In perhaps the most ironic twist of all....

....the war in Iraq may have an impact on Vietnam.

Nguyen Dan Que is a Vietnamese doctor who has spent more than 20 years in Vietnamese prisons because he insists on demanding that the communist government free his people. He has now been released from prison, for the second time, and immediately began to speak out again.

"The world is changing," says Dr. Que. "There are more opportunities than ever."

He is right, and if the world is changing, it is because the U.S. is hardly alone in prizing freedom. In every country are people who care about liberty--and in most places there are a few willing to pay dearly and take extraordinary risks to lead the way. Dr. Que is one, and as we watch the Middle East, it bears remembering, as he says, that these are "universal values," that in many places there are people who given any chance at all will answer freedom's call.

When we abandoned Vietnam, over three million people died. It would be the sweetest of all ironies if the Iraqi war was the impetus for freedom in Vietnam. It would make the terrible sacrifices that my brothers made seem more worthwhile, and my cousin, Donald, could finally rest in peace.