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U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government

 
Al-Muntaqim
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06/09/2007 05:51 PM
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U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
U.S. prosecutors have arrested 10 people – including former Royal Lao Army general Vang Pao, 77, and a former United States Army officer Harrison Jack, 60 – in connection with a plot to blow up government buildings in Laos and topple its government. Arrests have been made in six different cities in California, after authorities with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), together with the joint Terrorist Task Force, uncovered the plot.

All 10 men face charges of violating the US Neutrality Act by plotting to overthrow the communist Lao government while on US soil.

“We cannot tolerate our country being used as a staging ground for foreign coup attempts,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein.

Suspects were arrested in Chico, Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Stockton and Woodland.

The plot, say prosecutors, involved obtaining C-4 explosives, AK-47 rifles, rockets, land mines and missiles, ship them to Thailand, and then use the arsenal to take down the main branch of the Laotian government by blowing up the government’s main buildings in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

The bombs would be deployed using “special operation mercenaries,” but undercover agents working with the ATF foiled the plot when the suspects were tricked into buying the weapons and supplies they needed from the undercover agents.

“These defendants had developed an audacious plan to overthrow the government of Laos, and were seeking to arm themselves with automatic rifles, rockets and surface-to-air missiles,” said the assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, Kenneth Wainstein in a statement to the press.

The complaint, filed in federal court in the California capital Sacramento, said the men sought to spend millions of dollars for Stinger missiles, mines, automatic rifles and anti-tank missiles. They are alleged to have wanted to ship them to Thailand for eventual use against Laos – where the complaint said they had planted spies to survey military and government facilities.



The criminal complaint said Vang Pao, now 77, and the other Hmong defendants formed a committee “to evaluate the feasibility of conducting a military expedition or enterprise to engage in the overthrow of the existing government of Laos by violent means, including murder, assaults on both military and civilian officials of Laos and destruction of buildings and property.”

“The defendants have issued instructions that the mercenary force is to destroy these government facilities, to reduce them to rubble, and make them look like the results of the attack upon the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001,” the complaint said.

“We’re looking at conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Twiss said in federal court.

The men face conspiracy charges, including to kill and kidnap abroad, and could face life in prison.

“The individuals arrested today thought an arms dealer would provide the necessary weapons and personnel to assist them in the violent overthrow of another government. An undercover ATF agent led them to believe he could fulfill their needs,” said acting ATF director Michael Sullivan in a statement to the press.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the plot was put together by a Lao liberation movement known as Neo Hom, led in the U.S. by Vang Pao, and had conducted extensive fund-raising activities, surveillance operations and an insurgent force within Laos.

Vang Pao led Hmong forces backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency against the communist Pathet Lao in the “Secret War” in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. He served in the Royal Army of Laos, holding the rank of major general. After the fall of Laos to the communists in 1975, Vang Pao immigrated to the U.S., where he is a folk hero among Laotian refugees. There were plans to name an elementary school after him in Wisconsin, which is home to many Hmong people.

Another man named in the charges, Jack, is a former California National Guard lieutenant colonel and a 1968 West Point graduate. He was involved in covert operations during the Vietnam War. Jack acted as an arms broker and organizer of the plot, according to the criminal complaint.

Most of the remaining suspects had fought in Laos with Vang Pao, the complaint said.

Among those named in the complaint are seven prominent members of the Hmong community in California’s Central Valley.

Thousands of co-conspirators remain at large, many in other countries, Twiss said. Prosecutors said they believe all the leaders of the plot are in custody.

Both Laos and Vietnam remain under communist governments. In 2005, the U.S. normalized trade agreements with Laos.

Sources:

Adam Tanner, “U.S. arrests 10 it says plotted to oust Laos’ govt” The Boston Globe June 5, 2007

Don Thompson, “9 Charged in Laotian Overthrow Plot” Guardian UK June 5, 2007

“US arrests Hmong rebels for plotting Laos overthrow” Earth Times June 5, 2007
He whose vengeance upon the enemies of Allah is terrible, and who is most vengeful toward his own ego, which is his greatest enemy.
Anonymous Coward
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06/09/2007 06:05 PM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
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Al-Muntaqim  (OP)

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06/09/2007 06:16 PM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
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 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 249035



The only BS here is you pretending to have any intelligence.

[link to news.yahoo.com]

[link to www.examiner.com]

[link to www.earthtimes.org]
He whose vengeance upon the enemies of Allah is terrible, and who is most vengeful toward his own ego, which is his greatest enemy.
Normal Is Subjective

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06/09/2007 06:25 PM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
The U.S. as the white-hats is once again debatable:

The Laos plot thickens

Sacramento, California
US investigators now believe that an alleged plot to overthrow the Laos government by arms may have involved a former Wisconsin state senator and even a US congressman, but Hmong icon Vang Pao denied there was any such plan.

Many Hmong refugees wonder why they even left Thailand.

Vang Pao's lawyer said the general was innocent of all charges after his client's brief appearance in federal court in Sacramento on Tuesday.

"General Vang Pao has worked actively to pursue peaceful solutions to the problems in Laos and has disavowed violence," attorney John Balazs told reporters outside the courthouse.

Reports from the US said that at a community center in Fresno, dozens of Hmong immigrants who attended a Monday night English lesson fell silent as they absorbed the news. Several later said they felt sick and questioned why they had left their Thai refugee camp for California, if their leader, General Vang Pao, was in jail.

"I love my general. He is like my uncle," said a tearful Neng Vang, who regularly attends the nighttime language classes.

In contemporary Laos, Hmong people are still subject to detentions and human rights violations, according to the State Department.

Many recent immigrants arrive in the US still traumatised by war and decades of persecution, only to find that they are blocked from obtaining asylum or green cards under provisions of the USA Patriot Act, said Sharon Stanley, director of Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries.

The Associated Press reported that the unnamed US congressman, as well as the California Highway Patrol known as CHP, apparently were unwitting parties that Hmong conspirators hoped to use to further their plans, according to court documents and interviews Tuesday with investigators on the case, AP reported.

A sworn affidavit from an undercover agent states that "probable cause exists to believe" that former Wisconsin state Senator Gary George was among those involved in the conspiracy.

"There is going to be a wealth of information we're going to be following up on," said Nina S. Delgadillo, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "There may be other defendants - that's a strong possibility."

George has not been arrested or charged. Lo Cha Thao, 34, of Clovis, who once worked as an aide to the senator, was one of 10 people charged Monday in federal court in Sacramento.

The AP reports that George's attorney, Alex Flynn of Milwaukee, said the evidence in the indictment does not implicate his client.

"Gary George denies any allegations as defamatory and has as much interest in seeing the government of Laos overthrown as he does in the Klingons taking over the Starship Enterprise," Flynn told The Associated Press late Tuesday. "These allegations are preposterous."


Of course they are.

[link to www.bangkokpost.com]
I thought I'd beat the inevitibility of death to death just a little bit.
AL-M (OP)
User ID: 238769
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06/09/2007 08:39 PM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
where is Mr bullshitter....eating crow?

--------------

Loose tongues foil 'Laos plot'
It was a motley crowd of would-be Rambos, "Neo Homs", and a famous former general bent on overthrowing the communist government of Laos, US officials say. But the revolutionaries were allegedly tripped up by their own loose tongues before they even finished their spicy soup at a Thai restaurant in California. - Richard S Ehrlich
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 249457
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06/09/2007 09:13 PM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
I've seen the movie "killing fields" so it must be true
YierraLee

User ID: 76600807
Germany
07/24/2018 07:59 AM
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Re: U.S. Thwarts Plot to Overthrow Laos Government
They support communism
I'll milk it...just don't tell anybody.





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