Hanoi, Vietnam ? The frail and tiny man who defeated two superpowers returned to the spotlight Friday to talk of triumphs past and deliver words of warning to the Americans at war in Iraq.

“Any forces that would impose their will on other nations will certainly face defeat,” said Vo Nguyen Giap, the legendary general whose strategies wore out the French colonial regime and then the U.S. Army.

Giap is 92 now, the last of Vietnam’s giants in a 30-year war to shake off colonial rule and unite the country under communism. What brought him to a rare meeting with journalists was two landmark anniversaries: The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the defeat of French colonial forces at the epic siege of Dien Bien Phu, 50 years ago next Friday.

With critics of the Iraq war likening it to America’s Vietnam experience, Giap’s opinion was eagerly sought, but the man considered one of history’s foremost military strategists prefaced his reply with caution, saying he didn’t know the specifics of the Iraqi situation.