US ambassador says goodbye to Vietnam

The United States' first ambassador to Hanoi after the Vietnam War, Douglas Peterson, has ended his four-year term, during which he pushed for reconciliation with a country he once fought as a soldier, and which held him prisoner of war.

His work has been praised by Vietnam's communist government.

Hanoi's former ambassador in Washington, Lee Van Bang, described Mr Paterson last week as a compassionate American.

Mr Paterson told reporters that he was proud of his reconciliation work and would be leaving part of his heart in Vietnam.

Mr Paterson goes back home to focus on whether to join the race for the governorship of Florida in 2002.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service