Cluster Bombs Used in Laos

I have just finished reading the appalling revelations in June Pulcini’s commentary (June 25) regarding the United States’ bombing of Laos during the administrations of Presidents Johnson and Nixon, with the former having apparently begun this indefensibly evil action.

I’m wondering what sort of depraved inventiveness it takes to come up with a weapon like the cluster bomb, which scatters countless objects of indefinitely lethal potential. This is absolutely unconscionable, and it is the reason why many people in this country do not trust the government in general, and the military in particular.

The U.S. should pay reparations to every single Laotian who has been maimed, and to the survivors of those killed by these bombs. Furthermore, land mines, cluster bombs and any other sort of weapon that can remain potentially lethal long after official conflicts have ceased should be banned outright. Let the same perverse minds that devised a monstrosity like the cluster bomb invent weapons that can either be easily defused or have a limited potency.

M.L. GOODMAN

Santa Ana