US Is Finally Cleaning Up Agent Orange In Vietnam

derekmead writes "It only took 40 years. And yes, Washington still disputes Hanoi's claim that up to 4 million Vietnamese suffered contact with the defoliant, which was dumped en masse in a U.S. air campaign to scorch away the dense jungle cover under which guerilla fighters hid. But the AP reports that the U.S. is finally set to start cleaning up the mess. The numbers are staggering: Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and a galaxy of other herbicides on nearly a quarter of former South Vietnam. The defoliant ate through about 5 millions acres – a tract comparable in size to Massachusetts – of forest. An additional half-million acres of crops were decimated."

Decimated?

[Anonymous Coward]

So one acre in 10 was wiped out. Doesn't sound so bad.

Re:Decimated?

[HornWumpus]

How do you get nine acres to beat another acre to death?

Re:If I was cynical...

[Penurious Penguin]

So I see you've been to Florida lately. It works well enough here, doesn't it?