Web only piece of bread.
"Thailand moves to send Hmong back to Laos" by Jerry Harmer, Associated Press Writer | December 27, 2009
Thai Hmong woman walks by Thai Army soldiers outside the Hmong camp in northern Phetchabun province, Thailand, on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009. The Thai government said it would not disclose the timing for its expulsion of 4,000 ethnic Hmong to Laos, but human rights groups warned it could begin as early as Sunday evening and degenerate into violence. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
PHETCHABUN, Thailand --Thailand sent army troops with shields and batons to evict some 4,000 ethnic Hmong asylum seekers Monday and send them back to Laos despite strong objections from the U.S. and rights groups who fear they will face persecution.
Under tight security, an initial group of Hmong -- many of them children -- was driven out of the camp in covered military trucks, each manned by several soldiers. Journalists kept at a distance from the camp could see the convoy as it exited. Thai authorities said the first batch would include 448 people. Washington called for the eviction to stop....
Of course, NOT a PEEP as ISRAEL CONTINUOUSLY CLEANSES PALESTINE and the U.S creates refugees in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos' rugged mountains, helped U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. Many Hmong fought under CIA advisers during the so-called "secret war" in Laos before it fell to the communists in 1975. The Hmong claim they have been persecuted by the Lao government ever since. More than 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, are known to have fled to Thailand since 1975. Most were either repatriated to Laos or resettled in third countries, particularly the United States -- but Washington has said it has no plans to resettle more Hmong.
Translation: You SERVED US WELL but we are CUTTING YOU LOOSE!
Nothing personal; we do it ALL the TIME!!
The Thai government claims most of the Hmong are economic migrants who entered the country illegally and have no claims to refugee status, and says it has assurances from Laos that the Hmong will be well-treated. The group was being held at a camp in northern Thailand that the government wants to close. The Thai army's coordinator for the operation, Col. Thana Charuwat, said 5,000 soldiers, officials and civilian volunteers were involved in the eviction. He said the troops carried no firearms and that their shields and batons met international standards for dealing with situations in which people are being moved against their will.
Two dozen trucks with about 20 soldiers each could be seen heading toward the refugee camp early Monday. A large contingent of troops already were inside the sealed-off camp. Journalists and independent observers were barred from the camp and were allowed no closer than a press center about 7 miles away.
They NEVER MENTION that when it comes to GAZA, do they?
If they mention Gaza, that is.
The army hoped to complete the operation within 24 hours, Thana said Monday, adding that 2,100 of the Hmong had agreed to leave voluntarily and the army was trying to persuade the rest. The Hmong were being driven out of the camp in military trucks and were to be put on buses going to the Thai border town of Nong Khai, and then across to Laos, heading to the Paksane district in the central province of Bolikhamsai, Thana said. There was no resistance about an hour into the operation, Thana said.
Laos Foreign Ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing rejected international concerns about their well-being, saying the government has a "humanitarian policy" it will adhere to for their resettlement. "These are our citizens and we have to take care of them," Khenthong told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said the group would initially be placed in a temporary shelter and then housed in two "development villages" -- in Bolikhamsai province and in Vientiane province -- where each family will receive a house and a plot of land. He said international observers will be welcome to visit the villages once the resettlement is completed.
In the past, Lao officials were quoted as saying that the Hmong are not Lao citizens, comments that Khenthong dismissed as individual opinions that were not government policy. Human rights groups had expressed fear that the Hmong would resist, as they have during smaller-scale repatriations, and that the eviction could turn violent.
New York-based Human Rights Watch on Monday called the deportation "appalling" and a low point for the government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. "As a result of what Thailand has done to the Lao Hmong today, Prime Minister Abhisit sinks Thailand's record on contempt for human rights and international law to a new low," said Sunai Phasuk, a Thai representative for Human Rights Watch.
In recent days, troops had confiscated mobile phones and jammed mobile phone signals inside the camp, complicating efforts to monitor the deportation, Sunai said. "It never happens smoothly," Sunai said. "If the Hmong resist it and there is an eruption of violence, the army may react in full force."
--more--"
So will there be bloodshed?
What my printed paper gave me as meat:
Hmong refugees, such as these shown at a detention center in northeastern Thailand, are being forcibly moved back to Laos. Many of the Hmong fear persecution in their homeland. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/ AFP/ Getty Images/ File 2008)
Ever notice the MOST PRECIOUS SUFFER the MOST when it comes to WAR?
PHETCHABUN, Thailand - Thailand launched an operation early today to close a refugee camp and send some 4,000 ethnic Hmong back to Laos, despite concerns about their safety.
Colonel Thana Charuwat, the Thai Army’s field coordinator for the operation, said it began at 5:30 a.m. today and involved a total of 5,000 troops. He said the soldiers were unarmed, but equipped with shields and batons, which he described as meeting international standards for dealing with situations in which people are moved against their will.
Many of the Hmong say they face persecution in their homeland because of its communist government’s antagonism toward them. Hmong hill tribe people fought on the side of a pro-American government during the Vietnam War, but the communist side, known in the West as the Pathet Lao, emerged triumphant in 1975.
Kind of a SCRUBBED VERSION, isn't it?
I NOTICED SOMETHING MISSING RIGHT AWAY!
Thailand says that most of the Hmong at the camp have no legitimate claim to refugee status, but are simply economic migrants who have entered the country illegally. At least two dozen trucks headed toward the refugee camp, with about 20 soldiers on each truck. A large contingent of troops was already in the camp, which has been sealed off to journalists and other outsiders. Thana said the army hoped to complete the operation within 24 hours. He said buses would take the Hmong across the border.
--more--"
Maybe this slice will have it:
An emotional refugee waited inside a Thai police truck during the operation to deport thousands of Hmong to Laos. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/ AFP/ Getty Images)
PHETCHABUN, Thailand - Thai troops packed more than 4,000 ethnic Hmong into military trucks yesterday for a one-way journey to Laos, all but ending the Hmong’s three-decade search for asylum following their alliance with the United States during the Vietnam War.
The United States and rights groups have said the Hmong could be in danger if returned to the country that they fought, unsuccessfully, to keep from falling into communist hands in the 1970s. Though Thai soldiers were armed with batons and shields, Colonel Thana Charuwat said no weapons were used in the repatriation and the Hmong offered no resistance. The last of the group was expected to cross the border early today
Many Hmong, an ethnic minority, fought under CIA advisers during Vietnam to back a pro-American Lao government - Washington’s so-called “secret war’’ - before the communist victory in 1975. Some believe that the United States should have done more to help its onetime allies.
Related:
The "Phoenix Program. Phoenix was the code name for a counter-insurgency program that the U.S. adopted during the Vietnam War, in which Special Forces teams were sent out to capture or assassinate Vietnamese believed to be working with or sympathetic to the Vietcong. In choosing targets, the Americans relied on information supplied by South Vietnamese Army officers and village chiefs. The operation got out of control. According to official South Vietnamese statistics, Phoenix claimed nearly forty-one thousand victims between 1968 and 1972."
So the HMONG were our PAID ASSASSINS, huh?
Also see: 'The Salvador Option'
Did it in Vietnam in the '60s, Latin America in the '80s, and Iraq in the 2000s.
Face it, America, YOUR CIA has been RAISING HELL since it was FOUNDED in 1947!
More than 300,000 Lao, mostly Hmong, fled to Thailand after the war and for years were housed in sprawling camps aided by international agencies.
I'll bet Palestinians have them beat for longevity.
Most were either repatriated to Laos or resettled in other countries. The US State Department unsuccessfully urged Thai authorities to suspend the relocation operation.
--more--"
A follow-up slice of missing bread.
"Laos tells UN it's too soon to visit Hmong" by Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press Writer | December 30, 2009
BANGKOK --Laos denied the U.N. immediate access to 4,500 ethnic Hmong who were forcibly repatriated from Thailand, saying Wednesday it would "complicate" matters but that international observers could visit later.
Thailand deported the Hmong on Monday in a massive 24-hour military operation, ignoring pleas by the U.N., the United States and others that fear they could face persecution by the Lao government -- particularly a group of 158 Hmong already recognized as refugees by the United Nations. The repatriation all but ended the Hmong's three-decade search for asylum following their alliance with the U.S. during the Vietnam War.
The United States and rights groups have said the Hmong could be in danger if returned to the country that they fought, unsuccessfully, to keep from falling into communist hands in the 1970s. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement late Tuesday saying it had formally asked the Lao government for access to the Hmong. It also called on the Thai government to make public the details of assurances it received from Laos regarding the treatment of the returnees.
Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing said it is too soon for visitors but that international observers would be welcome at a later date. "If they came right now, it would complicate the process of resettlement," he told The Associated Press. "But after they are settled in their permanent place, then visitors will be allowed."
The Hmong were being held in a temporary camp where an interview process was under way to determine where they want to live, he said. For those without homes, two villages have been created, and each family is eligible for a house and a plot of land. Among the Hmong deported was a group of 4,350 from a camp in Thailand's northern Phetchabun province that the U.N. refugee agency was never allowed to visit. A smaller group of 158 Hmong at a detention center in nearby Nong Khai had already been identified as "being in need of protection," the U.N. agency said in its statement.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday that the U.S., Canada, Australia and The Netherlands had offered to resettle the 158 refugees and it was now up to those countries and the Lao government to work out their future. The United States and Australia both issued statements expressing concern about the deportation and called on Laos to allow U.N. access.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Thailand has no reason to doubt pledges by Laos that the Hmong would be well-treated. "In the past few years, we have sent more than 3,000 Lao Hmong back to their country -- 18 times before -- and there was no problem," he said.
So why is the West making it one now, hmmmm?
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Related: CIA Caught Sabotaging Korean Peace
The AmeriKan MSM sure dropped that like a Hmong refugee, huh?
Also see: Vietnamese court sentences dissident to 5 1/2 years
Just an agenda-pushing slap by a MSM with a grudge.
