I would have voted for Uncle Ho

I would have voted for Ho Chi Minh. I was Viet Cong. I wanted my country together. When the peace was made at Geneve in 1954 it was promised that fair elections would be held and my country would be unified. This did not happen because of the United States intervention. I grew up resenting the United States, fearing the Republicans and fooling the G.I.s. I now live in America. I still feel it was wrong for the United States to intervene in our elction and install Ngo Dinh Diem. The action of the United States government was not based on helping the people of Viet Nam, but on fear of communism. Only now since the Soviet union has collapsed can American officials look back and say "the Viet Nam War was a mistake." I have heard the Viet Cong reffered to as "dickless bastards" and "f--king slant eyes." After the war by people who did not realize I was one of them (of course one half of the first insult is true; I am female). The resentment is still there. Let me saythis : I fought for a noble cause. The methods of the Viet Cong may have been unsavory at times, but so were the methods of the Republicans and the Americans (Need I mention My Lai?). In a war sometimes things are done which are indeed atrocities and should never happen, but despite the fact that they should not happen they do. I personally wonder sometimes if I am guilty of such crimes. I do not know. I have killed, yet I could just as easily have been killed. To say that either side was inherently good or evil is wrong. We both did what we felt necessary at the time. The whole thing, however could have been avoided. this is not assigning abstract labels, this is fact. I hope that in the future more wars that can be avoided will be and that no other country will have to suffer through what Viet Nam sufferd. This is why I tell my story, so between the sides there can be understanding and aknowledgement of what went wrong and why.