US bombing and CIA covert operations in Laos began during the Kennedy administration. By 1968, the US escalated the bombing and carried out a scorched earth campaign, mostly on civilian and economic targets. Laos became "the most bombed country on Earth." The US dropped more bombs (napalm and cluster bombs) on Laos than what they dropped on Japan and Nazi Germany during World War II combined. [video=youtube_share;f-RFNibfR14]http://youtu.be/f-RFNibfR14[/video]
Yep,,, 2 million tons of bombs on a population of around 4.5 million people from 1964 until 1973. Around 580,000 bombing sorties over nine years. Works out at one sorty every eight minutes. Today, anywhere from 30 million to 80 million UXOs (mainly cluster munitions) still litter the Lao countryside.
Civilians were purposely targeted in Laos. One hears about the horrors of My Lai were around 500 civilians were murdered over two or three days by Lt William Calley and his mob. But no-one knows about Tham Piew in Xieng Khouang province in northern Laos where an American Air Force fighter fired a rocket into a cave instantly killing over 400 civilians who had been sheltering from the massive American bombing. I believe it is the greatest single killing of civilians during the Second Indochina War. No-one was charged. To add,, here is a great documentary on the secret war n Laos. It's 52 minutes long but well worth the view. "The Most Secret Place on Earth" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cIki7awN8
And Kissinger is still treated like a great American statesman by the free press, although this program did begin under Kennedy. I think Kissinger just gets most of the blambe because he's still active.
Laos was a complete and utter disgrace as America was not even at war with them - they were merely "victims of friendly fire" Reparations SHOULD have been made and paid long long ago - especially reparations to clean up the !@#!@# mess!!
Sorry Bowerbird, Laos was not "a victim of friendly fire". America went in there for the sole purpose of destroying a civilization, and give notice to the rest of the world of the enormous fire power America had. Laos was the precursor of how wars would be fought in the latter 20th century and 21st century,,, from the air.
I was being a wee bit sarcastic with that one The carpet bombing of Laos actually had no excuse and the failure to correct the wrong, except as a token gesture, is a blot on the ethics and morals of a country (not that........no won't go there - just waiting for an American right winger to fly in and defend the indefensible)
lol, hardly. Greece was in 1948, then Iran in 1953 and that CIA coup was followed by another one in Guatemala in 1954. Then came Vietnam, Laos, Brazil, Indonesia, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, East Timor, Guatemala again, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Hondiras, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Haiti again, Honduras again. And there's a lot that I left out because I cant remember them all. Iraq wasnt a domino. That was only motivated by the Mafia doctrine and control of the energy resources so they would have "critical leverage" over the European and Asian economies.
I have argued this topic on quite a few occasions with Americans in these forums. All they seem to do is regurgitate what they know based on American history of SE Asia. The slant is towards America being the good guys and the little brown people being the baddies. Come to Laos and speak to people who were directly involved,, the locals, especially those in rural areas of the country. Those who were continually bombed just because they were there. Rules of engagement were flung out of the window. Even Vietnam had rules of engagement. I read a article some years ago from a woman from rural Savannakhet, one of the most intensively bombed parts of the globe. One thing stuck in my mind. After intensive bombing of her village, she could have walked the entire length of her village without her feet touching the ground. Bodies of civilians littered the entire length. Multiply this one hundred, even one thousand fold throughout Laos. My Lai is still in living memory but no- one knows about Tham Piew cave in northern Laos. The single greatest loss of civilian life during the Second Indochina War. 437 civilian lives snuffed out in an instant.
My Lai is a destraction from the Phoenix program. The average American thinks My Lai was the only major atrocity in Vietnam. And that's the point.
