An interesting article from oivietnam.com
The Bomb Sawyers
It's not new news, but it was an important reminder:
During the American War, the US dropped a total of 7.8 million tons of bombs on Vietnamese territory, mostly in northern and central Vietnam. A third of these ordnance are unexploded and thus pose a risk of detonation decades after the end of the war. It is these unexploded bombs that feed Vietnam’s small but enduring community of professional bomb sawyers.
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This tiny village of a few hundred inhabitants in Quang Ngai is one of the biggest settlements of professional bomb sawyers due to its strategic position in the war. Before 1975, Western Quang Ngai in general and An Hoi Bac village specifically sat smack dab in the middle of the North- South supply corridor and took a large percentage of the 7.8 million tons of American bombs dropped on the country. Today, despite a state-owned oil refinery and various campaigns to promote a fishing industry, Quang Ngai remains one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. Its lackluster economic status and limited career options, coupled with the several hundred thousand metric tons of unexploded ordnance still buried in the shallow soil of its vast unpopulated land, make Quang Ngai a prime area to set up entire bomb sawyer communities like Tam’s village.
Think about this for just one second. The biggest military in the world travels halfway around the world to drop 7.8 million tons of bombs on poor rice-paddy farming villages. Then it leaves and returns home, and leaves this poor third world country to have to deal with the problems of unexploded bombs 40 years after the war ended.
Reading this article, I was reminded of Chomsky's words:
The United States went to war in Vietnam for a very good reason. They were afraid Vietnam would be a successful model of independent development and that would have a virus effect--infect others who might try to follow the same course. There was a very simple war aim--destroy Vietnam. And they did it. The United States basically achieved its war aims in Vietnam by [1967]. It's called a loss, a defeat, because they didn't achieve the maximal aims, the maximal aims being turning it into something like the Philippines. They didn't do that. [But] they did achieve the major aims. It was possible to destroy Vietnam and leave.(This comes from a 2006 interview with Chomsky. Full text here.)
That, and Agent Orange -- a very, very long legacy, and each succeeding US government does itself no favours by holding to the "forgive (us) and forget" policy line.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember seeing all the pictures of children deformed by Agent Orange at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. In addition to the obvious tragedy, it was really striking that Vietnam had no resources to deal with all these medical problems. While the richest country in the world just drops all these chemicals all over, and then just heads back home and feels no obligation to help out with any of this.
ReplyDeleteAs for the policy of the U.S. government, I couldn't agree more. One of the most sickening quotes I can remember is from Jimmy Carter, who, when asked if the US should pay war reparations to Vietnam, said no, because the destruction was mutual. (Imagine saying such a thing after the US dropped bombed 7.8 million tons of bombs on Vietnam.)
also a quick update. Since originally posting this, I've talked to a Vietnamese friend from the area in question, right in the middle of Vietnam. She was telling me about all the deformed people in her town, and how a high school classmate of hers was killed by a (previously) unexploded bomb while hiking in the mountains.