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First
let me thank the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin
for organizing this international conference and to the Agent
Orange Vets from Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada who
have traveled here to participate.
The US delegation I am leading is made up of Agent Orange vets
Frank Corcoran, Joan Duffy, Ralph Steele and Dan Shea.
I was an infantryman with the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi
and Tay Ninh in 1967 and was wounded 3 times but do not suffer
from dioxin related health conditions myself.
When I came back from the war, I had knowledge of the use of
Agent Orange from having seen sprayed areas and knew that they
destroyed nature, but had no knowledge of the negative effects
these defoliants had on human beings.
I remember in 1969 a veteran I knew named Jeff Sharlett died of
cancer at age 27 in the Miami, Florida Veterans Hospital and thinking
it was strange that someone so young had cancer.
Over the years other friends of mine got sick or had deformed
children or sometimes died. Mike Keegan and John Miffin who died
and John and Rena Kopystenski who had several children with birth
defects are among them. So this issue has always been personal
to me.
In 1977, a woman who worked as a claims representative at the
Chicago Veterans Administration named Maude DeVictor was the first
person to really put two and two together when she witnessed the
VA higher-ups denying veterans claims and covering up their health
problems and the connections to dixon exposure.
The next year, 1978, a veteran name Paul Reutershan who was sick
with cancer got on television and said "my government killed
me in Vietnam and I didn't even know it". He began a lawsuit
against the chemical companies who manufactured Agent Orange,
Blue, White, Purple etc. but he never lived to see that lawsuit
completed because he died within the year.
The reason that this lawsuit was started was because the VA was
denying veterans claims for medical treatment and compensation
and according to US law, citizens cannot sue the government for
these type of claims.
From 1978-1984 the lawsuit continued and was eventually settled,
although many veterans opposed the settlement for millions of
dollars. Sadly many veterans got very little of that money since
the army of lawyers who got involved got a good portion of it
in legal fees.
I have been a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War since
1970 and that organization played a critical role in launching
the movement for justice for Agent Orange vets, supporting Maude
Devictor who became the godmother of the movement, recruiting
veterans to joining the lawsuit and raising general public awareness
of this issue.
But we always believed that while the chemical companies had responsibility
and should be held liable, the primary responsibility lay with
the US government which ordered and continued to use these poisons
after they were becoming aware of the negative effects on people.
Instead of changing course, they covered up the facts and kept
using them until 1971. After that they gave their remaining supplies
to the former Army of the Republic of Vietnam who continued to
use them until 1975 when that regime ceased to exist.
In VVAW, our demand has always been Testing, Treatment and Compensation
for Agent Orange Victims. We never thought the lawsuit against
the chemical companies was the answer, but rather a way to continue
putting pressure on the US government.
Finally progress was made on that front when in 1991, Congress
passed the Agent Orange Act, acknowledging several conditions
as being dioxin related for purposes of medical treatment and
disability compensation. It also established a mechanism for the
National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine to review new
studies and make recommendations to the Secretary of the Veterans
Administration for expanding the recognized conditions.
Currently there are thirteen conditions acknowledged by the VA
including two conditions among veterans children but over 27 conditions
have been rejected since there was a finding by the IOM of not
enough scientific research to indicate a connection to dioxin
exposure.
So many veterans are still not being treated with any fairness.
And how does someone give justice to all those who have died?
The hidden casualties of the Vietnam War continue to grow but
the struggle continues as well.
And today we need to talk about the other side of the coin, not
just American, Korean, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian veterans
but the people of Vietnam as well.
Remember also that these chemicals were also used in parts of
Cambodia and Laos as well as along the DMZ in Korea and in Panama.
In the United States we began the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief
and Responsibility Campaign to support the efforts of VAVA and
join with concerned veterans and people in other countries to
demand Justice for ALL Agent Orange Victims!
While the Campaign is sponsored by Veterans For Peace, it is made
up of war veterans, Vietnamese-Americans, peace activists, environmentalists
and other friends of Vietnam. We are supporting the international
petition drive in support of the VAVA lawsuit and recently sponsored
a 10 city speaking tour by 4 VAVA members.
We are also planning to encourage sympathetic representatives
and senators to introduce legislation in Congress for the US government
to step up to the plate and provide compensation and medical assistance,
if not for political reasons, then fro moral and humanitarian
purposes. It is time to really heal the wounds of that war, not
to ignore them or let them fade into history.
Let me make on last point. This is a struggle to expose and end
the use of chemical weapons by all nations but especially by my
government. This is not just about something that happened over
30 years ago. Today the Bush administration has led our country
and the world into another invasion and occupation, this time
in Iraq and is now used Depleted Uranium that will in time poison
US troops and Iraqi citizens. They have also used White Phosphorous
bombs against whole cities like Fallujah.
It is time for humanity to demand an end to these weapons as part
of our efforts to abolish war. That is what Veterans For Peace
is pledged to work for. That will only come through the determined
efforts of all of us, throughout the world.
The great American abolitionist Fredrick Douglass said:
"If there is
no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor
freedom yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without
plowing up the ground, they want rain without the thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its
many waters.
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one,
but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a
demand. It never has and it never will"
With that as our watchword,
lets make this conference a call to all the people of the world.
JUSTICE FOR ALL AGENT
ORANGE VICTIMS!
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International
Conference of Victims of Agent Orange