First U.S. warship in Vietnam since war's end

[smallprint]

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Reuters) - Flying the flag of its former enemy, a U.S. navy frigate has docked in Vietnam's biggest city, the first to visit the country since their bloody conflict ended nearly 30 years ago.

Watched by curious onlookers and a horde of media, the USS Vandegrift sailed into Saigon port on Wednesday, its crew smartly attired in navy whites and lining the deck, arms clasped behind their backs.

"We are showing the world that former foes can be friends," U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Raymond Burghardt told reporters as American sailors watched from the ship's upper deck.

In a further gesture of reconciliation, the ship's Commander Richard Rogers and the U.S. Embassy Defence and Army Attache Stephen Ball witnessed a floral wreath laying at a statue of Vietnam's first president Ho Chi Minh in a downtown square.

more: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=405635§ion=news


This is great news. But I'm still not sure why the US Navy is there at all... What are they up to?

[saigon68]

1. Too bad they can't visit Cuba

I guess we all know why.

[Another Bill C.]

2. I don't know why

but I think "...arms clasped behind their backs" is kind of funny. They were at parade-rest. I can't imagine getting the order, "clasp your hands behind your back." Sorry — it's just me.

[tabasco]

4. "Company! Atennn-shun!"

"Clasp your hands behind your back!"

Me too.

[northernsoul]

3. maybe Bushco is hoping for Vietnamese help in Iraq?

wouldn't that be the greatest irony of all time - we end up bringing in the VC to help us deal with our new guerilla war quagmire.

[tabasco]

5. They have an incredible ability to forgive.

I wish I could say the US is a more enlightened nation since that war.

[mobuto]

6. First US Warship Arrives in Vietnam

American sailors dance together at the Apocalypse bar in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, Vietnam, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003. The sailors were on shore leave from USS Vandegrift, which became the first US. Navy ship to dock in Ho Chi Minh City since the end of the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)


Commander of the visiting US Navy frigate USS Vandegrift Richard Rogers (L) shakes hands with a colonels from Vietnam's 7th military zone(AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam)


A Vietnamese woman waves at the visiting US Navy frigate USS Vandergrift as it arrives. Nearly 30 years after the Vietnam War ended, the frigate is the first US war ship to dock in Ho Chi Minh City(AFP)


Vietnamese coastal guards watch as the USS Vandegrift, a perry class guided missle frigate, arrives in Ho Chi Minh city on November 19, 2003. The USS Vandegrift docked in Vietnam's biggest city on Wednesday, the first American warship to visit the country since the end of their bloody conflict nearly 30 years ago. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside


CAPTION CORRECTION - CORRECTING NAME OF CITY U.S. Navy (news - web sites) ship USS Vandegrift sails past Vietnamese fishermen at the port city of Vung Tau, 128 km ( 80 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh city, November 19, 2003. USS Vandegrift, a Perry class guided missile frigate, will call at Vietnam's Saigon Port on Wednesday, the first visit by a U.S. warship to the country since the end of the war that killed three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

[Minstrel Boy]

7. It's a good thing the US fought and won that war

so all those lives, on both sides, weren't lost in vain.

:cry:

[Johnyawl]

8. Trade. And surrounding China

We want to do business with them, and we want regional 'allies' to help counter China's growing power.(hence our recent coziness with India).

Vietnam fought a 3 year border war with China in the late '70s, early '80s. The Vietnamese fought the much larger Chinese army to a draw, killing over 39,000 Chinese soldiers in three years of sporadic fighting. The animosity remains. Just think how effective they'd be at killing Chinese if we armed them with some modern weapons.