America's Secret War in Laos Uncovered

[Independent voter]

Nice red herring. To answer the question anyway, you should care that your country bombed a fucking country back to the stone age and has left active cluster-bombs there that frequently maim children.


You mean like the part where I fucking highlighted that says in big bold letters "30 percent of the bombs dropped did not explode and one-third of the country is still contaminated by unexploded ordnance

He touted his administration's move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years.

Obama is giving Laos $90 million to remove unexplored ordinance.

Problem solved.

[Invrlose]

It isn't a red herring. I simply mean to say that it doesn't matter whether or not it is common knowledge. 99.9% of Americans alive today had nothing to do with bombing Laos and the majority were not even alive when it happened. There is nothing they can do about it and it has about as much to do with them as every other horrible thing that happens every day on this planet.

Good thing I never implicated all americans. It's just a fucking news story I shared, the fact that more ordinance was dropped on Laos than Germany and Japan in the entirety of WW2 stuck out to me, the fact that cluster bombs were used stuck out to me, so I shared the article. I'll remember next time I share something about WW2 that I put a large disclaimer "Attention: 99.9% of Americans alive today had nothing to do with fire bombing Dresden and the majority were not even alive when it happened. There is nothing they can do about it and it has about as much to do with them as every other horrible thing that happens every day on this planet."

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He touted his administration's move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years.

Obama is giving Laos $90 million to remove unexplored ordinance.

Problem solved.

And that's a good thing. I never said it wasn't. Jesus fucking christ.

[May90]

Ask the average american about their opinion of the bombing campaign in Laos and then tell me how many blank stares you get back.

That can be said about most of historical facts, really. Doesn't mean they are all "secret".

[Independent voter]

I don't believe the 30% went undetonated either. 1 out of 3? Somebody is making stuff up.

[Invrlose]

That can be said about most of historical facts, really. Doesn't mean they are all "secret".

Genius comment coming from the guy who doesn't understand the different between amazon.com and Amazon.Co.uk

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I don't believe the 30% went undetonated either. 1 out of 3? Somebody is making stuff up.

"I don't like the numbers so they're obviously made up"

infracted - trolling

[Flatspriest]

How is it a "secret war"? I thought it was common knowledge...

Even back in the late 70's and early 80's we were taught about Laos as part of the Viet Nam war in History and that Laos was bombed alot since they were assisting the Viet Kong during the war.

[shadowmouse]

You mean like the part where I fucking highlighted that says in big bold letters

How would we know? You seem to think highlighting something in an article makes a point. It doesn't. Learn to put as much effort into setting up a discussion as you do being defensive. Now, go play with your watches -- this thread is a write off.

[May90]

Genius comment coming from the guy who doesn't understand the different between amazon.com and Amazon.Co.uk

What?

Even back in the late 70's and early 80's we were taught about Laos as part of the Viet Nam war in History and that Laos was bombed alot since they were assisting the Viet Kong during the war.

People are still taught this, I believe, although, maybe, in less detail, given the time elapsed.

[KOMO1211]

this just in. the cold war was not isolated to Vietnam. who knew. sorry but this is known info to anyone that wants to know it i.e. people interested in history etc

[endersblade]

Ask the average american about their opinion of the bombing campaign in Laos and then tell me how many blank stares you get back.

The 'average american' isn't going to give two shits about something that most likely happened BEFORE THEY WERE FUCKING BORN. Fuck dude, the high schools in my area have already stopped teaching kids about the Berlin fucking WALL, and THAT was more important than this!

[Invrlose]

The 'average american' isn't going to give two shits about something that most likely happened BEFORE THEY WERE FUCKING BORN. Fuck dude, the high schools in my area have already stopped teaching kids about the Berlin fucking WALL, and THAT was more important than this!

You're unreasonably bothered about a news post that I just figured would be interesting. Jesus christ lol I think most people in here are just triggered Americans that are upset about someone portraying their country in a negative light. Maybe for my next news article I can share abut the $1billion saudi weapon deal and what the Saudis are using them for in Yemen.

[May90]

You're unreasonably bothered about a news post that I just figured would be interesting. Jesus christ lol I think most people in here are just triggered Americans that are upset about someone portraying their country in a negative light. Maybe for my next news article I can share abut the $1billion saudi weapon deal and what the Saudis are using them for in Yemen.

You seem to be much more triggered by the responses you are getting, than you manage to trigger anyone else.

[Kapadons]

he keeps saying " Laos had more bombs dropped than Japan and Germany" Ask Japan if they would trade the 2 they got for the thousands Laos got. Quality > Quanity when it comes to bombs bro

[Deleted]

Yeah because it's common knowledge to most americans that their country went to war with Laos and dropped more bombs on Laos than were dropped during the entirety of World War 2. NOWHERE does the title suggest that the war is currently going on. "Uncovered" brings to mind digging up something long and forgotten.

more bombs per capita. which is not hard to do in in a country that has less then 7 million inhabitants in over twice the time WW2 took.

this is just some reporter going out of his way to find a statistic that was bigger then WW2, and this obscure metric was the first he could find, to get some hits on his title.

if you play around enough with statistics and graph labeling you can make anything seem to be better/worse then anything pretty much.

[Easo]

Invrlose, I am going to tell you a secret - lack of knowledge about this war in current American generation does not make this war somehow "secret". Plus your wording is as if the said war is going on right now.
I agree with those who said that you are just nation bashing.

[May90]

he keeps saying " Laos had more bombs dropped than Japan and Germany" Ask Japan if they would trade the 2 they got for the thousands Laos got. Quality > Quanity when it comes to bombs bro

I think both are really shitty. And, in the end, Japan turned out much better than Laos, too!

[Invrlose]

Invrlose, I am going to tell you a secret - lack of knowledge about this war in current American generation does not make this war somehow "secret". Plus your wording is as if the said war is going on right now.
I agree with those who said that you are just nation bashing.

None of it was my wording so no, I didn't phrase it in a way that makes it seem like it's happening right now. You're wrong.

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more bombs per capita. which is not hard to do in in a country that has less then 7 million inhabitants in over twice the time WW2 took.

this is just some reporter going out of his way to find a statistic that was bigger then WW2, and this obscure metric was the first he could find, to get some hits on his title.

if you play around enough with statistics and graph labeling you can make anything seem to be better/worse then anything pretty much.

Not more bombs per capita. More bombs, period.

[Kapadons]

I think both are really shitty. And, in the end, Japan turned out much better than Laos, too!

Probably because Japan was better than Laos before the bombings ?

[Invrlose]

he keeps saying " Laos had more bombs dropped than Japan and Germany" Ask Japan if they would trade the 2 they got for the thousands Laos got. Quality > Quanity when it comes to bombs bro

The two bombs dropped on Japan barely killed anyone in comparison to the amount that bombs dropped over Europe killed. Destroyed a lot less infrastructure too. When it comes to bombs, total payload is what matters
There's a reason nukes are measured in ktonnes/ Mtonnes.

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You seem to be much more triggered by the responses you are getting, than you manage to trigger anyone else.

Except I'm not triggered lol. I obviously triggered at least one American because someone on the first page accused me.of nation bashing. Emotional wording.

[May90]

Probably because Japan was better than Laos before the bombings ?

I'd say, more because the US government invested heavily in rebuilding Japan, while Laos was left to tend to itself.