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Bombies

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Posted on January 9, 2002

The Secret War

Severe disfigurement and death caused by the explosion of 30 year old cluster bombs buried in the countryside, farms, and even schools of Laos are regular occurrences in this mountainous, landlocked country in Southeast Asia. In a secret military campaign, the United States blanketed Laos with over 2 million tons of bombs between 1964 and 1973 more than what was dropped on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. Although Laos was declared a neutral country during the Vietnam War under the 1962 Geneva Accords, the United States buckled under the fear of Communist expansion and organized a "secret war" in and over Laos, violating the Geneva agreement. In his new film "Bombies" (presented by ITVS and airing nationally on PBS beginning January 15th), writer, producer and director Jack Silberman sheds light on this little known chapter of Laotian and American history and explores how a nation is dealing with the ongoing tragedy caused by the Vietnam war. Jack Silberman first heard about cluster bombs (known as "Bombies" in Laos) from his neighbor, an international consultant, after a business trip to Laos in 1992. With twenty years of experience making award-winning environmental documentaries, Silberman immediately felt compelled to tell this story. He says that, "It struck me as a real injustice that these people thirty years later were still suffering from bombs that had been dropped in a secret war.

When cluster bombs are dropped, each one can shoot out as many as 200,000 metal fragments at ballistic speed over an area the size of a football field. These metal fragments are designed to make lungs collapse and intestines explode as they rip through the body. They are called cluster bombs because they are dropped in clusters that can envelop as much as an entire square kilometer. "One reason why they're inhumane," says Silberman, "is because they cover such a wide area they're indiscriminant. Even if they were bombed at military targets, how could civilians avoid that if you're anywhere in the area? The second reason why they're inhumane is because they have such a high dud rate. It's been documented that they have a dud rate of between 10-30 percent. So they're dropped in huge numbers, a large percentage doesn't explode, and they're there for decades, perhaps for centuries. They're worse than landmines. They kill at the time and they kill into the future."

According to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Laos' problem with cluster bombs is unrivaled when compared to other countries with landmines. Cambodia, one of the most landmine-ridden countries in the world, still has an estimated 10 million landmines yet to be diffused. Laos has anywhere between 10-20 million unexploded cluster bombs, which Silberman says is a conservative estimate. In the last three decades, over 12,000 people have been killed or injured by bombies or other unexploded ordnance in Laos. "And yet," explains Silberman, "all these other countries were getting attention. Everybody knows about the problems with landmines in Cambodia, Serbia and Kosovo, but nobody seems to know about what had happened in Laos. No one knew at the time we were bombing it, and they don't know now.

Silberman hopes that the film will bring an increased awareness to the war in Afghanistan, where the United States has continued to drop the same cluster bombs that have ravaged Laos. Almost a third of all bombs that have been dropped in Afghanistan were cluster bombs. Human Rights Watch and the Red Cross report that, as in Laos, the cluster bombs that are being dropped in Afghanistan seem to have a high dud rate and are killing civilians long after they are dropped.

Unaccustomed to the dangers of filming in the middle of minefields, Silberman frequently asked himself if making "Bombies" was such a good idea. On their first day on location in Laos, the director and his film crew accompanied a demolition team to a hillside to begin filming. In order to keep the shot steady, the cameraman placed the camera on top of his tripod, which he firmly spiked into the grass. After the crew completed their shot, he noticed that he had spiked the tripod a few mere inches away from an unexploded cluster bomb. Silberman calmly recounted that unnerving experience, "They [cluster bombs] are green and they're the same color as the ground. Just twelve inches. If he had hit that cluster bomb we would have all been immediately killed.

In Laotian schools, students learn songs about avoiding the small, metal balls that have killed many of their friends because they could not resist playing with them. Because bombies also resemble a fruit that frequently grows in Laos, schools have also implemented an arts curriculum where children use clay to make replicas of fruits and bombies. This way, children learn some of the distinguishing characteristics between the two. Many Laotians have also chosen to get the necessary training to become bomb disposal experts themselves. "Bombies" recounts the story of one of the first Laotian bomb disposal experts, Nyommala, who was initially discouraged by her family from getting involved in this profession because they said it was not appropriate work for a woman.

The personal stake that Laotians have in this national problem has also left many of them angry. One man, Buon Kham lost his entire family when a US plane bombed a cave where they were seeking refuge. Silberman recounts speaking with Buon Kham, who told him, "Speaking on behalf of myself and the people who were killed and those still alive in this area, this is an incident that makes us bitter and angry in our hearts forever." Despite these sentiments, Silberman found that Laotians "distinguish between American people and American foreign policyThey are able to distinguish between Americans who might come today with what American policy brought to them during the 60s and 70s." Although Silberman had finished filming "Bombies" before the events of September 11th, he feels the film can play a significant role in helping its viewers understand the consequences of US foreign policy. He comments, "I think that it's important for people and America now to see this, and to see why people in some foreign countries feel the way they do about America. From [Buon Kham's] point of view and from his experience, civilians were targeted, a cave was targeted and everyone was killed. So they can't forget and won't forget. I think that if you try to see the situation from their point of view it's not too difficult to understand why they feel that way."

Ultimately, Silberman hopes that "Bombies" will expand the public debate on banning the use of cluster bombs and bring more international recognition to the crisis that Laos has faced over the last thirty years. He says that despite the country's resolve, Laos still needs additional help, especially from the United States, to rid their countries of bombies in the next several decades. If Laos does not receive significant additional assistance soon, Silberman predicts, "it could be hundreds of years until Laos is really safe, and you'll find this to be the case in other countries [affected by cluster bombs] as well."

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