Bush suffers war, Clinton comparisons in Vietnam

HANOI, Nov 15 (Reuters) US President George W Bush comes to Vietnam on Friday shadowed by comparisons between the Iraq and Vietnam wars and between himself and predecessor Bill Clinton, whose visit six years ago caused a sensation.

Many Hanoians remember how people lined the streets from the airport and took every opportunity to see Clinton, the first US.

president to visit America's former war enemy.

But with security at a premium in the post-September. 11 world and the unpopular US war in Iraq raging, Bush's reception was expected to be cooler.

In fact, Bush will have few opportunities to meet Vietnamese outside of official circles, in contrast to Clinton's impromptu stops to shake hands with people on the street in 2000.

''President Bill Clinton paved the way for Bush,'' said Nguyen Ky, owner of an art gallery across from the hotel where Bush -- here for a state visit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit -- will stay.

''His visit was a message of peace which opened the way for Vietnam to be able to develop its economy,'' Ky said as black SUVs pulled into the hotel driveway for a security check.

IRAQ WAR Vietnamese discuss the comparisons being made between Iraq and the war in their country in which the Americans backed a South Vietnam government in what was then Saigon.

The war, which killed three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans, ended in April 1975 when the city was taken by the Communist North Vietnam army.

''I think the current Iraq situation is similar in some ways -- the Americans are facing a hard task in trying to win the war,'' said businessman Bui Huy Tao.

''When Saddam was toppled, it didn't bring peace but sparked more fighting with Iraqis turning on each other.'' Bush and his wife Laura will spend nearly four days in Vietnam starting on Friday and including a trip to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) on Monday.

Plans were scrapped to have Bush visit a village in a northern province that has the country's first ''e-government'' showcasing its information technology potential. Microsoft's Bill Gates visited Tam Son commune in Bac Ninh province about 30 km east of the capital on his one-day trip in April.

LAURA BUSH Vietnam is the only Asian country that receives money under Bush's special 15 billion dollars global fund known as PEPFAR to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, but an event in Hanoi where Bush's wife Laura would meet Vietnamese living with HIV was also called off.

A similar meeting might be arranged in Ho Chi Minh City, people familiar with the plans said.

Advance staff for the US delegation have virtually taken over the Sheraton Hotel by Hanoi's biggest lake for the past month.

''I wish some of the millions of dollars that are being spent on this trip could be invested instead in the development of this country,'' said one American resident of Hanoi who preferred not to be identified.

The increasingly prosperous neighbourhood of stores, boutiques, restaurants and small hotels on the horseshoe-shaped ''Ho Tay'' (West Lake) was taking it all in stride.

Residents, a mixture of Vietnamese and mostly US and European expatriates, received a letter from the police about increased security, advising people to keep windows and doors facing the hotel closed at all times.

It added there was to be ''no washing to be hung on roof areas.

If this is not strictly complied with the occupants are liable for any consequent prosecution and violence.'' Across the street, Vu Hai Yen, 34, who sells products from bottled water to chewing gum and toothpaste in a kiosk below her apartment, talked about Vietnam promoting itself in APEC.

Born three years before the end of the Vietnam war, Yen said there were no hard feelings towards the United States, echoing the view of many too young to remember the fighting.

''It benefits both sides to let the past go,'' she said.

REUTERS PB RK1530