We Reap What We Sow: Gen. Vang Pao

The U. S. government is collectively the worst, most egregious, most flagrantly untruthful criminal offender in the world community. The laws which bind its citizens at home are absolutely meaningless abroad, and one administration after another have taken this as a license to do harm to foreign citizens and sovereign governments, as well as given tacit permission to private industry to flout any laws or ethics in their dealings with other peoples or nations. It should not be shocking then that the United States are increasingly derided and hated around the world. This has nothing to do with envy or jealousy, as our dumbed-down politicians would like their voters to believe. Rather it has to do with the anger that comes from having one’s own country interfered with, from living in abject poverty under an oppressive dictator who happens to be friendly with the leaders of the so-called free world, so long as he receives money and weapons in return.

This is the role of the CIA—as the current and recent administrations have seen fit to interpret it—to bully other countries into going along with whatever the United States currently desires. Only just last week it was in the news that President Bush had directed the CIA to “change the regime” in Iran to a more friendly one, never mind that this had been tried before and resulted in the current state of affairs in Iran, an extreme and power-obsessed regime who rose to power solely on hatred for the dictator who had been a puppet for the United States. Does no one read history? It was not that long ago; does no one remember?

How would we feel if, say, the Chinese government endorsed a candidate for President, and threatened to invade if they didn’t get their way? Would we begin to hate China? Would we begin to hate anyone who might appear to be tainted by their offer? Wouldn’t we resent that a big bully of a country could interfere with our own sovereign nation’s inner workings? Yes we would, and now you know how other countries of the world view our government. They are tired of being bullied by a big, fat hypocrite. We are not good, we are not righteous, and we are not leading. We are simply bullying and taking the lunch money of the world’s schoolyard. It needs to stop.

The Federal District Court in Sacramento, California has decided to charge General Vang Pao as part of a conspiracy to overthrow the current Laotian government. In essence, he is being charged for doing the very same kind of thing he was initially recruited by the CIA for, during the “secret” war in northern Laos. By recruiting and arming the Hmong people in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the CIA added fuel to a fire which resulted in the majority of Hmong being displaced at the end of the war, either to “refugee camps” in Thailand (described as prisons by those who’ve seen them) or to the United States, where the General himself came and is renowned among many of his people for his work on their behalf.

The President and the CIA need to own up to having played a role in creating this situation. I wonder if even now they may be a part of this, either by encouraging the General, or by simply not saying no. The General could be a bargaining chip for the current administration in their dealings with Laos or (perhaps more likely) Thailand, proving once again the fickleness of our Presidents and their willingness to throw away the lives of people who made unbelievable sacrifices on little more than words of encouragement from the CIA. An entire people have suffered and been displaced on what amounted to little more than a Presidential whim, and in all the years since, the successive administrations do not seem to have learned any lessons from it.

The U. S. of A. needs a new foreign policy, and it is this: do no harm. Respect the sovereignty of other nations (ask a Native American about this; he or she can tell you all about it) and endorse no one, good or bad. Do not sell weapons to anyone, no matter how closely allied. Engage in no pre-emptive wars. Embargo no one. Instruct private industry that they will be expected to honor the intent, if not the letter, of their laws at home. Re-negotiate trade pacts to make them more fair for everyone involved. Convert foreign-aid dollars into humanitarian programs focused on assisting poorer countries reach self-sufficiency. (Clean water, secular schools, hospitals.) Respect the Geneva conventions, even if it seems like no one else does. And for the love of mercy, sign on to the Kyoto treaty, already. These ideas are not my own, and not in any way revolutionary. They are simply the result of scrutinizing history and ditching the policies that have rarely (if ever) worked.

General Vang Pao was not the first person to be used and tossed aside by the President via the CIA, and he will not be the last, unless people start expecting their President to behave more like the leader of the free world and less like a cold, insensitive bully.