly masterminded by Le Quoc
Binh and Ung Thi Ngoc Hoa, had illegally earned $73,000.
Binh and Hoa and some other brokers allegedly solicited children from
destitute families and unwed mothers, paying $36 to $50 per child.
* Vietnamese-Americans protest friendship visit
WICHITA (AP, 10/5/99) -- A friendship delegation from Vietnam has met with
an unfriendly reception from some members of Wichita's Vietnamese-American
community.
Holding Vietnamese and American flags and signs with phrases such as "Down
with Communists," more than 100 people gathered for a protest Saturday
morning as 16 Vietnamese citizens arrived for a weeklong visit in a
friendship exchange program.
Local Vietnamese say the Vietnamese delegation is in good standing with
Vietnam's communist government, the same regime that brutalized them for
their beliefs, separated them from family members and forced them from their
homeland.
Members of the group hosting the visit, the Friendship Force of Kansas, said
they understand the feelings of some in the local Vietnamese community.
The Vietnamese delegation will tour Wichita through Saturday and will stay
in the homes of Friendship Force members. More protests are planned.
Many in the Saturday group, which grew to about 125 people, held signs with
messages such as: "Freedom of Religion for Vietnam" and "Thank You America."
"They are our people, so I am a little bit surprised," said Thuy Hoang, a
member of the Vietnamese delegation.
Hoang said the group is in Wichita as "friendship ambassadors."
Friendship Force of Kansas members say that the 16 Vietnamese who are
visiting are ordinary citizens, not government officials.
* Flower power
The Record, 8/5/99 - "Three Seasons," director Tony Bui's feature film debut
-- and the winner of the Grand Jury Award at this year's Sundance Film
Festival -- is anchored in a recurring symbol: a lotus flower.
"The lotus represents the Vietnamese people and I wanted to bring that to
this film," Bui said recently in an interview in Manhattan. "It's this very
beautiful flower that can only grow out of this murky, muddy water. The
Vietnamese people talk about themselves like that: They've gone through so
many decades of war, and yet they have been able to rise above that and go
on."
Bui, 26, built his fable-like film about life in Vietnam today around three
tales.
In one story, a young country girl arrives in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly
Saigon, and goes to work in the lotus fields of a reclusive poet suffering
from leprosy.
In the second, a cyclo driver falls in love with one of his passengers, a
young prostitute, and tries to win her affection.
The third traces the quest of an American Vietnam War veteran (played by
Harvey Keitel) searching for the Vietnamese child he fathered and left
behind. During his search, he crosses paths with a young street urchin.
As the film progresses, the three stories intersect but never quite connect.
Each tale, however, is visually linked by the image of the lotus flower --
and the theme of survival.
"I wanted to tell a very human story, but in the context of the struggle
that is now going on in Vietnam," Bui said. "Everyone is doing all these
things ... they are all trying to progress in their own way. ... It's an
attempt to move forward along their own paths."
Bui was born in Saigon but left at age 2 with his parents, who fled the
country in 1975 in an American cargo plane just before Saigon fell. He grew
up in northern California, near Silicon Valley, and didn't return to Vietnam
until he was 19.
"At first, I simply came back to Vietnam to visit my grandparents, who were
sick," Bui said. "But the impact was so great, and the emotions of what I
was seeing so overwhelmed me, that I kept going back year after year,
spending three or four months at a time.
"I never thought of making a film, initially. I was just keeping a journal
of my experiences, making notes. ... Eventually when I got to film school
and it came time to make a film, I said, 'Why not make a film of these
experiences? Why not use these stories of cyclo drivers and street kids that
I knew so well? Why not give them a voice and allow their concerns to be
heard on screen?'"
Like many young American directors, Bui's interest in filmmaking began as he
watched videos at home. In his case, though, he had easy, almost instant,
access to thousands of film titles. His father, who worked as an engineer in
the computer industry in Silicon Valley, also ran a string of video stores.
"He opened some video stores in the pre-Blockbuster days, and suddenly I had
50,000 movies I could watch at any time. It was like hitting a jackpot," Bui
said with a laugh. "Every single day I was renting at least one movie. And
after two years, I had seen several thousand movies. That's how it all crept
up on me -- this incredible ability to affect people [with a film]. After
that, there was no turning back."
All that viewing gave Bui a strong foundation by the time he entered film
school at Loyola Marymount. There he discovered the European masters like
Michelangelo Antonioni, Vittorio De Sica, and Jean-Luc Godard, directors who
specialized in telling personal stories in a visual, lyrical, non-verbal
way.
"I went to film school in 1995, and it was very much the age of 'slacker'
filmmakers and Quentin Tarantino," Bui said. "I enjoyed those films but
because this other thing was happening -- and I was seeing all this De Sica
and Godard and the 'Fifth Generation' Chinese filmmakers [like Zhang Yimou]
-- I was able to identify with another kind of filmmaking. And it led me to
make 'Three Seasons' ... I said, 'You know what? I am not going to make a
trendsetting thing. I am just going to go out and make a film I care
about.'"
One talent that stands out in Bui's film -- which also won the Audience
Award and the prize for cinematography at the Sundance Festival -- is his
precocious ability to compose shots that allow him to tell his story
visually.
It's a rare talent in seasoned filmmakers, and an oddity in anyone under 30,
especially Americans. But Bui said he spent a lot of time in film school
studying the masters of the craft, like Andrei Tarkovsky, the legendary
Russian director, whose film "Nostalgia" is considered to be a masterpiece
of this kind of filmmaking.
"It's like watching a painting," Bui said. "You can take any shot in
'Nostalgia,' stop the frame, blow it up, cut it, and you would have an
amazing photo. Every frame is filled out so well. You are never bored; he
gives you so much information, it resonates.
"And that's what we tried to do in 'Three Seasons.' Everything that was put
up on the screen meant something. ... We thought the images out very
carefully. ... We weren't just fooling around with our shots."
* Anti-war songs of the Vietnam era (1965-1973)
The Sacramento Bee, 9/5/99
Here are some of the more popular anti-war recordings (chart position for
single or album track listed in parenthesis):
1965
"Draft Dodger Rag," Phil Ochs -- Topical folk singer shows that war
protesters can laugh at themselves.
"Eve of Destruction," Barry McGuire -- First folk-rock protest song to hit
the top of the pop charts (1).
"I Ain't Marching Anymore," Phil Ochs -- One of the strongest statements of
anti-war resistance, it was also one of the first.
"I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag," Country Joe & the Fish -- Country Joe
McDonald's enduring example of anti-war gallows humor (1, on "Woodstock"
soundtrack).
"King Henry," Pete Seeger -- The veteran topical folk singer's first song
about the Vietnam War, comparing Lyndon Johnson to England's bloody Henry V.
"Superbird," Country Joe & the Fish -- "Come out, Lyndon, with your hands
held high/Drop your guns, baby, and reach for the sky."
"Tombstone Blues," Bob Dylan -- Dylan was no longer writing "protest songs,"
but his views about Vietnam were unmistakable: "The king of the Philistines
his soldiers to save/Put jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their
graves/Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves/then sends them
out to the jungle" (3, "Highway 61 Revisited")
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone," Johnny Rivers -- The quintessential '60s
cover artist always had a sharp ear for a good song (26).
1966
"Blowin' in the Wind," Stevie Wonder -- The 16-year-old Motown prodigy
covers Dylan and takes a stand (9).
"I Come and Stand at Every Door," The Byrds -- A harrowing look at the
children who suffer from warfare (24, "Fifth Dimension").
"Kill for Peace," The Fugs -- A caustically sarcastic song from radical East
Village poets turned rock 'n' rollers.
"Mister You're a Better Man Than I," The Yardbirds -- Jeff Beck's guitar
propels this protest against prejudice and thoughtless patriotism.
"Vietnam Blues," J.B. Lenoir -- The Chicago blues guitarist, a frequent
writer of songs about racism and economic injustice, opposes U.S. foreign
policy.
1967
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree," Arlo Guthrie -- Woody's son tells a long and
hilarious tale about his draft board (17, "Alice's Restaurant")
"Draft Morning," The Byrds -- An atmospheric soundscape of the war, complete
with artillery sound effects provided by Firesign Theatre.
"For What It's Worth," Buffalo Springfield -- Stephen Stills and Neil
Young's early group brought the generation gap to vinyl (7).
"No Man Can Find the War," Tim Buckley -- An angelic-voiced folk-rocker
protests a war filled with "nightmares dreamed by bleeding men."
"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy," Pete Seeger -- The song that led CBS to
censor Seeger on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."
1968
"I Don't Wanna Go to Vietnam," John Lee Hooker -- "We got so much trouble at
home/We don't need to go to Vietnam."
"Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation," Tom Paxton -- The topical folk singer
chronicles what became known as the "credibility gap."
"People Got To Be Free," The Rascals -- An exuberant chart-topping call for
peace and freedom (1).
"Sky Pilot," Eric Burdon & the Animals -- Bitter criticism of clergymen who
bless soldiers and send them off to Vietnam (14).
"The Unknown Soldier," The Doors -- Jim Morrison rants about America's
complacency while young men die in Vietnam (39).
1969
"Fortunate Son," Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Ferocious rocker by John
Fogerty takes on rich and phony patriots (3).
"Give Peace a Chance," John Lennon -- Recorded in a Montreal hotel suite,
with backing vocalists including Tom Smothers and Timothy Leary (14).
"Please Settle in Vietnam," Lightnin' Hopkins -- A plea for peace by the
veteran Texas blues guitarist.
"Sweet Cherry Wine, Tommy James & the Shondells -- Bubble-gum rockers join
the anti-war ranks (7).
"Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues," Tom Paxton -- A humorous tale, in which the
pot is something G.I.'s are smoking.
"2+2=?," Bob Seger System -- Seger's first single for Capitol Records, about
a friend who was killed in Vietnam, was strongly against U.S. policy.
1970
"Compared to What?," Les McCann and Eddie Harris -- A statement from the
jazz ranks: "Nobody gives us rhyme or reason/Half of a doubt and they call
it treason."
"Heaven Help Us," Stevie Wonder -- "Heaven help the boy who won't reach
21/Heaven help the man who gave that boy a gun" (9).
"Machine Gun," Jimi Hendrix -- Rock's greatest guitarist re-creates the
sounds of war live onstage (5, "Band of Gypsys").
"Ohio," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -- An angry response to the shooting of
four anti-war demonstrators at Kent State University (14).
"The Star Spangled Banner," Jimi Hendrix -- The national anthem never
sounded so cataclysmic (1, "Woodstock").
"Vietnam," Jimmy Cliff -- An early reggae song adds a Jamaican protest to
the War.
"War," Edwin Starr -- A viscerally powerful chart-topping condemnation of
the evils of warfare (1).
"What Is Truth?," Johnny Cash -- A country titan sticks up for young people
who question the government's policies in Vietnam (19).
1971
"Bring the Boys Home," Freda Payne -- A strong statement against the war
from the pop-soul singer of "Band of Gold" (12).
"Imagine," John Lennon -- The former Beatle tells what he believes in (3).
"What's Going On?," Marvin Gaye -- The Motown star puts himself in the shoes
of his brother Frankie, a just-returned Vietnam veteran (2).
1972
"We Gotta Have Peace," Curtis Mayfield -- An urgent appeal from the veteran
Chicago soul singer.
1973
"No More Genocide," Holly Near -- Powerful protest from a younger actress-
turned-folk singer.
Pro-war songs of the Vietnam era
Here are some of the more popular pro-war recordings (chart position listed
in parenthesis; country charts are used unless otherwise noted):
1965
"Hello Vietnam," Johnny Wright -- Written by future country star Tom T.
Hall, the song is about a soldier telling his sweetheart that he's off to
fight for freedom in Vietnam (1).
"Keep the Flag Flying," Johnny Wright -- Wright wraps himself in red, white
and blue (31).
"Viet Nam Blues," Dave Dudley -- This rebuke of anti-war demonstrators was
written by a future star, Kris Kristofferson, who later disavowed his song
and became a vocal opponent of the war (12).
"What We're Fighting For," Dave Dudley -- We're fighting for freedom (4).
1966
"The 'A' Team, Special Forces Sgt. Barry Sadler -- The follow-up single to
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" was an ode to a fighting unit (28, pop
charts).
"The Ballad of the Green Berets," Special Forces Sgt. Barry Sadler --
"Fighting soldiers from the sky/Fearless men who jump and die/Men who mean
just what they say/The brave men of the Green Beret" (1, pop charts)
"The Minute Men (Are Turning in Their Graves)," Stonewall Jackson -- Our
founding fathers would be ashamed about the lack of patriotism today, said
this descendant of the Confederate general with the same name (24).
1967
"Gallant Men," U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen -- The mellifluously voiced Senate
Republican leader won a Grammy Award for best spoken-word recording (29, pop
charts).
1968
"Battle of Two Brothers," Autry Inman -- A patriotic tune, with the strains
of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" playing in the background (14).
"My Son," Jan Howard -- According to Howard, she had a premonition that her
son Jimmy, stationed in Vietnam, was going to die. He was killed shortly
after the song was recorded; it was released after his death (15).
1969
"Okie From Muskogee," Merle Haggard -- Haggard became President Richard
Nixon's favorite country singer after releasing this backlash song from
Middle America (1).
1970
"The Fighting Side of Me," Merle Haggard -- "If you don't love it, leave it"
(1).
1971
"Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley," Terry Nelson & C Company -- A defense of the
convicted officer who had been in charge of a U.S. Army platoon that in 1968
killed between 175 and 400 unarmed Vietnamese men, women and children in My
Lai.
* The war on the air: TV's view of Vietnam
The Sacramento Bee, 9/5/99
Television's legacy in regard to the Vietnam War and its aftermath reflected
the medium's dual role as an entertainment provider and public-service news-
gatherer and disseminator. Here are the 10 most important programs, events
and trends in the complicated relationship between TV and the Vietnam War:
1. The war on the nightly news: It has often been said that Vietnam was the
first "living room war" because American TV audiences could watch footage
from Vietnam virtually every night on the evening news. Yet the networks
actually stayed away from airing particularly graphic depictions of
violence.
Most studies have shown that TV news coverage from South Vietnam, especially
prior to 1968, was strongly pro-administration. Still, coverage such as CBS
News correspondent Morley Safer's memorable report in 1965 on American
Marines setting fire to villagers' huts (which became known as the "Zippo
lighter" story) revealed a side of the war that didn't conform to the U.S.
government's line.
2. "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967-69): Tom and Dick Smothers,
best known as humorous folk singers, turned their CBS variety show into an
outlet for anti-war expression and countercultural entertainment.
It went on the air in February 1967 opposite the highly rated "Bonanza" and
became an instant hit, reaching the Top 20 in two months. The show featured
appearances by such cutting-edge rock bands as the Who, the Doors, Buffalo
Springfield and the Jefferson Airplane. The brothers' conflicts with CBS
began in the fall of 1967, when they brought on folk singer Pete Seeger to
perform his anti-war song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy." CBS refused to
broadcast the song (though later in the same season Seeger returned to the
show and performed the song without any problems from the network).
There were many battles with network censors over the next few years. CBS
abruptly canceled the show in April 1969. It was replaced by "Hee Haw."
3. Walter Cronkite declares that the United States couldn't win in Vietnam
and should negotiate a settlement (1968): In a CBS News special, "Walter
Cronkite in Vietnam," broadcast Feb. 27, 1968, the most trusted TV newsman
in America concluded: "It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the
only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable
people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best
they could." Cronkite's comments led directly to President Lyndon Johnson's
decision not to run for re-election.
4. "M*A*S*H" (1972-83): Although the sitcom about the 4077th Mobile Army
Surgical Hospital Unit was ostensibly set during the Korean War, the
parallel to Vietnam was unmistakable. The series debuted when the Vietnam
War was still raging. It offered a consistently anti-war perspective, one
that humanized soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict; the
"enemy," if there was one, was the militaristic mentality.
5. "Friendly Fire" (1979): Carol Burnett starred in this ABC movie (with Ned
Beatty, Sam Waterston and Timothy Hutton) as a Midwestern mother trying to
learn the circumstances of her son's death in Vietnam. She eventually found
out he was killed by American artillery, a case of what was known in the
military as "friendly fire." Based on C.D.B. Bryan's book about Peg Mullen's
fight against the military, it won an Emmy Award for outstanding drama
special.
6. Vietnam vets become a staple on TV dramas: In the 1970s, police dramas
such as "Hawaii Five-O," "The Streets of San Francisco" and "Kojak"
repeatedly featured stories about tormented Vietnam veterans who were often
fighting war-inspired drug addiction or psychological illness. In the Reagan
era of the 1980s, Vietnam veterans became the heroes, playing cops and good-
guy detectives on shows such as "Magnum, P.I.," "The A-Team," "Miami Vice"
and "Simon and Simon."
7. "Vietnam: A Television History" (1983): Boston PBS station WGBH produced
this 13-part history of the Vietnam War, the most extensive documentary
history of the war. It included interviews from many different quarters,
including American, North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese and National
Liberation Front (Viet Cong) perspectives.
8. "Tour of Duty" (1987-1990): TV executives often get their ideas for shows
straight from successful movies, and the first Vietnam combat drama was no
exception, coming on the heels of Oliver Stone's triumph with "Platoon."
This CBS series starred Terence Knox as a sergeant leading an infantry
platoon in South Vietnam. The first season was set in 1967, and the platoon
spent most of its time in the field. During the second season, the scene
shifted closer to Saigon (which made it easier to add women to the story
lines).
9. "Dear America: Letters From Vietnam" (1988): This HBO documentary
featured some of Hollywood's finest actors, including Robert De Niro, Ellen
Burstyn, Willem Dafoe, Michael J. Fox and Robin Williams, reading the actual
letters of G.I.s. The readings were accompanied by actual footage shot by
NBC, the Defense Department and the soldiers themselves. The letters changed
in content from early optimism during the first years of the war to weary
and painful as the war dragged on. The documentary, which won two Emmy
Awards, was later released theatrically.
10. "China Beach" (1988-1991): Generally considered the more successful of
the two TV dramas set in Vietnam during the war, this ABC series starred
Dana Delaney as Lt. Colleen McMurphy, an Army nurse attached to an Armed
Forces hospital in Da Nang. The show opened the eyes of many viewers to the
role of women during the war.
* Cambodian military court charges Duch
ABC, 10/5/99 - A Cambodian military court has reportedly issued charges
against the Khmer Rouge's former top executioner known as Duch.
An official said the military court had issued a letter of charges against
Duch for his crimes and acts committed during the Khmer Rouge's rule.
Duch, whose real name is Kaing Khek Ieu, was brought to Phnom Penh on Sunday
after international human rights organizations warned he was in danger after
confessing to his involvement in mass killings. . Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen said Duch was being held under police protection in Phnom Penh.
The official said the court charged Duch with the same offences as Ta Mok,
the Khmer Rouge military chief arrested in March, who is now waiting trial
by a military court.
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