The Hanoi Hilton

Our visit a few days ago to the Hoa Lo Prison, better known by Americans as the “Hanoi Hilton,” was extremely informative and gave me another insight into what has become the Vietnamese culture that Ho Chi Minh created.  Of course, you could also call it the Chinese culture or communist culture.  This museum was a propaganda museum that bemoaned the abuses of colonial France toward the members of the communist resistance.  I’m not speaking to the atrocities committed or not committed by the French, as I cannot speak to them knowledgeably.  However, what was missing was a simple addressing of truth from all angles.  It would be as if we taught the Vietnam War without covering the My Lai  Massacre.  I firmly believe that failure to cover all angles of history invariably leads to a fundamental misunderstanding of Truth (with a capital “T”).  Failure to understand the Truth, particularly as it applies to history, as nuanced as it can be, has to have a direct correlation to future failures in policy.  Doesn’t it?  

Okay, diatribe complete.  Here are a few of my impressions from the museum: 

Walking into the US POW section of the museum, one is blasted with cold air from an air conditioner unit- the only two rooms in the entire museum with an a/c unit.  I am not sure if it is a psychological ploy or simply a way to make Western guests feel more comfortable, but coupled with the explanation that, “During the war, the national economy was difficult but Vietnamese government had created the best living conditions to US pilots for they had a stable life during the temporary detention period,” it left me wondering who the curators (read government of Vietnam) were trying to fool.  I suppose the typical brainwashed US college student galavanting around the world on his or her backpacker adventure might buy some of the explanations as fact, but their explanations were completely off-base and, for the most part, factually incorrect.  I particularly enjoyed them using photos of Senator John McCain’s 2000 visit as propaganda that supports the Vietnamese claim that they treated US POWs humanely.  

More of the same throughout, propaganda photo after photo.  All of the displays were those photos taken by the Ho Chi Minh’s government officials showing the US pilots in various pictures of entertainment or good-health.  Scenes such as pilots playing volleyball, attending Christmas Mass, and eating Christmas dinner were on display.  However, a keen eye notices a few of the pilots being photographed (not all) showing resistance postures- crossed arms, serious looks on their faces, etc.  These men returned with honor.  Here’s another example of a “confession statement” placed in a North Vietnamese paper and on display in the museum as “testament” to the fact that these US pilots were prosecuting an unjust war: 

“...We are taught that B52s are used to bomb targets of extremely large scale or military complexes of tens of square miles.  Such targets do not exist in Vietnam.  I understand that B52s bombing in densly [sic] populated areas is to kill more and more people to generate pressure!”  

Excerpts from the statement of Bernasconi Luis Henry, B52 Lieutenant-Colonel and navigator, Nhan dan Newspaper, December 29, 1972.

Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking a few visits from the Secretary of State and an increase in political and military aid to the Vietnamese government will drive a wedge into the 1011 year-old relationship they have with China.  I fear that some in our government believe these measures will balance China in the region.  The balance that will occur, if it actually does, is to be seen on the streets: the desire of the typical Vietnamese to make something of him or herself.  Whether it’s the fruit lady asking tourists if they want to wear her fruit basket and take a picture (for a fee, of course), to folks selling shirts for a profit, one can see budding capitalists in every corner of Hanoi.  The market is fairly good.  One can see BMWs and Porsches in many places, and the number of cars on the roads is rising.  The elite are getting rich and I wonder if that wealth will start trickling down to some of the vendors.  If Thailand is a test-bed, the answer is a resounding, “No!”  However, if the middle class continues growing there will come the desire for fair representation on a local and national stage.  That’s something that the Vietnamese government’s economic modernization does not fully address.