Back Fire

Between 1960 and 1973, the U.S. waged war in Laos under the auspices of the CIA. Undeclared and unreported, it cost thousands of lives and contributed to the climate of deception that poisoned U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. Journalist Warner (Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey) relies heavily on interviews with former CIA operatives and other American participants to reconstruct an operation characterized by idealism on the ground and by cynicism and misunderstanding at higher levels. Significant early successes against the Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese allies were wasted, according to Warner, as the U.S. sacrificed its clients for the sake of the expanding war in Vietnam. Once that conflict ended, the Laotians were left to their fate--an abandonment in cold blood that Warner considers an indelible stain on this country's reputation. (Aug.)