"Kerry's Service Not an Issue in Vietnam"

[GreenPartyVoter]

ON THE MEKONG RIVER, Vietnam (AP) - Along the Mekong River, where John Kerry and America's "brown water navy" once hunted Viet Cong, people get puzzled when told he's a presidential candidate whose opposition to the Vietnam War is an issue more than 30 years later.

"I think it's a mistake to go back and dig up all the stuff about the Vietnam War," said Do Thanh Tam, 74, who runs a pharmacy in Can Tho where U.S. soldiers once bought cold tablets and Band-Aids. "The Vietnamese people want to put behind the past and look forward to the future in harmony."

Along the coffee-colored river on a placid, humid afternoon, Vietnamese old enough to remember the fighting shake their heads when asked if they've heard of Kerry. Many know of the Americans who plied this river in wartime, but few have more than passing memories of seeing them.

In a country shaped by centuries of war, the Vietnamese have simply moved on from what they call the American War. They're finally enjoying peace and economic growth, and most are baffled that the war is still so divisive in the United States as the Democratic National Convention approaches. They wonder how something that ended three decades ago could have any bearing on who becomes leader of the world's most powerful country.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040723/D840AKA02.html