In this TAEC Talk, Dr. Ryan Wolfson-Ford discusses how historical writers often report that the bombing of Laos during the Secret War and Vietnam War was exclusively all because of America's desire to contain the spread of communism during the Vietnam War. Indeed, that was one reason. But as Dr. Wolfson-Ford shares, there was more to it.
The TAEC in Luang Prabang held one of their TAEC Talks event in 2022 which they shared on their Youtube channel.
This particular event had quite an interesting and, some might say, controversial look into the sibling rivalry and drama between two big names in Lao political history, Princes Souvanna Phouma and Souphannouvong. They were two royal half-brothers on opposite sides of a political chess game that proved to be fatal.
Furthermore, it covered the crucial questions of who truly knew of the plans and who was truly responsible for the bombing of Laos in the 1960s and 1970s.
Of course, the presentation goes much deeper into the different communication and letters between the two brothers but these topics of the bombings and secrecy really stood out to me.
In the revealed letters written between the two brothers, Dr. Wolfson-Ford shows that there were direct implications of the Royal Lao Government (RLG) and Prince Souvanna's agreement and encouragement to bomb the country in order to try to stop the opposing side (the communists) from advancing further into Laos.
And even more interesting was that he wanted the Americans to keep it secret so that he could keep up the appearance of neutrality.
The emergence of these details paints a different picture of the time - one in which there is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to Laos being bombed.
It's important to note here that historians have often noted that the Americans advised taking these military actions and together with their Thai and Australian allies provided the pilots, planes and bombs to get the missions done.
Moreover, the American government made a lot of what they did in Laos and in some cases in Vietnam initially secret even to the American people. It's hard to believe that America was keeping things quiet simply because of the RLG's request though.
What Dr. Wolfson-Ford's research shows us is the RLG's views at the time aligned very closely with what America's were when it came to the bombings and the secrecy - indeed, more than what had been previously known at the time. This alignment served both parties, RLG and America.
Of course there are those out there who may say that Dr. Wolfson-Ford's research is no surprise and that there had always been collusion and agreement between America and the RLG. Some would argue even further and say that the RLG had became subservient to America and that the documents he shares simply proves that notion.
Whatever your views are in this discussion or which side you're on, this talk is fascinating and for those interested in Lao history, it's definitely worth watching.
Feel free to comment below.
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