Part 3 of a 5-part series on Agent Orange.

Mr. Huynh Van Thiet is 86 years old now. From 1962 until 1969 he served in the North Vietnamese army and led patrols along the east side of the Truong Son mountain range where the Ho Chi Minh Trail served as a link between the North and South. Many times planes flew over his unit, spraying the mountains with Agent Orange and other herbicides. The people tried to protect themselves from the poisons with plastic sheets but still the toxins entered their lungs and bloodstream. Today Mr. Thiet suffers from severe pain in his bones, his teeth have fallen out and heart problems burden him.

Mr. Thiet's wife also worked in the resistance and after being arrested spent seven years imprisoned by the South Vietnamese and U.S. governments. Three of those years were spent in the infamous prison on Con Dao Island. Con Dao Island prison was built by the French in 1861 to hold political prisoners and during the American period continued to be used for the same purpose. An American company helped expand the prison by building tiger cages in which prisoners were shackled in tight spaces without room to move about. Many were tortured and it is estimated that from 1861 until the war ended in 1975 as many as 20,000 people died in the prison. The money for these cages came from the U.S. Food for Peace program. Ironically, part of the construction consortium, Brown and Root, is today the Halliburton subsidiary that built the "isolation cells" in Guantánamo. (<http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/resources/torture/luce.html>)

Mr. Thiet's wife did not spend time in the tiger cages, but was shackled for long periods of time to an iron bar and was not allowed up for restroom visits, baths or exercise. In 1975, as the war came to an end, she finally had freedom to return to her home.

The couple had seven children. One died at birth and another is suffering from the probable effects of Agent Orange. Their grandson, Huynh Tan Bi lives with them now. He is the third generation of Agent Orange victims and the entire right side of his body is slowly deteriorating. For years he tried to go to school and loved math, but finally had to quit because he could no longer manage his studies sufficiently. A war which ended more than thirty years ago has destroyed the future of this young man.

Human rights groups and lawyers in the United States have helped Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange file a class action lawsuit against the U.S. companies that produce the dioxins (Dow Chemical, Monsanto, Uniroyal, Hercules, Diamond Shamrock, Thompson Chemical, and T.H. Agriculture). The courts have consistently thrown the case out. On March 2 of this year the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the case without offering any explanation or statement. The argument of the courts is that there is no scientific proof that the health problems and deformities are really the result of the toxins despite research and facts that have proved Agent Orange used during the war is related to cancer, diabetes and fetal deformities. The fact that these problems are rampant in areas known to have been sprayed with Agent Orange is considered circumstantial only. Thus the victims receive no U.S. help in dealing with their serious problems and, sadly, not even an apology for the horrific environmental destruction and human suffering these poisons have caused.

U.S. statements claim that the chemicals used were not purposefully aimed at humans and that they are only herbicides. Researchers, however, point out that dioxins were sprayed directly over at least 3,000 villages affecting more than 3 million people, most of them innocent farmers, women and children. And, as one purpose of the spraying was to destroy food crops, the target was, indeed, humans.

The Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) tries to assist those most seriously affected, but is unable to deal completely with such a large issue. That is why they want the U.S. government and the companies that produced these poisons to help take responsibility. It is not a matter of blame or pointing to winners and losers, but rather taking unified responsibility to help care for those who continue to suffer so terribly from the war. Mr. Phan Thanh Long, Deputy Chairman of the Quang Ngai Provincial VAVA expressed deep disappointment at the Supreme Court's decision. "Taking the issue to the U.S. courts was not about finding winners and losers. We are not interested in simply proving who is right and who is wrong. What we want is that all people, including the U.S. government and the companies, recognize the pain of the victims of Agent Orange and join together with us to help them."

When I gave Huynh Van Thiet, his wife and Huynh Tan Bi each an origami peace crane, they accepted them with warm smiles. I asked them what they would say to the American people if they had an opportunity to go to America. Looking carefully at the peace crane in his hand, Huynh Van Thiet said, "We need solidarity now after all of these bad things. With solidarity we can live better lives. I don't want solidarity just with Americans but with the entire world."

There is no anger in the voice or the eyes of Huynh Van Thiet, his wife or his grandson. Their dream of solidarity and unity with the world is an honest one. How will we respond to that dream? "How good it is for brothers and sisters to live together in unity" (Psalm 133:1).