Agent Orange
Agent Orange: War Crime or Not?
On March 1st, 2005 the Vietnam government had a trial against Mansanto and Dow, which are the companies that supplied the United States military with the chemical Agent Orange. The Vietnam government did not take United States government to trial because nations have immunity in the court of law. The United States government was backing the companies at the time because it was the military who used it originally.
The Vietnamese government claimed it was a violation of the Geneva convention, because it was a poison that was sprayed across Vietnam which resulted in birth defects, cancer and also type 2 diabetes. They also argued that it was not a chemical that had been tested enough and that it was too hazardous to be used in warfare. The Vietnamese head lawyer was John Moore, the head lawyer for Monsanto and Dow was Andrew Fray and the judge was Jack Weinstein. The Vietnamese government lost the trial, because the United States along with England, France, Germany and even Vietnam permits the use of hazardous material during wartime. Also if the United States had not used this chemical during wartime, the Vietnamese would have continued to ambush and slaughter American troops. There was no safe way of knowing if there were any Vietnamese soldiers within the jungle, so there was no intention of spraying the chemical on their soldiers.
The Vietnamese government claimed it was a violation of the Geneva convention, because it was a poison that was sprayed across Vietnam which resulted in birth defects, cancer and also type 2 diabetes. They also argued that it was not a chemical that had been tested enough and that it was too hazardous to be used in warfare. The Vietnamese head lawyer was John Moore, the head lawyer for Monsanto and Dow was Andrew Fray and the judge was Jack Weinstein. The Vietnamese government lost the trial, because the United States along with England, France, Germany and even Vietnam permits the use of hazardous material during wartime. Also if the United States had not used this chemical during wartime, the Vietnamese would have continued to ambush and slaughter American troops. There was no safe way of knowing if there were any Vietnamese soldiers within the jungle, so there was no intention of spraying the chemical on their soldiers.
