Justice Department seeks dismissal of Agent Orange lawsuit (1 Viewer)

[Schweddy]

Source: Newsday

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Justice Department wants a Brooklyn federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that would force a re-examination of the use of the Vietnam War defoliant Agent Orange.

The class action civil suit was filed last year on behalf of Vietnamese citizens, who said American chemical companies who supplied the military with the substance committed war crimes.

The suit seeks possibly billions of dollars in damages from the companies and an environmental cleanup of Vietnam because of the toxic chemical dioxin contained in the substance.

But Justice department lawyers filed a brief in January saying the suit is a dangerous threat to the president's power to wage war, The New York Times reported in Monday editions.

"The implications of plaintiffs' claims are astounding," said the government's filing. "As they would (if accepted) open the courthouse doors of the American legal system for former enemy nationals and soldiers claiming to have been harmed by the United States Armed Forces."

 

[gordontravels]

I agree with our government. This would tie the military's hands in many instances and in a war? If agent orange wouldn't have been used as the best defoliant of the time, we would have lost many more good American soldiers to combat and the trails used for infiltration of men and supplies would have remained largely concealed. Opening the jungle canopy helped our pilots destroy large amounts of ammunition and stores that would have been used against our troops.

If there is prosecution to be had against the use of Agent Orange, let it be against the abuse of the individual commander or rogue pilot. We were fighting a war and that is all I need to know :duel ~~~