America's Future, Inc., Behind The HEadlines, March 1996


                Kit Carson Scouts Abandoned By U.S.
                -----------------------------------
                         by F.R. Duplantier

"To be an enemy of the United States can be dangerous," Senator Daniel
Patrick Moynihan once quipped. "To be an ally can be fatal."

They were called the Kit Carson Scouts, these daring young Vietnamese men
recruited into the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to guide our combat units
into enemy territory. They served us faithfully, and we abandoned them.

Many of the Kit Carson Scouts were former members of the Viet Cong who had
seen the evils of communism and turned against it, says James Tyson,
president of the Council for the Defense of Freedom. Others were recruited
from border villages because of their familiarity with the terrain occupied
by the communists. Nearly 7,000 Kit Carson Scouts were recruited during the
Vietnam War, and 4,000 of these courageous soldiers were still actively
serving when American forces pulled out in 1975. "Since then," says Tyson,
"the U.S. has done nothing to help these men get out of Vietnam safely."

What's become of our faithful allies? No one knows for sure. What's worse,
no one seems to care. "After the fall of Saigon, the Vietnamese communists
started a campaign to round up all members of the South Vietnamese
government and armed forces, or those who had worked for the Americans,"
reports Tyson. "Most were killed or thrown into deadly 're-education
camps.' The Kit Carson Scouts were a primary target. The communists put a
bounty on them, so that many neighbors in their villages turned them in.
Two thousand are believed to have been executed."

Half of the Kit Carson Scouts, our former allies, may have been slaughtered
because we made no provision for their deliverance. What about the other
half? "Another 2000 are estimated to have survived undetected," says Tyson.
"These men have faced deadly danger ever since and need our help. Many may
still be in Vietnam, but some may be among the flood of refugees who have
succeeded in getting out of the country, by risking their lives at sea or
through other means." Getting out is one thing; staying out is another.
Tyson concedes that "thousands of Vietnamese have been settled in the U.S.
and other countries since the war. But 70,000 still languish in refugee
camps in the neighboring countries of Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia,
and Hong Kong."

Repatriation means certain death for the Kit Carson Scouts. Nevertheless,
those who have made it to the refugee camps must prove that they are
"political" refugees, with the right to be resettled in other countries.
Mere "economic" refugees, whose concerns about their personal safety in
their native land are considered unwarranted, do not qualify for asylum.
"The Kit Carson Scouts have an air-tight case as 'political' refugees,
since they were employed by the U.S. military," says Tyson. "But our
government has failed to do anything, either to help them escape from
Vietnam or to assist those who have gotten out in being properly
classified.

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