Soft Power and Hard Truths in Laos

I don’t doubt the courage or good intentions of Paul E. White or of the Laotian people whose lives intersected with his. But at times, the podcast sounded less like an exploration of soft power than a retrospective justification for CIA subterfuge during the U.S. war in Laos.

Under those circumstances, I can understand why International Voluntary Services eventually withdrew. In fact, I admired Paul White more in the earlier episode when he described building swing sets and teaching Laotians how to make school furniture — work rooted not in covert strategy, but in practical human solidarity.

White also speaks movingly about the accomplishments of many Lao and Hmong refugees in the United States who rebuilt their lives after unimaginable upheaval. But those achievements reflect not the righteousness of the war so much as the resilience of people forced to survive its consequences, along with the help of individuals like Paul White who genuinely cared about the Laotian people themselves.

What also haunted me while listening was the knowledge that the war’s consequences did not end when the Americans left. Laos still bears physical and economic scars from the bombing campaign, with unexploded bombs, land mines, and other hidden explosives continuing to threaten farmers and children decades later. Against that backdrop, stories of courage and friendship become not less meaningful, but more morally complicated.