October 11, 2002

As Planned - Heavy Assault Begins Against Freedom Fighters
"I am afraid that I may not be able to contact you in the future." - Moua Toua Ter

Laos (FFC) In a short statement, Freedom Fighter leader Moua Toua Ter, while under fire, reported a heavy assault against his group of 3000 men, women, and children in the Pha Sie cliff area of Xaysomboune Special Zone by communist forces.  According to Moua Toua Ter it may be his last report.   This attack corresponds with the announced plan of General Bounchan, LPDR's military leader of the region, to wipe out this group of Secret War Veterans and their families by the end of October.
Moua Toua Ter reported as follows: " I wanted to report to you that we have been heavily attacked by the communist Lao government forces.  On October 6th and 7th 2002 the Communist Lao government transported military troops and military supplies by helicopters to the military encampments.  Today, October 9, 2002 the communist forces started attacking, chasing, hunting, and killing us.  I am afraid that I may not be able to contact you in the future."  Then the communication was cut off.

The group of several hundred "Freedom Fighters" and their families have been surrounded for several weeks by Pathet Lao and Vietnamese military forces in the area of the Pha Sie cliffs near the Nam Ngun river in the Xaysomboune Special Zone.  Ten encampments of communist soldiers have surrounded them since May of this year. They have been fired upon daily with machine guns, mortars, and chemical weapons.  Their food supplies are low and there are no medicines available to them.  They are unable to get out of the area.

This is one of twenty such groups in Laos.  While most of these groups are under attack by the Pathet Lao and Vietnamese forces this group is in the most dire circumstance. 
This group has been under sustained attacks since December 1, 1999. 
In early September 2002 sources within the government of Laos report General Bounchan, who is currently stationed at Mouang Chang, had drafted a military strategic plan to exterminate and genocide all the veterans and their families by the end of October 2002.    His plan included more military forces and the use of modern military weapons purchased from North Korea.  It was reported General Bounchan recruited 10,000 troops for his new plan; 5,000 Laotians and 5,000 troops from North Vietnam.  These troops were scheduled to go out to the mountains and jungles in the month of October 2002 to kill all the U.S. secret War veterans and their families.
The Freedom Fighters are veterans of the U.S. Secret Army.  For twenty-six years these people have lived in the jungle holding on to the hope their American allies would come to their rescue.  They eat roots of trees and Cassava (wild yam).  Those born in the jungle have never tasted rice.  Today there are few of the cassava left.  The harsh roots of the trees are indigestible for the very young and the elderly causing them to starve to death.  The only medicines are herbal remedies found in the jungle.  Their clothing is old and tattered.
The genocide of these people is based on their allegiance to the United States.  The communists refer to "the American nail in their head" of those who fought for the United States and their descendents.  This American mentality is the enemy of the communist philosophy.  America is their greatest enemy.  In their thinking this "American Nail" is in the genes so all men, women, and children must be exterminated.
Those in the mountains have to move every few days.  Almost daily they are subjected to attacks by communist military forces, which bomb, machine gun, and use chemical weapons and sprays against these people.
The weapons the veterans have are only those left over from the secret war and a few taken from dead communist soldiers. In some regions veterans have only five rounds of ammunition each. 
Women and children are most often the casualties of the assaults as chemical weapons target water and food supplies.  Historically when captured by the communists, other groups of these veterans have been tortured and killed.  Women are raped tortured and killed.  Children have their throats cut or are smashed against trees.
The Fact Finding Commission found that Vietnamese troops, in violation of treaties signed at the end of the war, are stationed in Laos.  Sixteen military bases with several battalions of North Vietnamese Army troops were identified.  They are strategically located in regions near the mountain locations where the veterans and their families are located.