[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS, GLOBAL: "Obama to push to clear leftover Vietnam-era bombs" in Laos

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

First on CNN: Obama to push to clear leftover Vietnam-era bombs

By Elise Labott
CNN
January 25, 2016 



Vientiane, Laos - Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Laos on Sunday ahead of a major push by the Obama administration to fix a decades-old wrong: clearing up leftover Vietnam-era U.S. bombs.

Kerry's visit will help usher in a new partnership with a former wartime foe and end a dark American legacy that has lingered since the end of the Vietnam War. It also comes ahead of next month's summit in Sunnylands, California, between President Barack Obama and 10 Southeast Asian leaders, and a landmark trip by the President to Laos this fall. 

While there, the President is expected to announce a major initiative to help clear leftover Vietnam-era bombs, aides told CNN.

After decades of estrangement and suspicion, relations between the tiny, Communist-ruled country and the United States have improved under Obama. Three years ago, Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, was the first secretary of state to visit Laos since 1955.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/24/politics/john-kerry-laos-secret-war/index.html

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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