The U.S. Department of Defense is committed to assisting Vietnam in cleaning up the dioxin-contaminated environment surrounding Danang airport, said Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey. General Dempsey, the first chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to visit Vietnam since 1971, made the statement while on a tour of the former U.S. air base in central Danang city, where the US two years ago began a landmark project to clean up dioxin from the site. He expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the project, saying that it represents a concrete step to promote and implement the comprehensive partnership between the two nations. The Vietnam-U.S. effective cooperation in dealing with war consequences has contributed to strengthening bilateral ties and mutual understanding, as well as providing a helping hand to residents in war-torn areas, he added. U.S. troops once stored and mixed the defoliant Agent Orange in a dry field surrounding the former base in Danang before it was loaded onto planes to be sprayed to deny forest cover to Vietnamese fighters during the past war. (Vov.vn Aug 15)
