Lessons of Vietnam
From Mr John Colvin Sir: The similarity between the current nego- tiations with Sinn Fein/IRA and those between the US and Hanoi in 1973 continues to be overlooked. American permission then for the North Vietnamese army to remain in South Vietnam, while themselves withdraw- ing, is a precise parallel to failure to insist on decommissioning in Ulster today.
Blair's comment that decommissioning is only 'a symbol which stands in the way of progress' is therefore the more alarming. That earlier US decision led to the takeover of all Vietnam by the Vietcong; similar con- sequences — for Britain and the Loyalists — could follow from a similar failure of will in London, without even the excuse of Watergate as a restraint on action.
John Colvin
London SW1
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