Oriana Fallaci by Cristina De Stefano

Author:Cristina De Stefano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2017-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

In 1970, U.S. troops enter Cambodia, opening another front in the war, and once again begin to bomb Hanoi. Oriana is indignant and says so in her articles. She asks for permission to travel to Cambodia to witness this never-ending war that spreads like a cancer. She writes of the soldiers’ distress, of how they smoke pot in order to distract themselves from the horror. She accuses the army of sending draftees, rather than volunteers, into battle. She does a long interview with an American lieutenant who allows her to use his name and record his words. “If I get out of here alive I’m planning to make things difficult for the U.S. government. I want to get back at them for sending me here,” he promises. She interviews two North Vietnamese prisoners; she finds them particularly moving because, given that the North Vietnamese government denies having troops in Cambodia, no one intervenes on their behalf. “They are among the most victimized victims in Vietnam.”

When Secretary of State Henry Kissinger begins peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese, Oriana reports on the negotiations with brio and effectiveness. Kissinger meets with the North Vietnamese in Paris and reaches an accord that includes the removal of American troops, a cease-fire, the return of prisoners, a transition to free elections, and the presence of the North Vietnamese in the South. Oriana explains every detail of the resolution of the conflict and, especially, the uncomfortable truth that it represents an American defeat. “Kissinger knows perfectly well that he has surrendered, because there was no other option but to surrender. Kissinger knows he has accepted all of the North Vietnamese demands. He knows that in five or six years at the most the Communists will rule Saigon.”

That is exactly what happens when the North Vietnamese enter Saigon in April 1975. Oriana isn’t there. She has returned to Italy because her mother is very sick and she is afraid of being stuck in Vietnam. But in her articles she recounts the events of the days leading up to the fall of Saigon. She describes the city as it awaits its demise. She writes of a friend who begs her to find her a foreign husband so she can get an exit visa. Of the ex–prime minister, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, who requests refugee status for two million people. Of travel agencies invaded by hysterical crowds seeking visas and tickets. Most of the foreigners have already left. The embassies are almost empty. There are only four news agencies left, plus sixty or so foreign correspondents, but they have no freedom of movement. The final dispatches are dated April 28 and inform the public that the North Vietnamese troops are making their way up Tu Do Street, Pasteur Street, Công Lý Street. Oriana has no illusions about what awaits the city: “The Communists are splendid while they fight, and intolerable once they have won.”

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