In anticipation of Henry Kissinger’s birthday tomorrow, here’s an animated map of US bombs dropped on Laos from 1964–73. I often show this map to students in my US since 1877 survey and US since 1945 course.
The US conducted more than 580,000 bombing missions on Laos during this period. For more, see check out this piece in the Irish Times. irishtimes.com/news/world/asi…
@pmrenfro @OlufemiOTaiwo McNamara/Johnson own this horror too.
@pmrenfro You should also show them some of 'Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara'. It is one of the best documentaries ever. This is from 'Lesson #1 - Empathize with your enemy'. Our assumptions about Vietnamese were 100% wrong, as McNamara would find out in '95
@pmrenfro That’s horrifying what he did ,, 🥹
@pmrenfro Do you also teach them about the Cold War, about Chinese/Soviet expansion and it’s strategic dangers in the Pacific in the 1960’s or that Laos and Cambodia were staging grounds for attacks on military AND civilian targets in Vietnam?
@pmrenfro Many won't know this but Kissinger was the architect of the UN system we paid for to install in China to prevent women from having 2 children in 1976. And what you see today in China with the credit score and constant surveillance is Kissinger's doing.