Reply #4: Al-Jafaari better read up on Ngo Dinh Diem. So should Bush.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

On orders from U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Henry Cabot Lodge, the American ambassador to South Vietnam, refused to meet with Diệm. Upon hearing that a coup d'etat was being designed by ARVN Generals led by General Dương Văn Minh, the United States gave secret assurances to the generals that the U.S. would not interfere. Dương Văn Minh and his fellow plotters overthrew the government and executed President Diệm and his younger brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, on November 2, 1963. The United States publicly expressed shock and disappointment that Diệm had been killed, though they had secretly initiated the circumstances that led to his assassination. Coincidentally, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated soon afterward, along with his brother some time later.

When Madame Nhu, visiting the United States at the time, learned of the coup d'etat, she immediately identified the United States as the perpetrator. She later said, "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies." Madame Nhu went on to predict a dark future for Vietnam and that, by being involved in the coup, the troubles of the United States in Vietnam were only beginning.

After the Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the U.S. was able to consolidate its control over the government of South Vietnam, facilitating the election of corrupt officials who supported their policies. Among the many who know of the political situations surrounding his death, Ngo Dinh Diem's assassination is considered the decisive political moment during which the Vietnam War was lost. As a result of the solidified American presence post-assassination, internal turmoil ran rampant among South Vietnamese, as soldiers found themselves locked in a Catch-22 between Communist interests and American commercial interests. The assassination also bolstered the North Vietnamese attempts to characterize the South Vietnamese as supporters of colonization, as what was previously lies and speculation became fact.