In an op ed column in the New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman spoke of the parallels between the war in Vietnam and the conflict now in Iraq and Syria. He mentions how the executive of foreign journalists is designed to provoke Western intervention. See link below for Thomas Friedman’s article. John Menadue
Thomas Friedman says:
“After a week of being love-bombed by Vietnamese, who told me how much they admire America, want to work or study there and have friends and family living there, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “How did we get this country so wrong? ”
One is almost expecting him to refer to Human Rights or Democracy. But of course he couldn’t. The most recent report on these things (http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/vietnam) is an indictment (especially in terms of the revenge being meted out to those who sided with the South Vietnamese Government in defence of democracy… the allies that Australia supported).
In October 2011, the RSL became involved in the development of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Veterans’ Association of Vietnam (VAV). The RSL President (Admiral Doolan) seemed oblivious of the fact that VAV is an arm of the ruling Communist Party, whose human rights record is much worse than most nations. It was widely felt that the RSL was acting in support of the the Australian Government who wished to see an improved trade agreement. RSL members considered that any such recognition should be tied to improved human rights … this must’ve been a bridge too far however, as the RSL subsequently withdrew its proposal.