Week 8_Andrea Gomez_ASA150E

Chemical warfare is a war crime. The Geneva Convention is clear and adamant about what is allowed in times of war, and what is seen as a mark against humanity. And yet, the United States has never had to answer for it's war crimes committed in Viet Nam. The use of Agent Orange, a chemical that the American government claimed would only strip trees of their leaves, would be deployed by the American troops to forever alter the country of Viet Nam. Not only was the landscape permanently changed, but the people themselves were infected with sickness, deformities, rashes, etc. The death sentence of agent orange would be passed down to the descendants of the Viet people, and not once would they receive an apology, or even an admission of guilt, from the American people.

Even in the U.S. the use of Agent Orange, and what the effects it had on the health and quality of life of the people of Viet Nam, are never fully disclosed or even discussed. The more commonly known agent, Napalm, is infamous in its destruction and has been immortalized in photography. American children are shown the pictures of the burning bodies of Vietnamese children for their history lessons in high school. What's disheartening however, is the fact that Agent Orange wasn't just a chemical that was used to hurt the Vietnamese civilians, but also the American troops who were exposed to it. The government knew it was a harmful substance and had no care for the life of the Viet Nam people, or even their own soldiers. Despite the legislation of acknowledging that there were harmful affects of Agent Orange occurring in U.S. troops in the 90s, the government has done little to care for their own people who are suffering. 

Chemical warfare is a war crime. Just as biological warfare, genocide, and systematic rape. And yet, the trauma of these acts, the affects, the results, and the deaths are seen as an acceptable loss to those in power. A means to an end. But in the end, to the U.S. government, both Vietnamese and American lives carry the same weight. That is to say, they mean nothing.