Agent Orange Inhumane

George Herring 's article " The legacy of Vietnam" talks about the military clash between the communist North Vietnam, backed by its allies and the government of South Vietnam, backed by the United States and other countries that are anti-communist that happened in Vietnam during Richard Nixon 's presidency. The Vietnam War was a terrible war, especially for Vietnamese because a millions of them died during the war. The author not just describes the war itself; he also analyzes the killing and the attack that occurred during the war. In general the Vietnam War was the most costly war contrast to other wars and it was the most shocking eras in American history. The Vietnam War had an impact in American history. It brought fear from the war

US goes to war, they show we are serious about stopping the spread of communism but if US doesn’t go to war the communism in Vietnam could spread just like Hitler did in WWII. The war wasn’t all about communism though, Vietnam was rich in resources and US wanted to keep South Vietnam’s way of life without communism. America may of killed civilians but think of how many civilians would of been killed if North Vietnam rampaged through South Vietnam. An overlook over the situation I believe America should of fought the war but planned it out better like choosing a better leader to rule South Vietnam. America was just waiting to lose a war and against a third world country America lost the war because of poor decisions.

Not to mention the harm it brought to the local people. According the chapter nine See no evil:Choosing Not to Look at the War in Vietnam，the United States dropped three times as many tons of explosives in Vietnam as it dropped in all theaters of World War II including Hiroshima and Nagasaki3.

The reason that Agent Orange was created was to kill the multitude of dense forests located in Vietnam. The North Vietnam Army had the advantage in this war. They knew how to hide in the jungle and how to camouflage to the environment. This became a real threat to the United States army. They knew

The War not only affected those in Vietnam, but those still at home in America. Americans had split into two groups, known as the hawks and the doves. The hawks were people who supported the war and wanted the country to be victorious in its fight with Communism. The doves were the people that disagreed with the war. These were traditionally students, and people of the younger generation. Many veterans when they would return home, would join in these mass protests. One popular protest, which took place at Kent State University, resulted in 9 wounded people with 4 dead. The police at Kent State took action against a mass protest by opening fire. This is the evil that is created through war. Without the Vietnam war, there is no protest at Kent State. Without the Vietnam war, the college kid’s lives are spared. Without the Vietnam War, thousands of lives could have been saved. Neil Young said it best in his song Ohio. Ohio discussed the brutality of war but mainly the police brutality against the kids at Kent State. Vietnam was a tragic stain in American history.

“We were told, ‘it’s totally safe and it won’t hurt you at all,” he added. “We were told you can drink it, you can brush your teeth with it, or you can bathe in it. It won’t hurt you. Those were lies.” (“U.S. Soldiers Sprayed Agent Orange across Korea” 1) Agent Orange was an herbicide used by the United States military forces in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to destroy their enemies’ food supply, land, and protection. Twelve million gallons of this toxin were sprayed. (Department of Preventive Medicine 1) It affected the Vietnamese and the American troops who were fighting in the same jungle. Little did the United States military know the effects of this dangerous herbicide. It caused many long-term complications, including health problems

Howard Zinn says it best when he writes that “from 1964 to 1972, the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the history of the world made a maximum military effort, with everything short of atomic bombs, to defeat a nationalist revolutionary movement in a tiny peasant country – and failed” (Zinn, 460). Zinn does not mince words when expressing his thoughts about the Vietnam War, because as Zinn says, Vietnam was basically a modern portrayal of David vs. Goliath. One could even go as far as to say that Vietnam was in essence a case of mass genocide in Vietnam. Thousands and thousands of Vietnamese and America soldiers were killed along with thousands upon thousands of innocent, Vietnamese citizens. War is an infectious disease and the Vietnam War is a perfect example of how deadly of a disease war can be. Everybody involved in the Vietnam War was affected, whether it was Vietnamese citizens, Vietnamese soldiers, American soldiers, or even American citizens back home. The disease that was the Vietnam War infected the hearts and minds of two countries half way across the world from each other.

Near the end of 1964 the involvement of the American troops in the war was rising. During the 1970’s it became evident that there were serious long lasting effects because of the chemicals. Not only soldiers but children also experienced physical ailments. Veterans of war were experiencing abnormalities after conceiving children. Several veterans had come forward stating that it was Agent Orange that had affected their health or birth defects of their children. There were a lot of soldiers unable to come back home and live normally after some of the harrowing things they had experiences and their own countrymen were criticising their involvement, when a lot of them had been conscripted and had no choice in whether they joined the army or

The war in Vietnam was, and continues to be, one of the most controversial hot button topics in American history. The military’s use of dangerous pesticides, like Agent Orange, is a major part of this controversy. Agent Orange is a defoliant that was widely used to deforest dense jungle areas to reduce both hiding places and food sources for the Vietnamese. During the war, American B-52 bombers released over nineteen million gallons of Agent Orange over the Vietnamese countryside. After ten years of continuous dumping, 1971 finally marked the end of America’s use of Agent Orange and other herbicides. In 1974, the United States government, headed by Richard Nixon, swore the country would never again use chemical weapons in a first strike. (Levy and Scott-Clark)

During the 60’s, having less melanin in the Southern states gave you endless privileges; a higher quality of education, functioning water fountains, washrooms provided with soap and hand towels, guaranteed seats on the bus and admittance to numerous restaurants and jobs. The neglect and discrimination the black community received before the Civil Rights Movement was inhumane. In The Heat Of The Night by John Ball is a novel that truly captures the atmosphere of the Southern states as they found themselves caught in between of the Civil Rights Movement. The novel is based around how 3 policemen; Chief Bill Gillespie, Sam Wood and Virgil TIbbs tries to crack the case of who murdered the wealthy orchestra conductor, Maestro Enrico Mantoli.

Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used to defoliate the jungles, meaning the United States military was trying to kill off the trees in Vietnam in order to take away places for North Vietnamese military men could hide (1). The Viet Cong did not fight conventionally against the American military, they could not do so and expect to win. This caused them to resort to guerilla warfare in order to strike and weaken parts of a division or unit. The Americans used Agent Orange as a defense strategy in order to take away hiding places for the Viet Cong to run to after hitting the American units (2). What is especially harmful to those who were around Agent Orange and where it was sprayed was the dioxin, which is a byproduct of one of the chemicals components. People still worked and breathed even with the residue of the toxin still in the air and in the soil, civilians and military personnel alike. The toxin carried in it a carcinogen that got its way into the water and in the soil. Slowly as the years have passed and Vietnam has been hit with a lot of monsoons clean water has washed away the toxic water, but not before it entered into the food chain and then started to accumulate into body fat and tissue in humans that was able to passed from a mother to their child threw breast milk. The American military, by word of the American government, dumped millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto the southern half of

Agent Orange was an innovate chemical used during the Vietnam War. It was a defoliant that helped the United States thought the war, yet it had left a permanent and devastating impact on vietnam vets and the Vietnamese people. From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed a range of herbicides across more than 4.5 million acres of Vietnam to destroy the forest cover and food crops used by enemy North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops the majority being Agent Orange. Not only did Agent Orange contaminated areas throughout Vietnam, but the areas where the herbicides were manufactured, stored or tested in the United States and elsewhere in the world are also contaminated to this day with Agent Orange.

The chemical weaponry that were used on the Vietnam vegetation had an adverse effect on the people in a way that even after three generations, the effects are still evident on the children. Many of them are born with malformations and severe defects in the nervous structure and immune system. The chemical also affected the American soldiers and veterans as many of them have health issues related to these weapons. Although the American government thought that they were only punishing the North Vietnamese, American veterans ended up victims of chronic and unhealthy conditions.

We must do everything in our power to make the world recognize that our veterans are still paying a high price for fighting the war in Vietnam. Agent Orange is slowly taking the lives of these brave veterans. The government has recognized some diseases but the rules to compensation can be complex. It was in the 1960's that we were in the process of trying to destroy vegetation and brush in Vietnam, in doing so we proceeded to contaminate one of the largest parts of the environment, Humankind. War Veterans were exposed to Agent Orange and now live their lives with a disease not necessarily curable. The question remains did these Veterans know about the hazardous effects, and how are they being compensated now? Agent Orange was the code

During the Vietnam War, also called the Vietnam Conflict, an estimated 75 million liters (20 million U.S. gallons) of chemical herbicides including ‘Agent Orange’ was sprayed throughout Vietnam, parts of Cambodia and Eastern Laos by the U.S. military. As a result, over 400.000 people died, and according to the Red Cross of Vietnam, over one million people are disabled or have health problems due to the contamination. From late 1850s, France controlled Indochina, including Vietnam, for over six decades. The colonization was ended by the Viet Minh, yet it was the beginning of Vietnam Conflict. The U.S. and France are at fault for the tragic Vietnam War.