This is quite an unusual book, written by the Vietnam Commission of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee of the GDR.
"The use of a number of chemical warfare agents- something that is banned by international law... ranks among the crimes the United States have committed. Some of these are herbicides which the US side uses in Vietnam to destroy huge forests as well as paddy fields and vegetable gardens."
Agent Orange is only one of the agents described here. Most of us know that Agent Orange not only affected the Vietnamese, but also had long term consequences on American soldiers exposed to it there. Much more lasting was the damage done to the Vietnamese people. Contaminated water and soil caused harm to plants, animals and people. This pamphlet was written in 1969. The fact I found most sobering was regarding Vietnamese rice production. In 1957 Vietnam exported 180,000 tons of rice, but only 48,700 in 1964. As I said, that statistic is sobering.
Does anyone know what long term effects these chemicals had on the Vietnamese people and environment? I have heard about this issue from two different perspectives, both from a US vet exposed to Agent Orange, and from a chemist at Dow. We all are upset when a government uses chemical weapons. Do you agree with these authors that using herbicides constitutes a war crime?
Look for this pamphlet, priced at $5 (1/3 the internet price) in the military history section, avail. 12/7.
