THE NATIONAL BOARD
(in formation, organization for identification only, * indicates Core Group Members):

Elliott Adams (former President, Veterans For Peace, MO) ▪ Steve Ault (Gay & lesbian activist, NY) ▪ Sally Benson (Educator, Indochina activist, CA) ▪ Roy “Mike” Boehm (My Lai Peace Park Project, WI) ▪ Jean Carey Bond (Black Radical Congress, NY) ▪ Vinie Burrows (Actor, Women’s Int’l Democratic Federation, NY) ▪ David Cline (Veterans For Peace, NJ, deceased) ▪ Marjorie Cohn* (Professor of Law, President, National Lawyers Guild, CA) ▪ Frank Corcoran (Veterans For Peace, PA) ▪ Paul Cox* (Veterans For Peace, CA) ▪ Michael Cull (Vietnam Friendship Village, AK) ▪ Bùi Văn Đạo (Vietnamese community activist, TX) ▪ William Davis (Vietnam Veterans Agsinst the War/labor leader, IL, deceased)* ▪ Bhairavi Desai (NY Taxi Workers Alliance, NY) ▪ Joan Duffy (Vietnam Veteran/Nurse, NM, deceased) ▪ Felicia Dustin (Exec. Director, SpeakOut!, Oakland, CA) ▪ Beatrice Eisman (US-Vietnam Friendship Assoc. CA) ▪ Tod Ensign (Citizen Soldier, NY) ▪ Mike Ferner (President, Veterans For Peace, OH) ▪ Bill Fletcher, Jr. (Center for Labor Renewal, DC) ▪ Jeanne Friedman* (Philanthropy Consultant, CA) ▪ Arthur Galston (Professor Emeritus, CT, deceased) ▪ Bill Goodman, Esq. (Co-counsel to Vietnamese plaintiffs, Detroit MI) ▪ Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton (Archdiocese of Detroit, MI) ▪ Felicia Gustin (Executive Director, SpeakOut, CA) ▪ William F. Henning, Jr. (CWA, Local 1180, NY) ▪ Trần Khánh Tuyết Jenkins (Community activist, CA) ▪ Sanford Kelson, Esq. (Veterans For Peace, PA) ▪ Phạm Thị Vân Khanh (VietUnity, CA) ▪ Ngô Vĩnh Long (Professor, ME) ▪ Don Luce (Peace activist, NY) ▪ Elizabeth Betita Martinez (Author, activist, CA) ▪ Camilo Mejia (Board President, Iraq Veterans Against the War, FL) ▪ Jeanne Mirer* (National Lawyers Guild, President, Int'l Association of Democratic Lawyers) ▪ Jonathan Moore, Esq.* (Co-counsel for Vietnamese plaintiffs, NY) ▪ Radhames Morales (Church of San Romero de las Americas, UCC, NY) ▪ Tony Văn Nguyễn (VietUnity,, CA) ▪ Ngô Thanh Nhàn* (Visiting scholar, NY) ▪ Jack O’Dell (Peace and justice activist, Canada) ▪ Merle Ratner* (Brecht Forum, NY) ▪ Dawn Reel* (AIDS & Technology Consultant, NY) ▪ Barry Romo (Vietnam Veterans Against the War, IL) ▪ Susan Schnall* (Veteran, Nurse, NY) ▪ Bill Schwalb (VFP/SF, CA) ▪ Paul Shannon (Teacher, AFSC; MA) ▪ Steve Sherlock* (Aid to Southeast Asia, MN) ▪ Bùi Xuân Sơn (CA) ▪ Walter Teague (Anti-war activist, MD) ▪ Tara Thornton (Military Toxics Project, ME) ▪ Nguyễn Văn Tuấn (Professor, doctor, Australia) ▪ Claire Trần (Asian Pacific Islander community organizer, CAAAV board member, NY) ▪ Lincoln Van Sluytman (VT) ▪ Michael Uhl (Veterans For Peace, ME) ▪ Frank Velgara (Puerto Rico/Vietnam activist, NY) ▪ Marty Webster* (a National Coordinator VVAW, OH) ▪ Leonard Weinglass, Esq. (Noted civil rights/liberties attorney, NY) ▪ Nadya Connolly Williams (Global Exchange, CA) ▪ Hubert Woodard (Huế–New Haven Sister City Project, CT) ▪ Marilyn Young (Professor, NY) ▪

About Us

In support of justice for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, a national coalition of veterans, Vietnamese-Americans and other community leaders announces the formation of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign on February 28, 2005.

The U.S. government used Agent Orange, from 1962 to 1971, as part of their war in Vietnam. Agent Orange contains dioxin, one of the deadliest substances known, and continues to cause death and sickness to millions of Vietnamese and to many U.S. veterans of the Vietnam war. Now even more than thirty years after the war, Agent Orange remains in the land and water of Vietnam, causing horrific birth defects to several generation of children.

• We support the Vietnamese Agent Orange survivors and their representative, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin in their lawsuit against the U.S. chemical companies. Their lawsuit is a historic first effort by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange to achieve compensation from the manufacturers who profited from this chemical warfare.
• We call upon our government to meet its responsibility to compensate the more than three million Vietnamese people suffering from the effects of Agent Orange. The U.S. government has a moral and legal obligation to heal the wounds of war.

Our Campaign will continue until justice for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims is achieved by winning significant U.S. government compensation.

WHEREAS the United States government failed to fulfill commitments made in the Paris Peace Agreement to provide economic aid for post-war reconstruction and to heal the wounds of the Vietnam conflict, and

WHEREAS the US government pursued a hostile post-war policy aimed at isolating Vietnam that includes a punitive trade embargo which lasted until 1994, and

WHEREAS the US government has been reluctant to admit responsibility and has failed to provide humanitarian assistance for the serious health, economic and environmental devastation caused by the chemical defoliant Agent Orange/dioxin that continues through the present day, and

WHEREAS many of our members are Vietnam veterans who strongly feel it is our duty is to aid the Vietnamese people in their efforts to rebuild and to provide humanitarian assistance, and

WHEREAS it is imperative to nurture a relationship built on mutual trust and respect of national sovereignty, and to create fair trade practices that enhance the economic well-being of both countries,

BE IT RESOLVED that Veterans For Peace calls on the US Congress to reject the so-called “Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2004” (HR-1587) or any other legislation that is contrary to friendly and normal relations between our two countries,

AND BE IT RESOLVED that we endorse the creation of a Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility fund that advocates for and assists the Vietnamese victims of these toxic chemicals,

AND BE IT RESOLVED that we confirm our desire to develop a formal relationship with the Veterans Association of Viet Nam, in the belief that it is in our best interest to pursue a policy of peace, reconciliation and friendship and for the U.S. government to fulfill its responsibility to the Vietnamese people.

Suel Jones, Becky Luening, Michael Cull, David Cline, Jaime Vazquez, William Kelly

CARRIED