"Vietnam, US still in conflict over Agent Orange burden" by Ben Stocking, Associated Press | June 13, 2010
Tran Thi Gai’s daughters were born with disabilities in a Vietnamese village where Agent Orange was used. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)
CAM TUYEN, Vietnam — Her children are 21 and 16 years old, but they still cry through the night, tossing and turning in pain, sucking their thumbs for comfort.
Tran Thi Gai, who rarely gets any sleep herself, sings them a mournful lullaby. “Can you feel my love for you? Can you feel my sorrow for you? Please don’t cry.’’
Gai’s children — both with twisted limbs and in wheelchairs — were born in a village that was drenched with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. She believes their health problems were caused by dioxin, a highly toxic chemical in the herbicide, which US troops used to strip communist forces of ground cover and food.
Yeah, you see, it is OKAY when AmeriKa wages CHEMICAL WARFARE!
Thirty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War, its most contentious legacy is Agent Orange.
Nothing contentious about it.
Eighty-two percent of Vietnamese surveyed in a recent Associated Press-GfK Poll said the United States should be doing more to help people suffering from illnesses associated with the herbicide, including children with birth defects.
Yeah, we should be doing a LOT MORE!
After President George W. Bush pledged to work on the issue on a Hanoi visit in 2006, Congress approved $9 million mostly to address environmental cleanup of Agent Orange. But while the United States has provided assistance to Vietnamese with disabilities regardless of their cause, it maintains that there is no clear link between Agent Orange and health problems.
Then here, let me dump a barrel of the s*** all over you.
Vietnamese officials say the United States must make a much bigger financial commitment — $6 million has been allocated — to adequately address the problems unleashed by Agent Orange.
“Six million dollars is nothing compared to the consequences left behind by Agent Orange,’’ said Le Ke Son, deputy general administrator of Vietnam’s Environmental Administration. “How much does one Tomahawk missile cost?’’
Answer: "The average cost of a Tomahawk missile is close to $1.5 million"
Between 1962 and 1971, the US military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of Agent Orange across large swaths of southern Vietnam. Dioxin stays in soil and the sediment at the bottom of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals.
But no connection.
Vietnam says as many as 4 million of its citizens were exposed to the herbicide and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses caused by it.
In addition to the 3-4 million we killed, AmeriKa.
But the US government says Vietnamese are too quick to blame Agent Orange for birth defects that can be caused by malnutrition or other environmental factors.
That is just DAMN SICKENING, AmeriKan government!!
“Scientists around the world have done a lot of research on dioxin and its possible health effects,’’ said Michael Michalak, the US ambassador in Hanoi. “There is disagreement as to what’s real and what isn’t, about what the possible connections are.’’
Look at the WAR CRIMINALS trying to WEASEL OUT of PAYING UP for the atrocities!
Of course, if it were causing global warming they would be oh, so sure!
So how much is the U.S. going to pony up?
"Agent Orange cleanup set; $300m estimate for sites damaged in Vietnam War" by Margie Mason, Associated Press | June 17, 2010
HANOI — Thirty-five years after the Vietnam War, a $300 million price tag has been placed on the most contentious legacy still tainting US-Vietnam relations: Agent Orange.
That is 200 Tomahawks.
A joint panel of US and Vietnamese policy makers, citizens, and scientists released an action plan yesterday, urging the US government and other donors to provide an estimated $30 million annually over 10 years to clean up sites still contaminated by dioxin, a toxic chemical used in the defoliant.
The funding would also be used to treat Vietnamese suffering from disabilities, including those believed linked to exposure to Agent Orange, which was dumped by the US military in vast quantities over former South Vietnam to destroy crops and jungle cover shielding communist guerrilla fighters.
Washington has been slow to address the issue, quibbling for years with its former foe over the need for more scientific research to show that the herbicide sprayed by US aircraft during the war caused health problems and birth defects among Vietnamese.
Really, they are such a bunch of s***s with their "science."
“We are talking about something that is a major legacy of the Vietnam War, a major irritant in this important relationship,’’ said Walter Isaacson, cochair of the US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin that released the report. “The cleanup of our mess from the Vietnam War will be far less costly than the Gulf oil spill that
The dialogue group was formed in 2007 to look for ways to address the lingering issue. It is supported by the nonprofit Ford Foundation and coordinated by the nonprofit Aspen Institute.
Their report said nearly $100 million was needed to restore damaged ecosystems and clean up dioxin-contaminated sites, with priority given to three former US air bases in the central city of Danang, and the southern locations of Bien Hoa and Phu Cat — hot spots where Agent Orange was mixed, stored, and loaded onto planes during the war, allowing spilled dioxin to seep into the soil and water systems.
Another $200 million would be devoted to expanding care and treatment for Vietnamese with disabilities, including those believed caused by dioxin....
The US military dumped some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on about a quarter of former South Vietnam between 1962 and 1971.
With each article the amount increases!
The defoliant decimated about 5 million acres of forest — about the size of Massachusetts — and 500,000 more acres of crops, the report said.
Did it call it a war crime because that is what it was on a massive scale.
The whole war was a massive war crime, once again based upon lies.
FLASHBACK:
".... American forces sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants over parts of Vietnam from 1962 to 1970. Military authorities used the defoliants in an attempt to massively prune away the dense jungle cover used by North Vietnamese forces to hide.
In a JUST WORLD and REAL NEWSPAPER that would be called what it is: CHEMICAL WARFARE and WAR CRIMES!!!
American troops and others exposed to the chemicals later complained of numerous health problems, however, and researchers are still trying to determine the scope of the damage....
Yeah, SUPPORT the TROOPS!!
Also see: My Tour in Hell: A Marine's Battle with Combat Trauma
Btw, the "OTHERS" must be the PEOPLE LEFT BEHIND, right?
You know, the ones who SURVIVED the MASS-MURDER of MILLIONS!
A 4-year-old boy whose father was exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, at a rehab session in Hanoi. (Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press)
Ouch! That hurts, America. That's an indictment!
Related: Memory Hole: Willie Pete
And, OF COURSE, there is ALWAYS ISRAEL USING the WMD on LEBANON and PALESTINE! CLUSTER BOMBS, WHITE PHOSPHOROUS, and DEPLETED URANIUM ROUNDS -- you know, stuff our tax dollars paid for and which we gave them, 'murka. Not looking so pure now, are ye?!
"Speedy aid urged for Agent Orange victims" by Associated Press | September 9, 2009
HANOI - Vietnam urged the United States to speed funding for Agent Orange victims yesterday at the start of the fourth annual meeting on joint efforts to clean up areas that American forces contaminated with the toxic herbicide during the Vietnam War.
US troops sprayed Agent Orange on jungles to deprive Vietnamese troops of ground cover. Vietnam says 1 million to 4 million of its citizens may have suffered serious health consequences....
See: Agent Orange Continues to Poison Vietnam
Agent Orange is perhaps the war’s most contentious legacy....
It is ONLY CONTENTIOUS to the GOVERNMENT WAR CRIMINALS and COVER-UP PAPERS!
The REST of us KNOW WHAT IT WAS: a WAR CRIME!!!!!
Also see: The AmeriKan MSM Remembers Vietnam
Related: Occupation Iraq: Like Father, Like Son
