Vietnam: 100,000 killed, hurt by abandoned weapons

[beijingwalker]

Vietnam: 100,000 killed, hurt by abandoned weapons

AP – 3 hrs ago.........HANOI, Vietnam (AP)

— More than 100,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured by land mines or other abandoned explosives since the Vietnam War ended nearly 40 years ago, and it will take decades more to clear all of the country, officials said Monday.

"The war's painful legacy, which includes hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs and unexploded ordnance, continues to cause painful casualties every day," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told a United Nations-sponsored conference on ways to deal with the problem.

Dung said 42,132 people have been killed and 62,163 others wounded by land mines, bombs and other explosives since the war ended in 1975. The United States used about 16 million tons of bombs and ammunition while allied with the former South Vietnam government, which was defeated by northern communist fighters who reunified the country.

U.S. Ambassador David Shear told the conference that the United States has provided $62 million to help Vietnam cope with "this painful legacy."

"Our efforts to help Vietnam deal with this difficult problem have helped build the mutual trust and understanding between the U.S. and Vietnam that has allowed our bilateral relationship to flourish," he said.

Bui Hong Linh, vice minister of labor, war invalids and social affairs, said explosives remain on about 16 million acres (6.6 million hectares) of land, or more than one-fifth of the country.

He said only 740,000 acres (300,000 hectares) or 5 percent of the contaminated area has been cleared and a recently approved government plan calls for clearance of an additional 1.2 million acres (500,000 hectares) that would cost $595 million in the next five years.

 

[beijingwalker]

This is like an invisible ongoing war in the country..that also will hurt the country's future tourism industry.

 

[SinoChallenger]

This is like an invisible ongoing war in the country..that also will hurt the country's future tourism industry.

LOL..... Vietnam loses another war with hundreds of thousands of casualties again This time there isn't even an enemy shooting or bombing them.

 

[beijingwalker]

Some Vietnamese want US to protect them from China,but look at what US left you in your country.worse than a real war,people have to live in constant fear for the decades to come.how terrible..

 

[Adnan Faruqi]

Past is past now Vietnamese people wants to save their future from evil.

 

[Oldman1]

Some Vietnamese want US to protect them from China,but look at what US left you in your country.worse than a real war,people have to live in constant fear for the decades to come.how terrible..

Most were made in the Soviet Union and China. So sad.

 

[Obambam]

Most were made in the Soviet Union and China. So sad.

Sure:

'Civilian killer': Cluster bombers’ pact on table

Vietnam War cluster bombs are seen displayed at Hanoi's military museum(AFP Photo / Hoang Dinh Nam)

Campaigners have lashed out at the US and other countries who own stockpiles of cluster munitions for what they see as an attempt to water down an international ban on the deadly weapons.

'Civilian killer': Cluster bombers

US pushing UN to lift ban on cluster bombs, say campaigners

An unexploded bomblet from a cluster bomb dropped by a US warplane in Afghanistan. The US refused to sign the 2008 convention on cluster munitions. Photograph: Thorne Anderson/Corbis Sygma

The bombs are banned under the 2008 convention on cluster munitions, which was adopted by the UK and more than 100 other countries. But the US refused to sign and is pressing for a protocol to be added to the UN convention on certain conventional weapons (CCW) to provide legal cover for the use of cluster munitions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/22/us-pushing-un-cluster-bombs

 

[NiceGuy]

LOL..... Vietnam loses another war with hundreds of thousands of casualties again This time there isn't even an enemy shooting or bombing them.

Lots of them die bcz they saw the bomb and get the shell to sell it instead of informing to the local govt.

 

[Ambitious449]

This is like an invisible ongoing war in the country..that also will hurt the country's future tourism industry.

So theyl beat you in 1979 and you are happy for these killings. Sadist but suits you.

 

[beijingwalker]

So theyl beat you in 1979 and you are happy for these killings. Sadist but suits you.

in 1979 we beat them badly,I will put detailed facts and figures.

 

[NiceGuy]

in 1979 we beat them badly,I will put detailed facts and figures.

The facts were : PLA dare not to face with our regular forces in Cambodia , but they still got badly defeatd even when battling with our women and border guard

 

[beijingwalker]

The facts were : PLA dare not to face with our regular forces in Cambodia , but they still got badly defeatd even when battling with our women and border guard

the truth is we killed and captured more of you and got more land from you and laid waste to your north territory.

 

[NiceGuy]

the truth is we killed and captured more of you and got more land from you and laid waste to your north territory.

That land has Nothing from French colony already and PLA captured more VNese bcz they're just women and border guards , why didn't you come to Cambodia to fight so every one would see who had more casualties ??

btw the fact is: mighty PLA still could not defeat our women even they had US-NATO support

 

[RockyX]

the truth is we killed and captured more of you and got more land from you and laid waste to your north territory.

In 1979, China crossed borders into Vietnam killed 65,000 civilian Vietnamese mainly women, kids and innocent people and destroyed every public and private property in these border towns after being driven back by Vietnamese forces. Still, you lost very badly.

China is known for backstabbing.

But Hey, You can fool once but not forever. Now, Everyone aware of China hegemony mindset and expansionism tactics by calling other territory own just because someone said so 1,000 years back.

 

[wealdcn017]

That land has Nothing from French colony already and PLA captured more VNese bcz they're just women and border guards , why didn't you come to Cambodia to fight so every one would see who had more casualties ??

btw the fact is: mighty PLA still could not defeat our women even they had US-NATO support

hope we can enjoy peace forever.