Daniel J. Shea, served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam in 1968, is a former member of the Board of Directors of Veterans for Peace and on the national core committee of Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. Photo: Daniel and family.

The Vietnam War is unfortunately still a reality for millions of Vietnamese and Americans and their progeny who continue to suffer from the effects of Agent Orange. For ten years, from 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed 20 million gallons of toxic herbicides, including Agent Orange, over large sections of Vietnam. Agent Orange contained dioxin, one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man. The World Health Organization considers dioxin to be a carcinogen (causes cancer) and the American Academy of Medicine classifies dioxin as a teratogen (causes birth defects).

People exposed to Agent Orange have died or become totally incapacitated by diseases that the U.S. government recognizes as related to dioxin exposure for purposes of paying compensation to Vietnam veterans in the United States. Children born to parents exposed to dioxin during the war and people in areas of heavy spraying – “hot spots” – still suffer from horrible deformities.

I served in areas of heavy dioxin spraying in Vietnam, thought I had survived the war and would be able to return to a normal life until my first-born son was hit by friendly fire, a chemical weapon that can cripple or kill. Casey was born with a cleft palate, prune belly, a congenital heart disease, and other birth anomalies. He suffered a seizure that took him from his mother’s arms to a pediatric ICU neonatal center. In a few weeks, my wife and I were able to take Casey home. Our life was anything but normal, what with learning to care for Casey’s special needs and the hundreds of doctors’ appointments. A year later, our second child was born, a healthy beautiful baby girl we named Harmony.

Casey and Harmony played, fought, and laughed over the silliest of things. They marveled at the world around them and their love grew deep and inseparable. Arlene and I felt we had been spared the worse prognosis for Casey’s future.

Then came the day for Casey to have heart surgery. Although too painful to tell the whole story, Casey went into a coma for seven weeks and while in my arms, Casey took his last breath and was no more. You think you know pain, but the loss of my son was a bayonet to his heart and I nearly lost my sanity. Grief took me to the depths of hell; but for the love of my wife and daughter, I would have perished.

I now know what it is like to be Vietnamese, to have your heart ripped out, to stand by helplessly watching your children suffer, to see them as prisoners in their own bodies and losing them because of a war that should never have been and a toxic chemical that should never have been used.

Although it has been 52 years since the first spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam, Thanh Nien News reported that “62 blood samples taken at random from residents of Da Nang… [all] tested positive for dioxin… The project was sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Hatfield Consultants.”

The ghosts of our children cry out for justice. It is time to repair the damage and to recognize the suffering of families, the Vietnamese and ours.

We of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign along with Veterans For Peace are now rewriting legislation to provide medical, rehabilitative and social services compensation to Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange; remediation of the dioxin-contaminated hot spots; and medical services for children and grandchildren of U.S. Vietnam veterans and Vietnamese-Americans born with the same diseases and deformities.

Fifty-two years is long enough to wait to provide compensation for the victims of this shameful chapter in our nation’s history.

Thus today May 25th 2013 as the legacy of Monsanto continues its’ disregard for human, animal and plant life of the very substance we need to survive, are poisoned or genetically modified with grave consequences for our future and the future of the planet.

Therefore, I and we of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign and Veterans For Peace are here with you in solidarity in the March Against Monsanto.

The post Agent Orange: Monsanto’s Legacy appeared first on VAORRC.

The debate goes on and probably will until the end of time as to the effects of DIOXIN on dozens of health related issues. The Veteran on this Veteran’s Day does not have to be reminded of the long battle with the Veteran’s Administration, the Department of Defense, and 13 chemical manufacturing companies on the massive exposure to dioxin from the use of Agent Orange and other defoliants during the Vietnam War.

The same hold true for the public population , both in the United States and many other countries, where dioxin laced products were used in a effort to “improve our lives,” by limiting growth of weeds, vegetation, and disease carrying insects, only to learn that increase health issues would become a nightmare for many of those exposed. We now understand that we cannot rewind the clock and easily solve the problems caused by dioxin, but must learn how to deal with it in a fair and equitable manner to all who have health related issues, and find ways to prevent further exposure.

As I have written, the effects of dioxin should not have been a surprise to anyone with an ounce of sense. As early-on as 1945, when scientist first began experimenting with defoliants for clearing vegetation which provided concealment to enemy forces in jungle warfare, dioxin was described as one of the deadliest compounds to human life as could ever be imagined. Yet dioxin is found in nature and created by volcanic eruptions, and wild fires which have occurred since the beginning of time. The problem does not reside in the backyard of dioxin alone, and while it is far more toxic than many other compounds, it is just one of many chemicals that that the public can be exposed to, which have an accumulative effect leading to adverse health conditions, can lead to an early death, and wreck havoc on the off-spring of those who have been exposed.

There are several observations that must be learned when we take on the issue of dioxin and other toxic chemicals, particularly those that can and do occur naturally. The first is that we must do everything in our power to limit our exposure and find ways to minimize the combined effects of a whole litany of compounds that can further exacerbate the problems, without everyone having to wear hazmat protective gear, completely shutting down industry, shutting off all commerce, and going back to the Stone Age.

To the Veteran Dioxin leads the list of environmental-unfriendly chemicals which are extensively used in industry and commerce, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and bisphenol A (BPA), and build-up in the human body, from the agricultural products we consume, and the meat, fish, and foul we eat during our life time. If you add purposely-driven exposure to products like Agent Orange to the mix it is like suicide. This is not just in the victim, but in the offspring for decades down the road from the genetic damage done to the one originally exposed.

The concept of genetically traced abnormalities is not new science here either. We have been teaching “evolution” for years (with most emphasis placed on naturally-occurring genetic changes) as species adapt to their environment, but now we see there can be man-made changes through pollutants as well.

What made me want to look into this phenomenon was being asked by the daughter of a retired Vietnam Veteran about her ADHA, and the autism affecting many of her special education students. I told her I had been writing articles regarding the Veteran and civilian exposure to Agent Orange, and how genetic damage could be the root cause, and nobody out here in the real world looking to “pin the tail on the donkey,” so to speak.

The more one looks, the more frightening the realization is that we as a nation just can’t seem to man-up holding those who have manufactured many of these products accountable. Whether it is Dow, Monsanto, or any of the other dozen or so companies which raced to fill the lucrative government contracts for defoliants during the Vietnam War, their compensatory efforts have been miniscule compared to that of the taxpayer. Billions in profit continue to flow into the coffers of Big Chemical, while the taxpayer bares the reoccurring cost of dealing with the problem…and what a problem it has become.

While the Veteran has had to deal with the “first-generation” of illnesses that have been caused by their exposure to Agent Orange, and compounded by continual environment exposure once the war was terminated, it’s the future generations of those Veteran’s where the concern now lies.

Think about this…150,000 children were described as having symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 1970. Today we find the number has risen drastically (over 4.5 million by 2003). I strongly disagree with Dr. Sanford Newmark, a noted researcher, in his conclusion that, “genetic changes would not account for this increase, so it may be that environmental changes are significantly decreasing our children’s ability to concentrate and regulate their own behavior.”

An additional cud to chew-on is this statistic… From Dr. Darold Treffert, “When I did my epidemiology study of infantile autism in 1970, I found the prevalence of autism (at that time called Childhood Schizophrenia) to be 3.1 cases per 10,000 children in Wisconsin age 12 and under. Others had reported a prevalence of autism to be in the range of 4.5/10,000 (about 1 per 2222 children). The most frequently quoted prevalence figure now is the 2007 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figure of 1 out of 150 children.”

Now, my area of study was oncology not psychiatry, but it looks as if even science can’t come to the realization that the date range in the above examples regarding the onslaught of childhood mental health issues directly parallels the extensive use of Agent Orange and the ending of the Vietnam War. No one will ever convince me that this is just eerie circumstance.

If you want to research my previous articles on Agent Orange, you’ll read that dioxin can cause severe genetic damage to someone who is exposed. The normal immune system, with its system of “checks and balance,” and includes tumor suppressor and DNA repair genes, is simply overwhelmed by dioxin exposure, and once these protective genes are destroyed, the human body may never be able to recover. Dioxin, once it enters the body, is stored in body fat and it may be decades before it is dissipated (though in many instances, it may never totally leave the body).

Certainly not all autism and ADHD can be laid at the doorstep of Agent Orange, but surely it has to be a contributing cause for the body’s inability to defend itself from environmental exposure leading to autism and ADHA. The perinatal period in a developing child has been suggested to be a possible causal factor for abnormal development, especially during the brain growth spurt, which begins during the third trimester of pregnancy and continues throughout the first two years of life. The neuro-toxic properties of environmental toxins , including dioxin, would have an adverse effect if the genetic hand-off from the one exposed to Agent Orange to the offspring has been altered. I believe this warrants much further study.

Some studies have noted that acute or repeated perinatal exposure to Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), Dioxin (PCDD) and other chemicals and important proteins such as BDNF, CaMKII and GAP-43 may alter motor and cognitive function in newborn animals. It stands to reason that this could lead to autism and ADHD because parents can only pass-on genetic material from their DNA that they possess. If their genetic structure has been altered by Agent Orange exposure, they could be passing on an altered genetic make-up. It appears we are entering even rougher waters as the rates of ADHD and autism occurrence is growing at a rate of 10-17% each year.

OK, maybe I can sell the readers of this article that Agent Orange and its chief ingredient, dioxin, has given us a real challenge, but how can we go about encouraging further studies as to the long-term consequences to our families, and how do we go about rectifying the situation? As Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and the lead author of the a recent study published in The Lancet stated, “We must make protection of the young brain a paramount goal of public health protection. You have only one chance to develop a brain.”

My suggestion is that the solution will be found through targeted gene therapy, or perhaps in the area of umbilical cord blood stem cell transplantation, but they are finally getting the train on the right track.

Great strides have been made in looking for solutions to most diseases in this exciting field of study. Perhaps I wasn’t the dullest light bulb in the lamp when I first began preaching that research was spending too much time on medicine and not enough time and money on solving the cause of disease. Fifteen years ago I was a square peg in a round hole, but today, it looks as if such theories are really coming on strong:

The prevalence of Alezheimer’s and Parkinson’s are increasing but the efficacy of treatment is still very limited due to various factors including the blood brain barrier (BBB). Drug delivery to the brain remains the major challenge for the treatment of all neurodegenerative diseases because of the numerous protective barriers surrounding the central nervous system. Studies have shown that cationic liposomes can facilitate the transfer of DNA material (i.e. genes) across the blood brain barrier. This could be the prelude for targeting the genes that cause autism and ADHA.

According to Science Daily (Aug. 10, 2011) —The Hospital for Sick Children-University of Toronto has identified more genes in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and shows that there is an overlap between some of these genes and those found in other neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many of these identified genes were from affected parents. By identifying such targets, science could begin finding ways to provide gene transfers to solve the problem.

The post Children of Veterans Are the the Innocent Victims of Agent Orange appeared first on VAORRC.

When I served as an Army medic in Vietnam, I often saw a 19-year-old solider whose job was to spray an herbicide called Agent Orange on anything green inside my base. The same was true around the perimeter, to deny cover to any enemy intruders and to ensure a clear line of fire in case of enemy attack.

As I visited numerous American military bases in Vietnam during the war, they all looked like moonscapes. They were stripped of grass and foliage by the same chemical for the same reasons.

Now, more than 40 years after the war, we know that Agent Orange contained dioxin, which is among the world’s most lethal toxins.

American veterans of Vietnam fought a long, hard postwar struggle to get our Veterans Administration to compensate troops for a dozen diseases associated with Agent Orange/dioxin. But what about the Vietnamese who were also exposed? And what about the leftover “hot spots” of dioxin that still exist there and continue to harm people to this very day?

The U.S. military shipped, stored, and sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange/dioxin over a quarter of the former South Vietnam, both for crop destruction and to deny cover to the enemy. In this country we know from our own experiences with dioxin at Love Canal and Times Beach that these toxic hot spots can cause death and disease to those who come in contact with the chemical. The diseases range from spina bifida to Parkinson’s and certain forms of cancer.

However, the political battle still rages in Washington. VA Secretary Shinseki has classified three additional diseases as associated with Agent Orange/dioxin, thereby making veterans with those conditions eligible for compensation. In addition, women who served in Vietnam can receive compensation if their children are disabled with any of 14 birth anomalies.

That’s because Agent Orange/dioxin can cause DNA damage for generations.

The struggle is far from over. We have reason to believe that many additional adverse medical conditions in Vietnam veterans of both sexes also are caused by these exposures, including possible genetic problems in grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Agent Orange/dioxin damage also lingers. While we have made some progress for Americans harmed by these exposures, our friends in Vietnam have a long way to go to match our modest gains. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that 3 million people, including more than 150,000 of today’s children, are disabled because of the chemical. Former airbases like Da Nang contain dangerous toxic hot spots where Agent Orange was stored and handled and spilled into the ground. Dioxin is hard to break up in the soil and it lasts in human body tissue for years.

Unlike the United States government, the Vietnamese recognized that Agent Orange/dioxin might cause chromosomal damage in the second and third generations of original victims. My own experience is that families of American veterans also suffer. But the VA recognizes no health consequences from Agent Orange/dioxin in disabled daughters and sons of male veterans who served in Vietnam.

It’s time to put this legacy of the war in Vietnam to rest once and for all. A blue-ribbon commission of prominent Americans and Vietnamese has called for a 10-year, $300 million cleanup of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam. The resources would eliminate the hot spots, restore damaged ecosystems and provide humanitarian assistance to the Vietnamese disabled population, including those second- and third-generation children affected by the chemical.

It seems to me that $30 million a year for 10 years, from government, foundation and private sources, is a small price to pay to help remedy the damage caused.

This is a humanitarian concern we can do something about. Recent progress in methods of treating contaminated soils and helping Vietnam’s disabled population shows that America is at its best when it steps up to heal past wounds.

If we make progress on nothing else regarding the ravages of Agent Orange and other toxic substances used in Vietnam, we must properly care for our future generations — on both sides of the Pacific.

Weidman served as an Army Medic with the AMERICAL Division in I-Corps Vietnam in 1969. He currently serves as Executive Director for Policy & Government Affairs on the national staff of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

Featured image photo: U.S. helicopter spraying defoliant in dense jungle during the Vietnam War, 1969. Brian K. Grigsby, Department of Defense/The National Archives

The post Agent Orange still damaging decades later appeared first on VAORRC.

UNITED NATIONS – Vietnamese victims of the defoliant known as Agent Orange wound up a month-long visit to the U.S. at the invitation of veterans, Vietnamese Americans and peace activists, to press their case for reparations from the companies that made the deadly chemical.

They say an estimated 50,000 deformed children have been born to parents who were directly sprayed with Agent Orange or exposed through contaminated food and water.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. scorched up to 25 percent of the country’s forests with the deadly chemicals Agent Orange, and also Agent White, Blue, Pink, Green and Purple. Agent Orange, which contained trace amounts of dioxin, disabled and sickened both soldiers and civilians.

The risk of death from cancer among men and women exposed to Agent Orange increased by 30 percent in Vietnam after the war, studies show. Today, three million Vietnamese and tens of thousands of U.S soldiers still suffer the health effects of these chemicals.

To raise awareness here about their campaign, Vietnamese activists launched a 10-city tour, with stops in New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco, among others.

“I have just learned what the doctors think of my case,” said Ha Thi Hai, an Agent Orange victim born in 1976 in Vietnam’s Thai Binh province. “They say that Agent Orange has affected my marrow and atrophied my muscles. It is inoperable and incurable. I am going to lose little by little the use of my limbs and not be able to move.”

Now, more than 30 years after the end of the war that killed more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers and three million Vietnamese, U.S veterans are demanding compensation for their Vietnamese counterparts.

U.S. veterans received partial compensation for their injuries from the U.S. government and the chemical companies that manufactured the weapons, but Vietnamese victims have not received any compensation.

From 1961 trough 1971, 22 million gallons of highly toxic herbicides were sprayed over hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, mostly in Vietnam, but also in Laos and Cambodia.

In addition to the human toll, Agent Orange devastated Vietnam’s natural environment, including the wholesale destruction of mangrove forests and the long-term poisoning of soil and crops.

In 1984, seven U.S. chemical companies agreed to pay 180 million dollars to 291,000 people over a period of 12 years. However, the companies refused to accept liability as part of the legal settlement of the cases, claiming the science still does not prove that Agent Orange was responsible for any of the medical horrors its name has long brought to mind.

In 2004, Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange filed a new federal lawsuit against 36 U.S. chemical companies that manufactured and supplied the herbicide. The lawsuit was dismissed on Mar. 10 of this year, when a judge found the claims lacked a basis in national or international law.

The Association of Agent Orange Victims, which represents more than three million Vietnamese affected by the toxic herbicide, announced in September that they planned to file an appeal of the ruling.

The Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign is supporting the lawsuit of Agent Orange victims against U.S. chemical manufacturers and is lobbying the U.S. government to provide compensation for Vietnamese Agent Orange survivors.

“We have had a tremendous amount of support,” Merle Ratner, a coordinator of the Campaign, told IPS. “We are trying to get legislation introduced within the next year or six months. We are calling on the U.S. to allocate money for Agent Orange victims in Vietnam.”

“From the discussions of the people from the tour, we have heard that they are living under difficult conditions. The Vietnamese government is trying to provide help for them and in fact is giving some kind of assistance to every Agent Orange victim in the country, but this is a poor country so they can not afford that much,” she said,

“We think there is a responsibility, both legally and ethically, to compensate the Agent Orange victims in Vietnam, as the U.S. has been forced to do with the U.S. veterans.”

Meanwhile, after initially denying allegations that U.S. forces had used chemical agents in Iraq, the Pentagon now says that it did in fact use white phosphorus as a weapon in Fallujah last year. However, it denies having used it against civilians.

The U.S. initially said white phosphorus was used only to illuminate enemy positions, but now admits it was used as a weapon. The substance can cause burning of the flesh, but is not illegal and is not specifically classified as a chemical weapon.

However, according to the U.S. government Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, “Exposure to white phosphorus may cause burns and irritation, liver, kidney, heart, lung, or bone damage, and death.”

Marie Okabe, deputy spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said, “We are aware of the reported use of white phosphorus in Fallujah last year, and are concerned about its effects on the local civilian population.”

“We welcome the decision of the government of Iraq to launch an immediate investigation into this matter,” she added.

The 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons bans the use of incendiary weapons against civilians, but the U.S. is one of several nations that are not signatories to the treaty.

“In Vietnam, they poisoned us with Agent Orange, and now they are poisoning another generation with depleted uranium and other toxins,” said Dave Curry of the U.S.-based Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

“Out of the 360,000 discharged veterans from the current Iraq war, nearly one in four had already visited VA (the Veterans Administration) for physical injuries or mental health counseling by February 2005,” Curry said.

*****
+Vietnam Veterans Against the War (http://www.vvaw.org/)
+Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (http://www.vn-agentorange.org/)

The post U.S. Vets Join Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims appeared first on VAORRC.

by Jack Dalton, disabled veteran of the American War on Vietnam

Wednesday, December 7, 2005, I went to Portland State University’s Multi-Cultural Center to hear a presentation by three people from Vietnam, who are a part of the group of Vietnamese seeking reparations from this country over its use of Agent Orange. It turned out to be a night I will never forget, for many reasons and on many levels.

Mrs. DANG THI HONG NHUT. 69; Mr. HO SY HAI, 61; Dr. NGUYEN TRONG NHAN, 75 were the three speakers at the presentation. A brief bio of each of them can be read here: http://www.vn-agentorange.org/ao_bios.html

There was a forth man who was supposed to accompany these three on their presentation here in the U.S., bringing the issue of Agent Orange use in Vietnam, and its disastrous consequences on the Vietnamese people over the years, to us the American people.–Mr. NGUYEN MUOI — born August 10, 1983, suffers from spina bifida. His father, NGUYEN DINH THANH, born April 10, 1946, was a former soldier in the former South Vietnamese army (ARVN) who was exposed to toxic chemicals in approximately June 1970. Mr. THANH suffered from headaches, nausea and vomiting, colic, and dyspnea. Nguyen Muoi’s mother had two miscarriages in 1974 and 1976. His visa was denied by the U.S. government.

It was really difficult to sit thru the slide and film presentation, detailing exactly what the over 20 million gallons of Agent Orange has done to Vietnam; what it has, and is doing to the Vietnamese people right now, today. But sit thru it I did; mostly thru tear filled eyes. They were the tears of sadness that come with the realization of just exactly what this country has done to the Vietnamese people and their land.

It was very difficult to listen to Mrs. Dang Thi Hong Nhut when she was speaking. She talked of things I have first hand knowledge of—torture! She talked of the over 6 years she was held as a “prisoner” by U.S. and ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) during which she was tortured repeatedly. The torturing of those in captivity in Vietnam was not simply “bad apples” acting on their own in Vietnam any more than the torture of those in captivity in Iraq are a result of just a “few bad apples”–the entire apple barrel is rotten! Never again is here again! Actually, “never again” never went away.

Mr. Ho Sy Hai was a supply truck driver in the North Vietnamese Army. He was driving supplies from the North to the South thru Quang Tri Province in 1965 and 1966. I wondered, with deep anguish, if it was me and my friends who sprayed him with Agent Orange. I broke into tears again as I sat and listened to him…and struggled with my sense of responsibility that it may have been me who left him in the condition he is in with cancer—or the miscarriages his wife has had; or the three children he has that thru the father were crippled by Agent Orange? Who knows, that area was a madhouse. But then that’s what war is, one great big madhouse—Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” come to life. Great guilt, great sadness…

That guilt and sadness did not last long however, as it was replaced by anger:

Anger at having allowed myself to be so deceived, like so many others, into believing that the Vietnamese, in their own country, were our “enemies” and as such deserved anything we did to them—like chemical warfare. For that was, and is, what Agent Orange usage is–Chemical Warfare—think War Crime on a grand scale (as it is now in Iraq and Afghanistan with the use of Depleted Uranium—chemical/nuclear warfare).

Anger at learning this nation we call America, knew from day one what Agent Orange was and what it would do to human beings. We know this from the statement of Dr. James R. Clary (among many others), a former senior scientist at the Chemical Weapons Branch (Air Force Armament Development Lab in Florida) who wrote:

“When we initiated the herbicide program in the 1960’s, we were aware of the potential for damage due to dioxin contamination in the herbicide. We were even aware that the military formulation had a higher concentration than the civilian version due to lower costs and speed of manufacture. However, because the material was to be used on the enemy, none of us were overly concerned.”“

The racism inherent in this quote characterizes the continued use of Agent Orange against the Vietnamese people and the failure to compensate them.” They didn’t care about the Vietnamese, and they sure didn’t care much about us either, as they knew we were all being poisoned at the same time. But then when I was in Vietnam my friends and I didn’t care about the Vietnamese either—would that that could be taken back! They didn’t care then, and the “they’s” today don’t care. We must make them care.

Two U.S. zoologists went to Vietnam in 1969 and then wrote:

“The chemical weapons of a technologically advanced society are being used massively for the first time in a guerilla war… [Our] military efforts are aimed at increasing the toll of fatalities, denying food to the enemy, and depriving him of the concealment provided by natural growth. This type of warfare is, therefore, enormously destructive, both on human life and the environment.”

Agent Orange was not the only chemical used on Vietnam and the Vietnamese people during the American War on Vietnam. Not by a long shot. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first to start the destruction of Vietnam by chemicals. John F. Kennedy built on what Eisenhower started when in 1961/62 he signed off on Operation Ranch Hand. That took the chemical spraying of Vietnam to an all new level. It also included other “agents” such as Agent Blue; Agent Pink; Agent White; Agent Green. You could tell which was which from the color of the band around the 55 gallon drum (each with skull and cross-bones on it).

“Teams of international scientists working in Vietnam have now discovered that Agent Orange contains one of the most virulent poisons known to man, a strain of dioxin called TCCD which, 28 years after the fighting ended, remains in the soil, continuing to destroy the lives of those exposed to it. Evidence has also emerged that the US government not only knew that Agent Orange was contaminated, but was fully aware of the killing power of its contaminant dioxin, and yet still continued to use the herbicide in Vietnam for 10 years of the war and in concentrations that exceeded its own guidelines by 25 times. As well as spraying the North Vietnamese, the US doused its own troops stationed in the jungle, rather than lose tactical advantage by having them withdraw.” (Specter Orange; Guardian LTD; 3-29-03)

The greatest evil we do is to deny the evil we do:

When we as American’s fail, no, refuse to seriously look at, balance, weigh and judge those things our governing body does in our names we are complicit in all that is done. If what is done is wrong, illegal, criminal—we as a people, as a nation, are equally guilty of those crimes. Silence is acceptance; acquiesce; the greatest sedition after all, is silence is it not?

It is way past time for the silence on what this nation did to the Vietnamese people during the American War on Vietnam to end; and end it must! In the process of poisoning the Vietnamese people, their land, their water, we also poisoned ourselves. This is always the result of being, or rather “allowing” ourselves to be lied and deceived into war. That is true about the invasion and occupation of Iraq today, just as it was and is true about American War on Vietnam. Both were based on lies and deceptions on a grand scale. No one wins in war—everyone loses, and the cost is always very high and it always last for decades.

35 years ago, Daniel Ellsberg, in the “Pentagon Papers” told us the event that led to full blown war on Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in fact did not occur! Ellsberg was attacked by government and media pundits over this (sound familiar?). Some of us knew he was right. Today, we have absolute proof of the deception; just as we have the proof of the foreknowledge of what Agent Orange (dioxin) would do to the people who come in contact with it—like thru massive aerial spraying.

My thoughts on our national and individual responsibility

Maybe my own Agent Orange caused myriad diseases and illnesses are simply the dues to be paid for being so willing, at that time, to be deceived and sound the horn of “American Exceptionalism” and volunteer to go to Vietnam. So many contaminated; so many of my friends now dead from Agent Orange. As I wrote in a letter to my girlfriend while on my way to Vietnam: “…I’m going…to kill a commie for Christ…” and went on to say, “…don’t want them here, so I’ll help take them out there…”

I’m not making this up; I was a real gung-ho flag waver then. She gave the letter to her father who gave it to one of the editors of the Oakland Tribune (I’m originally from the S.F/Oakland Bay Area), who printed it on the front of the society page (1965)—Local Marine Supports Vietnam War, or something to that effect. This also has a today’s “familiar ring” (Iraq) does it not, soldiers in support of the war they are in? That letter still haunts me today.

Today I know this: what Agent Orange is doing to the Vietnamese people concerns me a lot more than what it has and is doing to me personally. That stems from a sense of responsibility and a little guilt. This nation’s refusal to acknowledge the horrendous ongoing problems Vietnam is faced with, that the people are faced with due to the years of massive Agent Orange usage is way above just an outrage. It’s a continuation of that which has yet to end—the American War on Vietnam! To bring it to an end, we must of necessity as a nation, face what we have done, accept the responsibility for our actions, and then do something to address that responsibility, in real terms–reparations to the people of Vietnam. In the name of our common humanity alone, this is demanded. Nothing less is acceptable, period, end of story on that point!

Consequences, there are always consequences and dues to be paid; action-reaction ‘kinda’ thing. This has nothing to do with forgiveness and everything to do with consequences of actions, whether intentional or not. It’s about assuming and accepting responsibility for our actions, pure and simple.

We must do this, supporting Vietnamese reparations; not seeking forgiveness–No, No. If seeking forgiveness from them is behind the support, wrong reason. We must do this because as a nation, as a ‘people’ what we did to Vietnam and the Vietnamese people was WRONG! It was, and is, by all international standards, and common human decency, a war crime. That’s what chemical warfare is, and that’s what Agent Orange use is, chemical warfare. And not living up to our responsibilities to Vietnam and the Vietnamese people who have, and are suffering so greatly, is an obscene act of betrayal. And maybe in the process of standing with them in this fight for justice, we can get justice for Agent Orange contaminated veterans in this country. It is after all the very same fight against the same government is it not?

30 years ago they were promised $3 billion by our government to help Vietnam clean up the mess we created—to this day the people of Vietnam have not seen one penny of that money. What does that say about us? Why do we continue to sit back and watch our nation’s government fail to fulfill the pledge that was made to the people of Vietnam? The broken promises to us here, the U.S. veterans of that war by this nation are for another essay.
The Vietnamese have appealed a recent Federal Courts denial of their claim. That appeal should be heard sometime in March 2006. We cannot let these people be forgotten when they go back to Vietnam, to hold their ‘breath and wait’ for justice; while they attend the sick, the dying, the deformed and crippled from Agent Orange contamination—that which we as a nation did to them. This is our responsibility and we cannot turn away or walk away from this, period!

When we left Vietnam we left it a killing field—those not poisoned by Agent Orange get blown up by all the unexploded U.S. ordinance and land mines, what a legacy.

What the evening meant to me personally

Two men met each other that night, one, a former North Vietnamese soldier, the other a ‘former’ U.S. Marine. In 1965/66 they fought as enemies. 40 years later they met in Portland, OR. and came away from that not as enemies, but as two men who were born in the same year, hurt and damaged by the same war, in the same places at the same time, who tightly held each other–and I wept.

I went there seeking forgiveness for that which I would not forgive myself; I came away, not with forgiveness, but with something much, much more. Something I could not put into words if I tried—and I have tried. I’ll simply say that when I left that night, it was with something in me that I had left in Vietnam many years ago—I think it was a part of my soul. And it was, in part, given back to me by a man I once considered an enemy, thru his embrace. I will never forget Mr. Ho Sy Hai. I will never again fail to focus on the Vietnamese when discussing Agent Orange as I have done in the past.

Closing Questions

Invading Army’s all have said the same thing about the people in the country they have invaded—they are the enemy, usually in very racist terms. Today this is being repeated in Iraq. How absurd! We that went to Vietnam were betrayed by those who sent us by their lies and deceptions, as was the nation. Those who have been sent to Iraq have been betrayed by those who sent them, much as we were…

When will we ever keep “never again” from continuing to happen again? When will this nation be willing to accept responsibility for its actions—or better stated when we will as individuals be willing to accept the responsibility for those things done in our names?

We had best answer those questions real soon as “never again” is still with us.

Jack Dalton is a disabled veteran of the American War on Vietnam. He is an independent writer and political activist who is widely published on the internet. He was also a contributing writer in the recently published, Neo-Connded!Again! Published by IHS Press. His blog is Jack’s Straight-Speak and his email address is: jack_dalton@comcast.net

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