Even We Can't Prevent Forests: The Chemical War in Vietnam and the Illusion of Control (2012)
By exploring tactical and strategic uses of chemical agents beyond Agent Orange and the other 'Rainbow Herbicides' used as part of Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam War, this essay seeks to fill a gap in our under- standing of the chemical war waged by the United States in South-east Asia, and to make a contribution to the growing body of literature devoted to the intersections of military and environmental history. Taking seriously the roles played by both human and non-human actors, it explores how the White House and Pentagon continually attempted, unsuccessfully, to impose more stringent forms of control over southern Vietnam. Herbicidal warfare and the use of forest fire as a military weapon were simply two more failed attempts among many to impose control on a nation, a people, and a landscape - indeed, on nature itself - all of which refused to accept the dictates of American power just as stubbornly as American policymakers refused to accept the limitations of that power.[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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