US help must be for Vietnamese MIAs on both sides

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senator says a U.S. program to help recover Vietnamese war dead will not begin until Hanoi lets it apply to troops from both sides of the conflict.

Vietnam wants to identify and locate the remains of hundreds of thousands of communist North Vietnamese forces who died during the Vietnam War, and the U.S. Congress has approved $1 million for a U.S. Agency for International Development program to help.

Democratic Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday, however, that Hanoi has been told there will be no U.S. money until it assures the program that was due to start Oct. 1 also will help recover remains from the U.S.-allied South Vietnamese military. He says that would foster reconciliation.

Webb fought as a Marine in Vietnam and chairs the Senate Foreign Relations East Asia-Pacific subcommittee.