Open your eyes, and quit this blind hatred nonsense, madam!!!!!!!

Dear Ms. Pham, I don't know where to begin, but reading these comments of yours has left me confused about your intentions and thoughts. Who are you really mad at? You keep on putting the blame on the American people, and you don't tell the readers what they did wrong or even what they should be blamed for!!! I can understand your feeling upset from looking at the photos of those unfortunate children, but I just don't see the link between the American people and the impoverishment in Vietnam. Coming from racially-mixed parentage, my mother, a South Vietnamese former national and my father, an Anglo-American U.S. military personnel member during the war, I also wished that the war had ended differently. However, the fighting had dragged on for just too long, and with the change of powers and leaders in the U.S. along with many other elements during this lengthy turmoil considerably damaged what was originally planned in the end. That is why so many South Vietnamese fled to foreign lands in search of new beginnings away from the "dreaded" victorious communists. And though I'm classified as an American through descent and not a "refugee", I was born in Saigon and left there for the same reasons as all other South Vietnamese refugees, for a better life. Now that we've settled in our second homelands, whether it be in the U.S,, Canada, France, Germany or even Australia. We tend to forget to show our appreciation to these countries that welcomed us and their extended generosities. These countries were all allied forces with the Republican army of former South Vietnam. When the questionable cease-fire agreement cooked up by the Nixon administration was signed, and the fighting continued up until the Fall of Saigon in '75, these allied forces opened their doors to those seeking refuge. The U.S. had the largest number of troops sent during the conflict, so naturally they took the responsibility of welcoming the majority of these refugees. Ms. Pham, I gather you didn't resettle here in the U.S. But even if you found a new home in one of the other countries mentioned, they were also part of the allied forces. If you must place the blame for whatever reason, such as it might make you feel better, you should also include the entire coalition of allied forces. May I also correct you on your statement that you "had to leave Vietnam"? Unless your family were diplomats or political leaders of the former Republic of South Vietnam about to be executed by the new communist regimes taking over, or maybe if you are Amerasian to be ostracized as children of their obvious enemies, than you made the choice to leave. Because you didn't believe in the communist form of government or way of life, and didn't want to conform to the communists, you chose to seek elsewhere to live like the rest of us. That is the biggest misconception most Vietnamese living abroad tend to have. The new regime taking over South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, never wanted to lose their new citizens to other countries. They very much wanted all of us to remain there and reform into Communist followers. Just remember that you made that choice to flee. Whenever I come across certain Vietnamese ex-nationals and their constant jabbing of how great this make-believe utopia they describe of Vietnam long ago, I find myself constantly at a loss of words. It's rather amusing that we have forgotten history. Most people who are alive today who came from Vietnam, aren't old enough to ever have experienced any substantial period of peace and stability back there. Prior to the U.S.-involved war, Vietnam was fighting battle after battle, i.e. with the Japanese, the French, who had colonized the Vietnamese and could hardly be credited as loving, parental powers to their seized French-Indochina possession offspring, and need we be reminded of the wars and hostilities between Vietnam and good-old China? Back in the day, there was poverty, social injustice, corruption, and the list goes on and on. I guess, this is the way a lot of us obtain some sort of comfort from being homesick, and make believe in this fantasy of the past. If you disagree with me, just think long and hard about this hypothetical "what-if". What if the communists were to be out of power completely in Vietnam tomorrow? How many of us Vietnamese-Americans, Vietnamese-Canadians, Vietnamese-Australians, and so forth, would jump on the first flight with a one-way ticket returning to our first homeland? I'd visit there, myself, more often than I do now, but I wouldn't give up my American citizenship. And you? Would you give up your privilleged life in the first-world to repatriate? It's okay if you don't want to, remember your new homeland gave you the choice to live and to obtain naturalized citizenship there, and your new government won't put you in a position where you "have" to flee back to you came from. Just count your blessings you're here, and rather than to hate, perhaps try to pray for those less fortunate like those kids.