80 million unexploded bombs: Obama pledges U.S. help for Laos

The president did not come to apologize.

He had nothing to do with the war, but still should have apologized for the nation. The US invasion of Vietnam was a horrific catastrophe. 50 years on there are people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos still suffering health effects. Agent orange. White phosphorous. Napalm. Hideous stuff that should have been considered war crimes.

The Vietnam War was the US rubicon; it got hooked on feeding the military-industrial-academic complex and it's been pretty much perpetual war since then. The US doesn't seem to be able to move back from an economy that relies so much on war.

Where next?

PTownsend,

I second what you wrote. Obama should have apologised for what his country did in Vietnam/Laos. I didn't realise the extent of the atrocities committed by the U.S.A. until I read the Nick Turse book, "Kill Anything That Moves."

We should help clean up the unexploded ordnance (UXO), just as we did in France after World War II, but to say we bombed Laos is misleading. The secret bombing was carried out with the secret permission of Laotian leaders.

The most heavily bombed country in the world is Laos, which was attacked hour after hour for a DECADE by U.S. bombing raids. The United Stated dropped 2 million tons of bombs in WWII, but more than three times as much, 6.7 million tons, on Southeast Asia.

The U.S. bombings killed , maimed, or made homeless tens of millions of innocent Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians. Like Hiroshima and Nagasaki the U.S. has yet to apologize and provide reparations for this mass slaughter.

And who makes the electronic chip in most landmines? The American company Motorola whom via the UN the US Governments, both Lib & Republic have refused to sanction the company to stop making them. Obama is just another 2 faced Hypocrite! ALL talk - no action!

SHAME ON YOU AMERICA!!!!!. Why are you so obsessed with bombing people? The sad thing is: you have learned nothing from history because you're still doing the same thing today.

To this day, i'm surprised that no American leader ( past and present ) has been brought to the "International Court of Justice" ( if there really is such an institution) to face charges of crimes against humanity committed in the US and AROUND THE WORLD.

I guess other country's leaders are above the law. They are untouchable, regardless.

All those BOMBS are drop by self appoint global lying policeman US government.

timely reminder of the consequences of intervention around the world.

Ah yes, the Vietnam war...yet another war started by a Democrat - the party of wars and big government.

"U.S. help for Laos"

Doesn't the U.S. have a $20 trillion national debt?

Doesn't the U.S. have a $20 trillion national debt?

If so, how much of that is related to Military Madness (CSNY)? And why shouldn't the US pay for the problems it was directly responsible for creating? Why not have a special tax for the DOW's, Boeing's, Lockheed's, etc., etc. etc.? They are the ones profiting most from wars.

Declaring a “moral obligation”

You could have done this years ago Obama. This stinks of a legacy maneuver.

it got hooked on feeding the military-industrial-academic complex and it's been pretty much perpetual war since then

Couldn't agree with you more PT. And yet the MSM are still calling them "communist forces". What a joke the MSM are. All of the Asain advisors recommended we work with Ho Chi Minh, but were overruled by the DC advisors, who were seeing red in everyone.

I wonder how long it's gonna take to acknowledge the depleted uranium? Boy do hate warmongers.

dharmadan,

Ah yes, the Vietnam war...yet another war started by a Democrat - the party of wars and big government.

This has NOTHING to do with it. It's smokescreen. Americans often do this, the Republicans blame the Dems and vice versa. Laos, VIetnam, Iraq etc., were initiated at a MUCH higher level than political factions. Both the republicans and the democrats are just puppets.

What we need to do is to open it all up and shine the spotlight on those who are trying to keep a low profile. The ones who ACTUALLY started it.

The ones who ACTUALLY started it.

John Foster Dulles and Eisenhower were the ones who made it standard US policy. Many believe Kennedy was going to pull out and thats ONE of the reasons he was rubbed out. But if we're looking the man behind the curtain, you could boil it down to European aristocracy and the family feud for power.

you could boil it down to European aristocracy>

Lol, absolute piffle. I look forward to seeing you showing how some benign monarch was to blame for that brutal American slaughter.

I look forward to seeing you showing how some benign monarch was to blame for that brutal American slaughter.

Karl Marx was not writing about American capitalism, but European aristocratic greed. WWI...more aristocratic squabbling. A German train ride to Moscow with Lenin aboard was the doom for so many people. The "communist" dream was born. Ho Chi Minh was at the Treaty of Versaille and quickly realized the European and now American aristocracy were not going to free his people from the French, hence, his shift to communism. Is that enough or do you need more dots?

"And why shouldn't the US pay for the problems it was directly responsible for creating?"

Would that include the problems in Libya and Syria Secretary Clinton is directly reponsible for creating? But like I said, the U.S. has a $20 trillion national debt. Can we get a deferment or something? Or better yet, liquidate the Clinton Foundation and all the Clintons' assets.

It's endless wars: Airstrip One against EastAsia/Eurasia.

It's a step forward, and more than any other president has done, but the US still needs to do more, and I agree an apology would be nice.

This happens when ya bomb to smithereens. Happening in Syria too - lots of armies dropping bombs

80 million unexploded bomb. Thats what America is. Its a devil!!

Thats what America is. Its a devil!!

No, that's what greedy central banker hegemonic people are, not America, but the American government.

Been a long time coming.

The US's wonton and reckless bombing of Laos seriously impacted on my travels through there in 2000, and I don't like that.

It has also consistently killed and maimed lots of kiddies in the region ever since. I really don't like that.

Ah yes, the Vietnam war...yet another war started by a Democrat - the party of wars and big government.

Trying to distance yourself from it?

...you could boil it down to European aristocracy

Hahahahahaha... come off it... stop trying to blame others. America started it because it was afraid of communists taking more power in the Far East. Or maybe us Europeans are to blame for America losing the Vietnam War too?

America started it

America didn't start it, did they?

@Thunderbird

I think the point is the US picked up the shattered pieces and further shattered them by invading Vietnam after the French were militarily defeated at Dien Bien Phu. The US went from opposing European colonialism (at least that was what was claimed) in IndoChina and elsewhere to being anti-Communist and fighting against the 'red-menaces'.

On a similar note, Eisenhower had been against European colonialism, opposing the UK's and British Petroleum's control of Iran, until he was convinced by the UK that nearby Russia could take control of Iran and more importantly its oil. He switched from anti-colonialist to ant-communist.

I think most of today's problems worldwide can be traced back to European colonialism. And petroleum.

Spot on PT, but I would add support for Israel into that mix. The Domino theory was to protect the trade routes. Nixon had cut a secret deal with the north prior to his election to draw down the war and leave.