By AN DIEN – JON DILLINGHAM

No sooner had US andVietnamese officialsclapped after cutting the

ribbon than Nguyen Van Tinhsulked away from the site. He wasclearly a troubled man.

It was the start of a US­Vietnamproject to clean up dioxin, the toxicchemical left behind by AgentOrange, at a former Americanairbase in the central city of DaNang.

Tinh stood next to a barbed wirefence that marked the boundary ofthe airbase near Da NangInternational Airport.

“Everybody is hopeful that thedioxin contamination will be over.I’m concerned it will continue to behere,” he told Vietweek.

People in Da Nang’s Thanh KheDistrict, of which Tinh is thedeputy mayor, have for yearseaten their catches from Xuan HoaA Lake, which is fed directly by thedioxin­contaminated Sen (Lotus)Lake next to the airbase.

At a conference on August 8, aday before the dioxin cleanupproject began, Tinh had grilled USand Vietnamese officials on whatthey planned to do about the likelydioxin contamination in Xuan HoaA Lake, which is in his district. Butno one had a satisfactory answer.

“We need to know exactly howserious the dioxin contaminationthere is,” he said.

Tinh was not the only one whowas not celebrating the start of theUS$43­million project that hasattracted international attention.

Analysts have raised twoimportant questions: how muchwill the cleanup benefit Vietnam’smillions of Agent Orange victims?And is the move less humanitarianthan it is a clever geopolitical ployto enhance US power in Asia as abuffer against China?

Double standardsThe Da Nang cleanup project

aims to decontaminate around73,000 cubic meters of soil andsediment by late 2016, usingthermal desorption technology.Workers will dig up contaminatedsoil and sediment and place it in astockpile. The soil will then beheated to temperatures highenough to break down the dioxin.

Asked if the project means theUS was taking responsibility forAgent Orange, David Shear, theUS ambassador, dodged thequestion. “We certainly take theVietnamese concerns about thisextremely seriously,” he told agroup of reporters at the cleanup’sopening ceremony last week.

Between 1961 and 1971, the USArmy sprayed some 80 millionliters of Agent Orange containing366 kilograms of the highly toxicdioxin over 30,000 square miles ofsouthern Vietnam. Dioxin, a highlytoxic chemical in the defoliantused by the US troops to stripVietnamese forces of ground coverand food, stays in the soil andsediment at the bottom of lakesand rivers for generations. It canenter the food supply through thefat of fish and other animals andhas been found at alarmingly highlevels in breastmilk that dioxin­contaminated mothers have fedtheir children.

The US Congress appropriatedan initial $3 million for cleaning updioxin hotspots in Vietnam in 2007and in April 2011 approvedanother $18.5 million in newfunding to address theconsequences of Agent Orange.

Between 2.1 to 4.8 millionVietnamese citizens were directlyexposed to Agent Orange andother chemicals that have beenlinked to cancers, birth defects andother chronic diseases during theVietnam War, which ended inApril 1975, according to theVietnam Red Cross.

Washington has bristled at theseestimates. It has maintained thatthere is no clear link betweenAgent Orange and the myriadhealth problems.

But at the same time, the US hascome to acknowledge a number ofconditions and diseases asassociated with Agent Orangeexposure in its own veterans andhas thus compensated themaccordingly. It refuses to do so forthe Vietnamese who were on thereceiving end of the spraying.

Some American veterans haveexpressed sympathy toward theirVietnamese counterparts, andbitterness toward their owngovernment for the perceivedinjustice.

“I have always argued that, at the

very least, the US recognize thesame illnesses they recognize in theAmerican veteran who suffers fromAgent Orange related diseases inthe Vietnamese,” said ChuckPalazzo, a former US Marine andcombat veteran in Vietnam (1970­1971) who now lives in Da Nang.

“It is hypocritical for the US toplace this unnecessary burden ofproof on the Vietnamese while itdoes not do so for its ownveterans.”

The US said it has provided $54million since 1989 to helpVietnamese with disabilities, butalso stressed that such assistancewas “regardless of cause.”

Despite overwhelminginternational and Vietnamesestudies linking dioxin to healthcalamities, the US has been callingfor increased research on theeffects of the chemical on theVietnamese population.

The US and Vietnam have notjointly conducted any research onthe health effects of Agent Orangeon human beings. The twocountries signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MOU) in 2002 thatoutlined comprehensive humanhealth investigations and studies

addressing the environmentalconsequences of Agent Orange.

But experts now fear the studywill never be undertaken.

Wayne Dwernychuk, an AgentOrange specialist and retired seniorscientist at Canadian environmentalfirm Hatfield, wrote in a recentarticle: “Although theenvironmental component of theMOU gained traction and resultedin valuable information beinggathered, the human healthsegment became mired incontroversy and disagreements onprotocol, and eventuallydisintegrated, thus terminating anyattempt to cooperatively study thehuman health consequences of theherbicide in the Vietnam theater ofconflict.”

But like Palazzo, Dwernychukpoints to the fact that the USrecognizes Agent Orange as thecause of its own veterans’problems while arguing that itmight not be the cause of the sameproblems in Vietnam.

“The US policy is based on the‘presumption of an association’between exposure and disease, noton a ‘proof of cause and effect,’”Dwernychuk wrote, adding that

the US compensates its veteransbased on whether or not they had“boots on the ground” in Vietnamduring the war.

“If this ‘relationship’ holds forUS Vietnam veterans in the eyes ofthe US Department of VeteransAffairs, I ask why does it not holdfor the Vietnamese people for theexpression of the same illnessesthat coincide with their exposureto Agent Orange?”

Asked by Vietweek why the USdemands more evidence tocompensate Vietnamese victimsthat it does for Americans, SpencerCryder, the US embassy pressattaché, failed to answer thequestion in his emailed reply.

According to Fred Wilcox,author of Scorched Earth: Legacies ofChemical Warfare in Vietnam, thefirst book of testimonies ofVietnamese victims of AgentOrange, the cleanup in Da Nangdoes not reflect a change in USpolicy on Agent Orange.

“So while it might seem thatremoving dioxin from the soilaround Da Nang is a great stepforward in resolving the AgentOrange issue, I think that it is aclever way for the US government

NATION AUGUST 17 - 23, 20124

Da Nang Agent Orange a first step, but questionsCritics say US engagement on dioxin could be realpolitik,not humanitarianism

NATION 5AUGUST 17 - 23, 2012

Upcoming eventsn AUGUST 17-18 (FRIDAY-SATURDAY): A concert,“Rachmaninov Night”, will begin 8p.m. at the Hanoi Opera House, 1Trang Tien Street with theperformance of conductor Le PhiPhi, piano soloist Guigla Katsaravaand the Vietnam National SymphonyOrchestra. The program will featureSergei Rachmaninov’s PianoConcerto No.2 C minor Op.18 andSymphonic Dance Op.45. Ticketscost VND200,000, 350,000 and500,000 and can be booked atwww.ticketvn.com orticketvn@gmail.com. For freedelivery, call 0913 489 858, 0983067 996, (08) 3565 1806 or (08)6661 7859.

n AUGUST 22 (WEDNESDAY): TheAmerican Chamber ofCommerce’s Morning Briefing onHow to Successfully Penetrate theUS Market will be held from 8 a.m.to 11 a.m. at the New World SaigonHotel, 76 Le Lai Street, District 1, HoChi Minh City. Speaker: Mr. SorinWitzman, an internationally knownexecutive adviser in the field ofquality programs and qualitysolutions, who for the last 20 yearshas helped many large companies(Nortel, Cisco, Spectrian, Blue Coat,EiC, 2 Wire, etc.) achieve evengreater success though improvedquality. Admission fee: VND600,000for members and VND750,000 fornon-members.

n AUGUST 22 (WEDNESDAY):The Malaysia Business Chamber(MBC) Luncheon - When BanksWon't Lend: What are YourOptions for Financing? Will be heldfrom 11:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. at theNew World Saigon Hotel, 76 Le LaiStreet, District 1, HCMC. Speakers:Ms. Yei Pheck Joo Josephine,CEO of Saigonbank BerjayaSecurities Joint Stock Company(SBB), and Mr. Tran Phuong Bac, amember of HCMC Bar Associationand Partner of Luat Viet. Admissionfee: VND750,000 for MBC membersand co-hosts and VND850,000 fornon-members. For registration, emailto info@mbc.vn or call (08) 62586318.

n AUGUST 23 (THURSDAY):EuroCham Business Luncheon -Updates on Vietnam Retail andConsumer Trends 2012/2013 will beheld from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. atthe Sofitel Plaza Saigon, 17 Le DuanStreet, District 1, HCMC. Guestspeakers: Mr. Rik Mekkelholt -National Shopping Mall Director, BigC Vietnam; Mr. Troy Griffiths -Deputy Managing Director, SavillsVietnam Ltd; and Mr. AshishKanchan - Executive Director, TNSVietnam. Admission fee: VND750,000for EuroCham members and co-hostsand VND1,050,000 for non-members.For registration, email Ms. ChungThuy on events-hcmc@eurochamvn.org or call (08)3827 2715.

n THROUGH AUGUST 31(FRIDAY): An exhibition entitled“Encyclopedia Rebel” is being heldat L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street,Hanoi on the publication of the bookin Vietnamese. Entrance is free.

and chemical companies to avoidtaking responsibility for warcrimes,” Wilcox told Vietweek.

He said that by agreeing tospend $43 million to removedioxin from the soil around DaNang, “it would appear that theUS government does realize thathuman beings should never beexposed to even minute quantitiesof dioxin.”

“Nevertheless, the governmentrefuses to compensate Vietnamesevictims of chemical warfare becauseto do so would mean admitting thatthe US committed war crimes inVietnam,” Wilcox said.

“This would open the door tolawsuits that would cost thegovernment billions of dollars.”

Decades of denialAmerican political author Noam

Chomsky emphasized the contextof the Da Nang cleanup: “It is nowmore than 50 years since PresidentJohn F. Kennedy authorizedchemical warfare in South Vietnamto destroy food crops and groundcover, part of his sharp escalationof a war that became the worstcrime since World War II as itspread over all of Indochina, withshocking consequences until thepresent day.”

“A second crime is the virtualsuppression of the truth aboutthese matters in the United States,”Chomsky wrote in an email toVietweek.

“One should recall that shortlyafter US troops were withdrawn,President Jimmy Carter, probablythe most moderate of USpresidents, informed the press thatwe owe Vietnam ‘no debt’ because‘the destruction was mutual,’eliciting no comment.”

Around five million Vietnamesewere killed in the Vietnam War,and hundreds of thousands arestill missing. Less than 60,000Americans died.

GeopoliticsEven once the two former foes

normalized relations in 1995 aftera crippling post­war US embargohad strangled Vietnam for twentyyears, Vietnamese diplomatsconsidered Agent Orange thesingularly thorny issue thatthwarted the full thawing ofrelations.

But they also noted that therehave been signs of progress as theUS, which previously dismissedVietnam’s assertion that AgentOrange caused health problems as“propaganda,” has come toacknowledge the need to modifyits policy in this regard.

According to a report preparedin 2009 by Michael Martin of theCongressional Research Service,one potential benefit of thedevelopment of a comprehensivepolicy on Agent Orange inVietnam could be theenhancement of the US’s softpower in Southeast Asia.

A year later, the US­VietnamDialogue Group on AgentOrange/Dioxin, a panel ofpolicymakers, scientists andcitizens formed in 2007 to look forways to address the lingeringissue, launched an action planurging for the first time the USgovernment and other donors toprovide an estimated total of $300million over the next decade toclean up sites still contaminated bydioxin and treat Vietnamese withdisabilities, including thosebelieved linked to Agent Orange

exposure.The first phase of the Da Nang

cleanup began with work ofremoving unexploded ordnancesin June last year. It formally kickedoff after the Obama administrationannounced a “pivot” toward theeconomically resilient Asia­Pacificregion and amidst rising tensionsbetween Vietnam and China in theEast Sea, also known as the SouthChina Sea, which is believed to berich in oil and gas reserves andstraddles vital global shippinglines.

Several experts have said theevent must be considered from aglobal geopolitical point of view:Da Nang is a strategic deep waterharbor in the East Sea, whereChina is rapidly expanding itsmilitary, economic and civilianpresence.

Former Vietnam Warcorrespondent and author JohnPilger told Vietweek that thecleanup in Da Nang was“designed, I suggest, to persuadethe government of Vietnam to jointhe US anti­China campaign.”

Asked to be more clear if thecleanup in Da Nang was in fact away for the US to gain influence inthe region, Martin did not mentionhis earlier report’s claim that thetwo developments might berelated:

“The current clean­up project isbeing supported primarily toremove a harmful chemical fromthe environment so it can nolonger possibly contribute tohealth problems among the peopleof Da Nang,” he told Vietweek.

However, Mark Valencia, aHawaii­based expert on the EastSea dispute, said reading the DaNang cleanup as part of a largerUS campaign to gain Asian alliesand enhance US power in theregion as a buffer against Chinawas correct.

Though he said the dioxincleanup was “too little too late” healso hoped it would lead to awider and more intensive effort toclean up the residue and treat thehuman effects of Agent Orange.

“Its [Agent Orange’s] use waschemical warfare really—something the US routinely accuses‘rogue’ countries of planning orimplementing,” Valencia said.

Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert atthe University of New South Walesin Australia, disagreed that the DaNang cleanup was part of USefforts to counter Chinese power inthe region, but said that Vietnamstill plays a role in such efforts.

“The real linkage in US thinkingis access for its military in Vietnamin exchange for countering Chinain the South China Sea.”

‘Dad, am I contaminated?’Supporters and critics – and

critical supporters – of the DaNang cleanup all agree on onething: Da Nang is only one ofdozens of site in need of seriouscleanup.

The Bien Hoa Airbase in thesouth, and Da Nang and Phu Catairports in central Vietnam arewidely recognized as major

“dioxin hotspots” where AgentOrange and other toxic herbicideswere mixed, stored, loaded ontoplanes and spilled by US militarypersonnel during the VietnamWar.

Cryder, the US embassyspokesman, said: “At the[Vietnamese government]’srequest, we have focused so far onDa Nang.”

But he added that the US is alsopreparing an environmentalassessment of the Bien Hoahotspot in coordination with theVietnamese government, theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgram, and other donors.

On a Sunday afternoon, BienHung Park in Bien Hoa Townseemed like an ideal getaway fromsultry Ho Chi Minh City – 35kilometers southeast of thesouthern town.

But in April last year, Hatfieldreleased new findings thatconfirmed the presence of militarydefoliants in Bien Hung Lakesediment. The Canadian firm alsowarned the local government tokeep people from the cultivation offish, ducks, and livestock at BienHoa Airbase.

Little has been done at Bien HungPark to inform the public of thefindings – save a few scant “nofishing” signs that do not elaborate.

But residents told Vietweek theyknew the story.

“I have been living here fordecades and the dioxincontamination is nothing strangeto me,” said Chau Van Tuong, a 37­year­old local who was sipping atiny cup of ruou de (fermented ricealcohol) on the edge of the BienHung Lake. He lives in aneighborhood adjacent to the park.

“We have been fishing andeating the catch here for years,”Tuong said.

Tuong said his second brotherand fourth sister scout for fish andsnails in the lake to eke out aliving. They have both testedpositive for dioxin contamination.Two of his sister’s sons died atbirth and two of his brother’schildren are mentally retarded.

Tuong blamed all the illnesseson the exposure to dioxin. He wasfully aware of the new Da Nangcleanup.

“Why don’t they clean up all themess across the country at thesame time? The victims have notime to wait,” Tuong said.

Tuong himself has two kids withhis oldest daughter at age 10. Shehas been doing well so far, he said.

“But I’m scared whenever Ithink about my unfortunatebrother and sister,” he said. “Idon’t know what will happen tomy kids.”

His daughter, Mai, was playingon a bright green lawn next to him.Hearing what her father said, shestopped playing and came to askhim: “Dad, am I [dioxin]contaminated?”

“No, dear,” Tuong replied.“You’ll be fine. Everything will befine.”

CALVIN GODFREY contributed to this report

cleanup s abound

PHOTO: AFPNguyen Thi Binh (1st, L), 76, talks toreporters during an interview next to hermentally and physically disabled children(L-R) Nguyen Thanh Cong, 37, NguyenThi Phiet, 54 and Nguyen Thi Phuoc, 50,at her home near Da Nang City's airport,where a ground-breaking ceremony ofthe joint US-Vietnam Dioxin CleaningProject was held on August 9