Secret War in Laos Documentary Film - Laotian civil war and u.s. government involvement

gr yes is the battlefield and walls these are government troops supported and financed by the united states and losing ground to communist groups many of them from north vietnam fighting in remote mountains in an obscure corner of a it looks and psalms just when the united states is gradually pulling out of vietnam there is a rush of concern that the walls may become another vietnam not sold says the administration and says why wilbur's knew a little bit up in this book remove learned one lesson that is that we're not going to put in uh... religion was the in mainland of asia again we're not going to send american troops there and we certainly are going to do it mostly of a american public and the kind of term limits but the assurances from the secretaries of state and defense mile from the president himself have not silenced congressional concern this whole problem gets down to the fact that uh... for the last year or so we've been heavily uh... the escalating the undeclared in viet nam at the same time we've been heavily escalating not only the undeclared but beyond this cold war in laos and that this is the type of character of uh... development and democracy that i think of the very very dangerous indeed the concern of the congress the dilemma of the administration the situation in the never never land of ours these are the subject so far broadcast piece-by-piece the story of the american involvement in that war in laos is coming up friday the president reported sixty seven thousand north vietnamese troops now there yesterday the white house said that it will issue a regular up-to-date account of u_s_ casualties in laos today american jets from thailand and from carriers in the gulf of tonkin continued to fly a heavy schedule of missions against the north vietnamese and pop that lyle whose vanguard as now push to within fourteen miles of the royal capital of along prep back in the administrative capital gantry on the prime ministers of on a full month is waiting for the delivery of the peace demands of his half brother and antagonized the communist prints of them upon after years of secrecy in silence we are now returning about law less than six months ago when the president was first asked about laos he left more funds that than he really there are no american combat forces in law we have been uh... providing logistical support and some training for the new deal was done in order to avoid lyle's falling under communist domination as far as american mandal involves concern there are none there at the present time on a combat v_'s we do have a real weaknesses we do have perhaps some other actors design of the steps of other activities at this time rat poison in september but last week pressure and what he called grossly inaccurate reports cause the president to discuss after all those matters in a lengthy statement he still did not tell all the president disclosed no precise figures on the dimensions of american air power being used in laos no accounting of the cost of our support estimated at several hundred million dollars a year no definition of the degree of command as distinct from advisory functions exercise by americans that inevitably the presidential statement on lyle's has raised many questions as many as a dancer the questions clearly derive from continued congressional and public uneasiness over the war in vietnam wallace is that the other of that war it could hardly be otherwise four up follows a mile the borders of laos march with those of north vietnam for a further three hundred miles wallace borders on south vietnam that's the geographical explanation for the whole chain and trail along which president nixon says off of the men and supplies of the war in south vietnam are infiltrated in addition while shares two hundred and sixty four miles of border in the north with communist china and another thousand-mile to the west with threatened pilot to it's all things the strategic implications are clear any change in the status of lyle's must send tremors throughout the entire era moreover laos is terribly vault here's a country larger than great britain with a population of less than three million people whenever it suits them bleed more numerous and more like north vietnamese move into laos and it's been so the number the last five hundred years particularly during the recent years of the war in vietnam to control the border areas of wallace was absolutely essential to north vietnam strapped step back only nine years in history and you find it was lols even more than vietnam itself that was the most important foreign policy problem to a newly elected president the security of all southeast asia will be endangered if laos loses it's neutral independence its own safety runs with the safety of us all in real-time with me observed by all i want to make it clear the american people and a wall the world that all we want to laos is not war equally neutral government not a cold war pauline a settlement concluded at the conference table and not on the battlefield na what president kennedy dead about lawless was to get an international agreement to cool things off spruced up in nineteen sixty one one thing they agreed on was not to let lawless become an active theater of war was the geneva accords of nineteen sixty two signed by fourteen countries including the united states communist china and north vietnam these agreements provided for a neutral lyle's governed by eight coalition of three princes representing the three main factions boardroom with conservative sovann off long the communists and the neutral isps ivana former who became printed the agreements also called for the withdrawal of all foreign military personnel the united states fueling fold-out at six hundred and sixty-six advisers but the north vietnamese only remove the pope and forty of their six thousand troops in law thereafter subh on oblong and the communists walked out of the coalition government and with their profit while forces stiffen the by increasing numbers of north vietnamese regulars they've been holding two-thirds of the country and a quarter of the laotians population ever since the purely laotian forces on either side are generally considered mediocre and on aggressive the best on the government side are they clandestine army commanded by general wrong pol fully paid equipped and advised by the united states the popped up lol although trained in north vietnamese tactics and equipped with russian and chinese weapons are not considered very formidable people left to themselves the opposing lotion forces would probably cancel each other out crucial factor in the equation is the sixty seven thousand north vietnamese regulars president nixon says are involves small indirect violation the president says of the nineteen sixty two june eva read in spite of american equipment advice and above all airpower the north vietnamese hold the military initiative involves today united states is said to be flying an average of five hundred air sorties a day sometimes as many as twenty thousand a month against targets in laos most of these strikes come from u_s_ bases across the mekong in thailand white house that we made our first b_-fifty twos fright last month but u_s_ airpower has still not been enough to do more then slow down the north vietnamese forces in the past couple of weeks they've moved deeper into government territory than they ever had bernard kalb reports on the resulting situation and what it means wells has a way of vanishing for a few months each year that's usually when the monsoon rains begin about may that's when the war dies down when the world forgets that allows even exists but then with a dry season one side or the other starts up the war again and laos recovers so to speak and that's the situation right now the north vietnamese had just retaking the strategic plane of jars these are allowed to do with refugees being evacuated just before the communist moved in the most tragic victims of the seesaw not-so-secret war allows for the refugees the official estimate is at about one part of the every four miles has been a refugee more than six hundred thousand of them some have been refugees more than one blouse has the most displaced national population in the world some of these while refugees were relieved to get away from the war but there are reports that somewhere encouraged to go to deny the communist government power of these people what goes through the minds of these refugees well i've talked with hundreds of refugees from towns in village will over northeast amounts in the last six months what they talked most about his american bombing being told by the male soldiers of the royal of government site to leave their villages and having to do porter rich that is carrying arms and true trip out that well soldiers putting the most concerned about is the bombing and particularly markham bombing until nineteen sixty seven while bombing thirty twenty eighths outnumbered greater than american market but starting in nineteen sixty eight in particular in nineteen sixty nine after president johnson stopped the bombing north vietnam in diverted bridgette's into laos american bombing has been a constant then night for a further refugees they say that the planes came over all the time shattered everything buffalo's houses rice fields schools they say that their report mary bombs the palm phosphorus and interpersonal bombs they all say that they've lived last two years mostly underground what about american military fighter bombers planes operating out of thailand attacking north vietnamese positions in northeast loves cameraman on that or have no comment on that at all we are armed reconnaissance but that has nothing to do roaming around a comment on reports of an escalated the american military commitment larger bombers b_-fifty twos operating could you comment on any of its ur but just one issue come and we have no our military assistance and material is being supplied pursuant to works of the role of government and incontinence with the europeans and americans parishioner uh... request an item is a shame of american military involvement what would be the official american apply here sir certain in november thank you very much progress the official american establishment allows is very much on the defensive on these sensitive matters but one american reporter base to be in tian recently managed to slip into long-chain the top-secret c_i_a_ supported base for furor operations against the communists basically long-chain is a logistics base they fly things and then big clients and fly them out to the front small appliances include soldiers we saw half a dozen transport planes that d_c_-three scarab lose the stricken take bigger ones we saw that it doesn't see twenty-eight unmarked single-engine propeller bombs these are flown by lower and male pilots but the americans do all the maintenance and these planes are part of a that runs out of thailand sohn american pilot shuttling back and forth the real thing they want to keep secret there most of all is that the u_s_ air force ones jolly green giant rescue helicopters this is uh... an admission that the u_s_ bombs last them you can hear the american jets roaring overhead nine lose about ten or twelve americans a month here are there more long chains in laos uh... nothing his biggest long-chain but there are these little c_i_a_ hideaway is tucked in the hills there are a lot over a couple half a dozen or so over on the ball around spot so these are used to trail watching me uh... maybe something in some people because mischief once in awhile there there's a by the chinese border their literally nearly a well there are hundreds of little dirt runways indiana in in a while snoozing used for military purposes by the united states by controlling the arms and the money the u_s_ can affect controls the war buildings like these house the requirements office which is said to be a kind of camouflaged military assistance group there is a variety of unarmed para provided by paramount dot at continental air services which are usually referred to as c_i_a_ airlines they admit to operating more than a hundred planes and helicopters but they are not as forthcoming as to be exact nature of all their assignment blueberry cargo and military supplies around the country they also transport military personnel the people of the npr in ten dollars have been described as the least urgent souls bunker to harry to be desperate or frantic the whale westerner might be in the face of crisis is looked upon with national embarrassment as a confession of human bankruptcy the anti on as a city that can live side by side with its worst enemies on one of the most locally expensive pieces of real estate in town you find the official residence of the communist party at law and its objective is nothing less than taking over the country and not far away another anomaly you find a pocket loves accomplices the embassy of north vietnam even the north vietnamese may be a bit perplexed to find themselves sharing a capital with the embassy of south vietnam just a few dusty streets away is walls what else is lousy but you can find the embassy of communist china in the midst of all this and everyone knows that peaking help supply the guns to the part that lyle add to the north vietnamese in their effort to make allows a communist state the greater the npr on panorama is filled with hard political economic contract problems will quickly agreed but they know to allows are powerless they are very scared the your debt there is a warning this country and most loved them conflict it they shoud they are not capable to influence the close of the evite of funeral in p n_p_r_ we're cabinet ministers pilot son it's reported by americans here that the walls in recent months have been losing an average of more than ten meditate killed in action fighting the enemies in a country of less than three million people that's a lot of war dead for the united states one major priority in laos has been to try to interdict there have been flow of henry's men and material down the whole chia min trail spilling north vietnamese blood on the trail would save american blood in south vietnam but the question i was whether hanoi will follow up its latest successful offensive in laos there isn't an american in the country who doesn't believe that hanoi if it should make that critical decision could cut through the royal our forces and the u_s_ bombing and reach the make on the river what with the u_s_ do then escalating laos that is the agonizing question that north vietnam complain at the courthouse bernard kalb c_b_s_ news the npr at the time of the geneva agreements in nineteen sixty two the united states accepted principle on a former as prime minister with some reluctant he was a neutral list but he seemed to be more neutral on the side of the communists indeed he was their candidate since then he has emerged as a pro-western nationalist if his position is not threatened by the growing north vietnamese strengthen laws suvarna full-blooded not admitted to c_b_s_ news correspondent bill mclaughlin useful to make pull everything let me know falsely should not give too much importance assistant to this offensive eat them all result that we have lost man them on the top of course we lost some ground so far applies to all it is not depaz uh... exceeded the range of normal offensively this all see below support but i don't think cassette fussing with the way north vietnam and acting done not because she'll gives any indications of the not vietnam mobley that the north vietnamese wish to connect the u_s_ these days more deeply in the war in indochina would you know what the extent of the u_s_ military involvement lawless is you-know-what the united states is doing let me know life is quote the the mambo we ask for material a lamar we ask also for the intervention u_s_ air force's walks over he or surveillance against infiltration about dates and if necessary pple to bomb the invaders what do you think would happen to lower sat there was no u_s_ air support you see will soon be a bit we were left to ourselves the whole country you gave up would come from it two defeats the whole country would be invaded by north vietnam listen to the below average the duty of the united states for technical cc are you afraid that lowers could become another vietnam speeches what i've always thought shattered to prevent lousy olson deviate from becoming another vietnam applause vocal that's why i've always rejected the introduction of foreign troops demolished behind us are you concerned about the activities of the central intelligence agency in laos but yes i cannot say anything about this matter prime ministers of on a former says it is the beauty of the united states to protect us develop a day of that interpretation is precisely what the current controversy over laos is about c_b_s_ news correspondent marvin kalb discussed it with some concerned senators senator do you believe that the united states should be in the business of protecting lotion independent so i do not how i don't see wide ten thousand miles away we have to babysit the world and job on the world at the cost of many billions of dollars a month in these countries one of the same time we know at best but we would need this money was growing domestic problems at all i ran out most of my colleagues wishes reducing gitmo pollution in both your them and laughs these recent activities that allows makers have printed it quickly we're getting deeper involvement would be pretty well we are undoubtedly doing more to and uh... the whole involvement and than has ever been done before my reaching beyond junction administrations who will be only about naturally with the president's great success cindy escalating a vietnamese war it's essential for critics to talk about something else hence though they've grounded laos in the hope of creating an issue there i think is poised on trail that leads to transparent it's ridiculous and in relation to lower commitments in vietnam which i have an unfortunate now commitments in at lower so the different nature they are at commitments to protect our troops in vietnam i don't know quietly following them to eradicate that in some parts of this country where we think it's all right to use five hundred bombers a day against the country and then say it's a very limited operation that we're going to be careful not to put in ground forces i might say that that's how we get started didn't that vietnam we had helicopters over there every comma since flights and advisors and we were given assurances that we weren't going into a land war in asia but we've got five hundred thousand man and on the ground now the president and i usually i support of our unroll it is great andriotti is choices or relative i think the risk at involved in figure explore recruit rather so much less than the risk involved in uh... the north vietnamese bigger larger work uh... i think the risk district if you go out whatever may be the ultimate intentions of north vietnam and laos it is clear that they have already succeeded in disturbing the mantle of calm with which president nixon has wrapped the vietnam debate in this country the administration's dilemma arises from the fact that in spite of all that the united states has been able to do for lol short of ground combat and always still holds the country edits mercy north vietnam can't take too long since been able to do so for years had been willing to pay the price however hanoi may not be a main at a military conquest with all its legal and moral implications and with the risk of military over extension north vietnam may instead be trying to create the conditions for a political rather than a physical takeover that's what popat lyle prints about my palms invitation to discuss the new coalition government sounds like such a solution if it is a solution would resent the administration with problems only slightly less painful than whether to introduce ground troops to stem the tide in-laws communist-dominated government in laos would cause consternation and bangkok and saigon to places where the american commitment still rock the north vietnamese are experts at discovering and exploiting contradictions in american policy that's what they're doing now and well they say the war there as an extension of their war in vietnam and they're forcing us to see it that way too as long as the war in vietnam content and all i can cause us much distress in-laws it is an opportunity they are not likely to forego this is charles collingwood