"Children of Agent Orange"/how a group of US veterans in Vietnam are trying to atone for the mistake

[KoKo]

Children of Agent Orange (MONSANTO)

How a group of US veterans in Vietnam are trying to atone for the mistakes of the past.hildren of Agent Orange


Fifty years ago this month, in the early stages of the Vietnam War, the US military began spraying rural areas of the country with the herbicide, Agent Orange. The programme's goal was to defoliate forested land, depriving the enemy Viet Cong of cover and driving peasants to the cities, thus destroying the Viet Cong's support base and food supply.

Over the next 10 years more than 80 million litres were deployed across 7.4 million hectares of Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia. They were an effective defoliant, but there is strong evidence that the deadly dioxins contained in Agent Orange also had a catastrophic effect on the health of millions of Vietnamese – killing hundreds of thousands and causing dreadful diseases and birth defects in subsequent generations right up to this day.

Thousands of US servicemen - men who handled the herbicide and who operated in areas where it was deployed - were affected too, and they and their families eventually won compensation through the courts. But attempts to get similar US financial aid for the Vietnamese victims, or even much help with a clean up of polluted land, have been less successful.

With many areas of Vietnam still poisoned by the dioxin and the country's hard pressed health and welfare services struggling to support those suffering, this film by Risto Vuorinen tells the remarkable story of the children of Agent Orange and a group of US veterans in Vietnam who are trying to atone for the mistakes of the past.


http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/09/2011928111920665336.html

[KoKo]

1. Do you ever notice how much of our Seafood and Clothes come from Vietnam these days?

Vietnam is a star in the Asian Economy...but what lurks in the goods and produce/seafood from there? :shrug:

[Scuba]

2. "I was killed in Viet Nam and didn't even know it"...

Sayeth the door gunners, pilots and boots on the ground.



<img src="" title="Hosted by imgur.com" />

[KoKo]

3. yep...in more ways than illness ...killing the soul.

I thought they did a interesting report ...I'm glad someone is talking about it since we have troops everywhere in new wars these days and the killing, sickness and mental debilitation goes on. Never thought it would be this way...as a person of that time in Vietnam. Like the people of Great Britain and Europe (after WWI it was called "The War to End all Wars..then WWII happened.)I thought Vietnam was such a mega-screwup we'd never do this ever again in my lifetime. Sadly...I lived long enough to see some of it once again...and it ain't all over yet given our war-mongering congress and leadership. :-(

[cliffordu]

9. Buried another one two years ago.

I'm thinking I'll get the news someday.

Might have well snorted the stuff.

[KoKo]

4. A kick in case anyone wants to bookmark to watch over weekend.

[pinboy3niner]

5. To check AJE schedule for airings of this film:

http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Schedule/ProgramSchedule.aspx

I think the run-time is 25-30 minutes.

[cliffordu]

8. Thanks, man, I'm there

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

12. Hey, 2 effs. Good to see you're hanging in there...

...and still fighting The Good Fight.

Love & Peace, bro...:patriot:

[cliffordu]

13. Back atcha, brother, right back atcha....

:patriot:

[JohnyCanuck]

6. Time to Revisit & Confront Agent Orange

This is from a post by Sibel Edmonds on her blog Boiling Frogs Post: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/09/25/time-to-revisit-confront-agent-orange/

When it comes down to it We are the Number One Nation in Producing, Stockpiling, Exporting, and Actually Using WMD
I just discovered the following article at Eurasia Review on Agent Orange, its use as a weapon by the US war machine, and the forgotten victims who are still suffering the nightmare of its contamination. Those of you who have been visiting my site for a while know the importance of this topic to me. I spent the better part of the year 2008 in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, I travelled north to south, met with and interviewed activists, NGOs and doctors involved in Agent Orange cases, and of course, got to know a few of these victims. I am going to re-publish two of my own videos from Vietnam for those of you who are new to this website, and ask you to read the article, watch the videos, think, reflect, and help educate others on the war atrocities committed by our nation, and our established record as the number one nation producing, stockpiling and actually using Weapons of Mass Destruction.

snip

And here are two clips I filmed while in Vietnam: First, Victims of Agent Orange, and the second, an interview I conducted (with Le Ly Heyslip) while in Vietnam on Agent Orange:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lcHZQpu9dQE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OMyzoPmPbuQ

[azul]

7. It is still too sad and shameful for many Americans to confront.

Maybe US churches and temples and synagogues can get involved in organizing the clean-up and medical relief efforts, and help us the US public come to grips with this reality and try to prevent it from happening ever again.

[azul]

10. There is a bill introduced in the house.

112th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2634

To direct the Secretary of State to provide assistance for certain individuals affected by exposure to Agent Orange and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enhance the availability of medical care for descendants of veterans of the Vietnam era, and for other purposes.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-2634

[Mnemosyne]

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