Posted on 06/10/2007 5:58:53 AM PDT by radar101
Arrests stir memory of 1970s U.S. abandonment after Vietnam War.
The hopes, dreams, achievements and fears of America's Hmong surfaced at a Sacramento banquet Thursday night -- along with a sense that the U.S. government, their greatest benefactor, had betrayed them again.
The man who guided the Hmong journey from the mountains and jungles of Laos to a new life of opportunity in America, Gen. Vang Pao, sits in the Sacramento County jail on charges of plotting a violent overthrow of communist Laos.
Vang, 77, is one of 10 men arrested and charged in Sacramento federal court last week with plotting a full-scale coup against Laos that would have included AK-47 assault rifles, ground-to-air Stinger missiles, anti-tank weapons and a mercenary army. The older members of the alleged conspiracy include Hmong men -- Laotian mountain tribesmen -- who followed Vang Pao as he waged war under the CIA's direction against Southeast Asian communists between 1961 and 1975.
Vang, 77, has survived a stroke and heart bypass surgery in recent years and suffers from diabetes and high cholesterol. But many still consider him the heart and soul of America's 250,000 Hmong and the thousands of others still trapped in Thailand and the jungles of Laos, where Amnesty International reports they have been assaulted and murdered by the Laotian military.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I hope the Kurds never read this.
If this guy is in jail for plotting to overthrow the unelected government of Laos, what would be the appropriate punishment for our government officials for plotting to overthrow the elected government of the United States?
Should have called himself a member of SDS or said he was part of Democratic Socialists of America and they would have left him alone.
It would have made more sense to have stayed out of these people lives to begin with.
They plotted to overthrow a communist dictatorship, which is a bad, bad, bad, thing to do. If they were Islamists or communists who had plotted to overthrow a democratic government, then they would have been good, good, good. They would not be in jail now. They would be funded by a wealthy leftist donor and they would be freely seeking recruits in every college campus and prison in the country. There would be sympathetic editorials about the evils of democratic country X and about how nice and “idealistic” these Islamists or communists were.
The hopes, dreams, achievements and fears of America's Hmong surfaced at a Sacramento banquet Thursday night -- along with a sense that the U.S. government, their greatest benefactor, had betrayed them again.
Don't fret and feel like the Lone Ranger, Vang. The U.S. government is selling us out to foreign invaders as well. It is something it does quite handily to those who support her with their blood, treasure and loyalty.
I was going to tell the guy to be proud of all this. He is now, officially, in the same category as every other white, male, Republican Christian in America. Bend over and enjoy your new status, buddy.
It was pretty clear their long term ambition was to kill, cook and eat all of them, and that would take place just about now irrespective of what we might do in that part of the world.
At least we managed to rescue a portion of the people so the Hmong will not suffer the biological destruction the invading illegal immigrants had in mind for them.
Now we should turn our attention to protecting ourselves in the same way.
He, and hundreds of thousands like him, have been in that category since 1973. We didn't just learn how to screw our friends in 1999.
This article is bleeding-heart leftist tripe. It is illegal for private citizens to plot the invasion of a foreign country while on U.S. soil. Anyone who needs the purpose of this law explained to them is a retard. This guy is charged with violating the law. To call such charges a “betrayal” by the U.S. Government is stupid and wrong. FReepers going along with this rot should be ashamed of themselves.
LOL! Pretty much EVERYTHING is illegal, unless you're a Democrat...
So you buy into the protectors of the world bunk? Every time we go help a foreign country we wind up with a bunch of their trash.
Since the Hmong are not a nation-state, nor were they ever, I don’t believe your statement is relevant.
It is the left who want them punished.
Sorry, I don't believe I'll be joining you for dinner.
IMO the US should reciprocate the favour given to us by all of the countries that those plotters get away with their treachery (ie, let them alone as long as their countries ignore our safety)
That stupid law allows this very thing to go on with impunity if is against "an enemy" of the USA!
The Laotion government are Communists in case you hadn't noticed, but since our stupid State Department sees nothing wrong with Communism, they refuse to declare it an enemy government, like Cuba.
You'll notice they didn't prosecute anyone for assisting the Tianemien Square efforts of Chinese students and they refuse to list Communist China as "an enemy" of the USA!!!
I guess we're unable to befriend anyone like we did Chaing Ki Sheck and the formosan government anymore because we're just too eager to over look the criminality of Communist regimes!
Look at the reception our President got in Albania today! Look how the other former Communist nations all over eastern Europe have stood with us on the WOT, INCLUDING THE WAR IN IRAQ!!!
Now we're probably going to be forced by Democrats to abandon the Kurds in Iraq, the only success story already being attacked by the Turks just like we abandoned these Hmong and now prosecute them for trying to free their homeland!!!
That's because we're still keepin up that phony "moral highground" concept touted by lieberals in our liegeslatures!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.