The Chemical and Radioactive Legacy of the US War Machine

https://www.spiegel.de/international/globalsocieties/vietnam-s-ongoing-fight-against-agent-orange-a-1268396.html

It's right that the United States is pledging more aid but of course this must be understood in light of Vietnam's position vis-à-vis China. Washington has a new ally in Hanoi, one it could have had back in the days following World War II but that wasn't meant to be.

Today, the United States wants to make sure Vietnam stays strong and within the American camp and so they will throw such bones to people they once referred to as mere gooks and dinks.

The United States government doesn't care about the people of Vietnam just as it clearly does not care about its own soldiers who were also exposed to the chemicals.

Some seem to think this is ancient history. Indeed even the most severely affected Vietnam veterans are all either dead or old men by now. While Agent Orange fell by the wayside or more properly into storage bins where it continued to pollute for decades, the story doesn't begin and end in Vietnam or even Indochina. Cambodia and Laos also got their share but other nations were sprayed. During the years of the US backed junta, Brazil allowed spraying to take place so Alcoa could build a dam. The Korean peninsula, Japan and the Philippines also received their share. And then there are the experiments. The US conducted experiments in Hawaii, Thailand, Canada and Australia. Who needs enemies when you have an ally like the United States?

Were the lessons learned? Not even close.

For roughly thirty years the United States directly or by proxy sprayed Round-Up (Glyphosate) across the Colombian countryside. A proven carcinogen, the toll of ruined land, water, birth defects and death are only now beginning to be understood. The spraying finally stopped in 2015 however, Duque the new president of Colombia has suggested that the spraying might start anew.

 It would take several books to document the magnitude of US crimes with regard to chemical weapons, defoliants, herbicides and radiation. The experiments are ghastly and worthy of a Hollywood horror film... but people probably wouldn't believe it.

According to conventional wisdom the worst experiments (such as those with radiation) were conducted at the height of the Cold War and under the influence of its unregulated and unrestrained hysteria. The US experimented on its own population and on the populations of poor and indigenous people in Latin America and the Pacific Islands. To be sure the Soviets conducted experiments as well but given the US narrative with regard to morality and exceptionalism, one would think Soviet misdeeds would hardly provide some kind of solace or justification for what was done.

And yet after 9/11 the webs of secrecy that were partly broken in the 1970's were firmly re-established. We've learned of torture, secret prisons and mass surveillance... all repeats of the Cold War era. I don't think it's too much to suggest that other sequels and 2.0 versions of old programmes have been re-born. We just don't know about them yet.

But we do know about Depleted Uranium. The US of course denies that it's harmful but the effects are clearly demonstrated. Where the US fights its wars, the people suffer elevated rates of cancers and birth defects. Sure, the uranium is just leftovers from nuclear power plants. It has little value in terms of energy and its radioactivity is relatively speaking quite low. But when it's manufactured into the tips of artillery, missiles and other projectile ordnance it explodes into a toxic dust that is inhaled by the local population, is consumed in food and it pollutes the water. Leukemia appears far in excess of previous occurrences as do the birth defects. It's as if the United States is waging a low-grade nuclear war. It's like a weak version of a dirty bomb... no mushroom cloud but the after-effects of a nuclear bomb are felt.

Largely suppressed by mainstream Western media, especially in the United States, this constitutes probably the greatest war crime since Vietnam. The toll is hard to contemplate but the people of Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Pakistan are dealing with it as are those who live in places where the US tests these weapons, places like Okinawa and Sardinia. Syria, Yemen and Libya have also been affected but the stories haven't made it out yet. It will take some time but eventually studies will be conducted and the same sad and sordid tale will be told.

America is indeed an exceptional nation. There are none like it. And its Christians are unique too because they defend all of this, they are part of the war machine's propaganda mills that explain it away and justify it. They cheer-lead the wars and with pride send their children off to wear the uniform. America has a lot to answer for. As far as its 'Christians' and their leaders... I wouldn't want to be in their shoes on the Day of Judgment. God help them.