The Journalist Who Spied

Pham Xuan An, a reporter for TIME during the Vietnam War who was later revealed to be a communist agent, has died. TIME's former Saigon bureau chief remembers him

The Vietnam war produced astonishing stories and personalities. But nothing quite like Time correspondent Pham Xuan An. An's secret life as a spy for Hanoi was not uncovered till long after the fall of Saigon. Until then, he was known simply as the brilliant contributor to Time's coverage of the Vietnam war. An died Wednesday at the age of 78 in what is now called Ho Chi Minh City. Stanley Cloud, Time's Washington Bureau Chief from 1989 to 1993, worked with An from 1970 through 1972, including a period as Saigon Bureau Chief from the summer of 1971 to December 1972. He has written this remembrance of a colleague who loved journalism and his country when it could be dangerous to do both.

He had a life none of us knew about, a life involving invisible ink and microfilm, the tunnels at Cu Chi and mail drops in the Ho Bo woods. He had a rank (colonel then, major general when he died this week) and, no doubt, a serial number. But to those of us who worked closely with him, as I did for three years, Pham Xuan An was nothing more (or less) than a first-class journalist, with better sources in the South Vietnamese government and a better understanding of the war's historical and political meaning for Vietnam than we would ever have.

He was part Confucian scholar, part medieval monk. His little office in the Time bureau on the second floor of the Continental Palace Hotel in Saigon was piled almost to the ceiling with stacks upon stacks of dusty documents, reports and newspapers, any one of which he was magically able to locate at a moment's notice, although such notice was rarely necessary, because he seemed to have committed it all to memory. He smoked constantly, drank rarely, laughed easily, bred and raised German shepherds and drove a tiny, rattling Renault through whose floorboards you could see the road going by. I felt I knew him well, but I was wrong.

Just above my computer in my office at home hangs a photograph of An and me, taken in 1990 during our first postwar reunion. We are in his driveway in Saigon, he in the loose trousers and white shirt he always wore. His little Renault, which had long since given up the ghost, is lying in state behind us, covered in years of grime. We had just spent the afternoon talking about the past - his as well as mine - and the present. Ever the reporter, An was deeply concerned about Vietnam's economy and the corruption that was making it worse. "If I had known during the war that we would just be trading the Americans for the Russians," he said, "I'd have stuck with the Americans." When his secret life came up, he said, "I always tried to tell you the truth." I believed him. Indeed, I recall any number of times — especially during the period when Henry Kissinger was bare-knuckling South Vietnam into accepting his "peace-is-at-hand" terms — when An saved us from reporting things that weren't true.

He always said that the reason why communists had so much support in Vietnam was that they were the only force that had struggled effectively over the years against foreign occupation and influence: against the Japanese in World War II, against the French for a decade after that, and against U.S. — what? — "nation building," for lack of a better term, for two more decades. An grew to maturity in the immediate post-World War II years and eventually attracted the attention and sponsorship of Saigon spooks of all sorts — from the CIA's Edward Lansdale (who arranged for An to study journalism during the late 1950s at California's Orange Coast College) to the communists' Muoi Huong (who became his case officer after his return to Vietnam).

But in certain profound ways I think the spooks didn't understand An any better than we journalists did later. He was, above all things — including journalism — a nationalist; he loved, above all things — including communism — Vietnam. He liked the French and the Americans he knew and spoke their languages well, but he didn't want to see his country Frenchified or Americanized. Or, for that matter, communized, which is probably why he was placed under house arrest and "re-educated" after the Vietnam War ended.

During the war, a colleague of ours said to me, "I think Pham Xuan An is the perfect example of the very best in Vietnamese society." I felt that way, too. I still do.

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Top leaders' feud threatens oil-rich Nigeria's stability

As Nigeria's president and vice president hurl charges of corruption at each other in a vicious public quarrel, Nigerians and foreign investors can only wonder what it all means for the future of Africa's top oil producer.

Ask Nigerians in political circles where the face-off might lead and you get answers ranging from business as usual to a cataclysmic scenario involving widespread ethnic and religious violence followed by a military coup.

The only point of agreement is that the feud between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar is doing no good to Nigeria's fledgling democracy as it prepares for landmark elections next April.

"The situation is very unfortunate. What is happening is not in the best interests of the country. I'm worried about how far it's going," Ken Nnamani, president of the Senate, told Reuters.

"If a father and a son have a disagreement, they should be able to resolve it between themselves without endangering the whole family," he said.

The crisis stems from Obasanjo's determination to stop Abubakar from running for president. He has sent two reports to the Senate accusing his deputy of corruption.

Abubakar hit back with counter-accusations of graft against Obasanjo which have been splashed all over the front pages. He has also challenged the validity of the reports in court and written to the Senate denying the charges against him.

The row has increased uncertainty ahead of elections that should mark the first democratic handover of power in Africa's most populous country, which returned to civilian rule in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army dictatorship.

From dire predictions of chaos to fears of fixed elections

It is an anxious time for Nigerians, with some politicians making dire predictions of violence, hung elections that would prevent an orderly handover of power, or even military takeover.

Others say all that will happen is that Abubakar will eventually be forced out of the race and Obasanjo will designate a successor who will easily win the election thanks to the well-oiled machinery of the ruling party.

For foreign investors, one key question is whether Obasanjo's free-market changes, which have stabilized the country's previously collapsed public finances, will continue after the elections.

"If you're an investor, you want to know if the virtuous cycle of reform we've seen over the past three or four years will continue, with or without high oil prices, and right now there's a huge question mark over that," said Stephen Bailey-Smith, emerging markets strategist at Standard Bank.

But he and other economists said investors had assumed for a long time that the build-up to the elections would be messy. The Obasanjo-Abubakar spat was just one element in a general picture of uncertainty already priced in by financial markets, they said.

As for the all-important oil sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of Nigeria's foreign currency earnings, it is already in crisis following a wave of militant attacks in the Niger Delta that have shut down a sixth of production capacity.

Antony Goldman, an independent risk analyst with clients in the oil industry, said the turmoil ahead of the elections was a headache for oil companies in that it could lead to further unrest in the delta and disruptions to output. But the industry had seen a lot worse in 50 years of oil extraction in Nigeria.

"All of the big oil companies have a track record of establishing an effective working relationship with administrations of sharply different backgrounds," he said.

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Today in history - Sept. 22

The Associated Press

Today is Friday, Sept. 22, the 265th day of 2006. There are 100 days left in the year. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (5767), begins at sunset.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 22, 1776, Nathan Hale was hanged as a spy by the British during the Revolutionary War.

On this date:

In 1656, in Patuxent, Md., an all-female jury (the first of its kind in the colonies) heard the case of Judith Catchpole, who was accused of murdering her infant child. (The jury, which believed Catchpole's assertion that she hadn't even been pregnant, acquitted her.)

In 1789, Congress authorized the office of Postmaster-General.

In 1792, the first French Republic was proclaimed.

In 1927, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight in Chicago.

In 1938, the musical comedy revue "Hellzapoppin'," starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, began a three-year run on Broadway.

In 1950, Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, joining an elite group that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall and Henry H. "Hap" Arnold.

In 1964, the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed.

In 1980, the Persian Gulf conflict between
Iran and
Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

In 1989, songwriter Irving Berlin died in New York City at age 101.

Ten years ago: Reform Party nominee
Ross Perot denounced the decision to exclude him from the presidential debates, telling NBC that Bob Dole had "poisoned the attitude" of millions of independent voters that Republicans desperately needed to win. Actress Dorothy Lamour died at her North Hollywood, Calif., home at age 81.

Five years ago:
President Bush consulted at length with Russian President
Vladimir Putin as the United States mustered a military assault on terrorism in the wake of Sept. 11. Master violinist Isaac Stern died in New York at age 81. Miss Oregon Katie Harman was crowned
Miss America 2002 in a patriotic telecast from Atlantic City, N.J.

One year ago: Hurricane Rita, weakened to Category 4 status, closed on the Texas coast, sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing on a frustratingly slow, bumper-to-bumper exodus. John Roberts' nomination as chief justice cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote of 13-5.

Today's Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda is 79. Musician King Sunny Ade is 60. Actor Paul Le Mat is 60. Capt. Mark Phillips is 58. Rock singer David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Whitesnake) is 55. Actress Shari Belafonte is 52. Singer Debby Boone is 50. Country singer June Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 50. Singer Nick Cave is 49. Rock singer Johnette Napolitano is 49. Opera singer
Andrea Bocelli is 48. Singer-musician Joan Jett is 48. Actress Catherine Oxenberg is 45. Actor Scott Baio is 45. Actor Rob Stone is 44. Rock musician Matt Sharp is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Big Rube (Society of Soul) is 35. Actor Tom Felton is 19.

Thought for Today: "If power corrupts, weakness in the seat of power, with its constant necessity of deals and bribes and compromising arrangements, corrupts even more." — Barbara Tuchman, American historian (1912-1989).

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