In my view, the war was unwinnable. The Vietnamese had been there before with foreign invaders. That’s what we were to many Vietnamese. To this day I hear talk of tactics among the revisionists. If only the war had been fought better strategically, we could have won. In reality, we made many of the same mistakes as the French. We failed to learn from their miscues or our own. The Vietnamese were steadfast and patient in their resistance.
George Mizo and the Friendship Village
George Mizo founded the Friendship Village near Hanoi in 1992. His life is worth remembering. This blog is a tribute to a Vietnam Veteran who grappled with his own guilt about his role in the war. He achieved some degree of reconciliation with former enemies by joining with them to alleviate the suffering of innocents exposed to Agent Orange. Together they have sought to bring awareness to the ongoing problems of Vietnamese exposed to dioxins and the country’s continued problems with birth defects attributed to the widespread spraying during the war.
What is Agent Orange?
Picture a foreign presence destroying corn crops in Iowa, wheat in Kansas, or apples in Washington state. Americans would be outraged. Think of some of the sprays fouling waterways and leaving permanent damage to the landscape. I always experienced this “disconnect” between the stated policies and the way the war was conducted. Imagine soldiers showing up unannounced on your street to search your home.
Agent Orange: a veteran's perspective
Barely three years after the fall of Saigon in 1975, the debate over the health issues caused by Agent Orange was already emerging. Definitive answers have been hard to come by. What has been overwhelmingly frustrating for veterans is the sense that no sincere effort has been made to find and monitor the long-term effects of exposure on the part of those who could do something about it.