From Enemy To Friend: A North Vietnamese Perspective on the War

by Bui Tin

Introduction by James Webb. In a question and answer format that simulates an in-depth interview, Bui Tin, a former colonel in the North Vietnamese Army shares his insights into many aspects of the Vietnam War. Once a presidential palace guard for Ho Chi Minh and a participant in the decisive battle of the French-Indochina War at Dien Bien Phu, he later served as a frontline commander and war correspondent in the fighting against the United States. In 1973 Colonel Tin was an official spokesman for the North Vietnamese delegation that arranged the return of American POWs and rode a tank onto the presidential palace grounds in Saigon to accept the South Vietnamese surrender. In September 1990, he left Vietnam to reside in Paris, where he has become a leading critic of the Hanoi leadership.

Believing that a dialogue between old enemies is both desirable and necessary for the well being of the two nations, Bui Tin is open-minded and candid in his views about the policies and operations of the Vietnamese and U.S. governments. In the book he addresses such matters as the performance of U.S. military forces, varying strategies that might have yielded different outcomes, and the degree of involvement by the Soviet Union and Communist China along with a thought-provoking analysis of the long struggle that eventually brought his side victory but, ultimately, personal disappointment and alienation. To enhance the dialogue, some of his views are supported and others are challenged in a stimulating foreword by the Emmy Award-winning writer, former secretary of the Navy, and outspoken Vietnam War hero, James Webb. The result is a book that offers a rare glimpse into the mind of an enemy we never fully understood.

Genres: Military Fiction

172 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 2002

About the author

Colonel Bùi Tín is a Vietnamese dissident and defector. He was formerly an officer in the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, a.k.a. NVA), in which capacity he accepted the surrender of retired General Dương Văn Minh (1916-2001), the last President of the Republic of Vietnam, on April 30, 1975 in Saigon. After the war he served as the Vice Editor-in-Chief of the People's Daily (Nhân Dân, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam). He later became disillusioned & disaffected with the corrupt and authoritarian communist regime in Viet Nam, and emigrated to France in 1990.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bui Tin was present when the NVA entered Saigon in 1975; in fact he was the highest-ranking member of the Vietnamese Communist Party on the scene and spoke to Big Minh after the NVA troops crashed their tanks into the palace grounds. After the war, however, he became disillusioned and went into exile in France. He saw the war first as a member of the Viet Minh fighting the French in the 40's and 50's, so he's an unusually informative witness to the whole 10,000-day experience. Reading Bui Tin and watching interviews with him (he is still alive as of this writing) is fundamental to an understanding of both Indochina wars.