This posting was actually written on 7 July 2011. For a variety of reasons, it was not posted while in Vietnam.
When I told people I was visiting Vietnam this summer, maybe people immediately brought up the war. In fact, I believe many Americans have not fully been able to move past the Vietnam War. For my parent’s generation the war seems to be definitive in the development personal identities. The treatment of boys returning from a fight they were drafted to fight is also a controversial topic, as many came home broken. Americans saw Buddhist monks burning themselves alive in protest on tv, and four students were killed during a protest in Ohio.
In school I learned a great deal about WWII, as a fight worth fighting. The Vietnam War, however, was not touched upon in the classroom. I don’t think it was because they didn’t think it was important, but rather too personal and divisive from my teachers to process in the neutral way required in a classroom. When I was a junior in high school I visited Washington, D.C. for the first time, and I saw the Vietnam War Wall. I remember being overwhelmed by the letters, flowers, pictures, and poems left by family members for the loved ones listed by name on the massive wall. So many thousands names; names of people killed fighting a war that, in high school, I still didn’t understand.
In collage, I learned more about the events leading to the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese have been fighting off invaders and colonizer for about 1000 years. After many years of colonization by the French, the Vietnamese fought for independence following WWII, led by Ho Chi Minh.. After the division of Vietnam between the north and south, many western countries were worried about the impact of China. The Cold War was brewing and these countries, including the United States, were terrified of South Vietnam being lost to the communists. When the French requested our assistance, the United States got involved. First we gave only financial aid, but soon we were drafting and sending more and more of our country’s young people off to fight in the Second Indo-Chinese War, which we call the Vietnam War in the United States.
For many Americans, the Vietnam War is still painful to discuss, and my assumption were that people we met in Vietnam would also carry anger or resentment against America for its involvement in the war. This has not been the case. Instead, the people we’ve met in Vietnam have been very welcoming of us as Americans, and they seem to be a people very much looking to the future, instead of focusing on the past.
Maybe it is there long history that has made them so gracious, and with the ability to move past the “bad” and concentrate on the “good.” Maybe it is the economic need, considering such a large percentage of Vietnamese exports have gone to the United States since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995. It could also be the assistance the United States has given all ASEAN countries nervous about the increasing presence and financial capabilities of China and see the United States as a way to help balancing China’s power. Whatever the reason, I’ve been surprised by the desire expressed by the government to concentrate on improving our countries’ friendship.
In addition, the people in Vietnam seem very comfortable with the increased participation in ASEAN shown by the Obama administration and hope to continue seeing Sec. Clinton and President Obama in the future. They are particularly please with a recent speech discussing shipping and island ownership in the East Sea, known by the Chinese as the South China Sea. During one briefing, an official commented that President Bush was busy fighting the War on Terrorism and it is understandable why he was less involved in ASEAN during that time period. He went on to say that he believes that America did make the world safer due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The single significant problem between our countries is the unwillingness of the United States to accept responsibility for the dioxin from the Agent Orange used during the war.
This chemical weapon, which was dropped on crops and trees to reduce forest cover and access to food supply, continues to seriously impact the lives of about 3 million people in Vietnam. These impacts include incredibly horrific birth defects caused by the ability of the dioxin to permanently alter an individual’s DNA sequence. This leads not only to birth defects, but horrible forms of cancer as well. Although the United States government has provided economic assistance to the country of Vietnam to help clean up most impacted areas, it is not enough money to make a significant impact considering the half-life of dioxin is a half million years. In addition, multiple people have informed us, including a member of the foreign ministry, that acknowledgement of responsibly-an apology-is more important to the future of our friendship than money.
I very much hope the United States will be able to accept responsibility for the use of this immoral and illegal chemical weapon.
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