Vietnam Shoots Down Loretta Sanchez's Travel Hopes

• "Vietnam is Vietnam, USA means nothing to our country" quote from Tien. My question to you is, why are you here in the US? Leave already!!!

• The situation with Loretta Sanchez is distasteful with her bad mouthing the Vietnamese while she has a fetid disaster at home with run away crime and drugs. But after hearing her speak once you realize she's challenged intellectually. Tien - I think you should get out of this country immediately and go somewhere else. The US is far too lenient allowing possible terrorists like yourself to get free education here and then go back home and work against the very principals America stands for. I'm the first to point out the horrible problems we do have and the huge changes we need to make, but you are obviously sitting at our table only to find a way to hurt Americans. The US cannot improve with parasites like you sucking up resources to try only to make the situation worse.

• I'm not surprised that the commies shot down our Lady Sanchez's hopes (four times to be exact). Why? 'cause these commies are living in fear. You could feel their fear from some of the comments above. It's just a damn visa, commies. Get over yourself. There's no need to use your predetermined patriotic speech about your love of communist socialist Vietnamese government blah...blah...to justify your stupid action. If you love Vietnam and its people so much then let me ask you this: Why is it so hard for everyone (including oversea Vietnamese people) to get a visa but Chinese leaders and their people don't even NEED a visa to enter Vietnam? They come and go as they wish.

• Tien, you idiotic If your country is so great why come to this country to get educated???? Please enlighten me what did you learn from the communist other than to steal thru corruptions, briberies, and lies to you fellow citizens. If your commie father and mother are so great then let free election takes place and let the people decide who is best to lead the country . Or are you commies so scared of what the people will do if their have true freedom in thoughts and choices. Marx says to distribute wealth and yet all I see are a bunch of commies seizing wealth and enriching themselves.

• my 'Vietnam' group that is.

• Btw, if any of you get the chance, please join my 'Vietnam' on the Wall Street Journal here: http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/vietnam-world-683/topics/

• Ms Sanchez, before you criticise Vietnam on human rights and religous freedom issues, you have to know what democratic America and US government have done to Vietnam. During the Vietnam war, the US army sprayed 18 million gallons of the toxic chemical Agent Orange over Vietnam to destroy food sources and defoliate hiding places of the Viet Cong. Thirty years after the war, three million Vietnamese are still suffering from the effects of the poison, which can cause birth defects and cancer, has had a devastating impact on the environment and is now affecting a third generation of victims. Vietnamese victims have yet to receive any compensation. Dang Hong Nhut was 29 years old when she joined the resistance forces against the US army and was heavily exposed to Agent Orange. She works with The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange and The Vietnam Agent Orange Campaign to lobby for compensation for the victims I was born in 1936, in the Cho Gao district of Vietnam, close to the Mekong Delta. Life was very hard when I was a child. The French had colonised Vietnam and there was a resistance war, and a lot of fighting in our village. I remember one time when I was just six years old, French soldiers came to our house and told us to leave, they thought something political had been going on and wanted to burn the house. My Grandmother stood her ground and bravely refused. It was this event that politicised me. I realised then, at this young age, what was right and wrong. I got married in 1959 and gave birth to a baby boy. In 1965 I was living in Saigon, working as a dress maker. The city was peaceful at this point, although the US had invaded and there was conflict in the areas surrounding Saigon. At this time, there was a huge uprising of the peasants and a growing Buddhist movement against the US invasion. I felt passionately about equality and joined the resistance called �the long haired army�. I didn�t take up arms during the war, our role was to raise funds, demonstrate against the invasion as well as helping young men to avoid conscription. My husband was also involved in the resistance and it was when I visited the area around Chu Chi to see him that I was sprayed with Agent Orange. I saw the planes coming and hid in a shelter. After they had gone, there was white dust everywhere. I didn�t realise anything was wrong for a long time � I had very itchy skin, scabies and diarrhoea, but had no idea why. I was arrested in 1966 by the US-supported government. A woman from the resistance had been tortured and gave my name to the authorities and I was imprisoned. I spent six years and nine months incarcerated. I was taken to the infamous Con Son Island prison and was shackled underground in a barbed wire tiger cage for nine months. I suffered continuous beating, days and night � the guards wanted information about the resistance. I can�t put into words the suffering. I was also electrocuted many times. They put electric wires on my nipples, vagina and under my fingernails. They hung me upside down and used �water boarding�, water was poured on my face constantly and you feel like you are drowning, it�s terrifying. I suffered so much pain then, but I thought that if I gave out any names of other resistance fighters, they too would suffer the pain, so I refused. When they finished torturing me, I was taken to court for prosecution and the only crime they could charge me with was writing leaflets. I was sentenced to three years. I was released from prison in 1972, and it was then that I had my first miscarriage. I had no idea at the time that this was due to my exposure to Agent Orange. I had three more miscarriages after this and then in 1977, I became pregnant again. I so hoped I would deliver a baby, but the baby was born early, at five months. When it was born, the doctor told me it was dead and took it away before I had a chance to see it. They told me the baby was so deformed, they were afraid for my health if I saw it. It was then I was told I�d been affected by Agent Orange and shouldn�t try for any more children. That was devastating for me: it was peace time at last after so many years of war, and I so wanted to have another child. Being unable to have more children has left misery. In 2004, I was invited with other mothers to see our babies who had died. They had been kept at Tu Du Maternity Hospital as specimens in jars. We were taken to a room, and there in glass bottles were our babies. I can�t describe the pain of seeing my baby so many years later. Some women fainted. The babies were all so deformed, some had two faces, others were twins joined at the body, some had limbs distorted, and others had their intestines on the outside of their bodies. It was horror. Agent Orange has continued to affect my health. In 2002, I was diagnosed with cancer in the intestine. A year later, I had another tumour in my throat. I was terrified I was going to die. In all wars, there is tragedy, but the consequences should be immediate, rather than using chemicals that affect people for generations to come. The use of Agent Orange is an unforgivable crime. It�s wiped out future generations and has eradicated untold numbers of families. Children are still being born with deformities. My husband, who was also exposed to Agent Orange, died in 1999 of cancer. I often worry about the future and feel I have a death sentence that has not yet been carried out. Who knows what will happen, but I know there will be more suffering, for me and thousands of others too. I have a burning anger in my heart. The US government has paid compensation to US soldiers affected by Agent Orange, but Vietnamese victims have received nothing. The chemical manufacturers of Agent Orange, Dow Chemical and Monsanto, have also never taken any responsibility for the suffering they have caused. They all have an obligation to take responsibility and compensate us, for the devastating impact of Agent Orange and we won�t give up until we get justice. � Dang Hong Nhut was interviewed by Claire Colley Guardian UK

• She stated "I strongly believe that elected officials from America and other democracies should have the opportunity to assess Vietnam's progress, or lack thereof, on these issues firsthand." Who gave her the authority to go in there and "assess" anything? I bet the US State Dept helped to decline her visa so she cant go in there and do something embarrasing. That is what I would have done if I was Ambassador. Maybe when she gets back she can visit Mexico and "assess" the progress there since there are lots of Latinos in her district. The US is trying to fix the world but cant see over the pile of dirty dishes in our sink.

• Loretta Sanchez is from the state that invented OJ law. You can murder your wife there if you can afford to pay 40 million for a good defense. There are more murders in L.A. in a year than in Vietnam for 100 years... maybe she can bring more of her brand of out of control drug crime to Vietnam because she is doing a great job allowing it to fester at home. Why again is she focusing on irrelevant non-issues in foreign countries when her district is maxed out with illegal labor and drug crime? The Vietnamese Declaration of Independence reads "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all people are created equal"... and Vietnam is currently making greater strides toward true freedom and democracy than the United States is. Are you free to let your young child walk across Compton without armed protection? Get rid of her during the next elections and let Tran try to lead.

• Yes Vietnam is doing great! Its 2 biggest trading partners are China and the USA. Look at your clothing labels, chances are you will see made in Vietnam on the label where it used to say made in Taiwan. We were told that the war in Vietnam was to stop Communist aggression, that if Vietnam fell all of southeast Asia would follow. so... what happened? it seems China is turning very Capitalistic in their old age... just do not tell them or WALMART.

• Hey Sky, No one cares about communism anymore so don't even bother to bring that up. It's a totally different world now from the world that you are still clinging on to. Who cares if Vietnam is a communist country? It's doing GREAT economically and it's one of the most stable countries on earth. I'm happy for Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. You should feel the same too.

• Good for Vietnam! Loretta Sanchez sucks up to the fanatic Viet anti-communists for votes so not granting her Visa into Vietnam is the RIGHT thing to do. The war was over 35 years ago, people! Stop living in the past and move on, won't ya?!

• Lorretta is lucky to have the support from a minority of militant "supposedly" anti-communist freedom lovers" only lips service. They are totalitarian like hell in reality. She use these people to contain the goodness of the overwhelming majority (here and abroad). If the Viets are smart, they should collaborate with the Latins where there's agreement and at the same time support the white establishment.

• Lot of good comments so far imo. About the old school Vietnamese who cling onto 60's and 70's era McCarthyism..... meh. Those old Viets are entitled to their opinions but eventually they will go away and be just a footnote in history. Also, as pointed out by Dick Nguyen, Vietnam is an pocket of stability in an area where political instability is common (see the Philippines and Thailand). And it should be noted Vietnam is making good economic progress. Political Stability + Economic Growth.... not bad.

• Word! OcRepub...

• Joe Khanh spoke the truth. I agree with you 100%.

• Tien, just go home and eat that piece of dung if you still have any brain left in you because the more you educated, the idiot you become. You are embarrassed us as student abroad. How about go to North Korea or Cuba and get your god damned education over there and go home to serve your commie piggy country. Let me ask you a question, are your parents a bunch of a commie pig blood suckers who only know how to steal Vietnamese money and send you here for your education?

• Tien represents the new generation of Vietnamese Americans who sincerely want to serve the US and their country of origin. Socialist or not, the present government of Vietnam made enormous progresses in rebuilding the country from the ashes and destructions caused by American ordnances. Vietnam is now a haven of stability in an ocean of turmoil, see Thailand for example. President Obama had very well-founded reasons to invite the Vietnamese PM to the Washington Conference on nuclear security this week. Loretta Sanchez should do as the vast majority of our lawmakers in Washington D.C. by supporting Vietnam instead of listening to the vociferous remnants of a defeated army which betrayed its fatherland for "a handful of dollars." Maybe, she'll be welcomed in Vietnam after being kicked out of the House.

• Loretta Sanchez!?! This is a world community, it's not a local politic distortion in OC! There are so many obsolete and old mind sets in OC from the Vietnam war! Millions of innocent Vietnamese lives are lost and 58k of US troops waisted. Thanks for those US government lobbyists whose made billions dollars from the war. The war is over 30 years ago! the pain is hidden in some of us in the US or somewhere else, but not in Vietnam. We (US) called it "Third World Country" for Vietnam, but at least the Vietnamese government doesn't kill millions and thousand of their own for a profit. she can tease around in OC for her votes, but she is no pope in Vietnam. Neither being an american official is really that matter! I don't care much for the concept of socialism nor capitalism! because they both do have pro and con. Think outsdie the box Sanchez! Just enjoy the bright sun in southern California, and stay off Vietnam.

• chu?ng m� chi? la? nh??ng con vi tru?ng trong ca?i ung nho?t c.s.v.n. c.s.v.n chi? la? m�bo?n mafia kh�h?n kh�ke?m.chu?ng m� qua ?�?�ho?c ca?i gi?????B�?�kh�co? tr???ng na?o da?y bu��ba?n n???c cho chu?ng m�.Ha?y v�ngay ?i,???ng ch?? ?� nga?y h� kho?a ho?c,chu?ng m� v�?o? r�cu?ng v??t ma?u,ca?o m�h�u?a d�nghe?o ma? s� th�BILLYBUL

• Tien, if you communism is so great at sharing wealth, how the fuck is it that you are able to afford going to the U.S. to study while the rest of your country is in poverty? If it is so great, you should be like North Korea and live on your little holes and starve to death, nourishing yourself from your Marxist doctrines. I bet you never cracked open the Communist Manifesto you damn commie bureaucrat.

• I'm with Baby on this issue! To Tien...enjoy your socialism, especially if it is somewhere other than the U.S.

• Loretta Sanchez's speech was only bias due to the infection of a small group of people who had betrayed their country to follow a cracked track of the western regime. She should listen to the majority of people in Vietnam that they support their government, Socialist party of Vietnam, instead being fooled by a group of minority of Vietnamese immigrants. Vietnam is Vietnam, USA means nothing to our country. I love my country, I support socialist government, and I shall vow to return to serve to my country after graduated in the USA.

• The more she talk against VN government (for VN immigrants in Little Saigon?), the more closer gap bitween USA and VN government. She only talk for the votes from Little Saigon community and nothing else.

• Not much of a fan of her's. Go figure...

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