Socialist Republic of Vietnam

By Michael Mathes (DPA)

Hanoi (dpa) - American businesspeople, aid workers and embassy officials said Wednesday they have been overwhelmed with the amount of support and sympathy offered by Vietnamese over last week's devastating terrorist attacks in the United States.

While Vietnam's normally reserved state media has confined its expressions of sorrow to an announcement by President Tran Duc Luong, personal reactions by Vietnamese have been deep and heartfelt.

"There has been a real outpouring of sympathy," said a spokesman at the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. Bouquets of flowers were left at the building's entrance, while locals and expatriates lined up last week to sign a condolence book.

Similar acts were played out at the embassy in Hanoi, where senior Vietnamese officials and contacts paid their respects.

There have been reports of some U.S. firms receiving donations from Vietnamese for families of the victims in the United States.

Washington and Hanoi were bitter enemies during what is locally called the American War, and while that conflict ended a generation ago, communist-ruled Vietnam maintains a testy official relationship with the United States.

Yet a shared grief could be felt in countless personal exchanges between Americans and Vietnamese. Reports of strangers approaching Americans and other Westerners on the streets of Hanoi to express their sorrow have spread quickly in the capital,
which has had its own share of air attacks.

"In my experience, without exception, I have received nothing but sympathy and concern," said Gerald Herman, country manager of Discovery Communications who has lived in Vietnam for nine years. "There was no political commentary whatsoever, which I found amazing given the history of our relationship," Herman said.

An American aid worker in Vietnam said she has been swamped with condolence calls from Vietnamese friends and acquaintances hoping to "divide the sorrow" of the tragedies in New York and Washington.

The American Chamber of Commerce had been similarly touched. "Amcham members have been very pleased with the support they have received from Vietnamese people they know and even many they don't know," said executive director Adam Sitkoff.

"The Vietnamese people have long been subjected to war so we are sympathetic with what the victims, their families and the Americans have had to suffer," said Hoang Cong Thuy, general secretary of the U.S.-Vietnam Friendship Association. The association has sent emails of condolence to U.S. legislators and other officials, he said.

A bicycle repairman near the U.S. Embassy said while he knew no Americans personally, he felt outrage over the attacks. The man, 65, said he was a propaganda officer in the Vietnam War. "I do feel great sympathy for the innocent Americans who died in the attack," he said. "Whether we're Americans or Vietnamese or from wherever, humans feel the pain."