01-09-2013, 06:41 PM
Found this gem over at CTKA. General Vo Nguyen Giap was a military genius, the main architect of the North Vietnamese victories over the French and US.
I have to say that in a book I've read called Victory At Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap (1997, Cecil Currey), JFK is only mentioned on 4 pages. So this was news to me:
http://www.ctka.net/2013/General_Giap_Knew_Kang.html
I then moved on to the penultimate topic regarding 1963, the change in Southeast Asia policy, specifically for Vietnam, that President Kennedy was carefully but confidently carrying out. When I mentioned this vital policy to Mr. Vo, I said, "President Kennedy was finally changing his foreign policy in regards to Vietnam in 1963", and before I could even finish my sentence, Mr. Vo interrupted and added, "He was withdrawing from Vietnam." Momentarily surprised by what I had just heard, I then quickly asked him to repeat what he had just said so as to be sure I had heard right. He then stated in a very clear and firm voice, "President Kennedy was withdrawing from Vietnam in late 1963." I was beyond a loss for words and sat transfixed at what I had just heard. The son of General Vo Nguyen Giap, sitting just a few feet across from me, had just unequivocally confirmed what many scholars and experts had pieced together and been saying for years, only to be dismissed by the Establishment as "wishful thinkers" and starry-eyed idealists or, in some cases, as "Kennedy apologists". Some had even been challenged as to the validity of their sources although many correctly cited the available U.S. government record from the Kennedy Administration papers as well as the National Security Action Memorandums (NSAMs) signed by President Kennedy in October 1963. Yet, here was the most astonishing and perhaps unimpeachable source of proof, right in front of my eyes. What could be a more credible and original direct source than the former "enemy", General Vo Nguyen Giap (represented by his son), confirming that its rival's leader, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was indeed logistically carrying out a de-escalation policy for American personnel to withdraw in phases (until there would be virtually no military advisors left by 1965). Most likely General Giap's military and intelligence operatives and analysts had to have discovered this by tracking the patterns of oppositional foreign (American) troop movements and the quantifiable logistical reductions that were visibly ensuing. It may also be likely that word of President Kennedy's NSAMs might have somehow leaked and reached North Vietnam, who probably rejoiced with relief at hearing that a potential deadly foe was withdrawing from the embattled homeland (with only future promises of financial aid and war materiel to sustain South Vietnam). Nevertheless, I was both amazed and grateful for Mr. Vo's candid statement and assessment regarding that most crucial and pivotal period of the Kennedy Presidency.
I have to say that in a book I've read called Victory At Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap (1997, Cecil Currey), JFK is only mentioned on 4 pages. So this was news to me:
http://www.ctka.net/2013/General_Giap_Knew_Kang.html
I then moved on to the penultimate topic regarding 1963, the change in Southeast Asia policy, specifically for Vietnam, that President Kennedy was carefully but confidently carrying out. When I mentioned this vital policy to Mr. Vo, I said, "President Kennedy was finally changing his foreign policy in regards to Vietnam in 1963", and before I could even finish my sentence, Mr. Vo interrupted and added, "He was withdrawing from Vietnam." Momentarily surprised by what I had just heard, I then quickly asked him to repeat what he had just said so as to be sure I had heard right. He then stated in a very clear and firm voice, "President Kennedy was withdrawing from Vietnam in late 1963." I was beyond a loss for words and sat transfixed at what I had just heard. The son of General Vo Nguyen Giap, sitting just a few feet across from me, had just unequivocally confirmed what many scholars and experts had pieced together and been saying for years, only to be dismissed by the Establishment as "wishful thinkers" and starry-eyed idealists or, in some cases, as "Kennedy apologists". Some had even been challenged as to the validity of their sources although many correctly cited the available U.S. government record from the Kennedy Administration papers as well as the National Security Action Memorandums (NSAMs) signed by President Kennedy in October 1963. Yet, here was the most astonishing and perhaps unimpeachable source of proof, right in front of my eyes. What could be a more credible and original direct source than the former "enemy", General Vo Nguyen Giap (represented by his son), confirming that its rival's leader, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was indeed logistically carrying out a de-escalation policy for American personnel to withdraw in phases (until there would be virtually no military advisors left by 1965). Most likely General Giap's military and intelligence operatives and analysts had to have discovered this by tracking the patterns of oppositional foreign (American) troop movements and the quantifiable logistical reductions that were visibly ensuing. It may also be likely that word of President Kennedy's NSAMs might have somehow leaked and reached North Vietnam, who probably rejoiced with relief at hearing that a potential deadly foe was withdrawing from the embattled homeland (with only future promises of financial aid and war materiel to sustain South Vietnam). Nevertheless, I was both amazed and grateful for Mr. Vo's candid statement and assessment regarding that most crucial and pivotal period of the Kennedy Presidency.