Having hit my 30 day expiration date in Thailand, I have now jumped ship (literally, aboard a two-day "slow boat") for Laos, the country that I very morbidly joked marks the beginning of what I should call the "apology tour" of Southeast Asia. Even the least worldly of Americans is aware of the disaster that was the Vietnam War, but I wonder how many are familiar with the Secret War waged on Laos and Cambodia that went on during that same time period. I was familiar enough to know that we had dropped bombs on both countries that caused massive devastation and helped to set the stage for the takeover of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, but with talk of Henry Kissinger back in the news of late thanks to the circus that is our current presidential election, and finding myself actually in Laos, I decided to do a little more reading up on the subject. It was two hours of some of the most depressing reading I've done in a long time.
To say the US dropped bombs on Laos, in particular, is a massive understatement. From 1964 to 1973 we dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos over the course of 580,000 bombing missions. That's equivalent to one planeload of bombs every eight minutes, day and night, for nine years. For those keeping score, that's more than double the amount of bombs dropped on Germany and Japan in the whole of WWII, and a whopping 210 million more bombs than we dropped on Iraq in 1991, 1998, and 2006 combined! Thanks to us, Laos now has the unfortunate honor of being the most heavily bombed country in the world, per capita, and through it all most of the locals had absolutely no idea what was happening or why. The official excuse, concocted by Nixon and Kissinger (who had dreamt up the whole plan and executed it without consent from Congress), was that we were targeting known Viet Cong bases and supply routes running through the country, despite the fact that the bombs were being dropped from heights that made it physically impossible to target specific sites. The truth, I think, speaks to a general disregard for human life in the name of preserving a political legacy. Nixon and Kissinger were heavily invested in preventing a tide of communist takeovers in Southeast Asia during their tenure, and so as much as they may have been targeting Viet Cong bases, they were also "supporting" the Royal Lao Government against the communist Pathet Lao, even if that meant leveling the entire country in the process. In addition to the bombings, the CIA recruited members of the native Hmong tribes to fight a ground war against the Pathet Lao, acting as agents of the United States. When the bombing ended and the Pathet Lao wound up in power anyway, these Hmong "soldiers" and their families were forced to flee the country to avoid persecution. Many of them still remain in exile.
As if all this isn't bad enough, consider the fact that up to a third of the bombs dropped on Lao during that time period didn't explode, leaving the country contaminated with massive amounts of unexploded ordinance (UXO). Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO in the years since the bombings stopped. Farmers out plowing their fields. Builders attempting to clear a site for new development. Children playing with what looks to be a shiny yellow ball buried in the dirt. Nearly 40 years later, only 1% of this UXO has been destroyed, with the US contributing a relatively paltry $51million over 16 years toward the effort. That's as much as we spent in just three days dropping the bombs in the first place.
To read about the devastation the US caused here is shocking, and it gives me tremendous respect for the Lao people, who have been nothing but kind and hospitable during my time here. How easy would it be for them, even after so many years, to harbor hostility toward the US for the completely senseless destruction of their country (which has contributed heavily to making them the poorest country in Southeast Asia) and loss of life? If such hostility exists, I've seen no sign of it. Even after confirming that I'm American I've been met with warm smiles, polite conversation, and some delicious home cooking! Sure, they rely heavily on tourist dollars to prop up their struggling economy, which means that we wind up paying more for busses, hotels, food, and tour packages than they're probably worth, but considering the havoc we wreaked here for nearly a decade, paying an extra couple dollars for a sandwich seems like more than a fair trade-off.
I've spent just over a week in Laos now and I've been massively impressed not only with the people, but with the sheer rugged beauty of the place that was far too great to succumb to destruction. I've trekked through jungles, kayaked rivers, homestayed in tiny villages, and explored the bigger "cities" and through it all one thing is clear: There's a spirit of peace and happiness here that stands in contrast to the country's dark history, and I think it provides a valuable lesson in forgiveness, tolerance, and understanding.
To say the US dropped bombs on Laos, in particular, is a massive understatement. From 1964 to 1973 we dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos over the course of 580,000 bombing missions. That's equivalent to one planeload of bombs every eight minutes, day and night, for nine years. For those keeping score, that's more than double the amount of bombs dropped on Germany and Japan in the whole of WWII, and a whopping 210 million more bombs than we dropped on Iraq in 1991, 1998, and 2006 combined! Thanks to us, Laos now has the unfortunate honor of being the most heavily bombed country in the world, per capita, and through it all most of the locals had absolutely no idea what was happening or why. The official excuse, concocted by Nixon and Kissinger (who had dreamt up the whole plan and executed it without consent from Congress), was that we were targeting known Viet Cong bases and supply routes running through the country, despite the fact that the bombs were being dropped from heights that made it physically impossible to target specific sites. The truth, I think, speaks to a general disregard for human life in the name of preserving a political legacy. Nixon and Kissinger were heavily invested in preventing a tide of communist takeovers in Southeast Asia during their tenure, and so as much as they may have been targeting Viet Cong bases, they were also "supporting" the Royal Lao Government against the communist Pathet Lao, even if that meant leveling the entire country in the process. In addition to the bombings, the CIA recruited members of the native Hmong tribes to fight a ground war against the Pathet Lao, acting as agents of the United States. When the bombing ended and the Pathet Lao wound up in power anyway, these Hmong "soldiers" and their families were forced to flee the country to avoid persecution. Many of them still remain in exile.
As if all this isn't bad enough, consider the fact that up to a third of the bombs dropped on Lao during that time period didn't explode, leaving the country contaminated with massive amounts of unexploded ordinance (UXO). Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO in the years since the bombings stopped. Farmers out plowing their fields. Builders attempting to clear a site for new development. Children playing with what looks to be a shiny yellow ball buried in the dirt. Nearly 40 years later, only 1% of this UXO has been destroyed, with the US contributing a relatively paltry $51million over 16 years toward the effort. That's as much as we spent in just three days dropping the bombs in the first place.
To read about the devastation the US caused here is shocking, and it gives me tremendous respect for the Lao people, who have been nothing but kind and hospitable during my time here. How easy would it be for them, even after so many years, to harbor hostility toward the US for the completely senseless destruction of their country (which has contributed heavily to making them the poorest country in Southeast Asia) and loss of life? If such hostility exists, I've seen no sign of it. Even after confirming that I'm American I've been met with warm smiles, polite conversation, and some delicious home cooking! Sure, they rely heavily on tourist dollars to prop up their struggling economy, which means that we wind up paying more for busses, hotels, food, and tour packages than they're probably worth, but considering the havoc we wreaked here for nearly a decade, paying an extra couple dollars for a sandwich seems like more than a fair trade-off.
I've spent just over a week in Laos now and I've been massively impressed not only with the people, but with the sheer rugged beauty of the place that was far too great to succumb to destruction. I've trekked through jungles, kayaked rivers, homestayed in tiny villages, and explored the bigger "cities" and through it all one thing is clear: There's a spirit of peace and happiness here that stands in contrast to the country's dark history, and I think it provides a valuable lesson in forgiveness, tolerance, and understanding.
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