The truth of war

I've been to a couple museums here and at the War Remnants Museum, it's disgusting how biased the museum is (highlighting what America has done to Vietnam), but it's also disgusting what truth there is to what they say. In Vietnam, they call it the "American War."

America has committed some atrocities on the country, some massacres, threw bombs on civilians... Every war has damages on both sides, especially the country that the battles are occurring. All these horror stories unheard and unsaid but done nonetheless. The morale: you can sacrifice a few for the greater good...but how many people are sacrificed, to what degree, and is it even worth it in the end?

At the museum, I saw massacre, I saw war injuries, but the most scary thing was fetuses...Agent Orange. Fetuses (I don't know if these are real or not but they were definitely life-size) in a clear glass box floating in what looks like that chemical that are used to preserve cadavers (can't remember the name right now...I didn't do that well in Anatomy class). Effects of Agent Orange included fetus malformations, miscarriages, cancer, so many long-term effects.

This makes me wonder what America is doing in Iraq. I still remember reading a research article in Epidemiology class--before the war and during the war...violent crimes in Iraq has multiplied by several times.

At the museum, I read this article about an American pilot who refused to bomb the country because throwing that many bombs will for sure miss targets and hit civilians. My teacher told me today about women who would have to repair the streets, especially the street going from the South to the North because the South was providing provisions/food for the North, and these women would have to count the bombs that were dropped and the bombs that exploded and subtract bombs exploded from bombs dropped and then memorize those spots and mark them with a flag for bomb specialists to come. What a horrifying job.

So the funny thing about this day was I had my Xe Om (motorbike) driver come in with me. They usually just drive you places but I told him to come in with me and so we checked out the museum together. I asked him when he was born (he was 1 year old during the war), and I asked him what Vietnamese people thought about Americans. He said just normal...a lot has changed since the war. He doesn't seem to be biased against Americans at all. I remember when I first came to Hanoi, I was scared that Vietnamese people wouldn't like me because I'm from America. An analogy crossed my mind...I've been watching Chinese movies and this guy kills this little girl's family and then takes her and raises her to be a killer...and the girl is constantly conflicted because is this guy the enemy or the savior. But yea, this analogy's not that appropriate...it's a lot more complicated than that...I think....

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Does the end justify the means?