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Babies whose parents were killed by the US during the Vietnam War being trafficked to the US to be bought, 1975.

There, headline fixed.

[-] arrow74@lemmy.zip 88 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Babylift

The answer is more complicated. These were children from the Democratic south which was allied or puppeted by the US. So their parents were more likely killed by the North Vietnamese.

The bigger issue is many of these children were not even orphans and were placed in orphanages due to poverty. Many had living relatives that intended to take custody after the war.

And of course the modern Vietnamese government opposed the action as they were the winners of the war. I'm really struggling to find the sources on if the South Vietnamese government had an opinion, although at this point it was probably whatever the USA says.

Cold war proxy wars were a fucked period for sure.

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[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 8 points 1 month ago

Well, these Babies were in South Vietnam, so if the parents were killed by the US it was friendly fire. More likely, North Vietnamese killed them.

[-] FedX@quokk.au 77 points 1 month ago

Not to mention the first flight of Operation Babylift was a complete disaster, the second accident and first fatal accident of a C-5 Galaxy. Caused by explosive decompression from poor maintenance of the rear cargo door, 78 children were killed in the ensuing crash. It remains the third deadliest accident involving a US military aircraft.

[-] 87Six@lemmy.zip 39 points 1 month ago
[-] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Yeah my days fucked now

[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 24 points 1 month ago
[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 month ago
[-] OwOarchist@pawb.social 5 points 1 month ago
[-] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Sorry, dropped a /s

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 22 points 1 month ago

I'd be interested in learning more about the motivations, spoken and unspoken.

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 0 points 1 month ago

The adoption agency Holt International, along with a number of service organizations including, Friends of Children of Viet Nam (FCVN), Friends For All Children (FFAC), Catholic Relief Service, International Social Services, International Orphans, and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, petitioned the government to help evacuate the orphans residing in their facilities in South Vietnam.

So the US Military motivation was "yeah sounds good, we were already evacuating 50,000 people anyways".

[-] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 month ago

Whaddya mean "did"? They sure as shit still "do".

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 11 points 1 month ago

I'm curious, what should they have done? Would these kids have had a better life in Vietnam after/during the war or in the US?

The US committed many atrocities and the country is kakistrocratic oligarchy masquerading as a democracy that continues to fuck up the world to this day, but let's consider, what would've been best for orphans in Vietnam at that time?

[-] otterpop@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

A lot of these kids weren't actually orphans but were placed in these orphanages temporarily by their parents due to instability with the intention of later retrieval.

However for the Amerasian children (25% of these roughly), I agree that they should have been evacuated. As I mentioned elsewhere on the post, the discrimination and racism they faced after the war in Vietnam was awful.

[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

I don't see another comment from you in this thread, so not sure what's going on there.

[-] otterpop@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago
[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

I've been suspicious that I'm not seeing all comments and now I know it's true, so thanks for the proof. Not sure if it's a federation thing or Boost so I'll have to do some digging.

[-] mrsilkworm@piefed.social 14 points 1 month ago

Not killing their parents would definitely go a long way for these children. Not going to war and not committing atrocities would also help.

[-] jaaake@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

"What do you do with an unwanted pregnancy that's the result of a rape?"

"Don't get raped in the first place."

[-] i_need_your_bones@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Its more like going to the rapist who took the rape baby after the rape and saying that they really shouldn't have raped that person and though the issue with stealing the rape baby is bad a good solution would have been to not rape.

If America didn't invade, no orphans. Really weird you'de equate not invading Vietnam with raping a person

Edit: to clarify, no, the other person didn't say "just don't get raped" or the equivalent. The analogy was wrong. This is my point

[-] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago

much better put than i did

[-] jaaake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

A solution to a problem can't be "travel back in time and prevent yourself from being in this situation" that's not a solution, it's pointing out the obvious source of the problem.

[-] i_need_your_bones@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I agree, but that person did not say "just don't get raped." The analogy doesn't work, and is weird to say while being destructive to the conversation.

That comment I replied to made this equivalancy which is table flipping, fuck you I'm going to paint you in the worst light, type behavior.

No, the guy didn't say "just don't get raped" he said "we shouldn't have been raping"

Ok, solution wasn't the proper word, the commenter was talking morality. Taking the babies was wrong and America shouldn't have done it, nor should they have gotten involved afterwards.

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[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Unfolding the anology would mean "US is the victim here. "

[-] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago

this was the first thing i noticed, too

[-] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

this take was badly expressed. i woke up in the middle of the night to piss and wrote it between walking from the bathroom to the bed. Point I was trying to make was it is a clumsy metaphor that directly casts america as the victim.

[-] Dookieman12@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

Do you have anything to offer that's actually possible to do, a real answer to the question, or do you just feel like being a contrarian little shit today?

[-] atro_city@fedia.io -1 points 1 month ago

Sure, want to undo all the evil humanity has done since its evolution too?

[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That would be loud taking off, ngl.

[-] Avicenna@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

is this when the Epstein ring originally started?

[-] cosmos8188@leminal.space 0 points 1 month ago

To be fair, the Epstein ring was associated with nepophila so I guess it checks out.

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 0 points 1 month ago

No, they also evacuated about 50,000 adults because the USSR sponsored North Vietnamese Troops were as bad or worse than the US troops which is saying a lot.

[-] Avicenna@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

You are writing this as if I am claiming US is the only evil side in this story. States big or small go drunk in their own power and ideas all the time, major powers do so more often. Almost always the story is also more complex then how it is portrayed 50 years later.

It was more a joke than a political statement and also perhaps a dark reminder of very bad things that happen to immigrant orphans.

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this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2026
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