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Vietnam War
In the early 1960s, the long struggle in Southeast Asia between capitalist
interests in the South and communist interests in the North once again
erupted in Vietnam. At that time the 600 year-old Kingdom of Laos, the
homeland of the Hmong who have immigrated to America and which borders
Vietnam on the west, was a neutral country by decree of the latest Geneva
peace conference. But still the Lao people were divided, and the struggle
in Vietnam was mirrored in Laos as the Royal Lao Army, trained and supported
by the United States, and the Pathet Lao, backed by the Soviet Union,
fought for control - just as the North and South fought for control of
Vietnam.
American armed forces were soon fully involved in Vietnam, though, with
the main American battleground established in the south. In order to sustain
troops in that area, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong had to move arms
and food along the Ho Chi Min Trail - directly through the Laotian Mountains
that were home to some 300,000 Hmong. It was an area the Royal Lao Army
could not control, and since the US had promised to honor Laos' neutrality,
they could only fly bombing missions into the area, not deploy ground
troops. So the CIA secretly initiated "Operation Momentum." The first
step was to send word to the people in the mountains (many tribes, but
most notably the Hmong) that the Vietnamese wanted to take Hmong land
and that the Americans would help stop them. Although the Hmong had a
reputation as fierce fighters, they also had a passion for independence
- from the Lao, from the communists, from the Americans. But the threat
of invasion by an army much more powerful than any they could muster made
the elders seriously consider the Americans' offer of weapons and training.
At the same time, the CIA also secretly contacted famous Hmong military
leader Vang Pao, who had risen to Major General in the Royal Lao Army.
They promised the food, weapons and training his troops would need if
he would recruit young men from the Hmong villages to form a guerilla
army that would fight off the Vietnamese. Vang Pao accepted and, made
countless personal visits to the tribal villages to convince clan elders
and village leaders to join with the Americans and fight to save their
land. Not all of the 300,000 Hmong people were convinced, however. Some
took up arms with the North Vietnamese and the Pathet Lao; others simply
tried to stay out of harms way and survive. But 60% (including Cher Yang
Vang) joined Vang Pao or Zak Pov (pronounced Va Poe) as he was affectionately
known. His famous "Armee Clandestine" was born.
Now referred to as the U. S. "secret army," it numbered perhaps 7,000
at the beginning, but grew to at least 30,000 during the peak fighting
years - a number that was first made up of mature men, then - as the death
toll mounted - of younger and younger boys, some barely 10 years-old.
Still, they quickly gained recognition as the most efficient fighting
force in the war. Under Vang Pao's masterful leadership, their mission
was three fold: to cut off North Vietnamese supply lines along the Ho
Chi Minh Trail; to guide U.S. bombing missions; and to rescue downed U.
S. pilots. They were invaluable to American efforts in all three areas,
and are known to have saved hundreds of U. S. pilots whose planes were
shot down. They saved thousands of lives of other American, too - and
sacrificed thousands of their own.
The world never heard about what they were doing until many years after
the war's end. It would have been seen as illegal at that time - or at
least immoral in the eyes of the world community -- for Americans to have
ground troops in Laos. So their close ties to the "Armee Clandestine"
was kept a very closely guarded secret.
Then, after the Americans tired of the war in 1973, they agreed to a series
of terms that would drive the Hmong people who had been their allies from
their land: a cease-fire in Vietnam, the establishment of a "coalition"
government - a puppet government of the North Vietnamese -- for Laos,
the withdrawal of all troops from Southeast Asia, and an end to supplying
any resisting army - the "Armee Clandestine" included. Hmong soldiers
who had survived the brutal war were left without air support to fight
not only the Vietnamese, but also the army of Laos' new communist government,
called the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Their rifles were no match
for the enemy's planes and tanks and heavy artillery. Many Hmong were
slaughtered -- some in their villages, some at airfields waiting for evacuation
planes that never came. A few were able to fight their way, foot by foot,
across the Mekong River into refugee camps in Thailand. And while the
new Lao government officially encouraged Hmong people to stay in the country,
the newspaper of their party, Khaosane Pathet Lao, wrote openly in 1975,
"We must eradicate the Hmong minority completely."
By that time all remnants of an army had disappeared. Vang Pao had escaped
to Thailand, and surviving soldiers had rejoined what was left of their
families. Most simply sought refuge from the forces of the new Lao regime;
some continued to resist as best they could; some sought in vain to reestablish
a way of life that the war, and their participation in it, had destroyed
forever.
The Pathet Lao proceeded to purge the country of Vang Pao's supporters
and anyone else they saw as unfriendly to the new Lao Peoples Democratic
Republic. In doing so they used not only conventional military weapons
to attack unarmed Hmong civilians, they also used chemical and biological
weapons. Many Hmong living in the U. S. today still talk of the "yellow
rain" and how it sickened them and their children.
When it was finished, some 17,000 Hmong soldiers were dead. So were thousands
of Hmong civilians. Of the 300,000 Hmong in Laos at the start of the war,
30,000 died as a direct result of the fighting, 100,000 were able to escape
to Thailand or another relatively safe haven and the 90,000 soldiers and
their families who couldn't escape were left to live with the wrath of
the vengeful communist government. Lao advocates here in America say that,
since 1975, many thousands of Hmong have been executed in Laos because
of their involvement in the war. They have recent photos of murdered and
tortured families, including children, to support their claims of racial
genocide. And even today prominent Hmong people, especially those who
associated with Vang Pao during the war, are known to disappear in Laos
without a trace.
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