Chiến dịch phun hoá chất khai quang của không quân Mỹ xuống Việt Nam diễn ra từ năm 1962 đến 1971, có mật danh Ranch Hand. Chất này, thường được gọi là chất da cam, có chứa dioxin, độc tố kinh khủng nhất mà con người biết đến.
US aircraft are spraying toxins in Vietnam during Operation Ranch Hand. Picture: Mindfully.org
Before this campaign, there was a heated debate in the White House, the State Department and the Department of Defense. One side thinks that leaf destroyers are the most cost-effective and economical way to sabotage the forests that are protecting the enemy's army, but one side suspects the effectiveness of this tactic and worries the campaign. This may adversely affect the relationship between the United States and the Vietnamese people. According to the opposition, the operation would also accuse the United States of conducting a form of chemical warfare.
The United States Department of Defense generally supports the destruction plan with crop chemicals and trees benefiting the northern Vietnamese army. But some influential figures in the State Department, most notably Roger Hilsman and Averell Harriman, firmly opposed the idea. According to them, there is no way to ensure that only the crops and trees of the "Viet Cong" (the way the US calls South Vietnam's liberated armed forces) are destroyed. In addition, the inevitable mistakes in this activity will cause farmers in southern Vietnam to become hostile to Americans.
On November 30, 1961, US President John F. Kennedy approved in principle the use of defoliants in Vietnam. By October 2, 1962, the White House authorized the commencement of limited release of the herbicide through Ranch Hand. The name Ranch Hand does not have any special meaning and is just one of the code names similar to the Farm Gate or Barn Door used by the US military during the Vietnam War.
Le Thi Linh, a victim of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Linh is 16 years old but weighs only about 30kg. She is dumb and deaf. Photo: Anh Thu.
Ranch Hand was formed with six aircraft. At the height of this campaign in 1969, the squadron had 25 aircraft of all kinds. The organizational structure of the team changes over time. At the height of the spread of herbicides and defoliants from 1966 to 1970 it was known as the 12th Air Commando Squadron or the 12th Special Operations Squadron (12th Special Operations Squadron). In terms of personnel and facilities, Ranch Hand is part of all of the US Air Force operations in Southeast Asia.
America's goal in using leafy substances is to create areas where plants can not grow in southern Vietnam. Thereby eliminating the natural camouflage of the military from northern Vietnam who were quietly advancing into liberating the southern homeland.
Along the roads, canals, and railroads, the US military also uses chemical defoliants to create "white areas" of hundreds of meters, making it difficult for military ambushes. click.
In the battlefield of Laos, the United States also used herbicides to obliterate the forests that sheltered the secret network of roads and trails that covered the Liberation Army of South Vietnam. In addition, they have the intention of making the enemy easily visible and attacked from the air. Areas where the bases of the Liberation Army were concentrated in the United States concentrated on the thickening of the chemical destroy the leaves. But one thing that scientists from ordinary people can imagine is that when toxic chemicals are sprayed into the environment, not only plants but crops, but the common people do not. Any protective means will be poisoned
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