Commentary: The Fate of Vietnam as I See It

I have not even been in Vietnam for over 24 hours yet already I have learned so much about the history of this country.  On the surface it is a country on its feet and moving into the 21st century but underneath it all is a country trying to forget a past it may never have deserved.

Everyone has heard at least some tid bit about the Vietnam War at one point or the other. That goes for me too, before this trip i had a certain perception and idea about the war and it was definitely not like this.  After visiting the War Remnants Museum and after getting the gist behind what really happened, with all due respect to the Americans for everything they've done right in the world, the war in Vietnam is not just a blot on them but a total desecration in our world and on mankind.

I always thought the Americans were the good guys in all those Nam movies I watched growing up but that's all they really were, movies. Dramatized blockbuster hits to bring in large pay days for studios. Well they did a good job I guess cause it did what it did, it made studios rich and for the US government they lucked out because it masked a lot of the truth, especially to the eyes of their own people.

Photo by Larry Burrows

Photo by Larry Burrows

To begin with this is a war with a lot of mist about it because no one is going to just man up after 50 years and admit a WAR was their fault, on either side. As the timeline goes, the ship that was supposedly blown up by the Vietnamese was fictitious in some way and could more than likely be just another tall tale cover up. So in a sense the war in itself had very little basis for going as far as it did.  Which was pretty darn far.

Photo by Larry Burrows

Photo by Larry Burrows

It seems that as the US was waging this war, the rest of the world was protesting it.  It is hard to think that they did all that to just save face and win a war they merely jumped and escalated on fabricated information but it sure could seem that way now.  From what started as protecting the country from the Northern communists under a "puppet government" when the French left, to combating southern guerillas who opposed the government and turning it into an all out massacre of any locals in their way because any local young or old could be a Viet Cong spy is just down right crazy by my say.

Nam War Tiger Cages - the small one would have 3 prisoners; the big one would have 5

Holding Cell Replica

Holding Cell Replica from doorway

This was no mere war, this was a war in which they went all out and at some point lost control of.  It was the first war to use laser guided missiles (this was the 60s), and to the first use of chemical warfare on a massive scale.  The worst of which was a chemical called Agent Orange which with 85 grams could kill a city of 8 million.  Then those who do survive are changed adversely forever.  

Authentic Chemical Container 

The chemicals used were not only detrimental to anyone that came into proximity of it but it also destroyed entire ecosystems.  Choking the locals into submission even more due to lack of crops and livestock that have died of. 

Lists of Chemicals used by the US Troops

Till this day descendants of these war survivors are afflicted with bodily disfigurations that has become genetically coded into them over the decades, those who are afflicted have more than a 90% percent chance of passing it on themselves.  This puts them in a position to live out their lives alone of fear of having to not only deal with what they have to put up with on a daily basis but the possibility that their children may have to put up with it as well.

Born without Arms

Caged for Life due to no sense of understanding but hunger

Child of an American GI who was exposed to Agent Orange

It has truly been an eye opening day, I learned a lot and none of which I really expected to.  At least times are changing, well at least I hope they are.  For me it is quite ironic that there are so many American tourists here in Vietnam.  Citizens of the country that did so much harm and possibly pushed Vietnam back a good century just under 50 years ago is today are in a way invading in a different way.  I am sure the tourist boom they bring in for being a historical country from their past is the major factor but I also hope that they learn something even just barely close to what I did today.  It may take time but if they begin to realize what really happened here, even if it takes one person at a time, that's still a start.

Mother carrying her disformed son

Disfigured face of an unborn fetus