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Agent Orange Settlement: Battle Over But 'Forever' War Continues

By VVAW

An old laborer with the City of Milwaukee once said to me, "A lawyer can steal more money than an armed robber."

"Why's that?" I said.

"He can get more money with a pencil than a robber can get with a gun."

Well, that's what happened to Vietnam vets and their families. We got ripped off by the "Management Committee", a group of lawyers who took control 's of the way through the Agent Orange law suit from Victor Yannacone, and then sold us down the river.

Here is an example of the type of bull shit the lawyers are still telling us. They deny that the children were excluded from the settlement. In fact, in a letter from lawyer Gregory Stayart, he said: "Judge Weinstein had never held, to my knowledge, that children of veterans will not receive compensation under the fund. Indeed, he already authorized the payment of $75,000 to the March of Dimes to study birth defects."

We don't need studies from a group that refused contact with veterans and their children in Madison and in New Jersey because Agent Orange was too political! As it stands, our children get nothing and the lawyers know it.

It is also our understanding that the last day to sign up for the suit was February 1, 1985. We fought against the inclusion of any cut-off date. If anyone has any questions, contact the Court Computer Center at Agent Orange Computer Center, P.O.Box 905, Smithtown, NY 11787

The process of dividing up the settlement proves that the veterans were right when we said it was a rip-off. Over 200,000 veterans or survivors signed up to be members of the class action. The special master, Kenneth Feinburg, announced only about 7,000 people would be compensated. A veteran with a long-term disability might get $25,000. A veteran who has died might leave his survivors $5,000.

We will sleep a lot more soundly at night knowing that the lawyers split up $9 million. Out of this sum, we were told, Steven Schlagel of Chicago gets $6 million. So, after all of this what does the government plan for us?

Reagan and Stockman want to cut big on the VA this year. As far as we can tell Reagan's vision for the VA is health care for the service-connected and dying veterans only. Agent Orange and radiation vets are not service-connected except for a few diseases.

So, was our struggle for testing, treatment and compensation for Agent Orange victims a waste of time? We say no way. Our six-year battle took a lot of time and pain and energy but it had to be done. And there were victories.

Agent Orange and dioxin are now household words. We have raised the American consciousness about chemical poisons and about the war in Vietnam.

The chemical companies said we'd never get to court and wouldn't get one thin dime. As it went on, we almost kicked their ass. If we had not been betrayed before the trial they would have been convicted. America would have been convicted. America and the world will remember Agent Orange, the Love Canal, Times Beach and Bophal, India.

We also met thousands of veterans and their families around the country. We fought and sweated side by side for too many years, and have been drawn closer because of our experiences.

Tuesday, March 5th is the date of formal acceptance of the plan for the administration of the fund. We will speak against it formally. There has been talk about appealing the whole settlement.

The battle on testing, treatment and compensation has not been won, but it is not over. In order to continue to fight for treatment and compensation that we need, we must stop the dismantling of the VA, Get active locally in stopping Reagan's cutbacks. Keep abreast of on-going and proposed studies, test, and Agent Orange surveys. We always need new people to get involved to lessen our losses from burn our and battle fatigue—that's you: your fire team needs reinforcements!