[Vision2020] Unexploded Munitions in Vietnam

[J Ford]

This was one of Princess Di's major causes while she lived - the devastation 
these hidden "left-behinds" wrought is just overwhelming when you consider 
the number of children affected directly and indirectly.

Thanks Nick, for your timely and informative post.



J  :]





>From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at roadrunner.com>
>To: "'Nick Gier'" <ngier at uidaho.edu>, <nickgier at adelphia.net>
>CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Unexploded Munitions in Vietnam
>Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:19:22 -0800
>
>Hi Nick,
>
>I'd like to *thank you* for your original post on this tragic topic.  It's
>something I've been aware of for a very long time, and my guess is that 
>only
>those living under a rock -- or in a cave -- would be unfamiliar with the
>devastation these unexploded munitions continue to cause in Vietnam and
>elsewhere.
>
>For those cave dwellers, perhaps this link from our State Department will 
>be
>helpful:
>http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/othr/misc/52830.htm
>
>FWIW, I still donate to a charity to support the survivors who have been
>injured by the munitions we left behind -- there's an extensive list to
>choose from available at the above link.
>
>
>Thanks Again,
>Saundra Lund
>Moscow, ID
>
>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
>nothing.
>- Edmund Burke
>
>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
>Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
>without the express written permission of the author.*****
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
>On Behalf Of Nick Gier
>Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:01 AM
>To: nickgier at adelphia.net
>Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Unexploded Munitions in Vietnam
>
>	Greetings:
>
>
>Let me get this straight: someone on this list, who has yet to offer any
>documentary evidence in support of any of his views, always insists that
>others do what he has never done.  And when the person produces the
>evidence, it is deemed slanted or insufficient.  And then one who has no
>teaching credentials has the audacity to "grade" the success of the
>documentation!
>
>Since the Vietnamese sapper, who has cleared unexploded munitions for 11
>years, and his international supporters are somehow "Commie" liars, let me
>take a more deductive approach.
>
>It is well known fact that modern battlegrounds and areas that have been
>bombed are littered with unexploded ordinance.  Even today exploded German
>bombs are found in England and over the years they have killed many people.
>U.S. supplied cluster bombs dropped by Israeli jets are now killing dozens
>of civilians in Lebanon.
>
>In terms of weight dropped, the U.S. bombing of Vietnam was three times 
>that
>in both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II. "The United
>States Air Force dropped in Indochina, from 1964 to August 15, 1973, a 
>total
>of 6,162,000 tons of bombs and other ordnance.U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
>aircraft expended another 1,500,000 tons in Southeast Asia" (Clodfelter,
>Michael. (1995). Vietnam in Military Statistics: A History of the Indochina
>Wars, 1772-1991. Jefferson, NC: McFarland).
>
>We don't have to take the sapper's word for it: we only have to embrace the
>logic of this evidence.  There are tons of unexploded ordinance in Vietnam,
>Cambodia, and Laos.
>
>My argument therefore stands:  Vietnamese killed by U.S. forces during the
>war and after because of unexploded munitions and Agent Orange far
>outnumbers the total who died by Communist hands after the war.  And we are
>still waiting for the evidence of how many deaths that might be.  I would
>guess that far more died by the hands of pirates than by those ugly 
>Commies.
>
>Yours for fair and accurate history,
>
>Nick Gier
>
>
>
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