The "Secret War"

Before deciding to go travelling I didn't really know where Laos was. Now, as I am in the capital Vientiane, I do. 

From one day to the next you can discover the existence of something completely new to you, something you were totally unaware of before. Like America's foreign policy in this part of the world during the 60's and 70's. Everyone knows about the Vietnam war but many, myself included, had never really heard of a "Secret War" against Laos. A bombing campaign which drops the equivalent of a ton of explosive for every person in a country seems a little excessive, even by U.S standards. "Secret" because, somehow, it was more or less hushed up at the time. How you keep something like subjecting a country to history's most intensive bombing campaign is beyond me but then so is the success of Pop Idol contestants (shudder)...

Not going to go on, the pictures explain it better anyway.