WITH the lifting of the US embargo last week I have not seen such a frenzy of knee-jerk America bashing by the media about the Vietnam war since the war itself.

Fair enough. America took the lead so it should bear the responsibility. But what continues to amaze me is the media's reluctance to publicise the brutality of the regimes that took over in Indochina once America left the scene. Why the unwillingness to hold the communists accountable for their wrongdoings over the past nine years? The bottom line is that the communist track record in Indochina since the war has been dismal. Genocide on a scale not seen since World War II, military (failed) expansionism, boat people fleeing political oppression by the tens of thousands, human rights violations that make China look like Club Med and economies that rank in the bottom 10 of the world's poorest nations. This the Indochinese people have endured while they watched the rest of Asia prosper and move towards freer and more open societies.

However, from the reports I have read over the last few days, you would think that this was all a result of the US embargo. Embargo equals genocide? I don't think so. If you are still inclined to give the Indochinese communists the benefit of the doubt consider one inescapable fact: more than twice as many people died brutal and violent deaths in Indochina after the war than during it. No matter how you cut it, they were not the good guys.