Veteran war reporter Peter Arnett, who made a name for himself by spending 13 tumultuous years covering the conflict in Việt Nam, is still drawn to the country’s past and present.
He is scheduled to visit Việt Nam this week to promote the Vietnamese version of his 1995 book, ''Live from the Battlefield: From Việt Nam to Baghdad, 35 years in the world’s war zones. '' It was translated into Vietnamese by a Vietnamese student at Hong Kong Baptist University.
The modern-day Việt Nam is a mixture, he wrote in an e-mail interview with Thanh Niên newspaper. The rampant commercialism that is transforming Việt Nam with the million motorcycles clogging the streets of Sài Gòn is infused with ''the inherent sadness below the surface of a country much more scarred by war than many observers believe.''
During one of his visits, notably in 2007 with a group of Chinese university students, he recalled in his e-mail, ''We found that on the surface the Vietnamese people were amiable and helpful to visiting foreigners. We were aware that the government had long stres-sed the importance of strong political and economic ties with its former enemies in the west.''
Arnett spent his lifetime and career covering wars, including the Việt Nam War between 1962-1975 for the Associated Press and most recently, 2003’s Gulf War II and its bloody aftermath.
He became an international household name for his ability to provide reports from the battlefields and exclusive interviews with political figures such as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein during his time with CNN.
But it was Việt Nam where he produced his most vital works, with more than 3,500 articles during the 13-year period. He helped contribute to the American public’s better understanding of the war. That led, in part, possibly to the U.S. government’s withdrawal of the troops in 1973.
Arnett said as a young reporter, he was not driven to be in Việt Nam because of a Pulitzer Prize in international reporting or any other kinds of awards
''There’s more to war reporting than just writing about getting shot at,'' he wrote. ''Since I received my award there have been approximately 500 Pulitzers awarded. So how many names can you remember of those who won? But you can remember the generals’ names and the politicians’ names.''
''The longer I stayed in Việt Nam the more I wanted to discover the truth, and the truth at that time was that the war was not going well. I was reporting the truth and the truth was going against the Americans in Việt Nam. I was supporting a sensible end to the bloodshed, and I remain sorry to this day that the end did not come sooner.
''But it was not me who was supporting the Vietnamese people. It was the truth of what was happening that supported them, and I was simply the messenger of that truth.''
During the years in the Sài Gòn working for the AP, Arnett covered what he considered to be every subject: from battles in the jungles to politics in Sài Gòn to VIP visits and even beach parties.
The then-AP war correspondent had access to nearly every major figure of the former Sài Gòn govern-ment’s officers, generals and diplomats, including vice president Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and Madame Nhu.
''Việt Nam was the first modern American war to allow open coverage,'' according to Arnett. ''That’s why the war was so controversial because the reporters could tell the truth from the battlefield that often conflicted with the official government propaganda view of the war.
''You must realize that no similar reporting opportunities were offered on your side of the war. In the wars since then, the U.S. government has imposed controls on coverage by the media, which means that the full story is not being told, as is clear in Iraq.''
For the past two years, Arnett has been teaching journalism at Shantou University in southern China, a university founded and supported by Hong Kong billionaire and philanthropist Li Ka Shing.
During his summer trip in 2007, he took his students to visit the old battlefield sites in Quảng Trị Province in central Việt Nam. They also visited the old French prison nicknamed the ''Hà Nội Hilton,'' and the Trường Sơn cemetery.
The students were so moved driving through the bomb-blasted landscape that one said ''it was like a moving textbook,'' Arnett recalled.
He is scheduled to visit Việt Nam this week to promote the Vietnamese version of his 1995 book, ''Live from the Battlefield: From Việt Nam to Baghdad, 35 years in the world’s war zones. '' It was translated into Vietnamese by a Vietnamese student at Hong Kong Baptist University. The modern-day Việt Nam is a mixture, he wrote in an e-mail interview with Thanh Niên newspaper. The rampant commercialism that is transforming Việt Nam with the million motorcycles clogging the streets of Sài Gòn is infused with ''the inherent sadness below the surface of a country much more scarred by war than many observers believe.''
During one of his visits, notably in 2007 with a group of Chinese university students, he recalled in his e-mail, ''We found that on the surface the Vietnamese people were amiable and helpful to visiting foreigners. We were aware that the government had long stres-sed the importance of strong political and economic ties with its former enemies in the west.''
Arnett spent his lifetime and career covering wars, including the Việt Nam War between 1962-1975 for the Associated Press and most recently, 2003’s Gulf War II and its bloody aftermath.
He became an international household name for his ability to provide reports from the battlefields and exclusive interviews with political figures such as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein during his time with CNN.
But it was Việt Nam where he produced his most vital works, with more than 3,500 articles during the 13-year period. He helped contribute to the American public’s better understanding of the war. That led, in part, possibly to the U.S. government’s withdrawal of the troops in 1973.
Arnett said as a young reporter, he was not driven to be in Việt Nam because of a Pulitzer Prize in international reporting or any other kinds of awards
''There’s more to war reporting than just writing about getting shot at,'' he wrote. ''Since I received my award there have been approximately 500 Pulitzers awarded. So how many names can you remember of those who won? But you can remember the generals’ names and the politicians’ names.''
''The longer I stayed in Việt Nam the more I wanted to discover the truth, and the truth at that time was that the war was not going well. I was reporting the truth and the truth was going against the Americans in Việt Nam. I was supporting a sensible end to the bloodshed, and I remain sorry to this day that the end did not come sooner.
''But it was not me who was supporting the Vietnamese people. It was the truth of what was happening that supported them, and I was simply the messenger of that truth.''
During the years in the Sài Gòn working for the AP, Arnett covered what he considered to be every subject: from battles in the jungles to politics in Sài Gòn to VIP visits and even beach parties.
The then-AP war correspondent had access to nearly every major figure of the former Sài Gòn govern-ment’s officers, generals and diplomats, including vice president Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and Madame Nhu.
''Việt Nam was the first modern American war to allow open coverage,'' according to Arnett. ''That’s why the war was so controversial because the reporters could tell the truth from the battlefield that often conflicted with the official government propaganda view of the war.
''You must realize that no similar reporting opportunities were offered on your side of the war. In the wars since then, the U.S. government has imposed controls on coverage by the media, which means that the full story is not being told, as is clear in Iraq.''
For the past two years, Arnett has been teaching journalism at Shantou University in southern China, a university founded and supported by Hong Kong billionaire and philanthropist Li Ka Shing.
During his summer trip in 2007, he took his students to visit the old battlefield sites in Quảng Trị Province in central Việt Nam. They also visited the old French prison nicknamed the ''Hà Nội Hilton,'' and the Trường Sơn cemetery.
The students were so moved driving through the bomb-blasted landscape that one said ''it was like a moving textbook,'' Arnett recalled.