LEGACIES OF WAR: UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE IN LAOS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 22, 2010 Serial No. 111–117 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 56–094PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:07 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\APGE\042210\56094 HFA PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee CONNIE MACK, Florida GENE GREEN, Texas JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska LYNN WOOLSEY, California MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas TED POE, Texas BARBARA LEE, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MIKE ROSS, Arkansas BRAD MILLER, North Carolina DAVID SCOTT, Georgia JIM COSTA, California KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona RON KLEIN, Florida VACANT RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa, Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DIANE E. WATSON, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina MIKE ROSS, Arkansas DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:07 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\042210\56094 HFA PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Ambassador for ASEAN Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Depart- ment of State ........................................................................................................ 11 Ms. Channapha Khamvongsa, Executive Director, Legacies of War .................. 28 Robert Keeley, Ph.D., Country Program Manager for Laos, The Humpty Dumpty Institute ................................................................................................. 40 Mr. Virgil Wiebe, Member of the Board, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Amer- ica .......................................................................................................................... 48 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from American Samoa, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment: Prepared statement ................................................... 5 The Honorable Mike Honda, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement ...................................................................... 10 The Honorable Scot Marciel: Prepared statement ................................................ 14 Ms. Channapha Khamvongsa: Prepared statement ............................................. 33 Robert Keeley, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ............................................................ 43 Mr. Virgil Wiebe: Prepared statement ................................................................... 51 APPENDIX Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 62 Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 63 The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega: Material submitted for the record ...... 64 The Honorable Diane E. Watson, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement ............................................................ 88 The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega: Additional material submitted for the record .............................................................................................................. 89 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:07 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\042210\56094 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:07 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\042210\56094 HFA PsN: SHIRL LEGACIES OF WAR: UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE IN LAOS THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:08 p.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. The hearing will come to order. This is the hearing on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. Today’s particular hearing is on the subject of the legacies of war concerning unexploded ordnance in the country of Laos. Unfortunately my ranking member is also under the weather, Congressman Manzullo from Illinois. I am extremely happy that I have one of my colleagues who traveled with me to Laos, Cam- bodia, Vietnam, and Japan recently, Congressman Mike Honda from California. I am going to begin with an opening statement, and then we will proceed from there. Ironically, 39 years ago to the day, in 1971, the late Senator Ed- ward M. Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Investigative Problems, connected with Refugees and Escapees, held a hearing on April 21 and April 22 in 1971 to address war- related civilian problems in Indochina, which includes Laos. Testifying before the subcommittee was the Honorable Paul McCloskey, a Representative in Congress from the State of Cali- fornia, who had just recently returned from a visit to Laos, where he and his colleague, Congressman Waldie, also of California, had obtained certain facts that totally contradicted testimony that had been submitted to the subcommittee by the Departments of State and Defense on May 7 of the previous year, which was 1970. At issue was the causation of refugees and impact of U.S. Air Force bombing operations in Laos. The Departments of Defense and State suggested that U.S. bombing operations had been care- fully directed and that very few inhabited villages were susceptible to being hit by U.S. air power. But as Senator Kennedy learned that day, and as we now know, the Departments of State and Defense submitted testimony that was incorrect and misleading. The truth is, widespread bombing had taken place and Lao refugees were succinct in describing the (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 15:07 Nov 10, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\APGE\042210\56094 HFA PsN: SHIRL 2 destruction of their homes, as well as the use of the CBU cluster bombs and white phosphorus. How extensive were the U.S. bombing raids, was the question. According to the Congressional Research Service, ‘‘Laos has been characterized as the most heavily bombed country in history, on a per-capita basis. From 1964 through 1973, the United States flew 580,000 bombing runs over Laos and dropped more than 2 million tons of ordnance on the coun- tryside, double the amount dropped on Germany during World War II. Estimates of the number of unexploded submunitions from cluster bombs, range from 8 million to 80 million, with less than 1⁄2 of 1 percent destroyed, and less than 1 percent of contaminated lands cleared.’’ To be clear about what this means, I want to display a map of the U.S. Air Force bombing data that I obtained from our U.S. Em- bassy in Laos 2 years ago. This map tells it all. Looking at this map, can anyone honestly believe that there was no impact on the civilian population? What makes this so sickening is that cluster bombs and white phosphorus were used against a civilian population of a country against whom the United States was not at war. As Congressman McCloskey stated, ‘‘The bombing was done under the direction and control of the State Department, not the U.S. Air Force.’’ In fact, the bombing was directed and controlled by the U.S. Am- bassador to Laos. ‘‘Both the extent of the bombing and its impact on the civilian population of Laos have been deliberately concealed by the State Department,’’ Congressman McCloskey stated. And for historical purposes, I am submitting the complete text of the 1971 hearing record to be made a part of this record some 39 years later. Some 39 years later, in my humble opinion, it is shameful that the U.S. State Department has not taken a more active role in making things right for the people of Laos. But for the first time in 39 years, I am hopeful that