Date: 26/03/2009

The Bail-Out That America has Forgot and the Children of a Nation Suffer

In1964 America secretly bombed the country of Laos every 8 minutes - day and night - for 9 solid years. Because of the devastation, the bombs left-behind and the absence of any adequate help, this small Asian country is now in severe jeopardy.

But there is one country that has never had a chance to present its case to congress. There is one country that you won’t hear about on CNN. There is one country that suffers silently while American bombs still ravage its land and its people.

In 1964 the United States began secretly bombing the country of Laos without the approval of Congress, without the knowledge of the American people and without any rules of engagement. 

Even though the Geneva Accord forbade the presence of any foreign military in Laos,the US conducted a covert war in an effort to crush the North Vietnamese's supply line.  The Laotian people were bombed every eight minutes, day and night, for nine solid years.

A total of 580,000 bombing missions were conducted, with each mission dropping hundreds of explosives at a time. The civilian death count was astronomical. And now 35 years later, the bombs remain.

Out of the 2 million tons of bombs that were dropped on Laos, approximately 30% didn’t explode. They just litter the entire country, sitting in wait for a single knock to set them off.

Over 13,000 people have been killed or injured by these America bombs since the war ended. And now these casualties are on the rise... almost half of these deaths are children.

But no one is bailing out this country... America isn’t donating billions of dollars to remove their old bombs. 

The really impressive fact is that most people have no idea about this secret war, about the country of Laos, or about the bombs that lay in the ground behind village schools. And many people would continue to not know if it was not for a daring pair of filmmakers.

Sylvia Wilczynski and Kim Mordaunt unearthed this ground-breaking story while drinking at a bar in Laos with some bomb disposal technicians and decided right then and there to make this the subject of their next film, Bomb Harvest.

Mixed with archival footage, up-close shots of the bomb disposal and personal accounts, Bomb Harvest is a compelling and jaw-dropping account of the casualties of war, even after the war has ended.

But Bomb Harvest won’t be coming to a theater near you; it won’t be on the shelves for you to rent at your local movie store. There is no big studio backing and no big marketing campaign because much of the proceeds go back to Laos instead of studio executives.

In fact, the only way for you to order Bomb Harvest or to find out more about the secret war and the Laotian people is to visit the website at www.bombharvestdvd.com.