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 Standing near a skull-and-crossbones warning sign meant to keep
people away from toxic soil, Mattis was briefed by Vietnamese
officials about the massive contamination area.
In a possible sign of the sensitivity surrounding Agent Orange in
Vietnam, where millions of people are still suffering its effects,
reporters were not allowed to attend the outdoor briefing for Mattis
at Bien Hoa Air Base.
"I came to show the support of the Defense Department for this
project and demonstrate that the United States makes good on its
promises," Mattis told his Vietnamese counterpart at a closed-door
meeting later in nearby Ho Chi Minh City.
Cleanup is expected to start getting under way early next year.
U.S. troops dropped Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to clear
thick jungle. But it contributed to severe health problems that,
according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, can include
Parkinson's Disease, prostate cancer and Chronic B-cell Leukemia.
Of the 4.8 million Vietnamese who were exposed to Agent Orange, some
three million are still dealing with its effects, including children
born with severe disabilities or other health issues years after
their parents were exposed, according to the Hanoi-based Vietnam
Association for Victims of Agent Orange.
WARMING RELATIONS
More than four decades after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, ties
between the United States and Vietnam are less seen through the
prism of the conflict and more through shared concerns over China.
Vietnam has emerged as the most vocal opponent of China's
territorial claims in the South China Sea and has been buying U.S.
military hardware, including an armed, Hamilton-class Coast Guard
cutter.
The United States, in turn, accuses China of militarizing the
strategic waterway, through which more than $3 trillion in cargo
passes every year, and sees Vietnam as a crucial ally in drawing
regional opposition to Beijing's behavior.
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But U.S. officials including Mattis - who is on his second trip to
Vietnam just this year - hope that addressing America's wartime
legacies like Agent Orange can become a vehicle for further
strengthening ties.
When a U.S. aircraft carrier visited Vietnam in March, for example,
one of the places U.S. sailors visited was a Vietnamese shelter for
people suffering from the effects of Agent Orange.
The United States just completed a five-year, $110 million program
that cleaned soil contaminated by Agent Orange at Danang
International Airport, which was one of the main air bases used for
storing and spraying the herbicide between 1961 and 1971.
But officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development,
which is overseeing the project, said the Bien Hoa site will be four
times larger than Danang, a massive undertaking that is expected to
cost $390 million, according to a fact sheet distributed to
reporters.
According to the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS), one soil
sample from Bien Hoa had a "toxic equivalency," or TEQ, of more than
1,000 times over the international limit.
A 2011 study conducted by a private consulting firm determined that
contaminated soil had spread from hot spots at the base into nearby
lakes, ponds, creeks, and drainage ditches, increasing the amount of
soil and sediment that will require treatment.
"The impacts on the community is very difficult to measure. Dioxin
has impacts (on health) at very low concentrations and they're not
real consistent," one of the U.S. AID officials said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
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