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'60s Singer Still Calling for 'Nam Apology
newsmax.com ^ | Friday, April 1, 2005 10:18 p.m. EST

Posted on 04/01/2005 8:22:26 PM PST by InvisibleChurch

It's been 30 years since the last bombs fell during the Vietnam War, and longtime peace activist Peter Yarrow says it's about time that America apologizes.

The singer-songwriter from the 1960s folk group Peter, Paul and Mary has grown gray, but his passion to fight for those affected by the war remains fervent.

During his first trip to Vietnam this week, he told The Associated Press that the war wounds of the United States won't heal until the nation makes amends — a process he believes should involve helping Vietnamese suffering from the ill health effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed by U.S. planes during the war.

"All I know is that there's something that's really hurting the process of engagement, normalization and mutual respect in this equation," he said of U.S.-Vietnam relations. "And a real flash point is the issue of Agent Orange."

Yarrow, 66, performed a benefit concert before a packed crowd in Hanoi's Opera House to raise money for the cause and visited a village where U.S. veterans volunteer their time to help children suffering from diseases and birth defects believed to be caused by exposure to the chemical.

Yarrow, famous for the song "Puff, The Magic Dragon" and his rendition of Bob Dylan's classic "Blowin' In The Wind", decided to devote himself to the cause after years of activism ranging from marching with slain U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., to organizing concerts in Madison Square Garden to protest the unpopular war.

"Now, I'm here with that history and came to Vietnam ready to get down on my knees as one American and say, 'Please forgive us. We who are a good country — and a great country in many ways — also have made some terrible mistakes,'" he said.

Yarrow is among the first well-known anti-war activists to come to Vietnam since the war ended on April 30, 1975, when communist forces took over Saigon, the U.S.-backed capital of South Vietnam.

Actress Jane Fonda visited North Vietnam in 1972 where she met American prisoners of war and was photographed at a communist anti-aircraft gun site, earning her the nickname "Hanoi Jane."

In an interview prior to the release of her memoir next week, Fonda has that "... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine."

Since the war, relations with the United States have warmed. Diplomatic ties were normalized in 1995 and a landmark trade agreement was signed in 2001, prompting an explosion of business. But the issue of Agent Orange remains a sticking point.

A U.S. federal court last month dismissed the first-ever lawsuit filed by Vietnamese against the American chemical manufactures, claiming they suffered severe health problems after exposure to Agent Orange.

U.S. aircraft dumped 21 million gallons of defoliant on Vietnam from 1962-71. Most of that was Agent Orange, which contains the toxic dioxin, blamed for causing diseases such as cancer, diabetes, spina bifida and a range of other health problems. However, the U.S. government maintains there is not enough evidence to link dioxin to those ailments.

But Yarrow said the science shouldn't matter. Instead, he said the United States should simply do the right thing 30 years after the war by treating the Vietnamese who say they suffer from exposure.

"It's not to me an issue about whether it's 30 percent or 80 percent of them being victims of Agent Orange ... You've got to say 'We, as a country, are sorry' or at least the individuals have to say it," he said.

While in Vietnam, Yarrow also traveled to Ho Chi Minh City where he attended a conference of international schools to promote Operation Respect, a nonprofit he founded to foster nonviolence in schools.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chronicpotabuser; convictedfelon; hesurelovesthebong; hippyleftover; hissidelost; hollowvaluesystem; kiddyporn; molester; mootwornoutpinko; peteryarrow; sorelosers; vietnam; yarrow
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To: InvisibleChurch

Absolutely, the DemocRATS should apologize for not conducting the bombings we conducted against Hanoi during Christmas 1972 back in 1965.


61 posted on 04/01/2005 9:10:22 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: InvisibleChurch

To Peter Yarrow:

Dear Peter:

I am a Viet Nam Vet and I would like to apologize to North Viet Nam. I can't speak for the rest of my vet brothers, but I want to say I am sorry.

I am sorry we had our hands tied by congress and the main stream media, preventing us from kicking your asses back to the stone age.


62 posted on 04/01/2005 9:10:52 PM PST by DaiHuy (Jesus is Lord.)
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To: Petronski

~hands over my ears~
Stop it!

Puff the magic dragon, was my favourit song as a kid. Anyone who ruins that for me is in for trouble!


63 posted on 04/01/2005 9:11:07 PM PST by Happygal (liberalism - a narrow tribal outlook largely founded on class prejudice)
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To: Happygal

Puff put on a great light show. Considering there were 4 rounds between every tracer and it looked like a red line running to the ground


64 posted on 04/01/2005 9:12:47 PM PST by DaiHuy (Jesus is Lord.)
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To: Happygal

I was laughing at the gigantic cruise missiles with "We Apologize" painted on the side.

LOL

That pic kills me every time.


65 posted on 04/01/2005 9:16:44 PM PST by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: Petronski

Oh that's okay...

just don't mess with me nostalgia for the Land of dum-de-dum (Where did Puff live anyway? *LOL*)


66 posted on 04/01/2005 9:20:28 PM PST by Happygal (liberalism - a narrow tribal outlook largely founded on class prejudice)
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To: InvisibleChurch

On behalf of the liberals and Democrats that got us into that mess and kept it a mess America Apologizes. LOL


67 posted on 04/01/2005 9:22:00 PM PST by Havoc (Reagan was right and so was McKinley. Down with free trade. Hang the traitors high)
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To: Happygal
Where did Puff live anyway?

In a land called Honalea (sp?), of course.

68 posted on 04/01/2005 9:22:18 PM PST by Petronski (I thank God Almighty for a most remarkable blessing: John Paul the Great.)
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To: Petronski

See! I know you knew it...I was just testin' ye! *LOL* (not really) ;-)


69 posted on 04/01/2005 9:25:27 PM PST by Happygal (liberalism - a narrow tribal outlook largely founded on class prejudice)
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To: InvisibleChurch

Where have all the idiots gone?
Op, there's one now.


70 posted on 04/01/2005 9:27:46 PM PST by RGSpincich
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To: xp38

The problem for me is that it gets harder and harder to listen to their music. I was/am sorta a big fan. Just can't countance their political views!


71 posted on 04/01/2005 9:33:14 PM PST by swmobuffalo (the only good terrorist is a dead one)
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Comment #72 Removed by Moderator

To: InvisibleChurch
Yarrow is among the first well-known anti-war activists . . .<<<

FORMERLY well-known . . .

You're only as good as your latest "bad" war.

73 posted on 04/01/2005 9:46:56 PM PST by alcuin ( I apologize for not being clear.getridofthateffinlooselipssinkshipsgesture)
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To: Zman516

If I had a hammer-there wouldn't be any more folk singers.


74 posted on 04/02/2005 12:06:14 AM PST by packrat35 (reality is for people who can't face science fiction)
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To: InvisibleChurch

Gee Pete, did you ever apologize to that young girl you molested, or her parents? How about apologizing to us for being a Kerry supporter?


75 posted on 04/02/2005 3:20:13 AM PST by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway~~John Wayne)
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To: MisterRepublican

OUCH!


76 posted on 04/02/2005 3:24:19 AM PST by longfellow (You're either with US or from Hollywood! Ultimateamerican.com)
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To: InvisibleChurch

When I saw this on Drudge today I had to come here. I wanted to vent some rage on this stupid bastard, but everyone seems to have done an excellent job already. Especially the vets.


77 posted on 04/02/2005 9:34:55 AM PST by somemoreequalthanothers
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To: silent_jonny

That too, but Billy also had a "little boy problem". He went to prison a few years for it.


78 posted on 04/02/2005 7:56:55 PM PST by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Lurker

I see you haven't lost your curve ball.


79 posted on 04/02/2005 7:58:47 PM PST by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: InvisibleChurch
Mr. Peter was an a$$hole then, he is a bigger, balder a$$hole now.







Drop dead and fade away, you communist pedophile!

(That wasn't too harsh for the tender, old hippie, was it?)
80 posted on 04/02/2005 8:05:33 PM PST by Mr. Jazzy (It sucks to be liberal Democrat. Ask Monica Lewinski.)
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