Mother’s love: a plea to Michelle Obama

An Agent Orange activist calls on the first lady to help dioxin victims in Vietnam.

Vietnamese victims of the defoliant Agent Orange play at a social sponsorship center in Da Nang City June 26, 2009. US warplanes dropped about 18 million gallons of the defoliant on southern Vietnam for most of the 1960s.

The following is a letter sent to Michelle Obama by Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Association Len Aldis, who has worked for years to spread awareness of Agent Orange victims’ plight.

August 2 marks the beginning of Orange Week, a government program to create Agent Orange awareness through various programs nationwide. Orange Week ends on August 10, 48 years to the day since the US military begin spraying the defoliant on Vietnam.

Dear Michelle Obama,

You can find the Letter Here

Britain-Vietnam Friendship Association


"AGENT ORANGE: 30 YEARS LATER"

“AGENT ORANGE: 30 YEARS LATER” is a drama-documentary about the victims of Agent Orange 30 years after the Viet Nam War.

The goal of this documentary is to make the viewers aware of the impact of dioxin on the environment and the people. The film also underscores the need for compassion and heightens a sense of responsibility for our actions towards each other as stewards of the planet without regard for political differences.....>>>>>Much More Here

Justice for Victims of Agent Orange

I put this together when the Vietnamesse Reps were attempting to get the U.S. Courts to rule on Compensation for Defoliant Victims that still plague that country today.

The Vietnamese government says this has left more than 3
million people disabled.
Please Visit The Following Links

Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign

The Thanh Xuan Peace Village in Vietnam

Agent orange girl determined to overcome her destiny

"Chorus for Justice"

Vietnamese Delegation in U.S. to Sue Chemical Companies for Ongoing
Effects of Agent Orange

Justice for Victims of Agent Orange


'Nam Vets Again Press VA on Agent Orange

Armed with the latest study from the Institute of Medicine, Vietnam Veterans of America is petitioning Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki to add three illnesses -- including high blood pressure -- to the long list of deadly or debilitating ailments that have been linked to Agent Orange exposure.

The outreach is the latest in a long fight between some Vietnam veterans’ organizations and the U.S. government to connect a wider range of ailments to the chemical defoliant used throughout the conflict to strip away the enemy’s jungle sanctuaries.............

39 years later, Australia finds last Vietnam War missing
The officer in charge of Operation Magpies Return, wing commander Michael Warby (L), assisted by Vietnamese workers, sieves soil at the crash site.

An Australian search team has found the remains of the country's last two missing Vietnam War servicemen, 39 years after their aircraft crashed into a thick jungle, officials said Thursday............

Legacy of Wars............

Special Initiative on Agent Orange/Dioxin

Backround
From 1961 to 1971, U.S. military forces sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on forests and crops in southern and central Vietnam. The campaign had both human and environmental consequences. The immediate effect was to defoliate and destroy vegetation over wide areas. The delayed impact came from dioxin, a highly toxic chemical in Agent Orange that is critically harmful to humans................

Above comes from an embedded link in an article found at Mother Jones Agent Orange: Treatment For Vets Still Lagging, Says Report

The Ford Foundation will release a report Tuesday calling for continued study of the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange, as well as for stepped-up diagnosis and treatment of US veterans exposed to it. Used as a defoliant in Vietnam to destroy vegetation used as food and cover for the Viet Cong, the dioixn--named for the orange stripe on its label--has been the subject of controversy ever since its first use in 1962. Over the ensuing ten years of hard combat, some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides were sprayed over six million acres of Vietnamese jungle. (See the box below for a selection of Mother Jones' earlier coverage of Agent Orange and the federal government's history of inadequate response to veterans' complaints.).............the rest found here

With linkbacks to a couple of previous articles on our subject of 'Agent Orange' and the other Defoliants used than.

Back to the Ford Foundation site link at the top you'll find the video above along with links to their strategy and those partnering with them, the members of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group, and finally the grant program totals so far and more.

I've done a few posts on Agent Orange and Defoliants from the occupation many many many of us served in, one just recently. All of them, in these last couple of years of renewed discussion by just a few, lead to this site Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign - VAORRC and were posted leading up to and following a Vietnamese delagation that traveled to the U.S. on their court case against the United States and the Chemical manufacturing companies, loosing again. But we did have abit of good news just recently, US Doubles Funds for Agent Orange Cleanup, it's a drop in the bucket of what we owe to those who've suffered all these years since, as well as those of our brothers, many now gone from the results of their contamination and suffering!

Wars Don't End, what is done, especially in these Wars of Choice that become more of testing grounds for the billions of dollars spent on extremely high priced weapons of mass destruction, is leaving behind for those that fight them and especially those that live in these occupied countries lifetime suffering, some of that carried into further generations!

We've now had, since Vietnam, Gulf War Syndrome still not resolved as those exposed are suffering from a variety of ailments, many having died already, and births of their children with physical problems!

There are many questions about our use of Depleted Uranium, nuking others, in our artillery and use in the vehicle armor. We have some soldiers returning that are now suffering ailments. some devastating and life threatening, from possible exposure to a whole host of chemicals and contaminants from the burn pits at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These aren't the only problems of aftermath of these occupation, there's land mines, cluster bombs that didn't explode, and a whole host of other dangers right along with the trauma that's been caused!

Tens of thousands are killed, they don't suffer the after! Do you think those that survive will forget, or how about the young and those newborn during that grew up these years, that's all they know!

Wars Don't End!!

Another Loooong Battle Getting Attention/Action

Kudo's Barrack, Kudo's, But Much More Still Needed!

US Doubles Funds for Agent Orange Cleanup

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The United States government has doubled its funding for dealing with the environmental and health consequences of its wartime use in Vietnam of the toxic herbicide Agent Orange, the embassy said Friday.

President Barack Obama recently signed a bill increasing the funding from $3 million to $6 million, embassy officials said. Most of the money is being used in Danang, where U.S. troops used to mix and store Agent Orange at an Air Force base before loading it onto planes.

More Of The Change We Can Believe In!!

Many U.S. soldiers, my brothers of the Vietnam War, have been not only trying to help the Vietnamese in their struggle with this countries poisoning of their lands but have opened up and support places like Vietnam Friendship Village, as well as care facilities and orphanages for those still being born and have since we left.

Vietnam believes as many as 4 million people have suffered serious health problems from the herbicide, such as cancer, spina bifida and other birth defects. The U.S. says the actual number is probably far lower and that further scientific study is needed to understand the health impact. The U.S. and Vietnam only began working together in 2007 to address the consequences of Agent Orange after years of disagreement.

The embassy said in a statement that one third of the $6 million is being used for health programs to serve people in the Danang area. The rest will be used to remove dioxin from the soil and sediment near Danang airport.

Much more is needed especially if we're not going to compensate the families of the victims, as noted with this:

Friday's People's Army newspaper quoted Lai Minh Hien, a Vietnamese environmental official in charge of Agent Orange issues, as saying that Vietnam needs additional 1 trillion dong ($57 million) to clean up dioxin in Danang as well as at former U.S. air bases in Bien Hoa and Phu Cat.

Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese


Justice for Victims of Agent Orange


Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign - VAORRC

Brother Dave Cline has widened his smile some, my guess is, and he still watches over the Vietnamese people we fought but he fell in love with, and they him, and worked tirelessly to help, Rip Brother RIP, your work is hopefully finally paying off!

Agent Orange Victims

Share Tales of Chemical's Poisonous Legacy

At age 19, Dan Wilson packed his bags and left St. Louis for the U.S. Army, and life as a soldier in Vietnam. It was a decision that would change his life.

Vietnam is a land known for jungles, but during his last eight months there, Wilson lived where there was nothing green at all.

"There was no grass," he said. "There were several thousand acres of dust when it didn't rain and mud when it did."

Neither he nor his fellow soldiers knew they were living, eating and drinking in a toxic wasteland.

Justice for Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims: 2008

Again this year Vietnamesse Agent Orange victims are touring the United States seeking justice, Our Responsibility, for the long term damage done to their countries citizens from our occupation of their country not so long ago.


Delegation of Vietnamese Women Agent Orange Victims Visit 10 US Cities, Sept 28–Oct 31, 2008


Co-sponsors: Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, National Lawyers Guild & United For Peace & Justice





Organizing groups for the delegation have formed & are planning events in 9/28 - 10/5:


New York City, New Jersey & New Haven, Welcoming reception (9/30), meeting with lawyers (10/1), Columbia U Law School (10/2), Dominican community (10/3 at 2005 Amsterdam Ave. 7pm), public event at Musician's Union Local 803, 322 West 48th St. Manhattan (10/04 6:30pm), churches, contact us


10/6 - 10/8: Washington DC, press conference at the Supreme Court, meetings with Congress representatives, contact us


10/9 - 10/12: Birmingham AL, meetings with lawyers, contact us


10/12 - 10/14: Pittsburgh PA, Reconciliation & Healing: Remembering Vietnam, La Roche College, contact us


10/15 - 10/18: Detroit MI, National Lawyers Guild, Law for the People Convention, Friday 10/17


10/19 - 10/21: Chicago IL, NPR Worldview, Roosevelt University, Hull House, U of Illinois at Chicago


10/22 - 10/25: Portland & Eugene OR, 10/22 Knight Law School, 7pm (Eugene).


10/26 - 10/28: Los Angeles CA, Reception by CHEER, UCLA Labor Center, Strategy Center & SoCA for Youth, contact us


10/28 - 10/31: Bay Area CA, events in Laney College, Eastside Arts Alliance (Oakland, 10/28), Glasner Center (Santa Rosa, 10/29), and at Veterans Building (San Francisco, 10/30 7pm), contact us


The Delegation: Both women are Agent Orange victims.

Ms. TRẦN THỊ HOAN (age 21), was born on December 16, 1986 in Đức Linh district of Bình Thuận province in Central Vietnam. She is a second generation victim of Agent Orange. Her mother was exposed to Agent Orange as a result of the war. She was born without two legs and one hand is seriously atrophied.

From the time she was12 years old, Hoan has lived in Peace Village II, the Agent Orange center at Từ Dũ Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.
Hoan is now a college student in computer science in Ho Chi Minh City and is fluent in English. This is her first visit to the U.S. See video with Hoan.

Mrs. ĐẶNG HỒNG NHỰT was born on December 12, 1936, married in 1959 and gave birth to a healthy son in 1960.
Between 1961 and 1966 she joined the resistance forces in the Southeastern region of Vietnam (included Tây Ninh, Bình Dương, Củ Chi), which was heavily sprayed with Agent Orange. She was directly exposed to Agent Orange and suffered from skin rashes and diarrhea. Between 1966 and 1972 she was arrested and imprisoned by the US-supported government.
In 1973 and again in 1975 Ms. Nhut suffered miscarriages early in her pregnancy. In 1975, she again suffered a miscarriage. In 1977, she gave birth to a congenitally deformed still-born child. In 1980, she had another miscarriage. In 2002, she had surgery to remove an intestinal tumor. In 2003, she underwent another operation to remove a tumor from her thyroid. She now has cancer.

Ms. Nhut’s husband was a resistance fighter in the same region between 1960 and 1975 and was also exposed to Agent Orange. He was later diagnosed with intestinal cancer, metastasizing to the lung and the liver. He died in May, 1999. Vietnamese Struggle with Agent Orange

Lastly, Ms. ĐINH THỊ MINH HUYỀN is accompanying as an Interpreter. Ms. Huyen is from the Vietnam Peace & Development Foundation and Vietnam Association for Protection of Children’s Rights.

Visit Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign site to find out much more and to help if you feel there is a responsibility we should embrace for our actions as a society and country against others, especially those that have done nothing to us!


Last year I did a few posts about their Visit to the United States seeking Justice for what we had done during our occupation of their country in the Courts here as to the use of Defoliants {WMD's} especially Agent Orange which still poisons their country. You can visit Here, as well as Here and Here and finally Here.


In that last link I have a Video I put together of a song, written by a Vietnamesse Artist, about Defoliants in Vietnam, and was Linked to for Worldwide listening connected to the Agent Orange Justice Movement, this is that Video: