It is a shocking tale-if true. In September 1970, as the Vietnam War raged on, a team of 16 commandos was sent to Laos on a secret mission. They were ordered to find and kill U.S. defectors, fellow soldiers who had gone over to the communists. U.S. warplanes dropped bombs containing lethal sarin gas, a nerve gas, killing some of the soldiers, along with scores of civilians. The Air Force dropped more poison gas the next day to help the commandos escape by helicopter. The account, appeared on CNN and Time last week.