A Great Place to Have a War
America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
Joshua Kurlantzick
Simon & Schuster
323 pages; $28
The Vietnam War may have ended 42 years ago but no visitor to the three countries of the former French colonial region of Indo-China can ignore its legacy in that country or in Cambodia, where the collateral depredations of the Khmer Rouge are still raw in public memory.
Tiny Laos may appear to be an exception. The country’s principal tourist spot, Luang Prabang, is the charming former royal capital on the banks of the Mekong. Now
