Talk:Ngô Du

The Dzu Story

NY Times Jul. 19, 1971

It has been a trying summer for General Ngo Dzu, commander of one of South Viet Nam's four military regions. Last month 27 Vietnamese majors and colonels sent a letter to top government officials in Saigon charging Dzu (pronounced zoo) with a long list of corrupt practices (TIME, June 28). The general branded the letter the work of his enemies, and one of his most trusted U.S. advisers declared that "upon examination, all the charges have fizzled."

Last week, however, Dzu was once again the target of corruption charges, this time from a U.S. Congressman. In Washington, Representative Robert Steele, 32, a Republican from Connecticut (and former CIA employee), charged that Dzu was one of the chief narcotics dealers in Southeast Asia.

Hard Intelligence. Steele, who made headlines two months ago when he charged that the drug-addiction rate among G.I.s in Viet Nam was between 10% and 15%, refused to reveal the sources of the new accusations. "My information comes from intelligence sources in Saigon," he said. "My concern is due to the fact that this is hard intelligence, which has been developed for months, and nothing has been done." He added: "There has been a crackdown by the South Vietnamese, especially against the customs officials. But who do you think is moving this stuff? Porters? We've made some progress. Now we're at the point where we must move against the kingpins."

The first denial came from John PaulVann, an American pacification worker who was recently appointed Dzu's senior U.S. adviser. "If there has been any wrongdoing of this nature," said Vann, "I am not aware of it." Other sources close to Dzu claimed that Steele had based his charges on the letter signed by Dzu's 27 dissident officers.

When Dzu flew to Saigon, President Nguyen Van Thieu flatly refused to see his embattled general. After 24 hours of waiting, Dzu flew back to his Military Region II headquarters, protesting that Steele had damaged "not only my honor as a general but also the honor of the Vietnamese army and the Vietnamese people."

Highly Sensitive. The Saigon government said that it was investigating charges of corruption on Dzu's part. Many case-hardened U.S. officials doubted, however, that Dzu has played as large a part in the narcotics racket as Steele claims. They noted, moreover, that his popularity as a military commander has slipped markedly since he took over Military Region II last August —which could make him expendable at a time when corruption in the Thieu government is a hot political issue.

For its part, the Nixon Administration made no direct reply to Steele's charges. But the Administration has been genuinely shocked by the extent of the narcotics problem among G.I.s and it is acutely aware of the risks for its policy that the problem carries. Last week's visit to Viet Nam by Dr. Jerome Jaffe, the President's adviser on narcotics and dangerous drugs, is the most recent indication of the President's concern. The charges against Dzu could make it all the more difficult for the Administration to convince the nation that it is more important to support the current Vietnamese government than to speed the U.S. withdrawal.Bnguyen (talk) 02:04, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

November 2023

User:Yusuf Michael there is nothing "biased" or "unneeded" in the page. All the detail of Du's corruption and incompetence is properly referenced. If you have conflicting information you are free to add it, provided its backed by WP:RS, but do not delete RS content again as you did here: [1]. Mztourist (talk) 04:01, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

You have only five refrerances for the whole thing, and they're news articles. You make him seem like a douschebag. He's my great grandpa and a lot of the stuff on here is wrong. Yusuf Michael (talk) 03:13, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

There are 2 news articles and 3 books that represent a variety of different sources. As you claim that he was your "great grandpa" you have a Wikipedia:Conflict of interest and must follow the COI editing guidelines which state that "you are strongly discouraged from editing affected articles directly." Mztourist (talk) 04:03, 16 November 2023 (UTC)