US Pledges $90M to help Laos clear unexploded ordinance

[Chaotic42]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...017bd8-73d3-11e6-9781-49e591781754_story.html

Declaring a “moral obligation” to heal the wounds of a secret war, President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged help to clear away the 80 million unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos a generation ago — more than 10 for every one of the country’s 7 million people.
...
To that end, Obama announced the U.S. would double its spending on bomb-clearing efforts to $90 million over three years — a relatively small sum for the U.S. but a significant investment for a small country in one of the poorer corners of the world. Obama plans to put a human face on the issue when he meets Wednesday in Vientiane with survivors of bombs that America dropped.

Laos is going to step up efforts to find American remains. I'd imagine it will take a lot more than $90M, but it's good news. Hopefully we can improve our relations with Southeast Asia and help provide closure to folks on both sides.

 

[piasabird]

How about we dont spend money on communist murderers and thugs.

 

[brycejones]

How about we dont spend money on communist murderers and thugs.

Classy and insightful as always.

 

[Jhhnn]

How about we dont spend money on communist murderers and thugs.

How about we help stop people from dying over a huge mistake we made 50 years ago?

 

[bshole]

How about we dont spend money on communist murderers and thugs.

Laos is going to step up efforts to find American remains. I'd imagine it will take a lot more than $90M, but it's good news. Hopefully we can improve our relations with Southeast Asia and help provide closure to folks on both sides.

So Piasa,..... you really really really don't give a crap about the families of MIAs? To hell with them heh? How patriotic of you.

 

[highland145]

^^
Idiot...



Go Mao, Go....

 

[werepossum]

I don't really care about better relations with Laos, but that seems like a nice way to blow a hundred mil. Making people we don't particularly want to blow up not blow up seems like a nice thing to do.

 

[highland145]

I don't really care about better relations with Laos, but that seems like a nice way to blow a hundred mil. Making people we don't particularly want to blow up not blow up seems like a nice thing to do.

Didn't we want them to blow up before?

 

[werepossum]

Didn't we want them to blow up before?

Only some of them. Then we lost that war, so now we officially don't care.

 

[highland145]

We lost a war? News to me. And now we want to pay?

Only in the USA.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

We lost a war? News to me. And now we want to pay?

Only in the USA.

Yep. We pay the countries we beat in wars to rebuild and now we pay the countries that beat us too. What do you say we all chip in, buy a small island somewhere, make it a sovereign country and then declare war on America? Win or lose, we get rich!

How about instead of pledging money we pledge labor instead? Hey folks living on entitlements, want your welfare check this month? It's in Laos, go get it.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

How about we dont spend money on communist murderers and thugs.

Yeah, because the Christian and/or right-wing murderers and thugs we supported during the Cold War were so much better.

Anyone killed by hidden munitions left by us anywhere in the world is another person murdered by our hands and another justification for others to kill us. I don't see anything wrong with this unless it comes out that the job could be done for $9 million with no additional risks or something like that (and even then we're at a point where a hundred million is meaningless so whatevs).

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Hey folks living on entitlements, want your welfare check this month? It's in Laos, go get it.

Don't have an issue with this, especially if we limit it to the benefits-leeching vets that dropped the bombs in the first place and any politicians that approved of it. Win-win.

 

[bshole]

Yeah, because the Christian and/or right-wing murderers and thugs we supported during the Cold War were so much better.

Anyone killed by hidden munitions left by us anywhere in the world is another person murdered by our hands and another justification for others to kill us. I don't see anything wrong with this unless it comes out that the job could be done for $9 million with no additional risks or something like that (and even then we're at a point where a hundred million is meaningless so whatevs).

It is a human decency thing. Some people just don't get it. Has there been a an American military adventure post Korea that did anything other than spread human misery?

 

[runzwithsizorz]

On a related note, 2 young boys were killed in San Diego in 1983 by unexploded ordinance when a housing development was built on top of an old bombing range. There have been 37 such deaths here in the USA.

 

[Jhhnn]

It is a human decency thing. Some people just don't get it. Has there been a an American military adventure post Korea that did anything other than spread human misery?

Maybe Grenada & Panama.

There's actually a lot of dishonest bullshit about the nature of cluster munitions. The fact that about 30% don't explode on impact isn't a bug, it's a feature. Bombed areas become minefields. They're designed to last, not deteriorate, and remain deadly decades after the conflict is over. About 80M of the 270M used in Laos failed to explode with many still viable today. 80 *million* in a poor country of 7 million people. That's only part of the 2M *tons* of ordnance rained down for 9 years.

As Americans, it's hard for us to see it for what it was, a crime against humanity.

 

[MajinCry]

Some charmers in this here thread. Warred with another country and did a bunch of evil shit? Pfft, fuck 'em they lost. Makes you feel all fuzzy inside, don't it?

Fuckin' 'ell.

 

[highland145]

Warred with another country and did a bunch of evil shit?

Feeling pretty fuzzy....

 

[pcgeek11]

Don't have an issue with this, especially if we limit it to the benefits-leeching vets that dropped the bombs in the first place and any politicians that approved of it. Win-win.

Just who would that be? The veterans that were drafted and made to do it?