The harrowing legacy of US coming to others' houses uninvited

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently said that "once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave". But he failed to realize that this tag is more suitable for the US itself.

Uncle Sam has a long track record of staying in others' houses without any intention to leave. Even when the US leaves, it sometimes takes lengthy and painful efforts for the host to clean up the messy house and make things back to normal. The traumatic memory of the blood and death in Southeast Asian countries caused by the warmongering US during the Vietnam War still persists, a stark reminder of how the US military operations create destruction and displacement worldwide.

Laos: the most heavily bombed country

According to Legacies of War, a Washington-based NGO focusing on the tragic aftermath of Vietnam War-period bombing in Laos, two million tons of bombs were dropped on this Southeast Asian country during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973, and 80 million bombs became unexploded ordnance. Decades after US withdrawal from Laos, UXO bombs still continue to threaten life there. More than 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by American UXO since the end of war. Today, American UXO in Laos still accounts for an average of 50 casualties every year, among them 40 percent are children.

UXO has also impeded the development of Laos, as it poses a deadly threat to the construction of big-scale infrastructure. For instance, about 459 UXO bombs and 463,536 pieces of shrapnel over 2,931 hectares of land had been cleared for security of the China-Laos railway project from January 2017 to July 2019, according to a report by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2019. China has helped its neighbor to a road of prosperity, while the US left Laos with scorched land and fear of death caused by UXO bombs.

Vietnam: painful victim of US chemical weapons

Reports on American "Agent Orange" have been well-known and detailed enough, but what people may not know is the "Rainbow Herbicides", the collection of chemical weapons filled in barrels with different colors, including the notorious Agent Orange. By the end of Vietnam War, over 3.6 million acres of Vietnamese territory had been sprayed with Agents Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, White, Orange, Orange II, Orange III, and Super Orange.

Harmful effects of those Rainbow Herbicides have been haunting Vietnamese for years. Tens of thousands of children whose parents were exposed to the chemicals were born with serious birth defects and illnesses, such as spina bifida and cerebral palsy. More painfully, these symptoms have even been passed on to the third and even fourth generation.

Cambodia: forgotten victim of US bombings

It is estimated that about 50,000 to 150,000 Cambodian civilians lost their lives in US-conducted "Operation Freedom Deal" and "Operation Menu" during the Vietnam War. Nearly 500,000 tons of bombs were dropped onto every square mile of land of US bombing sites. Two million Cambodians were displaced from their home, accounting for a quarter of the whole population of the country. And US-made defoliant, including Agent Orange, were also sprayed on Cambodian soil.

Yet pathetically, Washington has chosen to ignore and keep silent on the victim's longstanding sufferings. Replying to the Atlantic about chemical weapon used in Southeast Asian countries, a US State Department spokesperson said that the legacy of dioxin was a complex issue that the US and Vietnam government had collaborated on since 2000, without even mentioning Cambodia.

Not just mainland Southeast Asian countries, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and many other nations have suffered from US military intervention. Next time when the US intends to send troops to other countries uninvited, it should seriously look back at the deadly legacy it has left in others' houses.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for CGTN, Global Times, Xinhua News Agency, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com