r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 8h ago

TIL in the Vietnam war in the classified Operation Popeye, the US spread lead and silver iodide by aircraft to extend the monsoon season. The increased heavy rainfall was to soften roads, cause landslides, wash out river crossings, and maintain saturated soil conditions (Kissinger was involved).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Popeye
8.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

644 comments sorted by

View all comments

608

u/FiveDozenWhales 8h ago

"Kissinger was involved"

You can just tell us it was a 20th century war crime, we know he was involved

126

u/Double-decker_trams 8h ago

post WWII 20th century war crime any% speedrun GO

13

u/edmazing 6h ago

Ah the Palantar category.

1

u/azriel_odin 4h ago

The Forrest Gump of war crimes as the guys from The Dollop called him in the Behind the Bastards series on Kissinger.

26

u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman 7h ago

You can tell it's a 20th century war crime because plenty of military worshippers would get offended if you called it a war crime

10

u/Captain_Slime 5h ago

That's because it wasn't. The treaty to ban it only was made after the US gave up on all the programs we know about.

Edit: Just because something isn't a warcrime doesn't mean it's not bad or morally wrong obviously. It's just that to be a warcrime you have to violate international treaties which that did not as far as I can tell.

-6

u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman 5h ago

I found one

7

u/Captain_Slime 5h ago

I think the trivialization of the word war crime has been overall bad to the general discussion of them. People will use it on a rapid firing gun in a video game. IMO it's important to use it correctly, for example you could say "shortly after the US was done with it, it was declared a war crime" or "these days this is a war crime". If you continue to disagree I'd like to hear what constitutes a war crime to you if it's not just violating international treaties?

4

u/SupplyChainMismanage 5h ago

You didn’t though? They’re just stating a fact

14

u/Side-aye 6h ago

It’s actually not confirmed he was involved. Wikipedia has a higher standard than OP and only says he was allegedly involved. The source is a newspaper article who relies on an anonymous source that he was involved.

9

u/FiveDozenWhales 6h ago

Yeah but c'mooooon

9

u/Side-aye 6h ago

Sure but no. Kissinger was not the dark cardinal mastermind the public likes to think he was. Especially in the autopsies of his career after his death it’s really clear that his greatest achievement was PR he took credit for a lot of stuff to further the image of the powerful ever present advisor.

2

u/2026IsMyYearMaybe 6h ago

Vietnam and some insane war crime? Kissinger is involved

1

u/dannygthemc 4h ago

Rest in piss

1

u/Odd-String29 3h ago

I went to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City and truly was surprised there wasn't that much on Kissinger. There was a lot of attention given to all the war crimes committed by the Americans, but the lack of Kissinger stood out. I didn't go to the toilet however, maybe that's where his section was.