Ăn quả nhớ kẻ
trồng cây
Kim Âu
Vào ngày 17/10/2010
vừa qua, một người em ở bên quận Cam email cho tôi để hỏi về vấn đề của bà
Loretta Sanchez và HR 3336 (sai). Đọc qua email, chúng tôi biết ngay có dính
dáng đến vấn đề tranh cử giữa bà Loretta Sanchez và Trần Thái Văn. Tất nhiên,
tôi hiểu sẽ có nhiều đ̣n phép được sử dụng nhưng bất kỳ một sự tấn công nào nhắm
vào bà Loretta Sanchez để bôi nhọ lịch sử của Vietnamese Commandos, biến chúng
tôi thành những kẻ không biết ơn nghĩa, chắc chắn chúng tôi sẽ lên tiếng.
Ông Trần Thái Văn và
Ban Tranh Cử của ông nên ngưng ngay mưu toan tấn công bà Loretta Sanchez qua Đạo
Luật Bồi Thường & Vinh Danh Vietnamese Commandos. Ngay tại quận Cam, khi cựu
tổng thống Bill Clinton đến vận động cho bà Sanchez, những anh em Biệt Kích tại
địa phương đă tham dự ủng hộ bà Sanchez để đáp lại t́nh nghĩa của bà đối với
"Những người lính một thời bị lăng quên".
Chúng tôi Gia Đ́nh
Biệt Kích ở tận Atlanta, Georgia hoàn ṭan đồng t́nh với Gia Đ́nh Biệt Kích ở
Santa Anna. Và chắc chắn tất cả những người trong lực lượng này trên toàn Hoa Kỳ
cũng đều chung một cảm nghĩ như vậy. Những vị nào thuộc đảng Cộng Ḥa vận động
cho Trần Thái Văn nên cố gắng t́m mục tiêu khác.
Anh em chúng tôi vẫn
c̣n sống trên nước Mỹ, bản thân tôi Hà văn Sơn (Kim Âu) là người vào điều trần
trước Uỷ Ban T́nh Báo Thượng Viện Hoa Kỳ xác nhận bà Lorettra Sanchez là một nữ
dân biểu Hạ Viện đă có những hành xử để lực lượng Vietnamese Commandos quư trọng
và tri ân cũng như ông cựu dân biểu Bob Dornan. Trong email trả lời cho người em
chúng tôi có nói rơ: "Bob Dornan là dân biểu hạ viện mà anh gặp ông ấy để vận
động từ cuối năm 1995. Anh có hai tấm h́nh chụp với ông ấy nay t́m không ra. Có
một tấm h́nh chụp khi ông ấy trao plaque vinh danh, hai tháng sau ngày điều
trần.Chính ông ấy là người đưa dự luật Vietnamese Commandos ra hạ viện.
Congressional Record
104th Congress
(1995-1996)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLIC BILLS AND
RESOLUTIONS (House of Representatives - June 18, 1996)
By Mr. DORNAN:
H.R. 3668. A bill to
require the Secretary of Defense to provide back pay to the Vietnamese commandos
who were employed by the United States during the Vietnam conflict to conduct
covert operations in North Vietnam so as to compensate the commandos for the
years in which they were imprisoned and persecuted in Vietnam; to the Committee
on National Security.
http://www.archive.org/details/vietnamesecomman00unit (Văn Bản Về Cuộc Điều
Trần)
Phần Thượng Viện do
hai ông John Kerry và John MC Cain. Khi điều trần xong là Dự Luật thông qua ngay
ngày 19-6-1996, lúc đó vẫn là Bob Dornan. Bà Sanchez nhờ thắng cử hạ được ông
Dornan nên bà tiếp tục phần sau, khi Bộ Quốc Pḥng tŕ hoăn v́ chưa có ngân
sách. Bà Sanchez cũng có công và có ḷng giúp đỡ giải quyết. Chúng ta không nên
phủ nhận công lao của bà ấy. Theo anh th́ bà ta làm việc có lợi cho cộng đồng
Việt Nam hơn
KERRY (AND MCCAIN) AMENDMENT NO. 4451 (Senate - July 11, 1996)
[Page: S7784] GPO's PDF(Ordered to lie on the table.)
Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mr. McCain) submitted an amendment intended to be
proposed by them to the bill, S. 1894, supra; as follows:
On page 88, between lines 7 and 8, insert the following:
Sec. 8099. Of the total amount appropriated under title II, $20,000,000 shall be
available subject to authorization, until expended, for payments to Vietnamese
commandos captured and incarcerated by North Vietnam after having entered the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam pursuant to operations under a Vietnam era
operation plan known as `OPLAN 34A', or its predecessor, and to Vietnamese
operatives captured and incarcerated by North Vietnamese forces while
participating in operations in Laos or along the Lao-Vietnamese border pursuant
to `OPLAN 35', who died in captivity or who remained in captivity after 1973,
and who have not received payment from the United States for the period spent in
captivity.
HONORING FORMER
SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY COMMANDOS
(House of
Representatives - May 21, 1998)
[Page: H3733] GPO's
PDF
(Ms. SANCHEZ asked
and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and
extend her remarks.)
Ms. SANCHEZ. Mr.
Speaker, 2 weeks ago the House Committee on National Security unanimously
approved my amendment to honor and recognize the former South Vietnamese army
commandos who were employees of the United States Government during the Vietnam
War.
Today, the Members of
this House had the opportunity to properly honor those brave men by supporting
the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 1999.
Last year, the
President signed into law legislation that I advocated to ensure that the United
States Government honor a 30-year-old bad debt and pay these men who worked for
the United States Government the wages they earned but were denied during the
Vietnam War.
These individuals
were trained by the Pentagon to infiltrate and destabilize communist North
Vietnam.
Many of these
commandos were captured and tortured while in prison for 15 to 20 years, and
many never made it out.
Declassified DOD
documents showed that U.S. officials wrote off the commandos as dead even though
they knew from various sources that many were alive in Vietnamese prisons.
The documents also
show that U.S. officials lied to the soldiers' wives, paid them tiny `Death
Gratuities' and washed their hands of the matter.
For example, Mr. Ha Van Son was listed as dead by our Government in 1967,
although he was known to be in a communist prison in North Vietnam. Today he is
very much alive and well and living in Chamblee, GA. In my hand I hold the
United States Government's official declaration of his death.
Because it was a secret covert operation, the U.S. Government thought they could
easily ignore the commandos, their families, friends, and their previous
contacts without anyone noticing.
As the Senior Senator
from Pennsylvania said in a recent hearing, `This is a genuinely incredible
story of callous, inhumane, and really barbaric treatment by the United States.'
In
the 104th Congress, this House approved legislation that required the Department
of Defense to pay reparations to the commandos.
This bill would have
provided $20 million to the commandos and their survivors, an average grant of
about $40,000 per commando. It called them to be paid $2,000 a year for every
year they were in prison, less than the wages they were due.
President Clinton signed this legislation into law (Public Law 104-201).
However, in April of 1997, the Department of Defense said that the statute was
legislatively flawed and the Secretary could not legally make payments.
I then contacted Secretary Cohen
requesting the administration's help to correct this error.
The administration
responded by supporting inclusion of the funding in the Supplemental
Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1997 (Public Law 105-18)
Last year, I met at a
public forum with 40 commandos from my district.
One individual shared
with me his story of how he parachuted into enemy territory, was captured,
convicted of treason, beaten, thrown into solitary confinement for 11 months,
then moved among hard--labor camps for the next seven years.
His story is not
unlike countless others. I request unanimous consent to insert into the record
one story of this abuse headlined `Uncommon Betrayal' as reported by an Atlantia
newspaper recently.
Today, however, I am
pleased to provide this Body with this update.
To date, the Commando
Compensation Board has been established at the Pentagon; 266 claims have been
processed; 142 Commandos have been paid.
All this was made
possible because of the commitment of this House.
After years of
torture by the North Vietnamese, the callousness of being declared dead by the
United States Government, and years of anguish over not receiving their rightful
compensation--these brave men now deserve recognition.
The South Vietnamese
Lost Army Commandos are finally a step closer to having the United States
Government honor their contracts for their years of service to the United States
Army.
I am proud that the
members of the House had an opportunity to properly honor these brave men
We can not bring
those who perished back, but we can give these individuals the dignity and
respect that's been so long overdue.
Who supports this
resolution?
The State of
California American Legion strongly endorses this amendment and I would like to
submit the letter from the Department Commander Frank Larson into the Record.
In Commander Larson's
letter dated May 1, 1998, he states, `Ms. Sanchez: I'm sure if history were
unfolded for all to see it would show that the South Vietnamese commandos, who
aided the United States Government in covert actions against the North
Vietnamese, were responsible for saving many American lives.'
It goes on to say:
`To that end, the same recognition due our soldiers, sailors, marines and airman
involved in the Vietnamese Conflict should be afforded to the former South
Vietnamese commandos, who so gallantly served and endured.'
It is also supported
by: The Air Commando Organization; The Special Forces Organization.
American veterans who
fought side by side with the Commandos, come to their defense in letters of
support.
I would like to share
with you what our soldiers have to say about the commandos.
This letter comes
from a special forces NCO:
`Dear Sir: I had
the opportunity to work with these men in which they not only risked their
lives, but continually put themselves in harms way. * * * We are aware of
terrible trials and conditions these men endured for so long and we would like
to help * * *'
I would also like to
take this opportunity to mention that last year, during POW/MIA recognition day,
I had the opportunity to meet with several members of my veteran community.
I had the opportunity
to speak with former POWs and family members whose loved ones were taken as
prisoners or declared missing in action. Several of the veterans mentioned their
support for the Commandos and urged that the Government honor its word.
Today, we gave these
commandos what they really wanted, the distinction of honoring their service in
the Vietnam War. And on behalf of the 40 commandos residing in the 46th
Congressional District of California, I would like to thank the Members of this
body for their commitment to honor and to recognize the former South Vietnamese
army commandos.
Mr. Speaker, I submit
for the Record a series of documents relating to these former South Vietnamese
commandos.
[Page: H3734] GPO's
PDF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND:
The 1997 Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to
compensate Vietnamese operatives who participated in specific missions
(described below) during the Vietnam War. The Assistant Secretary of Defense
(Force Management Policy) appointed a Commission to adjudicate the individual
claims of the commandos, and tasked the Army to provide a voting member for the
Commission, establish a Commission Support Staff to process and pay claims
determined valid by the Commission, and to provide a Staff Director. The
Secretary of the Army tasked this mission to the Deputy Under Secretary of the
Army (International Affairs)(DUSA-IA). The Support Staff is a Field Operating
Agency of the Army Secretariat, and reports to the Military Deputy to the
DUSA-IA. The DUSA-IA is the DoD Executive Agent for providing direct support to
the Commission.
1. H.CON.RES.269 : Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the heroism,
sacrifice, and service of former South Vietnamese commandos in connection with
United States armed forces during the Vietnam conflict.
Sponsor: Rep Sanchez, Loretta [CA-46] (introduced 4/30/1998) Cosponsors
(None)
Committees: House National Security
Latest Major Action: 6/10/1998 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred
to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. H.RES.316 : Recognizing and honoring former South Vietnamese commandos for
their heroism, sacrifice, and service during the Vietnam conflict.
Sponsor: Rep Sanchez, Loretta [CA-46] (introduced 11/8/1997) Cosponsors
(None)
Committees: House International Relations
Latest Major Action: 11/20/1997 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred
to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
Quư vị có thể t́m đọc
những tài liệu lịch sử này qua các links dưới đây:
Tóm lại những luận
điệu bôi nhọ bà Loretta Sanchez nếu có là hoàn ṭan sai trái, gỉa dối, bóp méo
lịch sử và vô h́nh chung đă xúc phạm đến sự quư trọng và tri ân của người trong
cuộc. "Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây". Đối với chúng tôi "Kẻ gieo hạt và Người vun
trồng" đều đáng được tri ân.
Gia Đ́nh Biệt Kích
tri ân và ủng hộ bà LorettaSanchez
Kim Âu
23/10/2010
Tặng Kim Âu
Chính khí hạo nhiên! Tổ Quốc t́nh.
Nghĩa trung can đảm, cái thiên thanh.
Văn phong thảo phạt, quần hùng phục.
Sơn đỉnh vân phi, vạn lư tŕnh.
Thảo Đường Cư Sĩ.
