LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary William Cohen is talking military cooperation with a former enemy. Cohen is the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Vietnam since the war ended 25 years ago, and he met this morning with the nation's military chief and its prime minister. CNN's military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre is traveling with the defense secretary. He joins us right now on the phone. Jamie, hello.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Linda. Well, this morning in Hanoi it was one of those times when you really knew things had changed. William Cohen was standing, listening to the "Star Spangled Banner" coming from a Vietnamese military band. And not since 1971 when Melvin Laird came here -- came to Vietnam, rather, during the end of the Vietnam War, has an American defense secretary visited here, and none has ever actually been to Hanoi, much less received this kind of full military honors from the former U.S. foe. Cohen talked with his counterpart, Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra. The U.S. officials described the talks as cordial and freewheeling. They said they talked about helping Vietnam with flood control and possible joint research on Agent Orange. Cohen cautioned that the military relationship has to grow slowly and is still contingent on a complete accounting of the U.S. war dead, and to underscore that, he traveled to a remote rice paddy about 20 miles southwest of Hanoi, where a U.S. team, along with hundreds of Vietnamese, are meticulously excavating a site where they believe a U.S. Navy flyer was shot down in 1967. Cohen said that still remained the highest priority of the United States was to get a complete accounting. But he said that slowly but surely the United States and Vietnam could forge a relationship of greater cooperation. Jamie McIntyre, CNN live, Hanoi, Vietnam.</s>STOUFFER: Jamie, thank you.
Cohen Meets with Vietnamese Defense Minister in Hanoi