The name of the country is Colombia, and the question betrays even more ignorance in regard to that country than the misspelling. If you read Spanish, I can show you an online article that will help you understand why.
. What's the source? Three to four million is the overall military and civilian death toll from all causes (not only US bombing) during the war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia between 1964 and 1975, if I'm not mistaken.
Second Indochina War (1960-75)
Vietnam War: Most historians of the Second Indochina War concern themselves primarily with the American Phase of the conflict, 1965-73; however, many do not specify whether their estimated death tolls cover only this phase of the war or the whole thing. An asterisk(*) indicates that the number seems to cover the entire conflict rather than just the American Phase, but check the "Sources" section to see exactly which years are covered by each authority:
South Vietnam military: 185,000 to 225,000 (Britannica) or 220,357 (Lewy) or 223,748 (Summers) or 224,000 (Kutler, Olson) or 250,000 (Clodfelter, Grenville*) or 254,257 (Wallechinsky*) or 650,000 (Small & Singer)
North Vietnamese military and Viet Cong: 500,000 (S&S) or 660,000 (Olson) or 666,000 (Lewy, with the possibility that as many as 222,000 (1/3) of these were actually SVN civilians mistaken for VC) or 666,000 (Summers) or 700,000-1,000,000 (Wallechinsky*) or 900,000 (Britannica; Grenville*) or 1,000,000 (Clodfelter) or 1,100,000 (Tucker* 1954-75, citing an official 1995 announcement by Hanoi)
South Vietnamese civilians: 287,000 (Clodfelter = 247,600 war deaths + 38,954 assassinated by NLF) or 300,000 (Kutler; Summers) or 340,000 (Lewy's estimate, with the possibility that an additional 222,000 counted as VC (above) belong in this category) or 430,000 (The Sen. E. Kennedy Commission, according to Lewy, Olson) or 250,000 (Olson) or 522,000 (Wallechinsky*) or 1,000,000 (Britannica [in both North and South]; Eckhardt; Grenville*) or 2,000,000 (Tucker* [N&S, 1954-75] citing an official 1995 announcement by Hanoi)
North Vietnamese civilians: 65,000 (Kutler, Lewy, Olson, Summers, Wallechinsky) by American bombing.
USA: 58,000 (Britannica) or 58,153 (Wallechinsky*) or 58,159 (Kutler) or 47,244 KIA + 10,446 other = 57,690 (Olson, Summers, 1961-80) or 56,146 (Lewy: 46,498 KIA + 10,388 other + 719 MIA) or 56,000 (S&S)
South Korea: 4,407 (Lewy, Olson, Summers); 4,687 (Wallechinsky); 5,000 (S&S)
Philippines: 1,000 (S&S)
Thailand: 351 (Lewy, Olson, Summers, Wallechinsky); 1,000 (S&S)
Australia: 469 (Lewy, Summers, Olson [w/NZ]); 492 (S&S); 494 (Wallechinsky); 520 (AWM)
TOTAL: 1,216,000 (military only, S&S) or 1,312,000 (Summers) or 1,353,000 (Lewy) or 1,520,453 (WHPSI: S. Vietnamese only, 1965-75) or 1,637,000 (Olson) or 1,721,000 (Kutler) or 1,749,000 (Wallechinsky*) or 1,800,000 (B&J, 1960-75) or 2,058,000 (Eckhardt) or 2,163,000 (Britannica) or 2,500,000 (Grenville*) or 3,000,000 (1965-75, Chomsky* (1987)) or >3,100,000 (Tucker*)
Misc. Atrocities:
Lewy:
36,725 civilians assassinated by VC/NVA, 1957-72
2,800 civilians executed and 3,000 missing after Hue was captured by VC/NVA, 1968
400 civilians massacred by USAns in the area of Son My village, incl. 175-200 in My Lai hamlet, 1968
Because of the lack of weapons recovered from many bodies, Lewy considers the possibility that up to 222,000 VC KIA may have actually been innocent bystanders. (Or maybe not. Poor evidence either way.)
Harff & Gurr: 475,000 civilians in NLF areas were victims of repressive politicide, 1965-72
Young: Hue massacre, 1968:
Officially: 2,800-5,700
Len Ackland: 300-400
Chomsky (1987): 21,000 VC civilian officials assassinated under US/GVN Phoenix project (-in text. Endnote gives estimates ranging 40-48,000.). Lewy considers these to be (mostly) legitimate military targets.
Rummel:
90,000 democides by South Vietnam:
1954-63: 39,000, incl. 24,000 dead in forced resettlement programs
1963-75: 51,000, incl. 30,000 executions
166,000 democides by NVN/VC in SVN:
Officials assassinated: 17,000
Civilians assassinated: 49,000
Refugees killed, 1975: 50,000
Misc: 50,000
In addition to the American Phase of the War, there are four tangental conflicts which are sometimes discussed as part of the Vietnam War, but usually considered peripheral:
Vietnamese Civil War, internal phase, 1960-65
Clodfelter, 1961-64
South Vietnam, military: 21,442
Communist: 71,000
Civilian: 160,000
TOTAL: 252,442
Chomsky (1987):
1957-61: 66,000 VC (p.274, citing B. Fall), 80,000 Vietnamese (p.323)
1961-4/65: 89,000 VC
to mid 1966: 60,000 ("enemy" (McNamara) - "probably" including civilians (Chomsky))
Total, 1954-65: 160-170,000 VNese (p.324)
S&S: 300,000 battle deaths, 1960-65
Eckhardt: 200,000 civ. + 100,000 mil. = 300,000 (1960-65)
Young: NLF lost 100,000 dead 1961-(?)64
WHPSI:
21,686 deaths by political violence in South Vietnam, 1960-64
4,021 from 1955 to 1959
Cambodian Civil War (1970-75)
Chomsky (1987): half a million to a million.
Rummel, 1954-75:
War Dead: 429,000
Democide: 288,000
TOTAL: 717,000
Tucker: 10% of 7M, which comes to 700,000
Clodfelter; also Wallechinsky (1970-75)
Cambodian govt.: 50,000
Total violent deaths, incl. Comm. and civ.: >250,000
Total war-related deaths, incl. hunger: 600,000
T. Lomperis, From People's War to People's Rule (1996), citing a Finnish commission: 600,000
Chirot: 500,000
B&J: 300,000
SIPRI 1989: 156,000
S&S, 1970-73
Cambodia: 150,000
USA: 500
SVietnam: 5,000
NVietnam: 500
TOTAL: 156,000
Eckhardt: 156,000
WHPSI: 55,750 k. by pol.viol., 1970-75
Laos
Wallechinsky, 1959-75: 250,000
Martin Stuart-Fox A History of Laos: 200,000 by 1973, incl. 30,000 Hmong.
Rummel, 1954-75:
War Dead: 32,000
Democide: 38,000
TOTAL: 70,000
Eckhardt: 12,000 civ. + 12,000 mil. = 24,000 (1960-73)
S&S, 1960-73
Laos: 5,000 (1960-62), 15,000 (1963-73)
USA: 500
NVietnam: 3,000
TOTAL: 23,500
WHPSI: 22,355 k. by pol.viol., 1963-72
T. Lomperis, From People's War to People's Rule (1996): 20,000 Meo irregulars and 15,000 Royal Lao Army
Harff & Gurr: 18-20,000 Meo tribemen were victims of genocide, 1963-65
Vietnamese Civil War, final phase, 1973-75
Young, citing Pentagon estimates:
ARVN: 26,500 (1973) + 30,000 (1974)
PRG/DRV: 39,000 (1973) + 61,000 (1974)
Civilians: 15,000
TOTAL: 171,500 killed in the "Cease-Fire War".
Sources:
Britannica: not specified, but the implication is that the statistics cover the entire war.
Clodfelter, Michael, Vietnam in Military Statistics (1995)
Eckhardt: covers the years 1965-75 (unless otherwise noted)
Grenville: does not specify which years are covered, but by context, it seems to be 1960-75
Kutler, Stanley: Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1996)
Lewy, Guenter, America in Vietnam (1978): Lewy's estimates cover the years 1965-74. (u.o.n.)
Olson, James: Dictionary of the Vietnam War (1988): covers the years 1965-74 (u.o.n.)
Summers, Harry: Vietnam War Almanac (1985)
Tucker, Spencer, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1998)
Wallechinsky: death tolls apparently cover the years 1957-75. (u.o.n.)
Young, Marilyn, The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990 (1991)
Emphasis is mine.
Considering the above quoted figures, I'd say your civilian estimates are greatly exaggerated. The death toll from bombing in North Vietnam mentioned in the above quote shows the so-called weapons of mass destruction to have been rather inefficient if compared to rifles and machetes. If set against the bomb tonnage dropped and the cost thereof, it also shows that the expense of technological killing was much higher in Vietnam than it had been in World War II.
The issue is not "reopening of old wounds". It is rememberance, the effect of which in those few countries that have cared to face up to the horrors of their past is definitely positive. In chapter 4 of
, which deals with the various “organs” of Lenin’s and Stalin’s terror (“Die blauen Litzen”, in the German translation by Anna Peturnig, the term being a reference to the blue berets worn by the henchmen of the secret services), Alexander Solshenizyn mentions and praises the fact that, until 1966, 86,000 Nazi criminals were convicted in West Germany, while lamenting that, on the other hand, no more than a dozen of Stalin’s killers were ever sentenced by a Soviet court. In Solshenizyn’s opinion:
Solshenizyn's figure is way too high, but the message he conveys is pertinent. Solshenizyn laments that the Soviet Union never dealt with its past in the same way and thus failed to become cleansed from what he calls the "vice" of totalitarian despotism.
While a given country may learn the lessons of its pastl, others will unfortunately make the same mistakes. But does this mean that it is wrong for a country to face up to its past? I don't think so. It has been beneficial for Germany to face up to its Nazi past, just as it has been/would be beneficial for the US to learn the lessons of the Vietnam War.
If you still think it is useless to talk about the past atrocities of National Socialism or any other regime, I suggest that you address the moderators and request them to close down this forum.