- HANOI (AFP) - Vo Nguyen Giap,
the legendary general who masterminded Vietnam's wars of independence against
the French and American armies, warned the United States Friday that it
faced defeat in Iraq. The diminutive 92-year-old, whose only military lesson
came from an old encyclopaedia entry describing the mechanism of hand grenades,
said Washington would fail in its bid to impose its will on the Iraqi people.
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- "Any country that wants to impose its will on another
nation will certainly fail and all nations fighting for their own independence
will be victorious," Giap told reporters. "Everyone in the world
should acknowledge that each country has the right to independence and
sovereignty. Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom."
-
- The general, dressed in a white military uniform and
wearing a solitary gold-starred medal, said he was unable to comment on
the effectiveness of tactics used by Iraqi resistance fighters against
US forces. "I haven't had a chance to go to Iraq and to study the
specific tactics there," he said. However, Giap, who is second only
to Vietnamese Communist Party founding father Ho Chi Minh as the most revered
figure in the country's recent history, stressed that "aggressors"
would not prevail.
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- "All attempts to oppress the people of other nations,
all plots to encroach on other nation's sovereignty and independence will
be defeated," he added in his "message to the world's young people".
His comments came on the 29th anniversary of the fall of the US-backed
Saigon regime to communist forces and ahead of next week's celebrations
marking the 50th anniversary of victory against the French at Dien Bien
Phu.
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- In a 90-minute rambling and often repetitive monologue,
a relaxed-looking Giap recounted the tactics he employed during the battle
that precipitated the collapse of France's colonial rule in Indochina.
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- http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/world/Viewdet.asp?ID=2445&cat=a
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