Giap Recalls Vietnam Wins Vs. France, U.S.

By TINI TRAN Associated Press Writer

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The frail and tiny man who
defeated two superpowers returned to the spotlight
Friday to talk of triumphs past and deliver words of
warning to the Americans at war in Iraq.

"Any forces that would impose their will on other
nations will certainly face defeat," said Vo Nguyen
Giap, the legendary general whose strategies wore out
the French colonial regime and then the U.S. Army.

Giap is 92 now, the last of Vietnam’s giants in a
30-year war to shake off colonial rule and unite the
country under communism. What brought him to a rare
meeting with journalists was two landmark
anniversaries: The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975,
and the defeat of French colonial forces at the epic
siege of Dien Bien Phu, 50 years ago next Friday.

With critics of the Iraq war likening it to America’s
Vietnam experience, Giap’s opinion was eagerly sought,
but the man considered one of history’s foremost
military strategists prefaced his reply with caution,
saying he didn’t know the specifics of the Iraqi
situation.

He offered this: "All nations fighting for their
legitimate interests and sovereignty will surely win."

Giap emphasized the powers of today shouldn’t
underestimate weaker countries’ desire for
independence.

Vietnam "proves that if a nation is determined to stand
up, it is very strong," he said, adding that his
country led the wave of independence wars that freed
the colonies of the European empires after World War
II.

Giap lives a reclusive life in a gardened French
colonial villa near the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, his
schoolmate and later president. The white-haired
soldier came to the news conference at the government
guesthouse in central Hanoi wearing an eggshell-white
uniform with no medals attached.

Speaking Vietnamese and French, he was relaxed and
animated during a two-hour session, pumping his fist,
wagging his finger, cracking jokes, thanking Americans
who opposed the Vietnam War, and reminiscing about his
days as a fighting revolutionary.

Giap had no military background or training when Ho Chi
Minh chose him to command the Viet Minh army. A history
professor and one-time journalist, he had joined the
struggle against French colonial rule at age 14. His
wife had died in a French prison.

But his gut instincts and natural talent were proven
during the pivotal battle at the border outpost of Dien
Bien Phu.

Giap’s Chinese advisers told him to strike hard and
fast, but he opted for slow, steady ambushes and the
unexpected - like having his troops drag heavy
artillery, piece by piece, over steep mountain passes
to surround the French.

The 56-day siege ended with the French surrender on May
7, 1954, ultimately ending France’s rule in Indochina
and inspiring anti-colonial fighters around the world.
But peace would remain elusive.

The day after Giap’s victory at Dien Bien Phu, a
telegram arrived from Ho Chi Minh that said: "The
victory is really great, but it’s just the beginning."

The country had been partitioned, and American troops
began arriving to defend Washington’s South Vietnamese
ally against communist-ruled North Vietnam. That war
lasted until April 30, 1975, when Saigon, capital of
South Vietnam, fell to communist forces.

As revolutionaries fighting in the jungle, Giap said he
and Ho Chi Minh simply dreamed of a country free of
foreign domination.

Back then, "Vietnam was an enslaved country. The only
free place was in the jungles and behind our enemy’s
back. Modern Vietnam is much different. Vietnam today
is a country of freedom, unity, independence, democracy
and peace," he said.

The country is still under the one-party communist
system inherited from Ho, who died in 1969, but the
trappings of capitalism are everywhere as the nation of
80 million strives to mesh into the global economy.

The changes were evident from the ornate French
colonial guesthouse where Giap used to meet Ho Chi
Minh, and to which he returned to bask briefly in his
former glory.

Across Ngo Quyen Street stands the elegant, restored
Metropole Hotel, now filled with American and other
foreign tourists. Nearby, a store sells French wines.

Roads once filled with bicycles are now clogged with
cellphone-wielding youths on motorbikes. Neon signs and
flashy billboards, Internet cafes and trendy
restaurants dot the capital.

Dien Bien Phu has also grown and modernized, as Giap
saw when he recently visited there and met a few
surviving veterans of the battle.

"I am more than 90 years old. I never thought I’d have
another opportunity to visit Dien Bien Phu," he said.
"I had very strong emotions - memories of those who had
fallen."

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