In 1959, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation, against the Pathet Lao insurgences and Viet Mien military troops and supply route, began. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was developed after the North Vie...In 1959, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation, against the Pathet Lao insurgences and Viet Mien military troops and supply route, began. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was developed after the North Vietnam government and military decided to reunify South and North Vietnam. The People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) then connected the old trails leading from North Vietnam panhandle southward into eastern Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. Starting from Hanoi, the primary trail turned southwest into Laos and eastern Cambodia before branching into South Vietnam. Beginning in 1960s, the volume of traffic on the network of trails expanded significantly, but it still took more than a month’s march, by foot and bicycle, to travel from North to South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh Trail traffic was impacted by repeatedly by Royal Laotian Air Force (RLAF), which was supported by US Air Force tactical herbicide spraying (Operation Ranch Hand program), and US Air Force bombing runs. By the late 1960s, the trail was improved and could accommodate heavy trucks in some sections and was used to supply the annual needs of over one hundred thousand regular PAVN troops active in South Vietnam. By 1974, the trail was a well-marked series of jungle roads (some of them paved) with underground support facilities such as hospitals, fuel-storage tanks, and supply caches with weapons. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was the major supply route for PAVN forces that overran Republic of Vietnam (RV) forces in 1975 and unified Vietnam. The primary objective of this paper is to determine the environmental and human health impacts of RLAF and US Air Force secret spraying of tactical herbicides on Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.展开更多
Cluster munitions release dozens of smaller bomblets that rain deadly ammunition on armored tanks, vegetation and troops, effectively striking broad areas of war zone landscapes in one launch. However, only about 60% ...Cluster munitions release dozens of smaller bomblets that rain deadly ammunition on armored tanks, vegetation and troops, effectively striking broad areas of war zone landscapes in one launch. However, only about 60% of bomblets detonate immediately and those that fail to detonate fall to the ground and can lie dormant for years. The legacy of cluster munitions in Laos from the Second Indochina War is unexploded bomblets across the landscape that unexpectedly detonate years later, injuring and killing children, farmers, and other civilians long after the war is over. In Laos, the United States (US) military operation against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of foot and bicycle paths, waterways, and truck routes along the Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam borders linking North and South Vietnam began in 1959. By the 1960s, as the war escalated, trail traffic was interdicted frequently by CIA and US Air Force using tactical herbicide spraying to defoliate dense vegetation and bombing to disrupt supplies and North Vietnamese troops dispersed along the 16,000-kilometer trail. Unexploded ordinance (UXO), including cluster munitions, from U.S. bombings continued in recent years to detonate, kill, maim and injure Laotians and render agricultural lands too hazardous to cultivate. The primary objectives of this study are to document: 1) the long-term consequences and impacts of the US Air Force bombing of Laos during the Second Indochina War (1959 to 1973);2) the United States removal of unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions;and 3) worldwide relief efforts to help the Laotians maimed by unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions.展开更多
文摘In 1959, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation, against the Pathet Lao insurgences and Viet Mien military troops and supply route, began. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was developed after the North Vietnam government and military decided to reunify South and North Vietnam. The People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) then connected the old trails leading from North Vietnam panhandle southward into eastern Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. Starting from Hanoi, the primary trail turned southwest into Laos and eastern Cambodia before branching into South Vietnam. Beginning in 1960s, the volume of traffic on the network of trails expanded significantly, but it still took more than a month’s march, by foot and bicycle, to travel from North to South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh Trail traffic was impacted by repeatedly by Royal Laotian Air Force (RLAF), which was supported by US Air Force tactical herbicide spraying (Operation Ranch Hand program), and US Air Force bombing runs. By the late 1960s, the trail was improved and could accommodate heavy trucks in some sections and was used to supply the annual needs of over one hundred thousand regular PAVN troops active in South Vietnam. By 1974, the trail was a well-marked series of jungle roads (some of them paved) with underground support facilities such as hospitals, fuel-storage tanks, and supply caches with weapons. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was the major supply route for PAVN forces that overran Republic of Vietnam (RV) forces in 1975 and unified Vietnam. The primary objective of this paper is to determine the environmental and human health impacts of RLAF and US Air Force secret spraying of tactical herbicides on Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.
文摘Cluster munitions release dozens of smaller bomblets that rain deadly ammunition on armored tanks, vegetation and troops, effectively striking broad areas of war zone landscapes in one launch. However, only about 60% of bomblets detonate immediately and those that fail to detonate fall to the ground and can lie dormant for years. The legacy of cluster munitions in Laos from the Second Indochina War is unexploded bomblets across the landscape that unexpectedly detonate years later, injuring and killing children, farmers, and other civilians long after the war is over. In Laos, the United States (US) military operation against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of foot and bicycle paths, waterways, and truck routes along the Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam borders linking North and South Vietnam began in 1959. By the 1960s, as the war escalated, trail traffic was interdicted frequently by CIA and US Air Force using tactical herbicide spraying to defoliate dense vegetation and bombing to disrupt supplies and North Vietnamese troops dispersed along the 16,000-kilometer trail. Unexploded ordinance (UXO), including cluster munitions, from U.S. bombings continued in recent years to detonate, kill, maim and injure Laotians and render agricultural lands too hazardous to cultivate. The primary objectives of this study are to document: 1) the long-term consequences and impacts of the US Air Force bombing of Laos during the Second Indochina War (1959 to 1973);2) the United States removal of unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions;and 3) worldwide relief efforts to help the Laotians maimed by unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions.
