Thirty years after the fall of Saigon, the celebrations can finally begin
With economy rising, Vietnam is at last enjoying the fruits of peace.
I wonder how long before Iraq can truly celebrate its liberation day?
Full Version: Vietnam Liberation Day celebrations
Vietnam is celebrating it's fruits because they dropped their Old Guard Communist system. Every day, Vietnam moves closer and closer to the Free Market.
Disturbing to look at South Korea and see what could have been had we not cut and run from vietnam. MARK
Nixon's Vietnamization plan would have won the war, had the Democratic Congress agreed to fund it.
The legacy of Agent Orange
Friday, 29 April, 2005, 14:57 GMT 15:57 UK
free market .... can pay for / buy anything and everything, right? even the pains and sufferings of people :
no need to admit wrongs - just pay. after all it is about free market - business, which is amoral, right? why to admit wrongs ? those who are right can't be wrong !
better make them "free". and those who disagree that becoming "free" is more important than be well and healthy - well, they have brought it upon themselves .... right?
the anniversary would help to revive patriotism and national pride among the young
Friday, 29 April, 2005, 14:57 GMT 15:57 UK
QUOTE
Thirty years after hostilities ended between the US and Vietnam, relations remain strained by one of America's most notorious weapons during the war, the chemical Agent Orange.
The Vietnamese believe that the powerful weed killer - the use of which was intended to destroy crops and jungle providing cover for the Vietcong - is responsible for massively high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed.
Nguyen Trong Nhan, from the Vietnam Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange and a former president of Vietnamese Red Cross, believes the use of Agent Orange was a "war crime".
The US sprayed 80m litres of poisonous chemicals during Operation Ranchhand. There were many Agents used, including Pink, Green and White, but Agent Orange was used the most - 45m litres sprayed over a 10th of Vietnam.
It was also used - mostly in secret - over parts of neighbouring Cambodia. ...
Spraying stopped in 1971, after more than 6,000 missions and growing public disquiet.
A Japanese study, comparing areas sprayed with those that were not, found children were three times more likely to be born with cleft palates, or extra fingers and toes.
There are eight times as many hernias in such children, and three times as many born with mental disabilities.
In 2001, scientists found that people living in an Agent Orange "hotspot" at Binh-Hoa near Ho Chi Minh City have 200 times the background amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams.
Humanitarian opportunity
America "normalised" relations with Vietnam 10 years ago, and the country has now embraced the free market.
No representative of the US government in Vietnam would talk to One Planet about Agent Orange.
However, in 1984, chemical companies that manufactured the Agent paid $180m into a fund for United States veterans following a lawsuit. They did not, however, admit any wrongdoing....
.... US has provided funding for clearing mines that it dropped on Vietnam during the war. "We think the US should do the same with Agent Orange," he added.
"It's not going to go away, because it affects a huge number of people in Vietnam.
"We would see this as an opportunity for the US to take humanitarian action so that it doesn't become an obstacle between the countries."
The Vietnamese believe that the powerful weed killer - the use of which was intended to destroy crops and jungle providing cover for the Vietcong - is responsible for massively high instances of genetic defects in areas that were sprayed.
Nguyen Trong Nhan, from the Vietnam Association Of Victims Of Agent Orange and a former president of Vietnamese Red Cross, believes the use of Agent Orange was a "war crime".
The US sprayed 80m litres of poisonous chemicals during Operation Ranchhand. There were many Agents used, including Pink, Green and White, but Agent Orange was used the most - 45m litres sprayed over a 10th of Vietnam.
It was also used - mostly in secret - over parts of neighbouring Cambodia. ...
Spraying stopped in 1971, after more than 6,000 missions and growing public disquiet.
A Japanese study, comparing areas sprayed with those that were not, found children were three times more likely to be born with cleft palates, or extra fingers and toes.
There are eight times as many hernias in such children, and three times as many born with mental disabilities.
In 2001, scientists found that people living in an Agent Orange "hotspot" at Binh-Hoa near Ho Chi Minh City have 200 times the background amount of dioxin in their bloodstreams.
Humanitarian opportunity
America "normalised" relations with Vietnam 10 years ago, and the country has now embraced the free market.
No representative of the US government in Vietnam would talk to One Planet about Agent Orange.
However, in 1984, chemical companies that manufactured the Agent paid $180m into a fund for United States veterans following a lawsuit. They did not, however, admit any wrongdoing....
.... US has provided funding for clearing mines that it dropped on Vietnam during the war. "We think the US should do the same with Agent Orange," he added.
"It's not going to go away, because it affects a huge number of people in Vietnam.
"We would see this as an opportunity for the US to take humanitarian action so that it doesn't become an obstacle between the countries."
free market .... can pay for / buy anything and everything, right? even the pains and sufferings of people :
QUOTE
One woman said the herbicide had caused a skin disease which gave her "great suffering".
"If the US and Vietnamese governments could care for people like me, that would be comforting," she added.
Another man said his legs have "wasted away" as a result of Agent Orange.
"When I realise I have been contaminated with poisonous chemicals, and the US government hasn't done anything to help, I feel very sad, and it makes me cry," he added.
"Now I always get severe headaches. My first child has just died - he had physical deformities. The second one is having headaches like me."
"If the US and Vietnamese governments could care for people like me, that would be comforting," she added.
Another man said his legs have "wasted away" as a result of Agent Orange.
"When I realise I have been contaminated with poisonous chemicals, and the US government hasn't done anything to help, I feel very sad, and it makes me cry," he added.
"Now I always get severe headaches. My first child has just died - he had physical deformities. The second one is having headaches like me."
no need to admit wrongs - just pay. after all it is about free market - business, which is amoral, right? why to admit wrongs ? those who are right can't be wrong !
better make them "free". and those who disagree that becoming "free" is more important than be well and healthy - well, they have brought it upon themselves .... right?the anniversary would help to revive patriotism and national pride among the young
QUOTE
About two-thirds of Vietnam's 84 million population is under 30...
war which had claimed an estimated three million Vietnamese and some 58,000 American lives
More than 7,500 prisoners, including some political detainees, have been released this year as part of an anniversary amnesty.
war which had claimed an estimated three million Vietnamese and some 58,000 American lives
More than 7,500 prisoners, including some political detainees, have been released this year as part of an anniversary amnesty.
Thirty years later the images are still vivid: a US army helicopter scrambling to evacuate diplomats from the roof of the US embassy in Saigon, the mass protests against the war; napalmed children fleeing American bombs, their skin in shreds.
"We need to forgive, but never forget!" - Vietnamese widow who lived in a village near Hue, close to the former dividing line between North and South Vietnam, ... the 90-year-old Mrs Nguyen cradled the medals of her six sons who had fallen in the war against the Americans...
well, this one is not loosing but winning - right? should be ok then.
"We need to forgive, but never forget!" - Vietnamese widow who lived in a village near Hue, close to the former dividing line between North and South Vietnam, ... the 90-year-old Mrs Nguyen cradled the medals of her six sons who had fallen in the war against the Americans...
QUOTE
Ghosts of past in Iraq
Thirty years after the end of the war, Vietnam continues to divide and haunt America far more than the country that lost 50 times as many people.
One reason is the bruised pride of a super power that was defeated in the jungles of South East Asia.
More importantly the war bitterly divided this nation, raising fundamental questions about the benevolence of American democracy and about the right balance between force and freedom, a debate that is as poignant today as it was then.
At the time Vietnam was billed as a pre-emptive war to contain the spread of communism in Asia and protect America.
As the casualties mounted so did the questions about how much a threat the Vietcong could really pose.
Today another pre-emptive war against an enemy far from home has posed similar questions.
It took 20,000 casualties and five years of fruitless fighting to turn the American public against the war in Vietnam.
Iraq is far from becoming another Vietnam. But today the ghosts of the jungle are busy getting resurrected in the sands around Baghdad.
Thirty years after the end of the war, Vietnam continues to divide and haunt America far more than the country that lost 50 times as many people.
One reason is the bruised pride of a super power that was defeated in the jungles of South East Asia.
More importantly the war bitterly divided this nation, raising fundamental questions about the benevolence of American democracy and about the right balance between force and freedom, a debate that is as poignant today as it was then.
At the time Vietnam was billed as a pre-emptive war to contain the spread of communism in Asia and protect America.
As the casualties mounted so did the questions about how much a threat the Vietcong could really pose.
Today another pre-emptive war against an enemy far from home has posed similar questions.
It took 20,000 casualties and five years of fruitless fighting to turn the American public against the war in Vietnam.
Iraq is far from becoming another Vietnam. But today the ghosts of the jungle are busy getting resurrected in the sands around Baghdad.
well, this one is not loosing but winning - right? should be ok then.
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