http://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor…
— Viet Thanh Nguyen (@vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social) April 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
In the 1960s, the U.S. suffered a kind of civil war of the American soul whereby the conflict between pro-war and antiwar factions mixed with other ruptures around race, class, gender and more, ruptures that have continued to this day in the culture wars. These conflicts may make Americans feel that they paid a heavy price for the Vietnam War, a price in addition to the more than 58,000 Americans who died.
But 3 million Vietnamese died on all sides. Hundreds of thousands of Lao, Hmong and Cambodians died. And another 1.7 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge genocide, a direct consequence of the war. Add the unknown numbers that died in re-education camps, and the tens of thousands that died as refugees. Thousands more died from land mines and unexploded ordnance left behind. And the effects of Agent Orange are still manifest today in illness and birth defects.