a Twitter thread from @MLReadingHub

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The Secret War: US Terror in Laos 🧵

In late 1964 the United States unleashed hell upon the people of Laos — the most heavily bombed country in human history.

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“In 1965, the airplanes began to drop bombs on the people. In this picture, people died in the holes. There were many people who couldn’t get out.

All that could be seen were heads, and legs, and hands.

A man who went to dig them out; his child and wife were buried inside.”

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On December 12, 1964, Prince Souvanna Phouma, then Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos, signed Operation Barrel Roll. The coalition government which had brought together Pathet Lao, Neutralist, & Royalist forces led by the three Princes, signed in Geneva in 1962, had collapsed.

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By the end of 1964, the Neutralists were splitting between right-wing “Patriots” supported by the United States, and left-wing forces who sided with the Pathet Lao. American involvement in the region had, very quietly, skirted the Geneva treaty, rendering the situation untenable.

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Pathet Lao and Lien Viet cooperation specifically had been consistent from the beginning, with Prince Souphanouvong and Cde. Kaysone Phomvihane both meeting with both Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap over the course of their careers.

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In stark defiance of the sanctity of human life, the US began its forgotten terror against the people of Laos. In late 1964 to 1973, as it was becoming clear that the peoples of Laos and Vietnam would never cease their struggle for freedom, the US unleashed hell upon Laos.

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Between 1960 and 1975 the United States carried out over 580,000 bombing missions in Laos, dropping over 2,000,000 tons of bombs.

Up to 115,000 Lao people were killed by the United States during its war of aggression; over 90% are believed to have been innocent civilians.

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An estimated 10-30% of the bombs dropped on Laos did not denotate, leaving behind up to 600,000 tons of unexploded ordnance when the United States was finally forced out of the region in 1975. In the years since, over 20,000 more Lao people have been killed by leftover bombs.

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The US predominantly utilized cluster munitions, a kind of bomb that scatters smaller bombs over a broader surface area.

The effects of using such munitions are, even as far as military conflicts go, horrendous; 40% of civilian deaths from unexploded ordnances have been children

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Known as “bombies,” the cluster munitions are often mistaken for toys. Around 100 Lao people are killed every year by unexploded US bombs, from a war that was never officially declared.

Each cluster bomb dropped contained around 680 “bombies”.

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The US Ambassador to Laos claims that the usage of “smart” cluster munitions is militarily viable, and, despite the thousands killed in Laos since 1975, that such munitions provide “minimal” risk to noncombatants.

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The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has come far, and today stands on the cusp of a new age of Socialist development and construction. A golden future appears to lay around the corner — one that many anti-imperialists elsewhere could likely learn important lessons from.

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Read the full article from @MountTaiPress here: https://www.mounttai.press/articles/the-secret-war-us-terror-in-laos

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