“I still feel pain always”.
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That bomb was dropped more than four decades ago by the United States military.
He said the multi-year nature of the funding, the first of it’s kind from the U.S.to Laos, will allow the bombs to be mapped and then cleared in the most efficient way possible.
Leahy spoke Tuesday of the significance of the President’s commitment: “During more than four decades since the end of the Vietnam War, thousands of innocent Laotians have been maimed and killed by millions of USA cluster munitions and other unexploded bombs”. Up to a third of the bombs dropped did not explode, leaving Laos contaminated with huge numbers of unexploded ordnance, or UXO.
Obama also acknowledged America’s extensive secret bombing of Laos during the 60s and 70s. That covert operation is called the Secret War.
The White House said in a statement U.S. programs in Laos had helped slash UXO casualties from 300 to less than 50 a year and the additional funding would be used for a “comprehensive UXO survey of Laos and for continued clearing operations”.
“(The bombies) are tennis ball sized weapons”, Khamvongsa says. Farmers tending their fields, children playing.
In an upbeat town hall event with people involved in the USA -sponsored Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, Obama said young people have historically been the key to progress and development.
Four decades after the USA covertly littered Laos with millions of bombs during the Vietnam War-era, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the US would dedicate an additional $90 million to clear the unexploded ordnance and assist victims of the dormant bombs.
President Obama has announced United States funding of $90 million over three years to support the survey and clearance of unexploded bombs in Laos, doubling its existing annual commitment.
“Two of our top companies-Microsoft and General Electric-are helping to increase training in engineering and technology”, Obama said.
It’s not just the loss of life that has scarred the country.
But his visit to Laos, where he will spend several days in the capital city of Vientiane and the former royal capital of Luang Prabang, represents much more than that. “Young people in Laos shouldn’t have to move someplace else in order to prosper”.
“Usually when you see the environment destroyed, it’s not because it’s necessary for development”, he said.
In a joint declaration, Obama welcomed Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit’s commitment to “pursuing steps to uphold worldwide labor standards that could pave the way” for the U.S.to grant Laos benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
“We are going to address directly this challenge of hunger”, Kerry said.
There he met Thoummy Silamphan, now 25, who was only eight years old when a bomb blew off his right hand while he was foraging for bamboo shoots. And I don’t want to that to happen.
The US President did not offer an apology for the bombing which left more than 50,000 people dead. Laos is not a party to the pact that Obama hopes Congress will ratify in the post-election, lame-duck session.
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“I believe that the United States is and can be a force for good in the world”, he told the audience.
