Word: dien
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...Deputy Treasury Secretary, ''his career had him in every hot spot there was outside of Russia.'' His first test came as a 22-year-old Navy ensign, when he helped devise a plan (called off at the last moment by Eisenhower) to relieve the ill-fated French garrison at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Subsequent postings took him to Beirut, as well as ambassadorships in Zaire, Somalia and Pakistan. His dead-serious demeanor, reflected in his craggy, Lincolnesque features, makes Oakley a poor companion for swapping jokes or, as one old friend put it, ''having him over to the house...
...There is certain irony in the fact that the Abu Ghraib coincided with the 50th anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, in which Vietnamese guerrillas routed the French colonial army and took its surrender. Although Cold War considerations prompted the U.S. to get involved, in the end they proved no more adept than the French - or the Chinese hundreds of years earlier - had been in bending Vietnam to foreign will...
...General Vo Nguyen Giap, now 93, who orchestrated the victory at Dien Bien Phu and also the political-military strategy that forced the U.S. to withdraw, made a rare appearance before the media to mark the anniversary. Inevitably, the international press wanted to know his thoughts on Iraq. "Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat," he answered...
Fight of Their Lives Nguyen Ba To remembers the 56-day siege of dien bien phu: the hardiness of his fellow soldiers, artillery shells that exploded so close he could barely breathe, a buddy who died. Last week, the 73-year-old veteran returned to the site of the battle that led to France's withdrawal from Vietnam. "It's changed a lot," he said, scanning a parking lot jammed with motorbikes near a carefully preserved French bunker...
...self serving, the ruling Communist Party commemorated the 50th anniversary of the French surrender with fireworks and dance performances. Military mastermind General Vo Nguyen Giap, 92, though shouldered out of the Party's inner circle in the 1980s, was back in the public eye, attending functions in Hanoi and Dien Bien Phu. The regime even delivered some true eloquence. "In the Vietnamese tradition," said Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, "when you take a sip of water, you should remember the origin of the stream. The present generation has to remember those who made sacrifices on their behalf." ?By Phil...