In December and January 2006, I visited Vietnam to examine the environmental effects of the conflict known to the Vietnamese as “The American War” and to the citizens of the United States as “The Vietnam War.”  I spent six weeks crisscrossing the former country of South Vietnam.  I traveled from the soggy Ca Mau Peninsula to the still-denuded DMZ.  One day while at the southernmost tip of the Mekong Delta, I rented a motorized sampan and hired a Vietnamese guide to take me into the region of the U Minh forest.  I wanted to view firsthand the present state of that forest.  On another day, I hiked into the weed-covered and shell-strewn former U.S. Special Forces Base at Plei Mei. Continue Reading »