The infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison
In today’s edition, the Washington Post raises alarm over the arrest of a 58 year old Vietnamese-American woman during her visit to Vietnam [http://tinyurl.com/yl4kg2]
The victim, Thong Nguyen "Cuc" Foshee, has a history of participating in protests and other activities against the present Vietnamese government and has been associated with the «Government of Free Vietnam», a virulently anti-government group that maintains a military base on the Vietnamese-Cambodian border. She has been held in prison for more than a year on terrorism suspicion.
Not knowing enough about the case, I will abstain from commenting, although it has always been a great mystery to me as to why on earth do some people insist on entering a Communist country where they are well-known as participants in hostile activities against the government, then complain when they get arrested? (News to the terminally naive/stupid: the Vietnamese embassies go to all demonstrations against their country to take pictures of the participants. So do the security services of the country where the demonstrations take place, like Canada or the USA).
The Vietnamese Government already does not give a very high priority to their citizens’ rights, being more concerned with protecting their own power. So why would anyone think that they would tolerate that a citizen who has left the country with their former enemy, the United States, can now return to plot their downfall and seize power from them?
The reason why I mention this case is because of the unintentional comical effect of the American government reaction (emphasis added): «Frederick Jones, spokesman for Bush's National Security Council, said the White House is aware of Foshee's detention and Martinez's action. "We have urged the government of Vietnam to abide by international legal standards and not to hold her indefinitely without due process," Jones said.»
Hello!!!? McFly!? Does the name Guantánamo ring a bell?
4 comments:
Moi je rêve de visiter le Vietnam.
À l'artiste formerly known as l'admirateur, je prépare un voyage de trois semaines au VN pour mi avril- début mai 2007. Si vous n'y allez pas d'ici là, je ferai la chronique de mon voyage sur ce blogue. Et si vous y allez avant moi, je serai ravie de publier vos photos, observations et commentaires.
Imagine for a moment a group called the "Free Government of the United States" - a foreign organization (based in Iran? Venezuala? Cuba? Syria?) with the stated purpose of overthrowing the American government. The group has an alternative government waiting in the wings. The FGUS also has a paramilitary wing which plans and occasionally carries out embassy bombings, and has a secret base just across the border in Mexico to launch cross-border attacks. Now imagine a known FGUS member visiting family in post-habeas corpus United States. The outcome would be obvious.
Unfortunately the US doesn't have a principled leg to stand on.
Hello Hanoimark. Not to mention the fact that the California Vietnamese lobby does not have (yet) the same influence as the Cuban lobby in Florida.
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