~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam army says errors made after Saigon victory

HANOI- Vietnam's powerful army, in a rare admission, said in an article published on Wednesday that it made mistakes after defeating U.S.-backed South Vietnam in 1975 because soldiers were flushed with victory.
Lieutenant-General Pham Thanh Ngan, head of the General Political Department of the People's Army, wrote that the army had ignored the advice of late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh and been arrogant after beating its powerful adversary.

``Before the spirit of Uncle Ho we can't hide the fact that during the past 30-year period since he left us, we sometimes made mistakes...'' Ngan wrote in the lengthy article, published in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) newspaper.
``...After liberation of the south (we) did not thoroughly grasp Uncle Ho's words on 'not being arrogant after victory, not being discouraged by failure','' he said. Ho Chi Minh died in 1969.

Ngan was vague about the army's mistakes, nor did he say how the military had been arrogant. But his remarks came on the eve of Vietnam's 54th anniversary of independence and almost a quarter century since the end of the Vietnam War, which left the country in ruins.
More suffering followed when the army helped impose deadening socialist policies over the free-wheeling south, failed measures that had to be reversed a decade later.

Thousands of military personnel and officials from the former Saigon Regime were also sent to re-education camps for years at the end of the Vietnam War, which left lingering bitterness toward the communist authorities.
Ngan did say his article was related to a two-year self criticism campaign within the ruling Communist Party that aims to root out graft and ideologically depraved lifestyles.
He said insufficient attention had been given to ideological work within the army and that occasional low vigilance and readiness for fighting had hurt the revolutionary nature and glorious tradition of the army.

``The image of Uncle Ho's soldiers has sometimes faded, which led to a decline in people's confidence and love. That is a high-cost lesson that the army admits before the spirit of Uncle Ho,'' Ngan wrote.
He added that the army -- one of the world's largest with an estimated 492,000 personnel according to 1997 figures -- remained steadfastly loyal to the party and would ward off any plots against the state.

Reuters - September 1, 1999.