Trần Ngọc Châu (fødselsdag satt til 1. januar 1924 i Vietnam i Fransk Indokina, død 17. juni 2020 i Los Angeles i California i USA), var en vietnamesisk oberstløytnant, borgermester, provinsguvernør og leder for den sørvietnamesiske nasjonalforsamlings underhus, og politisk fange både under sørvietnamesisk tid (1975] og under kommunistene (1975-1978).
Liv og virke Bakgrunn Trần Ngọc Châu ble født i 1923 eller 1924 i en konfuciansk–buddhistisk familie innen regjeringsbyråkratet (historisk kalt mandariner, eller quan på vietnamesisk),Cf., Buttinger (1958) at pp. 289–290, 219 n23 & 24.Phan Thi Dac (1966) p. 66. som levde i den gamlee keiserbyen Huế. Fødselsregistreringen var den gang ikke opptatt av dato; senere ble den av bekvemmelighet angitt 1. januar. Hans bestefar Tran Tram var en kjent høylærd og minister i den keiserlige regjering, og hans far Tran Dao Te var en ledende dommer.Fermoyle (2009), p. 422 (photo of grandfather), p. 423 (photo of father).
Trần Ngọc Châu var i syv ungdomsår student-bhikkhu (munk) på en buddhistisk skole og seminar. Dessuten fikk han fransk skolegang ved et lycée. En tredje sterk innflytelse var den vietnamesiske frihetstrang: Den delta han med sine brødre og sin søster,og respekterte eldre slektninger, som mente at det var helrt unaturlig å være styrt som koloni av et europeisk land.Châu with Fermoyle (2012) at pp. 4–5, 7 (family background); at 8, 25 (joins Việt Minh); 8–9 (Buddhist school, French lycée); 5 (two quotes). His mandarin grandfather (pp. 5, 79), and father (105). From a large family, Châu had three brothers and a sister who also joined the Việt Minh resistance (p. 109). Later Châu's own wife and six children, in addition to his small army pay, received income from family rental property (cf. p. 277).Grant (1991), re Tran Ngoc Châu: at 68–69 (family origins).Châu with Sturdevant (2001) p. 181. (brother joins Việt Minh), p. 182 (Châu).
Militær og politiker I 1944 sluttet han seg til kampbevegelsen Viet Minh for å kjempe for sitt lands frigjøring og uavhengighet. Men som overbevist buddhist vendte han seg i 1949 vendte han seg resolutt mot kommunistene i Vietnam, og sluttet seg Den vietnamesiske nasjonale armé, som var opprettet av franskmennene og var nominelt understilt keiser Bao Dai av Vietnam.
Da landet ble delt i to i 1956, ble han hæroffiser i de sørvietnamesiske væpnede styrker. Han steg til graden oberstløytnant. I mange år arbeidet han umiddelbart under president Ngô Đình Diệm (1954-63). Han ble borgermester i Da Nang, og senere guvernør for en provins i Mekongdeltaet, provinsen Kien Hoa (senere kalt Bến Tre).
Han ble kjent for sin innovative tilnærming til de teoretiske og praktiske sider med counterinsurgency (opprørsbekjempelse), altså det å vinne Vietnamkrigen med å skape sikre forold for sivilbefolkningen, og slik nå frem til fred. Regjeringens endelige mål måtte være å vinne befolkningens tillit og dette var årsaken til at han gikk inn i politikken.
I 1967, etter at han hadde forlatt den sørvietnamesiske hær, ble han valgt inn i nasjonalforsamlingen i Saigon og ble en ledende skikkelse der. Han prøvde samen med andre å overbevise sin gamle venn Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, den tidligere general som var blitt president (1967–75), til å arbeide i retning av en forhandlingsfred. Han ble også engasjert i arbeidet mot noen deler av måten krigen ble utkjempet på, og mot den alle steds nærværende korrupsjon.
Fangenskap, flukt Under det påskudd at han hadde kontakt med sin bror Trần Ngọc Hiền, som var kommunist og som var blitt arrestert, ble Trần Ngọc Châu anklaget for forræderi i 1970, da regjeringen hadde en aksjon mot dissiderende krefter. Rettsforfølgelsen som fulgte fikk stor oppmerksomhet, tildels bestyrtelse, i Sør-Vietnam og i internasjonal presse. Trần Ngọc Châu ble dømt til mange års fengsel. Deretter ble han holdt i husarrest.
Kort etter Saigons fall i 1975 ble han arrestert også av det nye kommunistiske regime, og sendt i omkoleringsleir. Han ble løslatt derfra i 1978, og deretter klarte han med sin familie å flykte med båt fra Vietnam. De slo seg ned i USA i 1979.
Død Trần Ngọc Châu døde den 17. juni 2020 i West Hills i Los Angeles som følge av covid-19, i en alder av 96 år.
Litteratur Primærlitteratur Tran Ngoc Châu with Ken Fermoyle, Vietnam Labyrinth. Allies, enemies, & why the United States lost the war (Lubbock: Texas Tech University 2012). Tran Ngoc Châu, "The curriculum was designed to 'detoxicate' us" pp. 475–480 in Appy (2003). Tran Ngoc Châu with Tom Sturdevant, "My War Story. From Ho Chi Minh to Ngô Đình Diệm" at pp. 180–209 in Neese & O'Donnell (2001). Tran Ngoc Châu, "Statement of Tran Ngoc Chau" in The Antioch Review (Fall/Winter 1970–1971), pp. 299–310, translated, annotated, and with an introduction by Trần Văn Dĩnh and Daniel Grady. Tran Ngoc Châu, two papers (via Daniel Ellsberg) and open letter, pp. 365–381, 357–360, in United States Senate (1970).Comm. on Foreign Rels., Vietnam. Policy and Prospects, 1970 [2d Ses.]. Tran Ngoc Châu, a 1968 book on the peace talks [in Vietnamese].Châu wrote another book addressed to Vietnamese, about the pursuit of peace negotiations, while he served in the Assembly. Châu with Fermoyle (2012) p. 326. Tran Ngoc Châu, From War to Peace: Restoration of the Village (Saigon 1967) [In Vietnamese].Châu with Fermoyle (2012) pp. 237, 310 (Châu's book).Châu with Sturdevant (2001) p. 202: Châu's book entitled From War to Peace: Renaissance of the Village, circa 1966–1967.Papers of Edward Geary Lansdale, Box 24, at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Tran Ngoc Châu, Pacification Plan, 2 volumes (1965 ) [unpublished].Ahern (2010) p. 182. Châu wrote and submitted "an encyclopedic two-volume pacification plan" after he had been selected national director for the Rural Development Ministry in November 1965. These volumes are now held by the CIA (p. 402 n42) as Pacification Plan prepared by Lt. Col. Tran Ngoc Chau. Ken Fermoyle, "Hawks, Doves and the Dragon" in Pond (2009), pp. 415–492.Photographic essay on Châu, his career and family. Mark Moyar, "Could South Vietnam Have Been Saved? New scholarship raises questions about antiwar consensus of Vietnam historians", in Wall Street Journal of June 28, 2013.Book review of Tran Ngoc Châu, Vietnam Labyrinth (2012) and two other works. John O'Donnell, "The Strategic Hamlet Program in Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam: A case study of counter-insurgency" pp. 703–744 in Kunstadter (1967)."This paper is not intended to be an exposition of the virtues of Lieutenant Colonel Châu. However, any analysis of the program in Kien Hoa must take into consideration his unusual ability and his contribution to whatever success was achieved." p. 723. Neil Sheehan, "Ex-Saigon Official Tells of 'Re-education' by Hanoi" in The New York Times, January 14, 1980, pp. A1, A8. Zalin Grant, Facing the Phoenix. The CIA and the political defeat of the United States in Vietnam (New York: Norton 1991)."What befell Tran Ngoc Châu in 1970 is the subject of this book" (start of Grant's "Forward" at p. 17).Terrence Maitland, "Winning Their Hearts and Minds" in The New York Times, February 3, 1991, [book review of Grant (1991)]. "The Phoenix of the title refers to Mr. Châu and his remarkable survival... ." Elizabeth Pond, The Châu Trial in Vietnamese translation as Vụ Án Trần Ngọc Châu (Westminster: Vietbook USA 2009).<ref>Châu is also discussed in the following: Ahern (2010), Colby (1989), Ellsberg (1972), Ellsberg (2002), FitzGerald (1972), Moyar (1997), O'Donnell (2001), Phillips (2008), Sheehan (1988), Valentine (1990), and elsewhere, e.g., U.S. Senate, Comm. on Foreign Relations, Impact of the War..." hearings of May 13, 1970 (in Ellsberg 1972, pp. 191–196, 197–233). Cf. Neese and O'Donnell (2001) p. 180.</ref>
Vietnam War
Counterinsurgency Thomas L. Ahern Jr., Vietnam Declassified. The CIA and counterinsurgency (University of Kentucky 2010). Dale Andradé, Ashes to Ashes. The Phoenix Program and the Vietnam War (Lexington: D.C. Heath 1990). William Colby with James McCargar, Lost Victory. A firsthand account of America's sixteen-year involvement in Vietnam (Chicago: Contemporary Books 1989). Richard A. Hunt, Pacification. The American struggle for Vietnam's hearts and minds (Boulder: Westview 1995). Edward Geary Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars (NY: Harper & Row 1972; reprint: Fordham University 1991). Mark Moyar, Phoenix and the Birds of Prey. The CIA's secret campaign to destroy the Viet Cong (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press 1997). Nguyen Cong Luan, Nationalist in the Viet Nam Wars. Memoirs of a victim turned soldier (Indiana University 2012). Rufus Phillips, Why Vietnam Matters. A eyewitness account of lessons not learned (Annapolis: Naval Institute 2008). Douglas Pike, Viet Cong. The organization and techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (M.I.T. 1966). Ken Post, Revolution, Socialism & Nationalism in Viet Nam. Vol. IV, The failure of counter-insurgency in the South (Aldershot: Dartmount 1990). Thomas W. Scoville, Reorganizing for Pacification Support (Washington: Center of Military History, US Army 1991). Tran Dinh Tho, Pacification (Washington: Center of Military History 1980), Indochina monograph series. Douglas Valentine, The Phoenix Program (New York: William Morrow 1990). Samuel B. Griffith, "Introduction" 1–34, to his translation of Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare (1940; reprint: NY: Praeger 1961). Robert W. Komer, "Impact of Pacification on Insurgency in South Vietnam" in Journal of International Affairs vol. XXV/1 (1971), reprinted in U.S. House of Reps. (1971) at pp. 290–311, introduced at 289. Robert W. Komer, "Was There Another Way?" at pp. 211–223, in Thompson and Frizzell (1977). Bruce Lawlor, "The Phoenix" at pp. 199–202, in Santoli (1981, 1982). John O'Donnell, "Life and Times of a USOM Prov Rep" at pp. 210–236, in Neese and O'Donnell (2001). Lorenzo Zambernardi, "Counterinsurgency's Impossible Trilemma", in The Washington Quarterly, v. 33/3, pp. 21–34 (July 2010). United States Dept. of the Army, The U.S. Army * Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manuel (2006; reprint: University of Chicago 2007). United States House of Representatives, Govt. Ops. Comm., U.S. Assistance Programs in Vietnam, First Session (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Ofc. 1971). United States Senate, Foreign Rels. Comm., Vietnam: Policy and Prospects 1970, Second Session (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Office 1970).
Oppfatninger om krigen Bùi Tín, From Enemy to Friend. A North Vietnamese perspective on the war (Annapolis: Naval Institute 2002). Daniel Ellsberg, Papers on the War (New York: Simon & Schuster 1972; reprint: Touchstone 1972). J. William Fulbright, The Arrogance of Power (New York: Random House 1966). Ernest Gruening and H.W. Beaser, Vietnam Folly (Washington, DC: National Press 1968). David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest (New York: Random House 1972; reprint Penguin 1983). David Harris, Our War. What we did in Vietnam and what it did to us (New York: Times Books 1996). George McT. Kahin, Intervention. How America became involved in Vietnam (New York: Knopf 1986, reprint Anchor 1987) Stanley Karnow, Vietnam. A history. The first complete account of Vietnam at war (New York: Viking 1983). Henry Kissinger, Ending the Vietnam War (New York: Simon and Schuster 2003). Robert W. Komer, Bureaucracy at War. U.S. performance in the Vietnam conflict (Boulder: Westview 1986), introduced by Wm. E. Colby. Andrew C. Krepinevich Jr., The Army and Vietnam (Johns Hopkins University 1986). John Prados, Vietnam. The history of an unwinnable war, 1945–1975 (University of Kansas 2009). Harry G. Summers Jr., On Strategy: The Vietnam War in Context (Carlisle Barracks: US Army War College ). Trần Văn Đôn, Our Endless War. Inside Vietnam (Novato: Presidio 1978, 1987). Christian G. Appy, editor, Patriots. The Vietnam War remembered from all sides (New York: Viking 2003).