Feds Bust Valley Plot to Overthrow Government of Laos
Written by George Warren, Reporter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail Story Print Story
Latest headlines by topic:
• Southeast Asia
• World News
• Laos
Powered by Topix.net
Federal prosectors say a plot to overthrow the Laotian government was headed up by a retired military officer living in Woodland.
The complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento charges nine people with planning a military expedition to by carried out against the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
All of the alleged conspirators are involved in Hmong organizations, including West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran Harrison Jack of Woodland. Jack runs a consulting business at 101 Monte Vista Drive in Woodland.
This spring, Yolo County appointed Jack to the newly-created position of ombudsman to arbitrate complaints from county employees.
A news release from the county in March praised Jack for establishing the Hmong Emergency Relief Organization.
Jack is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served as an Army officer in southeast Asia before being discharged in 1977.
Eight other defendants are named in the complaint:
Vang Pao is a former general in the Royal Army of Laos, and came to the U.S. in 1975. He is the head of an organization known as the Neo Hom, and he lobbies for Hmong causes in the U.S. and in Laos. He lives in Orange County.
Lo Thao lives in Sacramento County. He's the president of the United Hmong International.
Youa Vang lives in Fresno. He is the founder of Hmong International New Year in Fresno.
Hue Vang is a former Clovis police officer. He is the director of the United Lao Council for Peace, Freedom and Reconstruction.
Chong Thao lives in Fresno and works at a chiropractic clinic.
Seng Vue lives in Fresno. He is a clan representative of United Hmong International.
Chue Lo lives in Stockton. He is also a clan representative of United Hmong International.
According to the complaint, beginning no later than November 2006 and continuing until June 3, 2007, the nine defendants conspired to purchase rocket-propelled grenades, claymore mines, machine guns and rockets.
Prosecutors say the conspirators initially formed a committee using the established Hmong tribal clan structure. Members of the committee were assigned rank and engaged in extensive fundraising activities, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors say the committee recruited Harrison Jack because of his contacts in the American defense, homeland security and defense contractor communities.
According to the complaint, the committee had intelligence operatives in place in the capital of Laos as recently as mid-May. The committee allegedly identified military and government buildings they planned to attack.
The conspirators allegedly used a series of couriers to deliver $150,000 in cash to Bangkok, Thailand to cover the first of two payments for the arms and munitions.
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento confirmed that searches and arrests were made this morning in Sacramento, Woodland, Stockton, Chico, Fresno and Los Angeles.
Further details are to be announced at a 3 p.m. news conference.
Because of this, more Hmong in Laos will have to suffer and Hmong in the US are treated as terrorists. 
I'm not sure what their intentions if they do overthrow the lao govt. could be something positive, but it could make it worst. I don't know. there's not enough info given by the reports.
UPDATE:
10 men charged with plotting to overthrow Laos government
By Denny Walsh and Ryan Lillis - Bee Staff Writers
Last Updated 3:24 pm PDT Monday, June 4, 2007
Print | E-Mail | Comments (0)| Digg it | del.icio.us
Ten men -- including a prominent Hmong general who commanded the CIA's army fighting communists during the Vietnam War -- were charged in federal court in Sacramento on Monday with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos.
The men, including Harrison Ulrich Jack, a 1968 graduate of West Point who now lives in Woodland and operates a consulting firm, allegedly conspired to to obtain hundreds of AK-47s, Stinger missiles, anti-tank missiles, mines, rockets and C-4 explosive, as well as smoke grenades, to overthrow the Laotian government.
The charges stem from a six-month investigation, dubbed "Operation Tarnished Eagle," that included a series of meetings with undercover federal agents during which the plotters allegedly discussed moving weapons into safe houses in Thailand and Laos.
The defendants include Vang Pao, who is considered among the most respected Hmong leaders in the United States and who has vowed for more than 20 years to lead his followers back to Laos.
Pao, who splits his time between homes in Minnesota and the Fresno area, is accused with the eight others of violating the United States' neutrality act by plotting on American soil to invade a foreign country.
Jack, a former American infantry officer who retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard, allegedly approached defense contractors seeking munitions for the plot, according to a criminal complaint unsealed a short time ago, and some of the suspects sought out former Army Special Forces and Navy Seal veterans to serve as mercenaries.
Jack allegedly took part in the plot at the same time he was being appointed as Yolo County's ombudsman, a $90-an-hour post designed to help county employees who are having problems with their supervisors. That appointment was announced March 22 and noted that Jack had recently "established the Hmong Emergency Relief Organization (HERO), a nonprofit organization committed to support of the Hmong community here and abroad."
The complaint charges that since January the suspects have inspected a wide variety of weapons, including AK-47s, Stinger missiles and Claymore mines. The group allegedly purchased "an initial installment of 125 AK-47 machine guns, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and crates of smoke grenades for a purchase price of $100,000, to be delivered in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 12, 2007," the complaint says.
A $50,000 payment was to be made June 11, with the balance to be handed over the next day, when the weapons were to be received, the complaint says. A third payment of $50,000 was to cover the purchase of some Stinger missiles, the government contends.
Jack allegedly met and spoke with an undercover federal agent several times to discuss weapons procurement, and had budgeted $9.8 million for the desired munitions, the complaint alleges. The money was to come from "contributions from community leaders through the clan leadership," the complaint says.
Various discussions of the plot allegedly took place at Sacramento-area bars and restaurants, Doubletree and Hilton hotels in Sacramento and the parking lot of a K-Mart near Highway 99 in Stockton, the complaint says.
In May, the complaint says, the suspects had "intelligence operatives" in place in Vientiane, Laos, "conducting surveillance of military and government facilities in downtown Vientiane."
The suspects also "issued an operations plan to a contractor to conduct a military strike in downtown Vientiane," the complaint says, "against specifically identified military and civilian government personnel and buildings."
The suspects told their mercenary force "to reduce (the targets) to rubble, and make them look like the results of the attack upon the World Trace Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001," the complaint says.
McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District based in Sacramento, is scheduled to discuss the case at a 3 p.m. press conference today with Michael J. Sullivan, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Drew Parenti, special agent in charge of Sacramento's FBI office.
10 men charged with plotting to overthrow Laos government
By Denny Walsh and Ryan Lillis - Bee Staff Writers
Last Updated 3:24 pm PDT Monday, June 4, 2007
Print | E-Mail | Comments (0)| Digg it | del.icio.us
Ten men -- including a prominent Hmong general who commanded the CIA's army fighting communists during the Vietnam War -- were charged in federal court in Sacramento on Monday with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos.
The men, including Harrison Ulrich Jack, a 1968 graduate of West Point who now lives in Woodland and operates a consulting firm, allegedly conspired to to obtain hundreds of AK-47s, Stinger missiles, anti-tank missiles, mines, rockets and C-4 explosive, as well as smoke grenades, to overthrow the Laotian government.
The charges stem from a six-month investigation, dubbed "Operation Tarnished Eagle," that included a series of meetings with undercover federal agents during which the plotters allegedly discussed moving weapons into safe houses in Thailand and Laos.
The defendants include Vang Pao, who is considered among the most respected Hmong leaders in the United States and who has vowed for more than 20 years to lead his followers back to Laos.
Pao, who splits his time between homes in Minnesota and the Fresno area, is accused with the eight others of violating the United States' neutrality act by plotting on American soil to invade a foreign country.
Jack, a former American infantry officer who retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard, allegedly approached defense contractors seeking munitions for the plot, according to a criminal complaint unsealed a short time ago, and some of the suspects sought out former Army Special Forces and Navy Seal veterans to serve as mercenaries.
Jack allegedly took part in the plot at the same time he was being appointed as Yolo County's ombudsman, a $90-an-hour post designed to help county employees who are having problems with their supervisors. That appointment was announced March 22 and noted that Jack had recently "established the Hmong Emergency Relief Organization (HERO), a nonprofit organization committed to support of the Hmong community here and abroad."
The complaint charges that since January the suspects have inspected a wide variety of weapons, including AK-47s, Stinger missiles and Claymore mines. The group allegedly purchased "an initial installment of 125 AK-47 machine guns, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and crates of smoke grenades for a purchase price of $100,000, to be delivered in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 12, 2007," the complaint says.
A $50,000 payment was to be made June 11, with the balance to be handed over the next day, when the weapons were to be received, the complaint says. A third payment of $50,000 was to cover the purchase of some Stinger missiles, the government contends.
Jack allegedly met and spoke with an undercover federal agent several times to discuss weapons procurement, and had budgeted $9.8 million for the desired munitions, the complaint alleges. The money was to come from "contributions from community leaders through the clan leadership," the complaint says.
Various discussions of the plot allegedly took place at Sacramento-area bars and restaurants, Doubletree and Hilton hotels in Sacramento and the parking lot of a K-Mart near Highway 99 in Stockton, the complaint says.
In May, the complaint says, the suspects had "intelligence operatives" in place in Vientiane, Laos, "conducting surveillance of military and government facilities in downtown Vientiane."
The suspects also "issued an operations plan to a contractor to conduct a military strike in downtown Vientiane," the complaint says, "against specifically identified military and civilian government personnel and buildings."
The suspects told their mercenary force "to reduce (the targets) to rubble, and make them look like the results of the attack upon the World Trace Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001," the complaint says.
McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District based in Sacramento, is scheduled to discuss the case at a 3 p.m. press conference today with Michael J. Sullivan, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Drew Parenti, special agent in charge of Sacramento's FBI office.
Video of the story
just click on the link bellow to watch the story about it...
http://cbs13.com/local/local_story_155175656.html
just click on the link bellow to watch the story about it...
http://cbs13.com/local/local_story_155175656.html
some ppl would agree that it was a mistake for the hmong to enter the vietnam conflict.
it is even harder now for the laos gov't to forgive them.
it is sad that they continued to be hunted down and prosecuted.
somebody must have made a secret deal to once and for all break any residual spirite of the hmong ppl.
it is even harder now for the laos gov't to forgive them.
it is sad that they continued to be hunted down and prosecuted.
somebody must have made a secret deal to once and for all break any residual spirite of the hmong ppl.
this just proved what i thought all along, that they are just rebels who need to be brought to justice.
while the majority of Hmong ppl in Laos live in peace, these few groups are trying to create chaos.
the only ppl that are being hunted down are the ppl who are trying to overthrow the government, which is justified.
while the majority of Hmong ppl in Laos live in peace, these few groups are trying to create chaos.
the only ppl that are being hunted down are the ppl who are trying to overthrow the government, which is justified.
^ i agree, when i went to laos i saw plenty of hmong villages that were in peace with their daily lives
It is just like a game of gamble. Hmong bet on the US and Laos bet on Vietnam. If it was the other way around, where Hmong bet on Vietnam and Laos bet on the US, then Laos would be renamed to Hmong.
moved text. please delete.
Gee, I knew about this for over 10 years and I wonder what took the Fed this long to act.
QUOTE(Morlam @ Jun 5 2007, 07:48 AM) [snapback]2983336[/snapback]
I'm not sure what their intentions if they do overthrow the lao govt. could be something positive, but it could make it worst. I don't know. there's not enough info given by the reports.
Major General Vang Pao is a freedom fighter for democracy in Laos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vang_Pao
Some Lao people are pretty stubborn. For those that are, you should have known and understand that the current government does nothing to improve the countries wellbeing for the past 3 decades but are doing the opposite. As all can see the situation in Laos, poverty runs rampant among people. The countries natural resources are being exploited, how can any country survive such an exploits? When there's nothing to trade, Laos and its people will be nothing but slaves... Do Lao people really want their country to end up this way? The living standards there has already dropped to such a status where foreign money does wonders there. If anything Lao people should do is support a change in governance.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.