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 From CNN News

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Please notice where the American Flag is!!!
just me,
Marjorie



November 17, 2000
Web posted at: 9:45 p.m. HKT (1345 GMT)





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HANOI, Vietnam (CNN) -- In a live broadcast giving him unprecedented access 
to the Vietnamese people, U.S. President Bill Clinton on Friday focused on 
developing a new chapter in relations between Hanoi and Washington.

Standing between the U.S. and Vietnamese flags at Hanoi National 
University, near a bust of Ho Chi Minh, Clinton talked about the 
relationship between the United States and Vietnam.

"The histories of our two nations are deeply intertwined, in ways that are 
both a source of pain for generations who came before, and a source of 
promise for generations yet to come," Clinton said in opening remarks.

Thousands of people gathered in clusters along the route from Hanoi's 
international airport just before midnight Thursday in what was believed to 
be the largest turnout ever for a visiting head of state.

"This only happens once in a thousand years," said Hanoi homemaker Tran Thi 
Lan, 50.

Both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon visited the former South Vietnam as 
president during the long Vietnam War, which ended with the fall of Saigon 
in 1975. But Clinton is the first to visit the unified country, and the 
first in the capital city of Hanoi.

His three-day visit aims to help heal both countries' wounds from the 
Vietnam War, which he once wrote he "opposed and despised," and took 
careful steps to avoid.


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