U.S.starts Agent Orange cleanup

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At Danang International Airport, the ground is covered with Agent Orange - a toxic chemical defoliant used extensively by the United States during its involvement in the Vietnam War.

But on Thursday, The United States and Vietnam began cleaning up.

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, David Shear, said he hopes to build a partnership with Vietnam.

"The dioxin in the ground here is a legacy of the painful past we share but the project we undertake here today hand in hand with the Vietnamese is, as Secretary Clinton said, a sign of the hopeful future we are building together."

The U.S. military sprayed up to 12 million gallons onto Vietnam's jungles over a 10-year-period, and the question of compensation for the subsequent health problems is a major post-war issue.

The U.S. government is providing 41 million U.S. dollars to the project, which is meant to significantly reduce the contamination levels by 2016.