The Fourth of July, 2016. I hope you enjoy your fireworks and the celebrations back in the USA.
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Here in Lao PDR, I am thinking about other kinds of fireworks that fell on this country in the form of US bombs and are still exploding four decades later.
“You load 16 tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt.”
… goes the old country song my father used to sing. Why 2.5 million? That is the tonnage of primarily cluster bombs that the USA dropped on Lao PDR from 1964-1975. Half a million tons LESS than was dropped on Europe during WWII.
2.5 million tons of ordinance. If you are not familiar with Lao PDR, or the size of the country, pull up Google maps and take a look. The vast majority of the bombing was centralized along the Lao/Vietnam border. This is a land area far less than the European theater in WWII.
Why does it still matter in 2016? Roughly 33% of the cluster bombs that were dropped failed to detonate during the USA’s secret war with Lao PDR. People still find the unexploded bombs. Children still find the unexploded bombs. Lives and limbs are still being lost 42 years after the bombing missions ended. The fireworks here can be deadly.
Why does it still matter in 2016? Drones strikes are still causing what is now called “collateral damage,” a euphemism for “innocent people died.” The secret war has now gone globally clandestine, able to strike anywhere at anytime.
How long do we let this continue to happen? Waving the flag is not going to help. I don’t see stars in “Old Glory,” I see bombs.
Enjoy your fireworks back home while your tax dollars still pay for killing people you have never met and driving the nation further in debt.
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