The Secret War

The Secret War.....sounds so scandalous (Now, that's a lot of s's), no? It's the perfect name because that is exactly what it was, a scandalous mess.

My basic understanding of the Vietnam War was ultimately to fight Communism. The story of the Secret War in Laos is similar and it became a target for many reasons:  

1) America was supporting the anti-communist Royal Laos Government and was against the Pathet Lao Communist party. 

2) Laos was supporting their friend Vietnam with parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail running through central and southern Laos to transport men, goods, food, weapons, etc.

3) Geographically Laos is positioned in between Vietnam, the enemy and northeastern Thailand, an American base (fairly close to my province). From Thailand, American planes had to pass over Laos to get to Northern Vietnam. 

Northeast Laos has a history no country aspires to - it is the most bombed place in the entire world. Over 9 years (1964-1975), the American CIA dropped 2 million tons of bombs from the air in this area alone. They had 280,000 official missions, averaging 3-10 bomb raids per day. That's 2 tons of bombs per person (denominator being Laos population at the time). This equates to more bombs dropped in Laos compared to the number of bombs dropped in Germany and Japan combined during WWII. Cluster bombs were used, a crater that holds many small bombs and when released from the air, they spin and detonate upon hitting the ground. Bombs were dropped all over the area with hopes of killing not just Laotian soldiers but Laos farmers, children, grandmas/grandpas....everybody. As far as money goes, our government spent 2 million USD per day to destroy the people of Laos. 

It's said that for 9 years, the U.S Congress had no idea this was happening. The American people were completely unaware and misled (that's my nice way of saying that Americans were lied to) throughout as well, hence the 2 names for it: the Hidden War or the Secret War.

Vieng Xai, a small town in this region (for reference, read the previously written blog) is home to 486 natural caves. We went on a tour of these caves with a local tour guide named Neg and an audio tour which was super informative and for once, very objective. Neg, knowing that Marj and I were American, would apologize before he provided any negative information about what was done by the Americans. He was trying to be polite, but this didn't curb my embarrassment. 

These bad ass caves were used as protection during the many years of bombing. The Leaders of the Communist Party (there were 9 of them) all lived and planned the retaliation for independence inside of them. The caves also housed people, schools, hospitals and daily life existence. Bombs came daily and usually at random points during the day, so farming was done at night. Sometimes even the caves were not safe as one known bomb raid hit directly inside the cave, killing the ~400 people living in it. 

Laos people, particularly people of the H'Mong tribes that America convinced to fight for us, were taught to shoot bombs from the air at things like ducks because that meant there was human life in the area. Even once the Vietnam War ended and American planes had to get out of dodge and back into Thailand territory, pilots were ordered to drop the rest of their bombs over Laos to get rid of them. They didn't want any unused ammunition to come back into Thailand. I mean, I just can't make this stuff up.....  

The Plain of Jars areas that we visited was also heavily bombed by air raids over the course of 9 years. Some of the jars were destroyed but not as many as one would think, considering the large number of bombs dropped over the area. Of all the bombs dropped throughout the country (mostly northeast, but also central and southern regions) 30% were never detonated. This means that there are still 600,000 bombs (known as "bombies") sporadically laying around just waiting to be detonated. When, how and by whom are these bombies detonated you ask?  Well, think of kids playing around and picking up something that looks like a fruit to eat or a small ball to play with. Or think of a farmer tilling his land, or building a school/home/hospital, or basically think of doing anything in your daily life. These are the things that can and do detonate these bombies.  

Curious about what happens when the bombies are detonated? People die. Still. Every day. Over 30 years later these bombs continue to kill at least 1 person every day.  Many more live through the trauma but end up maimed, disfigured and disabled. Well, our tuk-tuk driver and Plain of Jars guide, lost his 2 closest friends when he was 15. Naturally curious, the kids picked up a bombie to play with and they blew up. Neg, the cave tour guide, shared with us that his pregnant sister-in-law died 5 years ago from a bombie while she was farming the families land.  

There is an amazing British non-profit organization called Mines Advisory Group (MAG) that train local Laos people to do Bombie cleanups and to educate communities about how to identify them and what to do if they are found. MAG has done much clearing, especially at the Jars site, but nothing is 100% cleared. The clearing of bombs is very time consuming and costly. At the Plain of Jars, visitors must stay in the MAG identified path or risk the chance of detonating a bombie. Sound scary? Think about the many locals who call this land their home, use this land for their homes, farms, schools, and hospitals. Think about how many children think bombies are something to play with and realize it's not, only after it's too late.  Or how many people set one off by providing food to feed their family. For many, it's a matter of taking the chance or starving. 

Laos remains one of the poorest countries in the world, largely because the use of their land is a danger. Income generating occupations that require land, such as agriculture and tourism, cannot be developed upon. Forget income generating, simple life sustaining farming is taking a chance for life. How are people supposed to live and support their families? And yet, the Laos people see it simply as their way of life. Nobody complains or demands, they just accept - I can't understand it, yet I admire their mentality.

In addition to this awful story, let me share more sad news with you. During the war years, the CIA was supporting the growth of opium in the region. They were using the American pilots to deliver heroin all over the place. It's noted that there were more American, Vietnam/Laos War soldiers addicted to heroin than there were addicts amongst the entire American population. I can't help but think the support of opium farming was for more than the money; I have a theory that the CIA wanted our soldiers mixed up in that nonsense because they'd be more likely to do whatever was asked of them without question. And from what I've gathered, our soldiers were trained to kill everybody, ruthlessly, mercy to nobody. I'd need some drugs to be able to follow through with those orders.

The highest peak in Laos, Phu Bia, was home to the American secret base during this war (don't forget, the Royal Laos Government and America were in cahoots, so America had internal support). Apparently, this base still exists and the American government pays the Laos government (may I remind you, pays a Communist government, one that caused us to kill millions) quite the pretty penny to maintain the guarded base and forbid foreign visitors, making this a "secret zone". Will the secrets ever end?

This atrocity in Laos is called the "Hidden War" or "Secret War" because only the CIA was involved and kept the rest of our government oblivious to it all. I don't know about you, but I find this hard to believe. Could the CIA really have done so much damage and used so much money and other resources without Congress ever knowing it? Did our President know and lie every time he publicly spoke to the people he was representing or was he also taken advantage of? We have been told so many lies, how will we ever know the whole truth?