Secret Army
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Secret Army (disambiguation).
The Secret Army was an army of an estimated 30,000 Hmong tribesmen, trained by the United States CIA and commanded by Hmong General Vang Pao, which fought for the Royal Lao Government against Communist Pathet Lao forces in the Secret War. After the war the CIA left the Hmong to fend for themselves, since there was no written agreement.[citation needed] Some made it to refugee camps.
Since the United States had signed the Geneva Accords in 1954, the U.S. and the Communinst agreed to leave Laos as a neutral state, and evacuate all troops. Vietnam, had signed the document, but did not remove its troops. And so when the Vietnam War broke out, North Vietnamese troops crossed into the borders of Laos by the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and attacked South Vietnam with much less resistance.[citation needed] The U.S. could not send in troops to Laos to stop this violation, without violating the Geneva Accords. And so the CIA asked General Vang Pao to lead this "Secret Army"- of Hmong or Miao men and boys. The CIA hired Thai trainers to train the army and the U.S. sent in food supplies.[citation needed]
[edit] Impact
In 1975, when the U.S. decided to pull out of the Vietnam war, many of Hmongs fled to Thailand, fearing the LPDR would kill them off for supporting the U.S. The persecution still continues to this very day. There are Chao Fa "Kings of the Sky"- old soldiers out in the mountains of Laos' "Special Zones," fighting or being "exterminated to the root."[citation needed]
