Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

C05303949
WITH AN EYE ON PARISD
Some ofl
Isubo~dinates were alienated enough to defy explicit
orders, among them a prohibition on CIA investment in civilian construction
projects. The enclave at Bouam Long became the locus of this quiet mutiny
when its leader, Cher Pao Moua, asked for a small sawmill to cut boards for
civilian housing. Carroll Hauver, not aware of tension at the managerial level,
was puzzled when Pat Landry told him to buy the components one at a time,
in a way that concealed their intended use. Only after their delivery to Bouam
Long did Hauver become aware of the reason for the subterfuge. 38D
Meanwhile, the Hmong had pretty much stripped the near slopes and were
.cutting trees on the reverse side. An appeal for a helicopter to move logs over
the crest and down to the sawmill came to Long Tieng on a day when the
movement of
ad just been canceled. The pilots wanted to fly, and
L..- -' ignoring 1 Iprohibition on civilian missions for the
USAF, sent them off to Bouam Long. 39 D .
The driving motivation, for both Landry andl-'--Iwas less their resentment
of I
Imanagement style than it was their concern for
Hmong welfare, a concern that the cease-fire' in s~me ways only intensified.
And it appears that the conflict provided an outlet for men grown accustomed
to continual combat. Hauver thou ht that, with fighting reduced to desultory
skirmishing, the tension with became something of a surrogate war
fori Ithe upcountry officers. 40
Concern for the future of the Hmong, and for the Agency's relationship
with Vang Pao, had generated a valedictory cable from I
I
Isaw the tribe's involvement in the war as driven, in the first
instance, by hostility to Vietnamese domination, but also deepened beyond
anyone's original expectation as the United States pursued its larger aims in
Indochina. The Hmong had indeed "walked in with their eyes open," but
"were it not for their intimate association with [CIA and the US government]
their condition today would be vastly less acute than it is.''41D
~identifiedthe tribe's future with that of Vang Pao, in whom I
Dsaw'the potential to become, someday, minister of defense. The general's
standing derived not only from his relationship of trust with Souvanna, but .
also from his reputation among ethnic minorities as distant as the Kha (Lao
Theung) of the Bolovens region. Further, he had formed a bloc of 32 National
Assembly deputies responsive to him-s-and to the monthly subsidy he
I
I
38 HaU~intervie~s.D
39Ibid.U-
40 Hauver interview.D
41 1 '----.---------'--------
SECrhTllMR
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