Britishman appeals to Mrs Michelle Obama to help right the terrible wrong done to children of Vietnam

 He wrote a letter as follows:

22 July 2009

Mrs Michelle Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20500
 

Dear Michelle Obama,

     When in January this year your husband entered the White House as President of the United States of America, the hopes of millions around the world rose in anticipation at the new beginning and for a change from the discredited policies of the previous holder and his eight years.

    You are a person in your own right, and a mother of two young daughters. As a mother you rightly love and care for your children and want to protect them from any harm.  It is a noble cause and o­ne that all mothers strive for despite many problems they may face. Today I write to you with an appeal for your help.  In Vietnam there are mothers of children that are severely handicapped through no fault of their own except for being born in a country o­n which forty-eight years ago this coming 10th August, military forces of the United States began spraying chemicals including Agent Orange that was contaminated with Dioxin the worlds most poisonous substance.

    The spraying continued for ten long years over areas of South Vietnam resulting in massive destruction of many forests, the animals and flora they contained. The crops and hamlets of the people were also caught in the spraying, this did further damage that has left a horrific legacy for the people. Agent Orange had entered the food chain and in turn the bodies of the people themselves. 

    Michelle, I wish you could see, as I have seen during my visits to Vietnam, the results that Agent Orange has had o­n the people, in particular the children born many years after the spraying stopped, and a war that ended in 1975.  I know that as a mother you would weep – as I have seen many Vietnamese mothers weep - o­n seeing a young child with no arms, a child minus a leg, or o­ne leg shorter than the other, a young teenager with a body twisted with spina bifida, a child with no eyes. I could go o­n describing the horrific damage I, and many others have seen done to many innocent children. 

    These innocents are suffering from the results of a conflict in which was used chemicals such as Agent Orange that has left nearly four-million Vietnamese, the majority of whom need 24-hour care and attention, and their families crying out for justice. 

   When you look at, play with, read or take your daughters out for a walk, I ask you to imagine a Vietnamese mother wanting to do the same for her children, but, due to their disabilities, is unable to do so. I want you to imagine the consequences, as the child grows into their teens, then into a young adult and still needing the loving care of a mother.

    o­ne of the questions raised with me by the mothers is “what will happen to my children when I am no longer here?”  Seeing the tragic victims in hospitals, clinics, and orphanages and in their homes, the question is not easy to answer, if there is an answer.  Agent Orange has already travelled into the third generation, yet another question is being asked “how many more generations?”

    For many thousands the questions no longer apply, they died in the wombs of their mothers; they died in their early years of childhood. Those that survive will have the care and love that mothers give to their children, but care Michelle is not enough, the near four-million need Justice from those that caused their illness and disabilities and is the reason why I write to you today.

    Your husband, the president, can call in the papers of the lawsuit brought by the Vietnamese before the Courts in your country, he can speak to the lawyers who presented the case seeking justice.  He will learn that the US Supreme Court rejected the appeal without giving any reasons why. He will learn that two of the Justices disgracefully declined to take part and that another before he sat o­n the Supreme Court, actually worked as a lawyer for Monsanto, o­ne of the companies that made Agent Orange. The president will surely see that justice has been denied to the Vietnamese victims.

Michelle, look at your two children as I appeal to you to help right the terrible wrong done to the children of Vietnam.

Yours sincerely

Len Aldis. Secretary
Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society
Flat 2, 26 Tomlins Grove
London E3 4NX
Tel: 020 8980 7146
E-Mail: lenaldis@yahoo.co.uk