Customer Reviews

Decent Interval: An Insider's Account of Saigon's Indecent End Told by the Cia's Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

History has a way of repeating itself. 'Intelligence is as only good as the analyst.' This book about events almost thirty years past is so totally relevant today. 'Facts and beliefs are not the same thing.' Agents in the field were getting and giving good information but it was ignored berated dismissed almost out of hand to the very end. Why? Simply 'the Powers that Be' did not like the truth and did not want the truth. They did not want it to be that way (Saigon falling) so the middle bureaucrats gave them what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear. And Saigon fell.
To draw parallels to 'intelligence' failures about 'WMDs', Iraqi-Osama ties, the very phrase 'welcome with rose petals' or Tennant's 'slam dunk' phrase is both disturbing and disheartening. This book tells it as it was (and is) 'Intelligence' can be used and misused.

ABout half way through DECENT INTERVAL one is brought to two conclusions: First of all this is a remarkably honest and straightforward piece of autobiography, and second, the author is without doubt THE Gadarene Swine. One is really not sure whether to laugh or cry at Snepp's cheerful descriptions of life inside the American Embassy in Saigon as the consequences of thirty years of botched military and political intervention came crashing down. At least we now know where the tough go when the going is tough -they go swimming in resort pools, as does our author/hero in between an almost ritualistic round of bar calls & various sorts of implied "involvements" with local and American women. Snepp has no apologies for having made a more or less complete mess of the "intelligence analysis" that he was supposed to be doing -he just points out that so did everyone else. He gets angry at co-workers who abandoned Vietnamese staff-members, spies, and "interrogators" to the mercy of the Viet Cong, or put personal profit above the safety of others -and then turns right around and comments on what a mess the movers made of his apartment when they packed up all his stuff to ship it home (on some of the planes that COULD have carried the people that he expresses concern for!. The writing verges from the mildly annoying to the totally over-blown, and in places it would be truly funny if the whole subject weren't so tragic. I gather that the CIA gave Snepp a hard time after the book came out. His behaviour suggests that SOMEONE had to! I give this book three stars and encourage people to read it because if this is REALLY what goes on in our government agencies one can only shudder at the prospects for the future.

The Vietnam War was a product of the Cold War, that great conflict between titan powers that was spawned by the nuclear age and that dominated foreign diplomacy for decades. It was capitalism versus communism and democracy versus autocracy. The conflict raged not only in the battlefields of Vietnam, but also in the homeland, where the war took the center stage of a cultural and social revolution. In all of the commotion and of all the debate, the war, at the field level, became a product of the political chaos that characterized America during that period. Washington, who scrambled for a policy that worked, that appeased the nation, that placated the growing upheaval, in the end never found it. Its failure to do so produced the only solution that was politically viable albeit immoral: get out anyway you can, but by golly DO GET OUT! This is what Decent Interval is about.

Decent Interval is Frank Snepp's first hand account of the immoral exit the United States made from Vietnam in 1975. Aside from the issues concerning the righteousness of the war, of lost American lives, of a nation grown weary, and of the social/cultural revolution it became a part of, the fact is, that nevertheless, we were there, and we made commitments. And although making the exit may very well have been the right thing to do, the way we left violated the principles that make up the character of our nation. We failed to live up to the very values that we usually identify as American, or at least those values that we like to believe we possess. We value human life. We value freedom. We value honesty. And most of all we value being recognized as champions of all of that. We love that image of America. In Decent Interval we learn that America's darkest hour in Vietnam did not occur during the war. Instead, our worst folly came in the end. We bungled everything from leaving behind a huge arsenal for the enemy, to turning our backs on thousands of people who were loyal to America, who trusted us, who knew our values, and never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that their service to us would be repaid with deception and abandonment.

Decent Interval is not a partisan view in the traditional Pro-war/Anti-war sense. Rather it's a factual account of events as seen through Snepp's eyes. Snepp was a CIA analyst in Saigon, and some have labeled Decent Interval as a whistle blow, but in actuality, the fact that our involvement in Vietnam was full of bureaucratic incompetence and ineptitude, was no secret. Snepp simply gave us the details. .

Decent Interval is an excellent read. It epitomizes everything that went wrong in Vietnam. It illustrates the limits of our political power in the face of an increasingly anxious electorate, and how political survivability took precedence over what would otherwise have been considered the "right thing to do."

In the 31 years since the "Fall of Saigon" no book has come out that better explains the events of April 1975 more thoroughly or more engagingly. Snepp had the advantage of actually being not only in Saigon for several years before and during the collapse but of being in the CIA. His insider's view is fascinating and honest. A must read for anyone interested in the topic.

"Decent Interval" is proably the most thorough insider's account we have of the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese army. Snepp, a CIA analyst, was an eye witness to the events leading up to the American evacuation on April 30, 1975. The CIA took offense at Snepp's account and I understand he has never received a penny in royalties for the book.

"Decent Interval" tells the story of the last three years of the American war in Vietnam, but most of the book is focused on the North Vietnamese offensive of Spring 1975 that led to the fall of the South Vietnamese government and the sudden, panicky flight of thousands of Americans from Vietnam. The story is told as seen from Snepp's eyes in Vietnam although he obviously interviewed hundreds of people in coming up with a full, complex account of who was doing what in those last frantic days in which the Americans were preparing to evacuate -- but hoping against hope that some sort of graceful exit could be negotiated. It couldn't and Snepp's theme is that people like Henry Kissinger and Ambassador Graham Martin gambled with lives -- especially Vietnamese lives -- by holding on to delusion too long.

Unlike Iraq, Vietnam was a picturesque war with lots of sex, booze, drugs, and rock n roll mixed in with the violence and human tragedy. "Decent Interval" captures the compelling atmosphere of the country. The book is often confusing with its plethora of characters, places, and scenes -- not unlike the chaotic situation in Vietnam. There is abundant heroism and nobility in these pages, as there is stupidity and venality. Ambassador Martin is probably the chief villain, but one has to feel a certain twinge of regret for him, thrust as he was into a no win situation. When writing this book, Snepp still burned with disgust and shame at the ignomious American rout -- and settles some scores with those he blames.

Smallchief

This book should be a fifth as long, it is overwritten, overexplained, dense, pedantic. Any substance, the interrogation scenes, or analysis of the situation, are inadequate, and I am left wondering what exactly the US did wrong. Something, I'm sure, but Snepp commits a cardinal sin, writing too much about himself, which really bears little relevance with the topic. I read this book to find out about CIA involvement in SE Asia, and that's what Snepp should have focused on: writing a compelling account of the drama. Every now and then he hits upon it, but much too rarely.

I read this book when it was first published and the memories of many of the participants were fresh in my mind. I was struck by his knowledge of so many players in this great tragedy and appreciated his acknowledgement of their many contributions.

This is a book that all students of the Viet Nam war should read and understand what we did. Mr. Snepp did and he tells this story very well. I should know I left Viet Nam in July 1972.

I have an old, dog-eared copy of Decent Interval that I pull down off the shelves every few years and read again. There is too much detail on the minutiae of the ultimately fruitless negotiations between Kissinger and the North Vietnamese. But the account of the author's struggle against his superiors to put out accurate intelligence is fascinating, as are the you-are-there descriptions of the final, desperate days in Saigon. Snepp is as hard on himself as he is on other Embassy personnel, some of whom demonstrated appalling cowardice and/or callousness under pressure. What should be distressing to any intelligence professional who reads this is the clear triumph of belief over facts, i.e. the Ambassador and others clinging to their belief, despite all the intelligence to the contrary, that the North Vietnamese would agree to a negotiated peace instead of seeking total victory. Recent history in Iraq would suggest that belief still trumps facts in the making of U.S. foreign policy.

In what way do the Justice Department and the CIA recommend this book you ask?

Their lengthy, expensive hard pursuit of Snepp and Random House through the courts to get this book removed from bookshelves and all profits (including Snepp's advance) turned over to the government is the best evidence.

Their efforts demonstrates that this book is chock full of information, insight and "spot on" analysis of the debacle that became America's first true failure in a flawed foreign policy leading to American involvement in another country's armed conflict.

Yes, Snepp is no angel but his forthright presentation of facts that demonstrate his own weaknesses make this book more, rather than less credible.

Snepp castigates the highest level of decision making in the US Government, citing Henry Kissinger as a practitioner of the "realpolitik" he embraced (and a term Kissinger coined) in such a way as to make him visible as both deceptive and unscrupulous, little better than a con man without a moral compass.

The spotlight Snepp pointed at the Johnson and Nixon administration is the "between the lines" reason Decent Interval, Snepp and Random House became targets of the Justice Departmetn.

The White House's conduct of the Vietnam policy and subsequent military intervention goes far beyond the insight he gives about the dealings within the CIA hierarchy. His book is not any more damning as another ex-CIA man, Bob Baer's books .... showing how little has changed.
This book is a "keeper."

Being well-read on this topic, I found this book to be particularly interesting as it exposes policy bumbling, niggling, and internecine rivalries in what was a very complex situation. Apparently, author Snepp was sued by the CIA who won and took all his royalties from the book. Not sure about the bad reviews(did they read the same book I did?) I will take issue with Snepp referring to General Giap as being "debilitated by Parkinson's" since Giap will celebrate his 100th birthday in August of 2011, but maybe that is yet another example of "bad intelligence." Otherwise, this is a very good read for anyone interested in this historical period from 1973-1975 and the sad and terrible fall of Saigon and South Vietnam. Also essential reading would include Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall, Vietnam by Stanley Karnow and Sideshow by William Shawcross. Stay informed. This history remains very relevant in light of the past ten years in the Middle East. Comparisons at times become almost spooky.