The Vietnam war is a lesson for many people, said retired Senator Patrick Leahy, former President Pro Tempore of the US Senate and Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s resident reporters in Washington D.C, Leahy, a key figure in promoting post-war reconciliation and cooperation in war legacy issues between the two countries, said that he always thought that the war in Vietnam was a mistake - a view he shares with many others. He recounted the moment in 1975 when he stood in the US Senate and voted in favour of ending the war.
“I have always considered myself part of that vote. The war finally ended, but it was a mistake for America to be involved,” he affirmed.
According to Leahy, there is no excuse for the tragedy and loss of lives of Vietnamese, American, and others resulting from the war. After the war, for years, he had tried to find things that the US could do to bring the two nations close together.
He emphasised that the 50 years is a real milestone. It’s an important anniversary both in the US and Vietnam. “We should mark this occasion so that people born after the war can understand what both countries went through and how far we’ve come.”
Leahy expressed his hope that more historians, US government officials, and the public realise as he did when he first came to the Senate that the Vietnam War was a terrible mistake with lasting consequences. “So we should get back to Vietnam, a beautiful country, the very intelligent young people I've met,” he said.
The former Senator shared experiences from his visits, including to the Law Faculty of the Vietnam National University (now the University of Law under VNU) and Fulbright University. He spoke with Vietnamese students and heard their hopes for the future. It's the same thing he'd heard in a university in the US.
“We cannot forget the victims of war and Agent Orange is an example. Other things are, we can do more. We can do better,” he stated.
Reflecting on the 30-year relationship between Vietnam and the US, Leahy noted that the ties have steadily improved almost every year.
“It wasn't perfect even at first, but then it just kept getting better and better. And I think one of the things that can help an awful lot with that is young people or students, US citizens who go to Vietnam, Vietnamese citizens come to the US to study.”
Businesses from both nations have also contributed significantly to the robust partnership, he noted.
“The tourism industry is something where people are suddenly realising what a beautiful country Vietnam is, and they've gone there and seen that. So in all of this, there's no one step that is going to make the relationship, but there's a whole series of steps and it's like a puzzle. They all go together. The pieces go together, and it works,” Leahy said./.
