To the Editor:
I am
responding to a recent letter to the editor from David Wickham on Sept. 7
that criticized a letter I had previously written on our government's
chemical warfare with Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Wickham said the resultant health effects that
happened to Vietnamese and our veterans were "unintended consequences"
and "certainly not the result of some deliberate attempt to injure or
kill humans." I suggest Wickham research further about the tragic
history of Agent Orange.
Admiral E.R. Zumwalt
submitted a classified report to the Veterans Administration in 1990
concerning associated health effects from Agent Orange exposure. The
classified report is now available online at http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ao.html.
In this report, it is disclosed the military "dispensed Agent Orange in
concentrations six to 25 times the manufacturer's suggested rate."
Furthermore, Zumwalt quotes Dr. David Clary, a government scientist who
worked with Agent Orange, as saying, "When we (military scientists)
initiated the herbicide program in the 1960s, we were aware of the
potential for damage due to dioxin contamination in the herbicide. We
were even aware that the 'military' formulation had a higher dioxin
concentration than the 'civilian' version due to the lower cost and
speed of manufacture. However, because the material was to be used on
the 'enemy,' none of us were overly concerned."
Wickham
also said "the sole purpose" of Agent Orange was "to destroy foliage
that provided cover" in jungles. The U.S. military also purposely
targeted food crops with Agent Orange. What should we call using
chemicals to destroy innocent impoverished people's food crops during
war that could lead to mass starvation? I contend (as I wrote in my
original letter) that it is a despicable, heinous crime against
humanity.
I found estimates of hundreds of
thousands to millions killed by Agent Orange in Vietnam and also
hundreds of thousands maimed by birth defects. Wickham said the
difference between Agent Orange in Vietnam and sarin gas used in Syria
is "striking."
Whether you die a quick
tortuous death from sarin gas or a slow, painful, cancerous death from
Agent Orange, the end result is no different.
John Meinhold
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