US Sends Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
They bombed Laos in a secret war
Laos borders Vietnam and the border runs along the area of what we call the Ho Chi Min Trail. This area of dense jungle was used to travel between North and South Vietnam.
During the Vietnam War (1955), the US engaged in intense bombing of Laos. The bombing was aimed at hemming in the Vietnamese enemies.
Laos is the most heavily bombed country in history (per capita)
Most of the bombs were cluster bombs.
Recently, I visited Laos. At our hotel, there was an unusual planter in the foyer. It was a bomb casing, standing on end. During our trip, we saw other unusual uses, including a traffic marker and a gong in a temple.
They call it the American War
We call the same war, the Vietnam War. It was a surprise to me the first time I heard someone call it the American War, but it makes sense from their perspective.
The untold story of that war was the intense bombing of Laos that occurred.
In Vientiane, we visited a museum that showcased the Vietnam War and its effects on the people of Laos.
Cluster bombs are injuring people to this day
In Laos today, there is an active trade in scrap metals. The people there are very poor and they scour the jungle floor for anything left from the war.
Children meet the scrap truck and trade their finds for cash.
Often the metal includes a UXO or unexploded ordnance. The UXO that are still in the countryside includes large numbers of bombs, rockets, grenades, mortars, landmines, and cluster bombs.
Sometimes they go off, seriously injuring or killing people. The cluster bombs are maiming people more than 60 years later.
Farmers find them in fields. People find them in the jungle while harvesting bamboo shoots to feed their families.
It’s particularly dangerous in remote communities as the dense jungle is full of them.
COPE is an organization that sponsors a museum in Laos. The exhibits illustrate the way unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos still affects the day to day lives of ordinary people.
The statistics take your breath away.
It is estimated that during the Vietnam War, Laos was bombed the equivalent of a plane load every 8 minutes 24 hours a day for 9 years.
Recently released records show that there were 580,000 bombing missions over Laos between 1964 and 1973. The estimates are that 10–30% were unexploded.
Cluster bombs are large munitions filled with round bomblets the size of a tennis ball. These bombs are designed to open in midair and spray the bomblets over a large area.
They were designed for maximum damage.
Americans weren’t at war with Laos and most people are unaware of the bombing that occurred there.
Now the US has committed to sending these devastating bombs to Ukraine.
They have these bombs in stockpiles and have no other use for them. So why not, right?
The old saying goes like this: “If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails”.
Get it together folks.
The Convention on ClusIter Munitions is a humanitarian effort to prohibit cluster bombs worldwide.
Countries supporting CCM commit to never use, produce, or stockpile them. As of 2013, 111 countries have signed the commitment.
The U.S. is not a signatory. They have provided funding in the past to assist Laos with cleanup efforts. But that’s not enough.
They’re doing it again, by sending these deadly munitions to Ukraine.
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