Re: 25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned

Dimensional Traveler  <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>
Agent Orange and similar defoliants are something entirely different.
They weren't expected to kill off the VC and NVA by starvation or such,
that was just an effort to deny them cover.  Same general effect as
using a flamethrower or explosives to destroy a building.

Agent Orange as well as napalm were never intended to be used the way they
wound up.  Agent Orange was mostly 2,4-D and the notion is that it was going
to be a non-toxic way to expose the HCM trail so Americans could at least
determine the amount of traffic coming down from the north and maybe stop it.
Napalm was also originally intended as a defoliant for more rapid spot use.

It turned out that some of the other stuff in Agent Orange, possibly including
waste oil used to make it stick, was really, really toxic.  And it turned out
that napalm would get used as an antipersonnel weapon in violation of the
Geneva Convention.

But none of this stuff was intended to starve out people on the ground or
kill people on the ground, even though they wound up doing both.  Westmoreland
was very good at winning battles but didn't have a clue how wars are won.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."