Thinking about the Bowe Bergdahl case, and the fact that the administration is so eager to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, led me to read the Wikipedia entry on the Paris Peace Accords.
I have to admit, I always thought that this war ended similar to the Korean War, a status quo ante — and the difference was that, aftewards, we didn’t build a DMZ but instead North Vietnam resumed the battle and, without U.S. support, South Vietnam fell.
But reading this, the Peace Accords were, really, nothing.
Here’s the summary:
- Beginning on 27 January 1973 at midnight, Greenwich Mean Time—in Saigon time, 08:00 on 28 January—there would be an in-place ceasefire. North and South Vietnamese forces were to hold their locations. They were permitted to resupply military materials to the extent necessary to replace items consumed in the course of the truce.
- Once the ceasefire is in effect, U.S. troops (along with other non-Vietnamese soldiers) would begin to withdraw, with withdrawal to be complete within sixty days. Simultaneously, U.S. prisoners of war would be released and allowed to return home. The parties to the agreement agreed to assist in repatriating the remains of the dead.
- There would be negotiations between the two South Vietnamese parties—Saigon and the Vietcong—towards a political settlement that would allow the South Vietnamese people to “decide themselves the political future of South Viet-Nam through genuinely free and democratic general elections under international supervision.”
- Reunification of Vietnam was to be “carried out step by step through peaceful means”.
I’m surprised at how little substance there is to this. Wikipedia says that Nixon promised the South Vietnamese government continued aid (which Congress eventually torpedoed), conditioned upon the South signing the accords. It almost seems as if the point of it was for the U.S. to save face, and for American POWs to be repatriated.
So for those of you who were around at the time (well, older than three, anyway), or who have read more about it: did anyone really expect the North Vietnamese to lay down their arms? Or was this all widely understood to be a means of the U.S. packing up and going home with an agreement to have POWs returned?
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