Pledging US help, Obama says Laos living in 'shadow of war'

VIENTIANE, Laos — Acknowledging the dark aftershocks of the Vietnam War, President Barack Obama paid tribute Wednesday to survivors maimed by some 80 million unexploded bombs America dropped on Laos decades ago and pledged U.S. help to finally clean them up.

Touring a rehabilitation center in Vientiane, Obama said the U.S. had a "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to work to prevent more bloodshed from the remnants of the U.S. bombardment. He touted his administration's move to double spending on ordinance cleanup to roughly $90 million over three years.

"For the last four decades, Laotians have continued to live under the shadow of war," Obama said. "The war did not end when the bombs stopped falling."

http://www.startribune.com/on-historic-trip-to-laos-obama-aims-to-heal-war-wounds/392396011/