Why ban any form of weapon? I thought the idea of a war was to kill as many people as possible... men, women or children. Why else start a war? Annihilate the enemy and get on with it. Turn the other country into a parking lot and then start from scratch. If you leave any survivors then the remainder grow up to be terrorists.

That is the point. But the Vietnam War brought us another new weapon - the swaying of public opinion.

what a pity, eh?

It is a pity - when you have won (the Tet Offensive for example) but your own press paints it as a defeat.

Why ban any form of weapon? I thought the idea of a war was to kill as many people as possible... men, women or children. Why else start a war? Annihilate the enemy and get on with it. Turn the other country into a parking lot and then start from scratch. If you leave any survivors then the remainder grow up to be terrorists.

That is the point. But the Vietnam War brought us another new weapon - the swaying of public opinion.

what a pity, eh?

It is a pity - when you have won (the Tet Offensive for example) but your own press paints it as a defeat.

life is such a bitch! the Germans made a similar experience in 1945. as we all know they won the war on all fronts, but the dàmn media painted it as a defeat. naturally the brave german troops were frustrated, laid down their weapons, called it a day war and went home. that is... most of them went home. because of Germany's post war high unemployment a couple of millions took up jobs in siberian mines. some of them liked life in Siberia (vine, vodka, vomen and balalaikas galore) so much that they stayed for more than 10 years till 1955. Chancellor Adenauer had a hard time to convince them that there are ample jobs available in Germany.

Why ban any form of weapon? I thought the idea of a war was to kill as many people as possible... men, women or children. Why else start a war? Annihilate the enemy and get on with it. Turn the other country into a parking lot and then start from scratch. If you leave any survivors then the remainder grow up to be terrorists.

why? cause weapons like these cluster bombs can continue to kill decades after the war has ended

Laos and the legacy of Vietnam

The US gives $3m a year to clear cluster bombs in Laos. For nine years, it spent $2m a day to drop them. We must do more

As US combat troops return from Iraq, remnants of another American war – fought more than three decades ago – are still claiming casualties today. The tiny south-east Asian landlocked nation of Laos has the dubious distinction of being the most bombed country, per capita, in the world. During the Vietnam war, US-led secret bombing raids over Laos left behind millions of unexploded cluster bombs that continue to maim and kill civilians today.

Most Americans have no idea, but in 1964, the United States began a nine-year bombing campaign in Laos that ultimately dropped 260m cluster submunitions on the country. These small, toy-sized weapons were dropped from airplanes in large shells or bomb casings, which opened in mid-air and released the bombs for detonation on impact.

But many of these bombs did not blow up as designed. Instead, they remained hidden in the ground. Today, nearly half the arable land in Laos is still littered with unexploded bombs. And, more than 35 years after the bombing ended, an average of 300 Lao people are injured or killed by these weapons every year.

10 September 1996: the date is etched in blue ink in Bounmi's notebook. On that day, Bounmi, then 14, was digging a large hole for a fish pond for his family. All of a sudden, his shovel hit a bomb, buried in the earth decades before he was born, and it exploded. Bounmi was rushed to the nearest medical facility. His life was saved, but he lost his left arm.

Americans Bounmi's age learn about the Vietnam war, if at all, from history books or movies. We know that Vietnam veterans continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other wounds of battle, but generally the events of the war are, for us, a thing of the past. For Bounmi, and other victims of unexploded bombs in Laos, the war never really ended.

This situation is indeed tragic but it is by no means hopeless. In November, Laos will host the first meeting of states parties to a new international treaty to ban cluster bombs, which obliges governments to destroy stockpiles, clear affected land and assist victims. This past April, for the first time ever, the US house of representatives held hearings on the legacy of the US bombing of Laos. Representatives of the committee on foreign affairs learned of the extent of the problem, the progress that has been made so far to address it, and the US contribution to that effort.

The bomb removal programme in Laos began about 15 years ago, and today at least 1,000 workers are destroying ordnance. The removal process is slow and painstaking, but it works: the Laos programme is called the "gold standard" by the state department's own weapons removal and abatement office. But it needs more money.

So far, the US has contributed an average of about $3m a year to bomb removal efforts in Laos. In contrast, the US spent more than $2m a day (about $17m in today's dollars) for nine years dropping the bombs in the first place. The US can, and should, do more.

The state department must make a sustained commitment to solving this problem, starting with an allocation of at least $7m next year for the removal of unexploded ordnance in Laos. According to the department's own weapons removal and abatement experts, this would dramatically reduce the impact of unexploded ordnance in Laos. A modest increase in funding would have an enormous impact for the people who live among the hidden remnants of the Vietnam war in Laos.

Today, not only is Bounmi studying hard, but he is also volunteering to help others whose lives have been forever altered by encounters with unexploded bombs. It's admirable work, but he really shouldn't have to be doing it. We have to get to the point where, for Bounmi, just as for our own students, the Vietnam war is where it belongs: in the history books.

why? cause weapons like these cluster bombs can continue to kill decades after the war has ended

Laos and the legacy of Vietnam

The US gives $3m a year to clear cluster bombs in Laos. For nine years, it spent $2m a day to drop them. We must do more

I agree munitions that survive to kill another day long after the war has ended is a problem but I hate moronic statements like the one above. As if there is supposed to some equal amount spent clearing them as there was dropping them? If hundreds of old cluster bombs could be cleared away simply by flying a bomber overhead then it would be done.

On a related note, for about half a century in the Baltic Sea several NATO countries incl.the US have been clearing mines laid by Germany & Russia in WWI & WWII. Now that a gas pipeline is going through, more countries are getting involved in the process.

Baltic Mine-Clearing Set for Late August

Published: 18 Aug 2010

HELSINKI - Naval forces from 10 countries, including Russia, will conduct a joint mine-clearing operation in the Baltic Sea Aug. 27-Sept. 8.

The governments of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia on Aug. 15 approved Operation Open Spirit 2010, which will focus on clearing a range of mines, most laid by Russia and Germany on the Baltic Sea floor during World Wars I and II. The largest concentration of mines are in Lithuanian territorial waters.

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Dolphins find mine-clearing role

March 31, 2001

OSLO, Norway -- Dolphins are to be used by the U.S. Navy to help clear 80,000 mines and other ordnance off Norway.

The additions to the U.S. Navy's personnel are to be used in exercise "Blue Game" under NATO auspices off the country's southern coast where torpedoes and grenades lie rusting.

The munitions off Norway have remained undisturbed since being laid by German forces during World War II.

The operation will take place from April 23 to May 11. Hausken says the exercise will be the biggest ever mine clearing exercise off Norway.

Divers from the U.S., Germany, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway are to take part