Apologies

I didn't expect to say this, but Tariana Turia is right. The government's apology to Vietnam veterans today does not go far enough. In addition to apologising to those poisoned by American chemicals and then denied proper care by successive governments, we should also be apologising to Vietnam. Vietnam was an unjust war, fought for America's imperial aggrandisement. It caused the deaths of over a million North Vietnamese soldiers and two million civilians - over 10% of the North Vietnamese population. We should not have participated, and that fact needs to be formally acknowledged.