UNFORTUNATE VICTIMS

In the same manner in which 9/11 is talked about, dissected and demands the world’s sympathy, Nagasaki and Hiroshima should be spoken of. They too should be prominently highlighted, where they speak of untold misery meted upon them by the US. For in their eyes, the US is Taliban. The bombs destroyed lives and families and let in their wake shadows of what once was.

And Vietnam? Project orange. Pesticides were dropped over foliage by the US airforce. While the pesticides were meant to destroy the foliage they did more than that. They destroyed people’s lives and caused genetic deformities in the generations that followed.

Worse still, the people who were affected were illiterate and peasants. They did not understand that their children were born deformed because the US sprayed them with pesticides. Some believed that the gods were angry with them.

Where are the anniversaries for these people? Till today they suffer silently. Are only the privileged and the white allowed to grieve and be angry at the “injustices” of the terrorism of 9/11?

Who will speak for the people of Vietnam and the deformed children? The brunt of this is borne by the parents of the children and the victims.

And the US grieves for what? For the twin towers and the people lost there? If so, then it should also grieve for those who continue to suffer in Vietnam for the atrocities commited by the US troops.

Naseem Ali By email