EL SALVADOR AND VIETNAM: HOW TO READ HISTORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100100086-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: April 18, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100100086-8
ARTICLZ APPBARED
ON PAGE_AL-
:
FOREIGN POLI
?1"?,'-"
BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE
18 April 1982
S TAT
- - ..- :
?
On the:telebarice oft e lesson?gto UStrIndoT7.h mc
n. cid
'` ? .;:
. ? .
- ?:::
...By 'Robert 2.,Aanning ? " ?
. Special to.The Globe
?hen PreSidt.Reagan'at
his news conference late
in February .delivered his
.,?,-;.astOnishing version
how ,the United States got .1
Into warn"Vietnam: rny mind went back
*i'? to a- pair Of photograph'S Et?Lken in 19L1.-5...1
agent3whGhad
`...infiltrated'int6V,ietnain; they are teaching,:
7:7Vietnamese Insurgents how tO throw hand
? ::.grenades.:_The other, . taken-On- Sept: 2.:
1945, shoWs Vietnamese followers of Ho-.
? CM Minh saluting as the flag of Ho's newly
-*proclaimed independent. Republic of
? 1-nam . is -raised... Standing with ? the
nameSe at full salUte are unifor4ned Ameri-
can Members of the OSS
.Contrary, to Mr.:Reagan's simplistic re- -...
?1.construction of.history..Anierica:s involve:
imentin its longest War began not sudden--,
?::ly in- -1965. but: at the: Mile pinpointedlin.-
::fthose photographs. When President John-::
sOn (not President Kennedy; as Mr., Reagan
? Said) ordered a brigade of US Marines into:
::Vietnam, the 'United Stat. had been in-:
??'.oreaSingly involved for '20:years ? in the':
?
struggle for.contrO) of Vietnanand had '
'already become engaged in fighting there.
began with that OSS mission in the....
Waning days of World War U. The wartime:
:agency. later to beborile the CiA; sent the,
iteam, under a-young Army Major named::
Archimedes Patti.. to -"establish an. intelli.;;,i
ence network'in the entire_ peninsula of
.? Itwas thought. then that the
? fight against Japan. whose forces had oc
cupied Vietnam i might go on for another;?.!
.
two or three7slears.I.Patti'S.. team ..;waSA
'. Charged ? ivith- reconnolteririoci Japanese
. forces and harassing them when pos.sible.
and with- establishing escape routes for 1
shot-down American fliers. It needed reit; ?
ablenative contacts. Patti, drawing on an
.LOSS dossier. that told .of the_exploits of a
toLigh.-". wispy-seeming .Vietnamese Com--1.
;'..inunist.'..ealled':..1-k?-?:....Chi:{; Minh' CI% who
:[enlightens-1,!..SetIOUt to7b.eolt..-up With the.;
COns1derable:,,;:rundergraf,thd..;7:Organization'i.s
that}i?;'whIle
' Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04
?zau ;.14;?.
organize against the return of Indo
CChina'ssPrench?colonizers after the war.:-.--
s .....-;,-,,,,..;:-7.:-.-.., .. -
2.---,----f-,--:4;:.
$ Thoughtthose old photographs; today
r
?
seern,',to drip-with irony .7.:thespectacle of.,.
A.Crier' lica.thggit'oming foriar.:gi-very'sc..1.7.',.
Preis' .'f.lifd fight laieTtC14;itie:ebliabora4
511Cirirrv.fals-7.a,t-fliat, timet-not:.?:aris,i,dd:?One.:A
e erli.aiiiiColonial:poliey;Alictated by,,?;:'
derif.-1,i-al1n Roosevelt, was to.op-
e .!..
g,,--.47,4A,Ce's3ietilr.n...t-0:411., fl,4-0-_Gv'er-Inect7 c;:in.'aeiPSs-InissioT.4..ained..:.}16:;-41s,..!
rE:rilloolteacher. turned genera1.Y0 itiguyerr;
bf..a.p.i:E.:arkEttliseir...several-ll'undFed insur.:-.
; gqn tg -.1r1;frii5derri military tactics and pro.!
S vided thernirith machine v.n.s:.:Browning?..
b autoFatiC:rinei, and grenades.-gm-haps a-
? many 'as,.2.60.f0ture leaders;cf.Ncrth- Viet:74
} nam's ar-ra tdrces got early..t.rainingiroini
t the American 055 Men. -."!SOMe of ns;!. Pap7;1
ti wrote later.,:;,$lay have suspected that In.
'
/ the future ihe;weapons.ancktraining might,
be used ? against' the Prenchbitt. -no one:
? dreamed ..-that-1hey wonkt.:ever.-be .. used.
?,--against Americans ::-tt -
? . ?: ,.yz--, x??= u. . ?? . - - ?'1.t..?::::4
...A change in American polli-Y;
?. The collaboration betweed...Xtheridaiis I
' and Ho's Vietnamese was of fir more than.,
`i-echnica...1.yEliiko Ho: His aitrid.use of the i
%-liansi5ina 'throughout :Vietnam the , ..
impression' that t that Aniei'ictr truly fa- .1
.NrOreci Vietnamese Independence anct?snp; I
lierieri -iicif '04' Minh's ideteiMination, to
ftirestall- France's return:heday 'he
1. proclaimed:: independence.'2pie-1 'event i
koemorialized,'-in the flag-raiiing.photo -- ? !
419 release:1.a: Declaration of independence I
wing.hea:;iiynn.the language of Amen- li
g;.a's own; pcclar.ation. Major.; pattk. even ;
' -I.1101)e41P)..e9.. .mpose:it: r'He_had.the words
? ?Afe.and liberty, kind of traaspliSid: and. I :
4ircilied-it.cAkt a little bit for him
,
ti-t.*And as?the'Republic's red flag with its i
:yellow star .Was ? being raised, there i
? ..appeared overhead,-quite inadvertently. it !
..?....appear.s,-. a squadron of AmOcan -fighter .1
..splanes..::but.i,pf.. curiosity.:, the. planes
wooped .low..:over: the Independence Day j
torowd. and..twordsoon swept-through the ;
I.-countrys de. aari Itinerican aerial salute.
,- _ ..
Eyet.,- Another.; sign that the .A.Inited. States .
- ,:euPPorted.f.ii'P..do.rn? from FraPPP4i-tiflif6f.',;i1
t- ? -
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