All Hmong must go

[chuckwoww]

Totally unconnected to the Hmong problem...

 

"The American ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan C. Crocker, has asked the Bush administration to take the unusual step of granting immigrant visas to all Iraqis employed by the U.S. government in Iraq because of growing concern that they will quit and flee the country if they cannot be assured eventual safe passage to the United States."

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072101359.html?hpid=topnews

[Old Hippie]

And there is 100% no chance that any are terrorists or Al quada operatives right?

[chuckwoww]

And there is 100% no chance that any are terrorists or Al quada operatives right?

 

I'm not sure what they are anymore. I just classify them all as pissed off Iraqis.

[Hugh_Hoy]

it's just an american problem.

 

Aren't ALL problems "an american problem"? :smirk: I'm fucking sick and tired of some of the guys here who always find a way to push a "problem" onto the shoulders of "America". It's one fucking country out of about 170, and you'd think there are some other countries that should think about doing a bit of problem-solving of their own. Yim Siam has said it best.

 

HH

[Hugh_Hoy]

Agree that tons of $$$ were made by the government and individuals during the VN war. But you must remember that Thailand had it's hands full with commie insurgents on it's own soil during that time and they could see a trend in neighboring SEA countries. In other words, the US and Thailand had mutual interests at stake.

 

HH

[Old Hippie]

HH,

 

Agree on that, but I seem to recall that somewhere along the line, the USA did promise something to the Hmong and Lao who fought on our side. Doc Weldon in his book "Tragedy in Paradise..." wrote that "Pop" Buell and many others felt we had betrayed the Hmong and Montonyard (SP) and basically left them to die. Many of the guys I know from that era, (some of the guys on this board have met some of them, or know others themselves) feel the same way.

 

As long as we are going to turn our backs on a bunch of low life criminals who sneak in here, I would like to think we could make room for those who actually did something for us. Additionally, the Hmong and Lao in America are an upwardly mobile group, which is more than I can say for others we let in, or sneak in...

[OCgringo]

we "let" millions of Mexicans come to the USA every year,

 

whats the big deal with 7000 Hmong ?

 

OC

 

same with Thailand , why are these people in a camp anyway ? Thailand has what 60 million people ? whats another 7000 ?

[elef]

The Secret War

Main article: Secret War

In the early 1960s, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began to recruit the indigenous â??Hmongâ? people in Laos to join fighting the Vietnam War, named as a Special Guerrilla Unit led by General Vang Pao. Over 80% of the Hmong men in Laos were recruited by the CIA to join fighting for the U.S. Secret War in Laos. The CIA used the Special Guerrilla Unit as the counter attack unit to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main military supply route from the north to the south. Hmong soldiers put their lives at risk in the frontline fighting for the United States to block the supply line and to rescue downed American pilots. As a result, the Hmong suffered a very high casualty rate; more than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the frontline, countless men were missing in action, thousands more were injured and disabled.

 

General Vang Pao led the Region II (MR2) defense against NVA incursion from his headquarters in Long Cheng, also known as Lima Site 20 Alternate (LS 20A).[22] At the height of its activity, Long Cheng became the second largest city in Laos, estimated at 300,000, with 200,000 ethnic Hmong and 100,000 people of other ethnic backgrounds. Long Cheng was a micro-nation operational site with its own bank, airport, school system, officials, and many other facilities and services in addition to its military units. Before the end of the Secret War, Long Cheng would fall in and out of General Vang Pao's control.

 

The Secret War began around the time that the United States became officially involved in the Vietnam War. When the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and the Hmong people became targets of retaliation and persecution. While some Hmong people returned to their villages and attempted to resume life under the new regime, thousands more made the trek to and across the Mekong River into Thailand, often under attack. This marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Hmong people from Laos.

 

Of those Hmong who did not leave, somewhere between two and three thousand were sent to re-education camps where political prisoners served terms of 3-5 years. Many people died in these camps, enduring hard physical labor and harsh conditions.[23] Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain regions - particlarly Phou Bia, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. Initially, some Hmong groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao and Vietnamese troops while others remained in hiding to avoid military retaliation and persecution. Spiritual leader Zong Zoua Her rallied his followers in a guerilla resistance movement called Chao Fa (RPA: Cob Fab). Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.[24]

 

Small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in Thailand and other countries.[25]

 

 

[edit] Controversy over repatriation

During the 1990s, many Hmong refugees living in Thailand were forcibly repatriated to Laos by the Thai government. This action, made with general support from UNHCR and the Clinton Administration, became highly controversial. Many Hmong people alleged that they were persecuted by the Laotian regime upon their return.

 

The forced return of the Hmong was staunchly opposed by many American conservatives and human rights activists. In a 1995 National Review article, Michael Johns labeled the decision to return Hmong veterans to Laos a "betrayal".[26] Pressure built on the Clinton administration to alter its repatriation policy and, in a significant political victory for the Hmong, most refugees were subsequently resettled to other countries, with many moving to the United States. The last major resettlement of about 15,000 Hmong from the Wat Tham Krabok camp began in 2004.

 

In 2004 and 2005, thousands of Hmong fled from the jungles of Laos to a temporary refugee camp in the Thai province of Phetchabun.[27] These Hmong refugees, many of whom are descendants of the former-CIA Secret Army and their relatives, claim that they have been attacked by both the Lao and Vietnamese military forces operating inside Laos as recently as June 2006. The refugees claim that attacks against them have continued almost unabated since the war officially ended in 1975, and have become more intense in recent years.

 

Filmmaker Rebecca Sommer documented first-hand accounts in her documentary, "Hunted Like Animals"[28], and in a comprehensive report which includes summaries of claims made by the refugees and was submitted to the U.N. in May 2006. [29]

 

The European Union [30], UNHCHR, UNHCR, and international groups have spoken out about the forced repatriation.[31], [32], [33] The Thai foreign ministry has said that it will halt deportation of Hmong refugees held in Detention Centers Nong Khai, while talks are underway to resettle them in the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and the United States. [34]For the time being, countries willing to resettle the refugees are hindered to proceed with immigration and settlement procedures, as the Thai administration doesn't grant them access to the refugees. Plans to resettle refugees in the United States have been complicated by provisions of the Patriot Act and Real ID Act under which Hmong veterans of the Secret War, who fought on the side of the United States, are classified as terrorists.[35]

 

 

Link

 

Plans to resettle refugees in the United States have been complicated by provisions of the Patriot Act and Real ID Act under which Hmong veterans of the Secret War, who fought on the side of the United States, are classified as terrorists.

[Flashermac]

It was the Hmongs' misfortune to live in that part of Laos next to N VN. The hill tribes traditionally have mistrusted and feared the Vietnamese, which made them support the US in the war. Likewise, the N Viets mistrusted the hill tribes - not really considering them Vietnamese. (They aren't, but they were in the mountains BEFORE the Viets moved in and started taking their land.)

 

I was up around the hill tribes near the Lao border, and they were great folks. If we hired them to do some work - e.g. something simple like filling sandbags - we paid them much more than the local Viets would. They said we treated them better too (like people).

 

I think every vet is disgusted by the way the US abandoned the hill tribes. Hanoi's soldiers reportedly have walked into Hmong villages in Laos and told the people the land now belonged to the Viets now, since they had won the war. Also, Pleiku province in VN has been split in two, to reduce hill tribe control. Hanoi has brought in tens of thousands of settlers and the 2000 census showed the hill tribes to be a minority there for the first time in recorded history.

 

p.s. I shouldn't be too surprised, since the US govmt more or less treated me like something disposable.

 

[elef]

I see it as an american problem as USA started the war. More general if the US want to go around as a world police and starting wars everywhere you must also take the consequences afterwards and don't just tell the UN or somebody else to take over.

 

No the real reason to the situation for the Hmongs is of course that the american goverment wants a friendly relation with the laotian. See what happened with general Vang Pao. As a neighbour Thailand has even bigger reasons for a friendly relation with Laos. Just bad for the Hmongs....