June 8, 2007

 

FFC Responds to Arrest of Hmong American Leaders

 

 

The rescue of the Secret War veterans and their families from the genocide at the hands of the Lao government cannot be accomplished by attempts to overthrow those in power or by active insurgency on the part of those still trapped in the jungles of Laos.   The international community will not support such an action nor diplomatically pursue a solution for these people if either of these two activities is taking place.  This has been the message of the Fact Finding Commission to General Vang Pao and those leaders who where recently arrested.

 

At the same time while the FFC cannot condone the alleged conduct it finds it difficult to condemn the motives of the men involved. 

 

For nearly thirty years the Pathet Lao have systematically attempted to “destroy to the root” those in Laos who had been loyal to the United States during the war in Southeast Asia.  The Lao military continually hunts these people who are hiding in the remote jungles.  Many incidents of attacks against innocent women and children as they gather food have been documented.  Stories of torture, rape, and infanticide have come from those in the jungles now for decades.

 

These in the jungles are the soldiers left behind after the war and their families.  They are the comrades, brothers, sisters, and cousins of the Hmong here in America.  The hunting and killing of these people has been the best kept secret of the LPDR.

 

In 2001 the Fact Finding Commission set out to expose this secret persecution of America’s allies.   Believing that telling the story in pictures would make a difference FFC sent cameras and telephones into the jungle to capture the truth of what was happening to these people.  Subsequently Time Magazine journalist Andrew Perrin, and award winning photographer Philip Blenkinsop entered the jungle and confirmed the plight of these people.  In addition to Time Magazine Blenkinsop’s photographs of the Hmong have been in dozens of major publications throughout the world and won many awards.  Later BBC journalists Ruhi Hamid, and Misha Maltzev; independent Canadian journalist Nelson Rand; French journalist Cyril Payen; and more recently World Picture News journalist Roger Arnold brought out the truth of the persecution of these people at the hands of the Lao government.

 

In 2003 Andrew Perrin told the people in the jungle “You have been a secret for 27 years, you will be a secret no more.” 

 

The Hmong in America watched the video and pictures and followed the story of their families still in Laos.  They were able to see first hand the horrific conditions under which their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and cousins were living.  Their hope was now the international community would respond to the cries of their people and work to rescue them.  For once they now had hope for a future for their friends and family. 

 

The plight of these people reached Congress, the State Department, the United Nations, the European Union, and other nations.  Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the international media and others have cried out for the rescue of these people.  People such as Colin Powell, Kofi Anan, and Condoleeza Rice have acknowledged concern for these people.  Some, as with us, have worked toward a solution but have failed.  Others have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the plight of these people. 

 

Those from the jungle that have surrendered have been imprisoned and the fate of many is unknown.   To date only a handful has made it safely out of the mountainous jungles of Laos and into neighboring Thailand.  As

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