A Perfect Spy -- For Which Side? Bui Van Phu Perfect Spy: the incredible double life of Pham Xuan An, Time magazine reporter & Vietnamese communist agent. Larry Berman. 328 pages. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. $25.95 ($21 on Internet Bookselling) * Causes for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam are many. Lacking strategic intelligence was one. Meanwhile, communist agents were able to infiltrate all levels of the U.S. military's commands and of the Saigon government. Pham Xuan An was a journalist for Time magazine, who had close contacts with important people in South Vietnam's political and military arena, and with American reporters. No one believed An worked for Hanoi until he was promoted to the rank of general after North Vietnam took over the South in 1975. Review by writer Bui Van Phu, linked to Vietnamese review on Talawas.   more »