A War Memorial - 9 Miles long

Just now I found an email in my HSPH Inbox, which was forwarded to faculty members. I would like to share it with you here:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Shapiro <mshapirouk@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Subject: [aowg] (Dow Chemical) - Letter from the President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour
To: "xxxx@ngocentre.org.vn" <axxxx@ngocentre.org.vn>
Cc: Len Aldis <xxxxxx@yahoo.co.uk>

Len Aldis Secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society has released a letter (attached) received from Comrade DangNgoc Tung the President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) representing 7.5 million Vietnamese workers addressed to Mr. Jacques Rogge the President of the International Committee and hand delivered yesterday to Sebastian Coe Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the London Olympic Games. 

Mr. Aldis held extensive talks regarding DOW Chemical and Agent Orange with the VGCL and senior members of government following a recent speaking engagement at a medical conference in Hanoi. 

And let's not forget Napalm, another Dow product and one of the most quoted passages of a U.S.Army source:

‘We sure are pleased with those backroom boys at Dow. The original product wasn’t so hot - if the gooks were quick they could scrape it off. So the boys started adding polystyrene - now it sticks like shit to a blanket. But if the gooks jumped under water it stopped burning, so they started adding Willie Peter (white phosphorous ) so’s to make it burn better. And just one drop is enough, it’ll keep on burning right down to the bone so they die anyway from phosphorus poisoning.’ 

"The Vietnam war memorial in Washington is 492 feet long. If a similar war memorial had been made for the Vietnamese who died, with the same density of names, it would be nine miles long."

Dow should be ashamed of itself! 

Justice for the Victims of Agent Orange!

Mark Shapiro

London UK

In my view, it is difficult to understand why the discussion is being focused on Dow Chemicals alone. It was military leadership that ordered and decided to use that terrible stuff!

PS.: Dies ist, ich sehe es grade, Blog Nummer 100. Zum Jubiläum also mal was explizit Politisches. Sorry! Eine Spätfolge meiner "linken Indoktrinierung" gegen den Vietnamkrieg, als ich noch Student war.