Obama Visits Center That Helps Bomb Victims In Laos

President Barack Obama said the United States has a "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to support efforts to clear bombs its forces dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Eighty million cluster munitions did not explode, instead settling on farmland and around villages, only to later kill or injure 20,000 people. Obama made the comments after he visited a center in Vientiane called the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise that offers treatment for survivors. "Here in Laos, here at COPE, we see the victims of bombs that were dropped because of decisions made half a century ago and we are reminded that wars always carry tremendous costs, many of them unintended," he said. Obama stressed that wars impact countless people beyond the famous who appear in history books. "Above all, acknowledging the history of war and how it's experienced concretely by ordinary people is a way that we make future wars less likely." His comments came a day after announcing a doubling of U.S. funding over the next three years to help the survivors and bomb-clearing efforts.