To Plain of Jars
From a historical viewpoint, ancient history and recent history crashes headon.
Seems that in days of old locals in this remote Laos area had time to carve large conglomerate stones into..well...jars which probably were used for funeral vessals, remains after cremation or other religious purposes. Interesting in the way Stonehedge is interesting. There are several hilltop locations of these in the area. They all look much the same. We visited three of the locations.
But the other history is more interesting to me.
Seems that during the Viet Nam war (or American War or now politically correct term 2nd Southeast Asian War) North Vietnamese solders went thru the porous border from North VN to South VN via Cambodia and Laos. Since Cambodia was an ally of the US we left it alone until near the end of the war then Nixon released US forces to enter Cambodia.
However, Laos was declared neutral during this time (By Geneva Accord signed by US) but both North VN and US ignored neutral designation from 1962 to 1973 and North VN sent troops thru Laos (on the Ho Chi Mi trail) and the US secretly bombed Laos. According to US sources Laos received more munitions than German territory during WWII, And most of it was antipersonnel munitions designed to kill or main individuals. Apparently it is a little dangerous to land a plane loaded with bombs so if a mission to North Viet Nam was aborted due to weather or other cause munitions were dropped "wherever was handy" in Laos.
If 30% of bombs didn't explode on contact there are still many armed munitions laying around and killing people, children and animals. A number of countries are working to defuse these but it is a slow and difficult process. Much agricultural land lies vacant as it is unsafe to work, causing continued poverty.
Most alarming is that in many of the rural villages it is considered "normal" for a couple people to die each year from these left over ordinance. (Its been going on for 30 years....who remembers what life was like before the bombing started.)
Anyone who knows me knows I tend to not donate to not-for-profit groups....but Denyse and I will begin monthly donation to this organization:
http://www.maginternational.org
This strikes us as on the level of a war crime by both the Democratic Kennedy/Johnson administration and the Republican Nixon administration.
Seems that in days of old locals in this remote Laos area had time to carve large conglomerate stones into..well...jars which probably were used for funeral vessals, remains after cremation or other religious purposes. Interesting in the way Stonehedge is interesting. There are several hilltop locations of these in the area. They all look much the same. We visited three of the locations.
But the other history is more interesting to me.
Seems that during the Viet Nam war (or American War or now politically correct term 2nd Southeast Asian War) North Vietnamese solders went thru the porous border from North VN to South VN via Cambodia and Laos. Since Cambodia was an ally of the US we left it alone until near the end of the war then Nixon released US forces to enter Cambodia.
However, Laos was declared neutral during this time (By Geneva Accord signed by US) but both North VN and US ignored neutral designation from 1962 to 1973 and North VN sent troops thru Laos (on the Ho Chi Mi trail) and the US secretly bombed Laos. According to US sources Laos received more munitions than German territory during WWII, And most of it was antipersonnel munitions designed to kill or main individuals. Apparently it is a little dangerous to land a plane loaded with bombs so if a mission to North Viet Nam was aborted due to weather or other cause munitions were dropped "wherever was handy" in Laos.
If 30% of bombs didn't explode on contact there are still many armed munitions laying around and killing people, children and animals. A number of countries are working to defuse these but it is a slow and difficult process. Much agricultural land lies vacant as it is unsafe to work, causing continued poverty.
Most alarming is that in many of the rural villages it is considered "normal" for a couple people to die each year from these left over ordinance. (Its been going on for 30 years....who remembers what life was like before the bombing started.)
Anyone who knows me knows I tend to not donate to not-for-profit groups....but Denyse and I will begin monthly donation to this organization:
http://www.maginternational.org
This strikes us as on the level of a war crime by both the Democratic Kennedy/Johnson administration and the Republican Nixon administration.
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