Vientiane, September 7 (RHC)-- U.S. President Barack Obama is in Laos for an historic visit -- the first for a sitting U.S. president.  But despite calls for an apology for the secret U.S. bombing campaign in in that country during the U.S. war of aggression against Vietnam, he has refused to do so.

Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped an average of eight bombs per minute on Laos, including as many as 270 million cluster bombs.  Laotian authorities say as many as one-third of these cluster bombs did not explode at the time.

The U.S. president has pledged $90 million to help clear Laos of the unexploded U.S. bombs... but no formal apology for the wanton death and destruction caused to the Laotian people.