anthony: the american experience in this part of the world is something that everyone wants to pretend never happened. more bombs dropped here than all of world war ii. french guy: this is the gold medal of laos, is they say one ton per person. and if they continue to clean the country at that, more 600 years to clean. man 1: okay, come on, ka comen! come on, come on! man 2: ah no, this is the rong stuff. an 1: yolike? drink four times a day, good for you! hello! one, two, three!
with bombs on board. so they have bombs left, they would drop them at random. that s why we have so, so many and in, in so many provinces. anthony: what do you think it means though, that the president came here? this is a, look, this is a small country. only 7 million and change people. mama and michel: yes. yeah. anthony: noa lot of mineral resources. michel: no, not really. anthony: uh, no oil. if you were a cynical person. michel: i m not. [ laughter ] anthony: why do you think he came? michel: well you have china, you have russia, you have, ah lots of things. anthony: you think we need a we you think that maybe we think we need a friend in the neighborhood? michel: i think ah, everybody needs friends. [ laughter ] anthony: nice answer. it s the volkswagen smile, it s spring sales event,
the explosive hit one of my fingers, here. another piece hit my belly, one hit my lower leg, and one hit my upper leg. they took me to the american hospital and i received free treatment. anthony: while these days the effects of the secret war are receiving more attention, much of how we got here remains off-limits. the cia and their relationship with the hmong in part because there are, to this day, insurgents deep in the jungle is a sensitive subject with the lao government. where did the american doctors come from? translator: so, uh, actually it s, i think this not, this is not a question i think. anthony: okay. a communist one-party state like laos it can be dangerous to talk politics. you tell me whether we can talk about this or not, whether it s a comfortable subject or
anthony: james family, like many, fled the fighting in laos and the communist takeover that followed it. james: mmm! anthony: nowadays, things are looking up a bit and some like james are returning,. james: oh man, this is, like, so homey. takes you to a place, takes me to a place. anthony: what s it like being back and having, it s only your second time, but what s it like? james: oh, man it s like home. more and more. i, i totally get it, like when mom s i want to go back home. i want to go back home. that s a common thing, you know? refugees from laos, live in the states for a couple years. once their children have their own careers and families they, they come back. and my mom s doing that now. you know, rice farming again. she said, i want to move back to go and have a more relaxed life. i m like, that s hard work. you know? anthony: but she s happy? james: she s happy. super happy. she looks a lot younger now. [ laughter ] after she moved back. anthony: l
mr. lee: they loaded the bombs on the underside of the plane. when they reached the target, they didn t really know if the area was occupied by civilians or by soldiers. but they would just dive down and drop the bombs anyway. anthony: though never actually at war with laos, at the same time we were fighting in neighboring vietnam. the united states flew more than a half a million missions over this tiny southeast asian nation. dropping more bombs here than on germany and japan in all of wwii combined. this only a part of the largest covert military operation in history. a conflict that became known as the secret war. there were three intelligence officers, key players in this secret war, who depending on who you talk to were either greatly loved, or greatly feared and despised. anthony poshepny, also known as tony po, had an extensive paramilitary background as a