Status Updates From Tragic Mountains: The Hmong...

Learned that the KMT were marooned in SE Asia and controlled the opium trade there into the 60s. Also learned that this is gonna be another depressing read. But, such is the usual consequence of learning about the world.

"General Vang Pao...whom the Americans counted on for so many years, was suddenly persona non grata in Thailand, an embarrassment for the CIA, & in general a huge problem for the U.S. What would happen to his large family, including his many children & his 5 wives? Which country would take a man with multiple wives? The U.S? No, certainly not. France? Maybe."

"an A-1E pilot strafed & bombed the site to keep the NVA from overrunning the command post to which the defenders had retreated until the weather improved for for air strikes. It was so reminiscent of a movie in which the US cavalry rescues the besieged fort at the last moment that thereafter Na Khang became known as 'the Alamo'"
- iirc the Alamo is the one where the defenders were all killed

"On August 9th, 1960, US supported Captain Kong Le, with his recently 'lost' second paratrooper battalion, overthrew the American backed Lao government, installed only a few months earlier. Kong Le insisted that corruption had inspired him to take this bold act"

whether his own or of the government the text does not say

sweet merciful Zeus, the horrible things humans can do to humans...