The H'mong

     We Americans are a generous, kind, and unfortunately, gullible people.  We are a people who believe in "fair play" and the right for everyone to pursue happiness and good life.  We believe in protecting the weak, and like to think of ourselves as sort of a comic book "superhero" type of a nation that comes to the aid of the small guy in trouble.  That may have indeed been the case in some instances in the past, but recent history has shown that we, as a nation, are far from being the idealized version that we like think of ourselves.  In short, what the American people think and believe, and what our government is doing or has been doing, are apparently two completely different versions.  It does not matter whether it is a Republican or Democratic administration, our government has not performed to our idealized view and standards, what we as people think our government should do.
     Quite frankly, our performance (as a nation) in supporting our friends, being loyal to those who supported our cause, our interests, has been miserable in the last half of a century.  It does not even have to do with armed conflicts.  Take Taiwan or the good old Republic of China for example.  We swore up and down that we would protect them, back them 100% against that evil communist enemy of theirs across the straits, the People's Republic of China.  Then, in a blink of any eye, with Kissinger's secret trip to Beijing followed by Nixon's televised toast with Mao, we dumped Taiwan and became bosom buddies with PRC, who today holds the largest stack of our IOUs, and we are constantly accusing them of spying on us with cyber attacks, etc.  At just about the same time, we launched a "Vietnamization" program, withdrew our combat troops (actually all troops) from Vietnam, the very same Vietnam or Republic of South Vietnam that we created and supported.  Shortly, we essentially dumped the Republic of South Vietnam, left it to its own devices, and within an incredible short space of time, it fell apart and those nasty communists that we had been fighting for over a decade took over.
     In more recent history, we encouraged the Kurds in Iraq to rise against Saddam Hussein, then inexplicably dumped them after the first Gulf War.  During the Iraqi Freedom (the second Gulf War), we solicited the Kurds help to drive south from the north.  Incredibly enough, the Kurds, who had been abandoned by us a decade earlier and suffered mightily, agreed to help us.  It may have been the so-called "coalition" forces (translated, 90% U.S.) that drove from south northward to Baghdad, but it was the combined Kurdish forces, the Peshmergahs led by our Special Forces that did all the fighting in the north.  Yet, after their significant contribution to overall victory, we abandoned them once again in 2011 when we decided to pull out of Iraq!  Now we are again asking the Kurds to help us, this time to fight ISIS!  I don't know, if I was a Kurd I would have to think hard about joining forces with us!
     But this blog is not supposed to be about Kurds, it is rather about the H'mong people who helped us so much during our involvement in Indochina!  Most notably, the H'mong were our allies, armed and trained by CIA and Army Special Forces to fight our enemies.  The H'mong were the Royal Lao Army, the ones that fought the communist Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese!  In Laos, they were essentially our only allies during the long, protracted "secret war" that took place from the early 1960s until we left in mid 1970s. The H'mong, led by General Vang Pau fought bravely and continuously for us during our entire stay in the region.
     There are two major ethnic minority groups in Indochina that were named montagnards (mountain people) by the French.  One group is called the Degar and the other H'mong or Miao (Meo).  The H'mong are the larger group consisting of about 5 million total souls scattered about the mountain regions of Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.  They have always been mistreated, persecuted by the Lao, the Thai and the Vietnamese.  The Vietnamese even called montagnards moi, which means beast or animal!  I am sure they still use that derogatory term.  During our (not French) Vietnam war, we used the montagnards extensively as mercenary troops and the H'mong were one of the largest participants.  We used them as regular troops in Laos, the so-called Royal Lao Army, and we used them as irregular troops that were called Mobile Guerrilla Units, Mobile Strike Forces, and Provincial Reconnaissance Units.  The Mobile Guerrillas, the Mike Forces, and the PRUs were highly successful.  They were patterned after the famous Jingpao and Kachin Rangers of World War Two fame in Burma that were trained and led by the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA and the Army Special Forces.
     Guess what happened when we left Vietnam?  Yes, we dumped them!  Fortunately several thousand H'mongs led by General Vang Pau were able to get out of Laos and resettle in the U.S., and periodically more have managed to make their way to America by way of refugee camps in Thailand.  Why refugee camps in Thailand?  Because they are actively being persecuted, sought out and either killed or incarcerated by the Communist Lao government.  The same thing is taking place in Vietnam where a smaller population of H'mong still hangs on in the mountains.  Those who escape communist persecution have only one place to go in the region, Thailand.  Thailand on the otherhand, doesn't want them and actually periodically sends back some of the H'mongs back to Laos or Vietnam where you can guess what kind of reception they receive.  The atrocities that they suffer are so horrific that they are unimaginable for most Americans!
     Incredibly enough, there are H'mong resistance fighters still in remote regions of Laos and Vietnam.  They are now second and even third generation H'mong anti communist fighters.  The Lao and Vietnamese governments pursue the H'mong like animals.  They hunt them down in helicopters and indiscriminately mow down men, women, and children.  They are still moi, as far as the communist regime is concerned!
     In 2006, the aging Vang Pau and some of his associates were arrested by the Federal Agents (ATF) in California and charged with "attempt to overthrow a foreign government."  Apparently Vang Pau and his colleagues bought some weapons and tried to send them to Laos, to the resistance fighters.  How ironic!  We had recruited these people and armed them and told them to fight the communists.  For years they had been writing letters and appealing to various people in our government to help their brothers in Laos in Vietnam.  Naturally, their pleas were ignored, so in desperation they decided to do something themselves.   So now, we are charging them with "attempt to overthrow" the very same government that we had paid them to fight for over a decade!  Fortunately, there was enough of an uproar from former CIA and Special Forces veterans that mysteriously in 2007 all charges were dropped.
   The H'mong and the Degar, the montagnards are still actively pursued and persecuted by both the Lao and the Vietnamese governments.  They are hunted down like animals.  The UNHCR keeps filing reports, but as is typical of UN, it is doing nothing about it.  There is even one lengthy report filed by UNHCR that is titled, Hunted Like Animals.  Yet, nothing has been done to date by anyone!  We, who are responsible for creating this situation are doing nothing!  Yes, we did allow some who were lucky enough to get away to resettle in the U.S.  We have the largest population of H'mong outside of Laos and Vietnam.  Currently there are a bit over a quarter of a million H'mong scattered about the U.S.  The largest number, about a hundred thousand, are in California.  There are even some in Alaska!  But the bulk of the population is still in those rugged mountains of Laos and Vietnam, and incredibly, still fighting the communist rulers of those countries!
     We have this shame-full history of abandoning our allies, especially ethnic minorities like the H'mong.  In another part of the world, the Kurds are facing the same situation.  They too have been abandoned by us, twice, after throwing in their lot with us.  But the Kurds, unlike the H'mong, are larger in numbers (there are about 35 million Kurds), are better organized, and capable of fending for themselves for the most part.  The H'mong, on the otherhand, were so trusting of our support.  They were trusting to a fault, childlike.  In fact, one of the traits that most Americans who had contact with montaganrds (H'mong or Degar) noticed immediately was how trusting they were!  These are simple people, guileless!  They trusted us completely when we told them that if they fought for us, everything would be fine and we would be always there to support them.  Little did they know about how our government operates and how duplicitous it can be!  They couldn't comprehend that, they are just to trusting and they truly believed us!  You can rest assured that if the Kurds knew of the H'mongs, they would not be fighting for us now!