Thread by @wing_of_night

I think we don't talk enough (or at all) about how US bombed Laos 270 Million times, making it the most bombed country ever.

There were approximately more than 580,000 bombing missions on Laos between 1964 and 1973, that’s one every eight minutes, every day, for NINE YEARS

What makes matters worse is Laos literally never did anything to them like AT ALL.

All Laos was doing was helping North Vietnam by aiding them during their war with supplies during a war that the US shouldn't had started at all.

The Ho Chi Minh trail is very close and between Vietnam and Laos. US saw that they couldn't occupy Laos or put bases due to the geographical aspects of it, so the only way they saw fit was to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail (in Laos) and eventually bomb Laos to death

Which eventually made Laos the most bombed country in history. Even nowadays there's still people who die due to scattered bombs that still exist on Laos

On the day of his farewell address in 1961, President Eisenhower approved the CIA’s training of anti-communist forces in the mountains of Laos. Their mission? To disrupt communist supply routes across the Ho Chi Minh Trail to Vietnam.

By 1975, one-tenth of the population of Laos, or 200,000 civilians and members of the military, were dead. Twice as many were wounded. Seven hundred and fifty thousand, a full quarter of the population, had become refugees—including the General Vang Pao himself.

In Laos, the aftermath of U.S. bombs continues to wreak havoc. Since 1964, more than 50,000 Lao have been killed or injured by U.S. bombs, 98 percent of them civilians.

An estimated 30 percent of the bombs dropped on Laos failed to explode upon impact, and in the years since the bombing ended, 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by the estimated 80 million bombs left behind...80 MILLION BOMBS.

No country should be going through that...

The fact that many people don't even know Laos exist even despite these events is bizarre.

Laos deserved better.