On May 5, 2005, Colonel David Hackworth died from the lingering effect of exposure to the many horrible chemicals we unleashed against our soldiers and the people of Vietnam. In Colonel Hackworth's case, death came from the lingering effects of "Agent Blue", named after the blue band on the 55-gallon barrels, which contained the deadly substance.
While "Agent Orange", marked with orange bands was used for the destruction of all foilage, including forests, grasses, bamboo and rice crops, Agent Blue, containing the arsenical herbicide cacodylic acid, was engineered to destroy rice plants by starving them of moisture. To paraphrase Tacitus: "We made a desert, and called it peace".
Did these deadly chemicals help our soldiers to survive the war in Vietnam? I led a lot of patrols at the southern edge of the "Iron Triangle", and can testify that they did not! After the trees were poisoned, the many grasses and vines which replaced them provided much better concealment for the many tunnel entrances of our elusive enemy.
Who gained? Check the income statement of the manufacturers of these deadly chemicals during the War in Vietnam.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment