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[Narrator] The President's press
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
conference from the new state department
auditorium, March 23rd, 1961.
[crowd chattering]
[John F. Kennedy] I want to make a brief statement about Laos.
These three maps
show the area of effective communist domination
as it was last August and now from December 20th,
now to the present date, near the end of March,
the communists control a much wider section of the country.
The position of this administration
has been carefully considered.
We have sought to make it just as clear
as we know how to the governments concerned.
[rising music]
The security of all Southeast Asia will be in
dangered if Laos loses its neutral independence.
[music]
[Narrator] From June 1964 to March 1973,
the US dropped at least two million tons of bombs
at a small landlocked Southeast Asian country
in what would become the largest bombing campaign in history.
The equivalent of one planeload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day
for 9 years, more than were dropped
on Germany and Japan during World War II.
Borders the Mekong River and quite obviously,
if Laos fell into Communist hands,
it would increase the danger
along the northern frontiers of Thailand.
We signed the Declaration of Neutrality of Laos
and respect for the neutrality and independence of that little country.
The president handed over the war effort in Laos to the CIA.
This nation, key to the entire peninsula is threatened
by a red military takeover as it was last May.
America's intervention here in Laos
was a secret to the American people.
The people of Laos have suffered tremendously
from the war that was not known as a war.
[explosions]
[music]
Laos is littered with as many as 80 million bombies or
bomblets, baseball-sized bombs found inside cluster bombs.
Up to 80 million of these failed to detonate
and just 1% of them have been cleared.
Again, the amount of bombs that we’re talking about
that were dropped on this tiny country.
What they say today is that
they want to put the war behind them
and they want to grow in the future
and they would love the help of the United States government
in doing that.
[music]
[birds chirping]
[wind blowing]
[music]
[music, singing]
[boat scraping on sand]
[splashing]
[splashing, birds]
[music]
[airplanes]
[crickets]
[music]
[lighter clicking]
Just when the United States
is gradually pulling out of Vietnam,
there is a rush of concern that Laos
may become another Vietnam.
Not so says the administration and says why.
Well, the president won't let it happen, that's why.
We have learned one lesson
and that is that we're not going to fight any major wars
in the mainland of Asia again.
We're not going to send American troops there.
We certainly are not going to do it
unless we have the American public
and the congress behind us.
There are no American comeback forces in Laos.
We have been providing logistical support
and some training for the mutualist government
in order to avoid Laos falling under communist domination.
As far as American manpower in Laos is concerned,
there are none there at the present time on a combat basis.
[explosions]
[music]
[engine revving]
[music]
[cooing]
[music]
[airplanes]
[explosions]
As to the general view on Laos,
this matter is a big concern to us.
The Unites States is anxious that there'll be established in Laos,
a peaceful country, an independent country.
Not dominated by either side
but concerned with life within the country.
They are anxious that that situation will come forward
and that the United Staes is using its influence to see
if that independent country,
peaceful country and committed country
can be established under
the present very difficult circumstances.
[music]
[metal detector whistling]
[rustling]
[shovel scraping]
[clanking]
[music]
[rising music]
We do have aerial reconaissance.
We do have perhaps some other activities,
I won't discuss those other activities at this time.
[music]
There are no American combat forces in Laos.
[explosion]
[music]
[water splashing]
[airplanes]
[explosion]
[peaceful music]
[laughing, shouting]
[music]
[water dripping]
[rainfall]
[music]
To the government and the people of Laos,
thank you so much for the kind welcome
that you've extended to me and my delegation.
I am very honored
to be the first American president to visit Laos.
Thank you.
I realized that having a US president in Laos
would have once been unimaginable.
Six decades ago, this country fell into civil war.
Your neighbors and foreign powers,
including the United States intervened here.
At the time,
the US government did not acknowledge America's role.
There was a secret war.
For years, the American people did not know.
Even now, many Americans are not fully aware
of this chapter in our history
and it's important that we remember today.
Over nine years, from 1964 to 1973,
the United States dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs
here in Laos.
War inflicts a terrible toll,
especially on innocent men, women, children.
Today, I stand with you in acknowledging
the suffering and sacrifices on all sides of that conflict.
I also know that the remnants of war
continue to shatter lives
here in Laos.
Today I'm proud to announce a historic increase
in these efforts.
The United States will double our annual funding
to $90 million over the next three years
to help Laos expand its work.
[plane engine]
[music]
President Obama just made history
by being the first sitting US president to visit Laos.
Obama has so far refused to issue a formal apology
for the secret US bombing campaign in Laos
during its war on Vietnam.
The US secretly dropped 270 million bombs on Laos,
in part to cut off North Vietnamese supply routes.
Again, Margaret Brennan,
$90 million or so to help clean up undetonated bombs
still in the country.
What are the details?
Well, this is $90 million over three years
to clean up what's called unexploded ordnance.
These are bombies, they look like little balls.
Little kids pick them up
and often become victims of these bombs
that were dropped nearly 40 years ago
in a war that this country was never technically a part of.
Up to 80 million of these failed to detonate
and just 1% of them have been cleared.
Obama's $90 million for bomb clearance in Laos.
It's not enough.
We bombed Laos so much
it is officially the most heavily bombed country
per capita in all of human history.
The $90 million that Obama pledged at first sounds like a lot.
The numbers that everybody talks about
and that you brought up they're accurate as far as we know.
That said, we also know that that is the low estimate of it.
Large numbers of airplanes that were sent to do bombing runs
in Vietnam, for example, came back over Laos
to bases in Thailand and on their way back,
would randomly drop their loads in Laos.
We have no records whatsoever of those loads that were dropped.
We don't actually know how much was dropped in the first place.
We know it's more than the numbers that we talked about.
Experts say the President's visit shows
that the US is trying to make friends
with countries near China
to help balance out that nation's growing power
in the region.
Because of the problems and because of the lack of cleanup,
because of the lack of recognition,
it continues to kill people
and trouble this very undeveloped country.
There are fields that can't be plowed,
there is land that can't be developed.
There are children who are walking around
who weren't even alive during the Vietnam War,
who are missing arms and legs and limbs.
When we are able to come here
to show respect for their culture,
recognize our history and then point towards a future
in which we can work together,
we will actually have more influence.
We'll be able to promote our ideals more effectively.
That's part of what we've been able to accomplish I think
over the last seven, eight years
is open up places that previously were closed
and engage people in ways
that will pay huge dividends in the future.
[music]
After years of secrecy and silence,
we are now learning a lot about Laos.
My fellow Americans, Laos is far away from America,
but the world is small.
[music]