"TARNISHED EAGLE" AFTERMATH SEEN AS EASING PETCHABUN REFUGEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHIANG MAI 000107

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL PREF TH LA
SUBJECT: "TARNISHED EAGLE" AFTERMATH SEEN AS EASING PETCHABUN REFUGEE
SITUATION

REF: A. A) VIENTIANE 487


B. B) (05) CHIANG MAI 187

CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp, Consul General, Chiang Mai, State.

REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (U) Summary. Thai security officials see the June 4 arrests
of former Laotian Gen. Vang Pao and his associates in the US as
likely to have positive effects on the protracted problems of
Hmong refugees and anti-Vientiane Hmong along the Thai-Lao
border. End summary


2. (C) National Intelligency Agency (NIA) contacts in Chiang
Mai told Consulate staff that their unit had been alerted by
Laotian counterparts over two weeks ago of the probable movement
of anti-Vientiane elements along the border in Phayao and Nan.
Reportedly the movement was to involve the handover of arms and
preparations for military operations; apparently there was no
action by the Thai side as a result of this alert.


3. (C) According to these NIA officers, Vang Pao's operation
in Thailand had two prongs, civilian and military. The civilian
affairs side "facilitated" Hmong fleeing from Laos to Petchabun
province in Thailand with a promise of resettlement in the US.
The armed side supported anti-government combatants in Laos via
Thailand. NIA officer Thanat Poonsawat admitted that Thai
security units paid more attention to the group's armed
movements than to the "civilian" activities of a Vang Pao
associate in Bangkok named Tai Vang, who reportedly was involved
in bringing Hmong into Thailand. Tai Vang manged to convince
Thai military units that he had high-ranking connections, thus
gaining a relatively free hand as he traveled between Thailand
and the US as well as between Bangkok and the north, including
Petchabun.


4. (C) Both NIA contacts say that the Chiang Mai region
served as a passage for overseas assistance to reach the groups
along the border areas, especially in Laos' Sayabouri province
opposite Thailand's Chiang Khong, Wiang Kaen, and Chiang Kham
districts. They claim that money has long been carried and
sent into the area and across the border by visitors from
overseas, both ethnic Hmong and westerners, and predict that the
June 4 "Tarnished Eagle" arrests are likely to dry up the money
flow into these areas. This in turn could prompt the 8,000
Hmong refugees on the border in Petchabun province to return to
Laos.


5. (C) The NIA officers dismissed the possible role of a
Hmong group in Chiang Mai's Mae Rim district led by Willis Bird
Jr. (reftels) According to the NIA, Bird may have received
money from Vang Pao at some point, allowing him to purchase a
property that he renamed "Khum (Palace) Naresuan". Described as
strange and said to have relinquished his US citizenship, Bird
is the son of a World War II OSS agent by the same name who is
the subject of an upcoming book by former New Republic
journalist Josh Kurlantzick. Although our NIA contacts believe
Vang Pao lost confidence in Bird and that this connection is of
little importance today, another source reports that he retains
ties with former Prime Minister Gen. Chawlit Yongchaiyut.


6. (SBU) Comment: RTG intel units hope the Tarnished Eagle
arrests in the US will stem the flow of money that they believe
has supported armed operations and prompted refugee flows in the
region. Like the locally resident Hmong community here, these
intel officers consider the Hmong who have taken refugee in
Thailand's Petchabun province as economic migrants who were
lured by promises of resettlement in the US. They believe that
Vang Pao's arrest and subsequent funding stop will likely result
in the return to Laos of many of this group and improve the
overall border situation.

CAMP