Michael W. Marine refused to toady to VN communists; replacement Michael W. Michalak nominated to Senate May 24.

            Following the altercation in front of the Ambassador’s residence on April 5, 2007 between Hanoi police and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and her guest, the wife of an imprisoned journalist, Michael Marine resigned his post as Ambassador to Vietnam effective the end of July.  He can be seen in this extraordinary video published two weeks ago by butvang (the editor of Anh Duong online) promising the Vietnamese woman (through an interpreter) that he will discuss her case with Deputy Prime Minister Khiem the following day.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=p1MbiAFvxrE&mode=related&search=

             This meeting on April 6, 2007, was addressed in press conference by Ambassador Marine, Congressman Ortiz, and Minister Khiem seated at a table.  The rest of the Congressional delegation, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, were seated at a table nearby. 

          During the press conference, the Ambassador was asked by an English-speaking journalist (not American) about his viewpoint of the police manhandling of Father Nguyen Van Ly “and these women.”  The identity of the journalist is deliberately obscured in the Viet Weekly published recording of the conference.  Ambassador Marine can be heard saying “We did not discuss the trial” in the Viet Weekly recording.  That is absent from their English language transcription.  They further state that Ambassador Marine was referring to Father Ly’s “noisy behavior” when he noted that “in special circumstances” even in American courtrooms, someone who is speaking out would be forcefully [restrained.]  Because of the immediately previous language that “we did not discuss the trial” from the Ambassador, it is evident that this relationship to Father Ly’s behavior in the courtroom is not sustained. 

 Statements of outrage by Ambassador Marine about the incident in front of his residence as quoted by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez on April 6, 2007 at the Hilton Hanoi press conference accompanied by the Ambassador have been reported in the mainstream American and international media.  The Viet Weekly, traveling personally to Hanoi (editor Le Vu) cut and pasted the Communist publications that said Congresswoman Sanchez was “interfering with internal affairs of Vietnam” by visiting the wives of the imprisoned journalists. 

Strength of purpose in combating human rights violations in Vietnamese courtrooms by Michael Marine at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi can be seen with the June 20-21 2007 workshop at the Vietnam-U.S. Legal Information and Consultancy Center (VULC) titled "Access to Justice in the Legal System of Vietnam" on June 21-22 in Hanoi.  Mr. Pham Quoc Anh, President of the Vietnam Lawyer Association and Director of VULC, and Mr. Jonathan Aloisi, U.S. Charge d'Affaires, opened the workshop on June 21. The workshop is the final phase of a research project on the right of access to justice in Vietnam, which aims to review Vietnamese legal provisions relating to judicial independence and the right of access to justice.  The project commenced in June 2006 and was funded by the U.S. Embassy-Hanoi with a US$19,909 grant.   http://hanoi.usembassy.gov/pr062107.html   This workshop was not acknowledged to the American press when President Nguyen Minh Triet told them with great arrogance “we have our own laws.”   

The most clear evidence on protest of the treatment of political prisoners in Vietnam is the official press release of Ambassador Michael Marine on April 5, 2007, which is published in full on my Vietnamese American Achievement blog, http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/15/3025254.html

Soon after these events Ambassador Michael Marine resigned due to stress of the assignment, effective July 31.  He will retire.  This has not been reported on the Embassy website nor that of the State Department. 

           Mr. Michael William Michalak was appointed to the rank of Ambassador to APEC by President Bush in November 2005.  His nomination to Ambassador of Vietnam was sent May 24, 07:  Department of State  Michael W. Michalak, of Michigan, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador  Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

 This nomination was told to me as “an ordinary citizen who runs a blog” by a State Dept. official.  I found the above nomination in U.S. Senate legislative reports.  Looking for Michael Michalak among White House nominations produces a blank – not even a name record – and in another location his name brings up a person named Rose McNally.  Perhaps the White House should replace Barney as imbedded webmaster.  Biography for Michael Michalak,   http://www.state.gov/p/eap/53112.htm  does not include the Ambassadorial rank accorded him on April 07, 2007. 

This White House muddling of Ambassador Marine’s resignation and the new nomination may have been the result of “executive embarrassment” over the strong protests of Ambassador Michael Marine on the imprisonment of Father Nguyen Van Ly and the Vietnamese police manhandling of women trying to visit his residence and now allowed inside.  That is reported as the opinion of Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) leader Do Hoang Diem of San Jose interviewed in the Viet Weekly of June 21, 2007.   This interview was made before Mr. Do’s meeting with Congresswomen Sanchez and Pelosi in Washington on June 20, which is pictured on my blog, image courtesy the office of Congresswoman Sanchez.  Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Bich was also present at this meeting, you can find an excellent four-minute interview with him at the protest of the visit of President Triet to the White House on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGq4DcIUdg4&mode=related&search=

I would like to state once again, as an “ordinary citizen who runs a blog” on Vietnamese American Achievement for which I absorb all costs personally with my limited retirement stipend, that Viet Weekly is pro-Communist.  I believe manipulation is evident in the audio file that the journal has published online.  The biggest evidence is that the audible statement by Michael Marine immediately following his meeting with U.S. Congresspersons and Deputy Prime Minister Khiem “We did not discus the trial” is missing from the Viet Weekly accusation that Ambassador Marine criticized the noisy behavior of Father Nguyen Van Ly. 

VietAm Review

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