The Last Ghost of War

Film Screening and Panel Discussion at the Asia Society
New York City, May 1, 2007

Opening Remarks:
His Excellency Le Leong Minh, Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations

Moderator:
Jamie Metzl, Executive Vice President, Asia Society

Panelists:
Dr. William A. Buckingham, Jr., Military Historian;
Janet Gardner, Director, Gardner Documentary Group;
Dr. Peter Kahn, Rutgers University;
Constantine Kokkoris, Attorney, Vietnamese Plaintiffs;
Pham Quoc Thai, Co-Producer, Gardner Documentary Group.

Executive Summary

Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese believe that they are among several million victims of Agent Orange. Agent Orange is characterized by the U.S. State Department as a dioxin laden herbicide used by the U.S. military "to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam War." Studies prove that Agent Orange and other herbicides caused a variety of health problems for Vietnam War veterans, including cancer and congenital birth defects in the children of exposed adults. Several million Vietnamese now report similar symptoms. For example, at Tu Du Hospital in Saigon, Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh, born without arms, writes with her feet. Vietnamese attribute these conditions to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. In the documentary The Last Ghost of War, which premiered at Asia Society, we meet the Vietnamese plaintiffs in a class action suit against 32 US chemical companies. Attorneys, scientists, and activists take us to a new legal battlefield. Newsday stated that the "documentary should be widely seen" and "deserves a far wider audience, as a catalyst to a much-needed national conversation on Agent Orange."

Following the screening, Asia Society hosted a diverse panel discussion with the filmmakers and several participants featured in the documentary. Director Janet Gardner and co-producer Pham Quoc Thai stated that they "wanted to get all sides represented" in the film. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a comprehensive program to respond to the medical problems of Vietnam War veterans in the United States, the Vietnamese still struggle to gain adequate medical attention for the effects of Agent Orange. In the legal case, Vietnamese plaintiffs attempt to prove that Agent Orange should be classified as chemical warfare. However, military historian Dr. William Buckingham asserted that from all the documentation he reviewed and the interviews he conducted with respect to Agent Orange, there was no evidence during the Vietnam War that "this chemical was anything other than a common agricultural chemical that killed plants and knocked the leaves off living trees." Dr. Buckingham stated that the negative effects of Agent Orange were not discovered until after U.S. ceased to spray the herbicide in Vietnam.

This perspective complicates the legality of the class action law suit against 32 U.S. chemical companies documented in the film because there is not enough scientific research for a legal team to build a strong case. Dr. Peter Kahn, Professor of Biochemistry at Rutgers University, offered his expertise at the panel discussion, saying that "the effects of dioxin are subtle and long delayed," which makes the long term effects scientifically difficult to prove. He recommended further research in Vietnam, and reiterated that previous studies in the United States do prove severe medical side effects to dioxin exposure for Vietnam veterans who were in close contact with Agent Orange. Unfortunately, the amount of funding for a comprehensive study in Vietnam is limited. His Excellency Le Leong Minh stressed that adequate research on the effects of dioxin exposure is up to American funding, and he urged the United States to facilitate more research in this area. Constantine Kokkoris, attorney for the Vietnamese plaintiffs, supported Ambassador Minh's plea for funding, stating "the people with the biggest incentive to study dioxin poisoning do not have the money to study it."

The diversity of perspectives represented in this panel discussion exemplifies the complexity of the issue. Jamie Metzl, Executive Vice President of Asia Society, concluded the discussion with poignant remarks: "When we think of the legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam, some of the issues that arise are legal, but others are moral and political. Whatever happens in the legal case, still, many would argue, myself among them, the United States as a country, in spite of the sovereign immunity, has a moral responsibility for multiple reasons to assist the people of Vietnam in addressing the many legacies of the Vietnam War, including that of Agent Orange." Aside from the legal battle, the international community should recognize the negative effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam and respond with medical assistance and more scientific research.