Patrina Tern-Week 8

In the reading, Scorched Earth by Michael Savage, he wrote about the atrocities and the lasting effects of agent orange on the Vietnamese people and their children. The United States used these chemicals in warfare against Vietnam even when they were well aware of what it would do to the citizens of the county. Even other countries thought the U.S. violated some form of law between the nations with the usage of the chemicals. What happened in Vietnam with agent orange is similar to Japan with Hiroshima. The similarities are that, the U.S. played dirty to win the battle and what they did to both countries left lasting effects. The Vietnamese and Japanese endure birth defects throughout multiple generations, their homes were destroyed, water sources and so much more. The difference is that Japan did rebuild the areas destroyed but Vietnam cannot because there are not enough funds and most importantly the water source is undrinkable. The connection to the present day is that, many countries are still using chemicals in warfare. For example, Syrian government was recently “forced to use chemical weapons” in Aleppo to get win the battle and get their city back. However, countries don’t seem to realize the effects of chemicals on people and their children. In Savage’s book there was a woman with a really sick daughter. She said knowing that because she drank the contaminated water at a young age it has affected her daughter and given her that disease. My question is, why didn’t the U.S. pay retribution to the victims of agent orange even though the effects are so transparent?