NECESSARY EVIDENCE
This is a
presentation of documentary evidence of significant differences between a
published audio recording by Viet Weekly
Magazine of a press conference held by the American Embassy at the Hilton
Hanoi on April 6, 2007 and the official
Embassy transcription of that conference.
I received the Embassy transcription from James Warren, Counselor for
Public Affairs, on July 7 after repeated inquiries beginning May 29, 2007. This press conference is still not listed on
the American Embassy website, although other press conferences that occurred
afterward are given normal coverage. It was transcribed from a
recording in the
After criticism
of the accuracy of this statement as well as other publications by Viet Weekly that were strongly
pro-Communist, an audio recording was published on the Viet Weekly site. The audio recording and English and
Vietnamese transcription were published in Issue #25 on June 14, 2007. It is
evident in listening to the tape that there has been a serious manipulation of
the Ambassador’s statement about American courtroom decorum.
Two voice
manipulations: “So there is reason for
people in plain clothes standing in
front of the prisoner.” This is cut
into the audio file immediately following a statement “I know in certain
circumstances in the trials in the
From the
transcript: I know under certain
circumstances in trials in the
I
do think that Father Ly should not be in prison. I think that his activities may well violate
Vietnamese law, but there is a need for a review of those laws to see if
they’re truly appropriate in today’s
This second paragraph is filled with man-made (not machine) static on the audio recording. The only audible portion in English is: “I do think that Father Ly should not be” and “violate Vietnamese law.” It is my understanding that the Vietnamese translation of this statement—which can be clearly heard on the tape—was made in the Viet Weekly following the criticism.
The substance of my charge continues to be evidence of Viet Weekly’s manipulation of the audio recording and their pro-Communist viewpoint, which can be seen further in their absence of coverage of the press conference of April 6 regarding the physical prevention of invited guests at the Ambassador’s residence from entering his home by the Vietnamese police. It is clear that Ambassador Michael Marine has been violated by the Vietnamese police by their actions toward his invited guests who are Vietnamese citizens.
Regrettably,
police in uniform and some in plain clothes prevented two of the women from
entering my residence and we later learned that the other guests who had been
invited were also prevented from coming.
I
tried to arrange for them to enter the grounds, but the situation was at risk
of spiraling out of control so I advised the women to return home.
[I
expressed] to the police and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs our unhappiness
over how this was handled. Congresswoman
Sanchez raised it today in our meetings with the Vice President of the National
Assembly and Deputy Prime Minister Khiem.
I also voiced my unhappiness over the way this issue was handled.
Meeting
with Vietnamese citizens is a basic element of my job as Ambassador and the
jobs of my staff here in the
This confrontation between police
and wives of political prisoners in detention and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
of
I was told in a telephone interview
with Le Vu on June 12 that Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez was “not there” in the
press conference on April 6, and that is why he did not write about the
incident on the front page of Issue #24 along with the photo of Ambassador
Michael Marine, Congressman Samuel Ortiz, and Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam
Khiem. However, she was seated at the
next table with Congresswoman Madeline Bordalo and Congressman Joe Wilson. Congressman Ortiz was the delegation chair.
In fact, the Viet Weekly published news of the incident taken directly from Vietnamese newspapers owned and managed by the government. This Party line is criticizes Congresswoman Sanchez for “interfering with internal affairs of Vietnam” and suggests that she was fomenting terrorism by accompanying the wives of political prisoners to the Ambassador’s residence on April 5.
There is no free press in
Here is what happened, and what the Viet Weekly heard Ambassador Michael Marine say about the Vietnamese police roughing up Vietnamese women on April 6 at the Hilton Hanoi:
Question: I’m wondering if you can be a
little more specific about what you meant when you said things were threatening
to spiral out of control. A question for
the Ambassador.
Ambassador
Marine: You had some 15 men surrounding two women. They were working hard to persuade the women
to leave the area. Speaking in loud
voices, grabbing their upper arms and tugging on them. I considered it to be inappropriate behavior
for them to be interfered with. I made
sure that I intended to raise this with the Deputy Prime Minister on the
following day. I also told them that it
was absolutely wrong for women anywhere to be treated that way. But it quickly became evident that I was not
going to be able to persuade them to let the women come in and that continuing
to engage in this discussion, if you want to call it that, on the street, was
not leading us anywhere so I advised the women to go home.
This is the question that immediately preceded the one regarding the trial of Father Ly. Ambassador Michael Marine can be heard on the audio recording saying “We did not discuss Father Ly.” That is also on the transcript. But it was not published in print in Viet Weekly even when they published the manipulated recording in which it is still audible.
In summary:
1) The audio
file of the press conference of Ambassador Michael Marine of April 6, 2007, as
published by Viet Weekly, has been
manipulated. This evidence is present in
the file itself to anyone who listens to it, and it is corroborated by the
transcript from the American Embassy in
Jean Libby, editor
VietAm Review
