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USCMC Press Release: Questions Regarding Recent U.S. Transfer Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
Sep 11, 2023
Anti-Cluster Munitions Campaigners Call on Biden White House to Answer Basic Questions Regarding Recent U.S. Transfers of Indiscriminate Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
Sera Koulabdara, Chair, U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition and CEO, Legacies of War (sera@legaciesofwar.org); Steve Goose, Chair of the International Cluster Munitions Coalition (gooses@hrw.org)
Hmong community recalls devastation of cluster bombs as Biden promises bombs for Ukraine
Aug 2, 2023
Cluster bombs were dropped across Laos and Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Many didn’t explode, and remain a danger nearly 50 years after the war ended.
Hibah Ansari, ft. Sera Koulabdara, Sahan Journal
"The Biden administration will provide controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine"
Jul 7, 2023
The weapon is banned by many countries. NPR's Michel Martin talks to Sera Koulabdara of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition, about why the U.S. think it's worth the risk.
Michel Martin, NPR
Legacies of War and the Lost Lao Food Connection
Jun 21, 2023
Danae Hendrickson is the Chief of Mission Advancement & Communications for the organization Legacies of War. Legacies of War is an educational and advocacy group working to address the impact of the American Secret War.
By Hayley Forney, ft. Danae Hendrickson
Can Cluster Bombs Show Us How To Stop a Nuclear War?
Feb 6, 2023
Despite being banned, anti-personnel landmines and unexploded submunitions still litter fields from Bosnia to Bangladesh. And they’re even being used in Ukraine. Does that mean the treaties that ban their use aren’t working? Experts say the story isn’t so simple.
By Laicie Heeley, Things That Go Boom
Witness to history: US veteran in Vietnam War regrets dropping cluster bombs, feels hurt to see Ukraine repeat the nightmare
Aug 31, 2023
Many fear that Ukraine, which has received many cluster bombs from the US, will become the next unfortunate casualty to share Laos' fate.
Hu Yuwei and Wang Wenwen, ft. Mike Burton, Global Times
Laos 50 Years On
Aug 17, 2023
Exactly 50 years since the bombing stopped in Laos HALO is still clearing up unexploded bombs in the landlocked South East Asian country. JJ Chalmers talks to Sera Koulabdara, CEO of Legacies of War and to William Hunter, who runs HALO's Laos programme.
Beyond Bombs with JJ Chalmers
Why the U.S. sending cluster weapons to Ukraine is divisive
Jul 19, 2023
Fifty years after the last bombs were dropped on Laos, unexploded cluster munitions continue to be dangerous making the U.S. decision to send cluster weapons to Ukraine controversial.
Jason Aldag, ft. Sera Koulabdara, Washington Post
"Biden is wrong to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. 50 years later, they're still killing in Laos."
Jul 11, 2023
With cluster bombs, the killing doesn't stop when the war ends. Wherever they land, children playing, gardening, herding cattle or digging an irrigation canal decades later all become dangerous.
By Titus Peachey, USA Today
"Why are cluster munitions controversial?"
Jul 7, 2023
"America is sending another deadly weapon to help Ukraine fight Russia. The Associated Press reported the White House has approved Ukraine's request for cluster munitions — bombs and artillery shells that open in the air to release dozens or hundreds of "bomblets" to destroy multiple targets at once."
By Joel Mathis, The Week
I dropped cluster bombs on Laos in US 'secret war.' Ukraine shouldn't want this nightmare.
Apr 4, 2023
All that was accomplished by using these inhumane weapons was to leave a trail of destruction that remains to this day, and a deep sense of regret for U.S. veterans like myself.
By Mike Burton, USA Today
'I don't want it to happen again': Don't send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Just look at Laos.
Mar 18, 2023
In my birth country, since the last bomb was dropped 50 years ago, only 1% of the contaminated area has been cleared, posing danger to children walking to school and farmers working their land.
By Sera Koulabdara, USA Today
"Sera is the first Lao-American to be elected to lead the ban on cluster munitions and landmines"
Jan 23, 2023
Ms. Sera Koulabdara, the head of the Legacies Of War, was recently elected as the Chair of the USCBL-CMC (US Campaign to Ban Landmines-Cluster Munition Coalition)
By Buasawan Simmala, VOA News
"American Secret War Veteran Works Toward a Better Future for Laos"
Nov 11, 2022
Col. Mike Burton makes his first visit back to Laos nearly 50 years after he was deployed to serve in the American Secret War, this time to address the impact and support the clearance of UXO
By Amrita Paul, The Laotian Times
Ukraine’s Cluster Bomb Dilemma — with Sera Koulabdara, Romeo Kokriatski and Danny Postel
Aug 3, 2023
In July, U.S. President Joe Biden made the controversial decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Though neither the United States, Ukraine nor Russia is party to the 2008 convention outlawing them...
Danny Postel, ft. Sera Koulabdara, Romeo Kokriatski, The Lede Podcast
Moral, Personal Stances for Laos and Cambodia Over Cluster Bombs
Jul 29, 2023
Southeast Asian countries are warning about the long-term dangers of cluster bombs in Ukraine after the United States sent the explosives to Kyiv earlier this month for use in their drive to recapture territory seized during Russia’s invasion.
Tommy Walker, ft. Titus Peachey, VOA News
"Cluster Bombs Are a 'Tragic Necessity' for Ukraine: Ex-Ambassador"
Jul 8, 2023
"We strongly condemn the use of cluster munitions by all parties in the war in Ukraine and call for the immediate end to the use of these horrific weapons anywhere in the world," said chair of the CMC and CEO of Legacies of War Sera Koulabdara, who was quoted in the release.
By Kaitlin Lewis, Newsweek
"Reps. Jacobs & Omar unleash plans to stop WH cluster munitions to Ukraine"
Jul 7, 2023
“I applaud the NDAA amendment proposed by Reps. Jacobs and Rep. Omar,” Sera Koulabdara, CEO of the advocacy group Legacies of War, told RS. “I urge them and other leaders to continue to stand on the side of the basic human rights to live free from the fear of cluster munitions and speak out publicly to their colleagues and the American people.”
By Blaise Malley, Responsible Statecraft
Embracing your origin story, healing generation trauma and using social media to make a career pivot and land your dream job with Danae Hendrickson
Apr 4, 2023
Many of us experience generational trauma and mental health issues, and they impact our life and career choices.
By Samorn Selim, Career Unicorn
"50 years later, peace treaty that was supposed to end Vietnam War still haunts my family"
Jan 21, 2023
My father's fellow pilots were shot down a week after the Paris Peace Accords were signed 50 years ago. The crash fed his post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor's guilt endlessly.
By Heather Atherton, USA Today
Recovering a Bombed Past with Sera Koulabdara
Sep 1, 2022
Sera Koulabdara is the Executive Director of Legacies of War. In this episode, Eugene sits down with Sera in the beginning of a three part series with Legacies of War to provide some background on the Laos bombings conducted during the American "Secret War" on Laos and how it resulted in family separation, both for Sera's family and others.
By Eugene Lee, Divided Families Project
Past
“After War, A New Legacy of Peace in Laos”
Sep 7, 2016
When I was 6 years old, my family fled Laos, a country in Southeast Asia the size of Minnesota. As refugees welcomed by the United States, my parents’ wish for their children was to not look back, but to take every opportunity provided in our new homeland to live a happy, fulfilled life .
By Channapha Khamvongsa, The Medium
“The Fight to Demine Laos”
May 11, 2017
While imagery of the “American War” in Vietnam was being blasted across newspaper front pages, radio stations, and televisions in the U.S., the Nixon administration and the CIA were secretly showering its neighbors, the small, land-locked Laos, and Cambodia, with millions of bombs...
By Claire Knox, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown