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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Victor W. Sidel, MD, Professor of Social Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical College, Montifiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, New York, NY 10467, 718-920-6586, vsidel@igc.org

The presence of U.S. combat troops in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973, which reached a high of over 500,000 in 1968, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, with U.S. troops levels so far reaching a high of approximately 150,000, have had profound health and social impacts on the United States, on Vietnam, and on Iraq.

Similarities in the wars include:

(1) Misleading Congress and the public to permit the United States to enter the conflict; (2) Repeated false U.S. claims of success in the war; (3) Massive numbers of civilian casualties; (4) Major economic, social and political costs; (5) Use of weapons likely harmful to long-term health of combatants and non-combatants -- in Vietnam use of the defoliant Agent Orange, in Iraq use of shells containing depleted uranium; and (6) Violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Differences between the wars include:

In the Vietnam War: (1) Use of a conscripted U.S. military force; (2) Much larger numbers of U.S. casualties (58,000 dead and 150, 000 wounded); (3) Extensive television coverage of U.S. casualties; (4) Massive protests in the United States; and (5) Withdrawal of U.S. troops in 1975.

In the Iraq War: (1) Use of a volunteer U.S. military force; (2) Far fewer U.S. casualties; (3) Limited television coverage of U.S. casualties; (4) Fewer public protests; and (5) Less effective efforts so far to end the war.

Both wars led to profound public health effects and both engendered policy statements adopted by the APHA Governing Council -- In 1969, over five years before U.S. troops withdrew, APHA called for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam; In 2005, APHA condemned the participation of health professionals in torture in Iraq, but has made no statement calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Learning Objectives: