Forced Deportation of Hmong People: From homelands in Thailand, to Laos...

How Easily We Forget Those Who Saved Our Lives!

By Chuck Palazzo
Agent Orange Editor
VetSpeak.org

Danang - any of us may recall the peace loving, and US loyal peoples of Vietnam. There are many stories that have been told of how these wonderful and such courageous folks fought with us, alongside us, protected us, and died with and for us. Some of us remember them as the Montagnards.

The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group of people – primarily from the mountainous areas of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. There are many personal accounts that have been told to me, and a very near and dear friend, whose husband met a very untimely demise as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange, was shot down while here during the war. He survived the crash – and was protected from the VC as well as the NVA because of the loyalty and devotion of the Hmong to him and to the US. They literally hid him, fed him, protected him, and helped him find his way back to an allied controlled area where he ultimately met up with his unit and safety with US Ground Troops.

In the 1960’s, the CIA started to recruit the Hmong to help the US fight in Vietnam as well as the “secret war” in Laos. The main reason in my opinion and documented by several historians – their familiarity with the terrain, especially when it came time to block the NVA from heading south via the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Between 1962 – 1975, about 12,000 Hmong died fighting against the Pathet Lao. Following the US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and the Hmong became targets – literally. This began the mass exodus of the Hmong from Laos to Thailand – those who were successful, wound up in UN refugee camps. Sadly, those who were not part of the exodus to Thailand were sent to re-education camps most of whom died. Others found their way to the US and several other friendly nations. An estimated 30,000 Hmong would be killed by Communist forces while trying to reach Thailand. Over 100,000 Hmong people died as a result of the war.

The Hmong apparently were told that they could bravely fight for the US because the United States would always be there to protect them should local communists turn on the Hmong. It was a relationship of trust, but Hmong trust in the US would be sadly misplaced. After taking over Laos in 1975, the Pathet Lao Communists stated that they would wipe out the Hmong. A Vietnamese broadcast apparently called for genocide against them. From 1976 to 1979, there were credible reports of chemical warfare used against Hmong villages. The world tried to ignore these reports, and some influential voices in the United States tried to discredit the evidence, claiming that the "yellow rain" that had been used to kill Hmong people was just natural bee feces, not a chemical toxin. By the time overwhelming evidence had been gathered to shatter the "bee feces" theory, the media no longer seemed interested in exploring charges of genocide by Communist forces.

On December 27, 2009, Thailand launched an operation to close a refugee camp and send some 4,500 ethnic Hmong back to Laos, despite concerns about their safety. Thailand blames other countries for the deportation, and we, the friendly US, whom the Hmong did so much for, risked and lost so many of their lives for US forces, “criticized” the Thai Government. That was as recent as a week ago. The Hmong’s fate? One could only guess. Do not forget what they did for us, perhaps many of you reading this have had personal experiences you could share – share them with your congressional and US Representatives, The White House, The UN. We have a responsibility for these people’s safety – as we promised them we would protect them over 40 years ago. Another lie from the US Government that the rest of the world just ignores.

http://www.vetspeak.org/

Another Front In The Fight For Veterans Rights...

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Ed Note:  Jan Ruhman, VetSpeak Operations Coordinator, VVAW SoCal Organizing Coordinator, and 2010 President of Veterans For Peace, San Diego, is up to his ass in alligators on this important issue, out in California.  To date, he has taken the issue to the recent VFP National Conference, and has been to Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on behalf of these Veterans who are now being disowned by the country that they served in war. We are re-publishing this article in full (photos added from Google archives), in the hopes that Huffington Post is as anxious as we are to get the word out, as far and wide as we can, to any and all who will listen.  Folks who will perhaps lend some support, either financially, or by contacting Banished Veterans, and offering active, boots on the ground, support.  They need money, to finance travel and legal fees; warm bodies to rally, and to lobby, lending personal voices of support for the Victims of this outrage, and their families.  You can make personal contact at the enclosed links, and you may make a direct donation to the efforts by clicking on http://www.sdvfp.org/donation.htm. WH


Veterans: Banished and Betrayed

By Barton Kunstler
Author, “The HotHouse effect”
Originally posted at HuffingtonPost, 01/13/2010 
x“Banished veterans." The phrase shouldn't make sense. Someone joins the military, fights in a war, returns home, and then is banished? Thankfully, this can't happen here...

But it is happening here. Thousands of men and women who have risked their lives in the country's wars have been deported or are living under the threat of deportation because they committed non-violent crimes that often wouldn't warrant serving jail time. Many of these vets suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition often overlooked by our nation's health care system.

These vets can be deported because they are not U.S. citizens. Gabriel Delgadillo, a Vietnam veteran, committed a burglary in 1988. Eight years later, burglary was declared a deportable offense. Only then, in a retroactive application of the new law, was he deported, leaving behind a wife and seven children. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) officially deplored Delgadillo's deportation in May, 1999, stating:
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"These harsh new measures have now snared immigrants who spilled their blood for our country. As the INS prepares to deport these American veterans, we have not even been kind enough to thank them for their service with a hearing to listen to their story and consider whether, just possibly, their military service or other life circumstances outweigh the government's interest in deporting them".

Robyn Sword, an activist on behalf of banished vets whose fiance, Rohan Coombs, is facing deportation for drug offenses, pointed out in an interview that many people simply can't get past the image of a "convicted felon." Who wants them here, right? That might be understandable in cases of violent crime but such an attitude is inexcusable when applied to most banished veterans.

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, sums up the dilemma that faces so many veterans:

"We sent these kids to war - and war has affected their mental and psychological condition. Providing support for returning veterans is an obligation we owe to those who have sacrificed so much for our country".
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But the courageous Leahy and Filner aside, you won't find many politicians willing to risk being called "soft on criminal aliens" - even if they were willing to send those men and women into combat. But the knee-jerk sound-bite reaction doesn't capture the truth of the situation.
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No one is claiming PTSD as an "excuse" for someone who commits a non-violent crime, but it is a cause. Nor are any of the banished vets claiming PTSD as a reason for not facing their punishment under the law. They were busted, went to court, served their time. In California, grand theft means stealing $400 or more and is a deportable offense; DUI is also a deportable felony in many states. Felons deserve punishment according to the law. But banishment goes far beyond the bounds of a reasonable sentence. It is absolute in scope, and psychologically cruel. Yet we still insist on betraying people who instead deserve our thanks and the support of whatever social services it takes to support them as citizens, as equals in American society.
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Craig Shagin, a Harrisburg, PA immigration lawyer and author of the book, Deporting Private Ryan, describes a client who at 17 years old got into a fist fight in school in Georgia and was given a one year suspended sentence. Eleven years later, after military service, he was arrested for an even lesser offense, but because of the fighting conviction, he became subject to deportation. Had the fist-fight occurred in many other states, he would have gotten probation and would not have been deported.
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PTSD is devastating and plays a role in many of these veterans' legal problems. Veterans Administration hospitals are overwhelmed with PTSD cases. The great majority of arrested vets with PTSD have families and friends, jobs, aspirations, and struggles just like everyone else. Half of all Vietnam vets suffering from PTSD have been arrested. Labels might cast them as pariahs, but by now we should be smart and compassionate enough to know that many different paths lead to arrest and that an arrest doesn't define one's humanity.

Vets have been deported for registering their neighbors' cars under their own names, adultery, smoking marijuana (now legal in many states), stealing two chickens, and shoplifting. As Shagin states, "The courts are reading the regulations of the statute...in a hyper-minimalist way and without any consideration for the historical antecedents for what a national is." A "national" is a non-citizen who owes allegiance to the U.S. and in return receives legal protections, including immunity from deportation. Every member of the armed forces has taken such an oath of allegiance and one can argue that legally every veteran is a "national" and hence not subject to deportation; inexplicably, the courts have not seen it that way.

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At least not since 1996. That year, the Republican Congress passed - and then President Bill Clinton signed - the Immigration and Naturalization Act which drastically expanded the list of crimes for which one could be deported. Shagin points out that before 1996, there were virtually no cases of veterans being deported. Before 1996, the courts routinely considered one's veteran's status as a reason to bar deportation even for the most serious crimes and virtually none were deported. No longer. Since 1996, estimates of the numbers of deported vets are in the 30,000 to 40,000 range, although no one knows for sure: the exact figures have never been released.

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It gets worse. Jan Ruhman, a San Diego ex-Marine with two tours of duty in Vietnam who is now a leading advocate for banished vets, notes that the 1996 law was written with entrapment in mind. Offenders are often faced with a choice of two plea-bargains with differing jail sentences, for instance, a three-year or a one-year sentence. Naturally, he or she takes the one-year sentence. Because of technicalities written into the 1996 law, it is often the lesser charge that results in deportation. Many criminal lawyers are unaware of the implications for immigrants of these lesser pleas, and both Ruhman and Shagin are convinced that the law was written to entrap as many immigrants as possible into making the wrong choice. This is quite likely, as the law also states that judges have no discretion in deportation cases. They cannot consider a person's veteran, family, work, or health status. Such considerations are a mainstay of our legal system and it was malicious of Congress to apply such a standard to a specific group across a wide range of minor offenses.
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This wouldn't be the case were the vets granted citizenship. And it turns out that's exactly what they were promised by their recruiters. They were already legal permanent non-citizen residents with green cards, as required for joining the armed forces. As Sword points out, army recruiters target low-income immigrant neighborhoods, and most of these recruits were promised by recruiters that they would receive citizenship because they signed up for military duty. The armed forces, in effect, lied to them and the military sure hasn't had these veterans' backs when the empty promises led to deportation from the country for which they risked their lives. In fact, if they had died in battle, they would have been qualified to receive a full-scale military burial, coffin draped in an American flag, and a 21-gun salute. But alive they are castaways.
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There's another deadly wrinkle to all this. Deported vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan include immigrants from the Middle East. When they are sent back there, they run a seriousrisk of becoming targets of revenge In some countries, having served in the U.S. armed forces could lead to a loss of citizenship, and any country that subscribes to the International Criminal Court could prosecute those vets for war crimes.

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In the end, the banished vets are "just" a bunch of forgotten ex-soldiers, but fate has seen to it that they're not only to be forgotten, but removed entirely from the nation they served. Director of Homeland Security Napolitano should order an immediate stay of deportation for all vets currently living in the shadow of this cruel and unusual punishment. President Obama constantly pays lip-service to his respect for the men and women of our armed forces. He speaks eloquently of their sacrifice. He plans to send another 30,000 more into Afghanistan. But does his concern extend to this forgotten class of soldiers? Will he show his supporters that he has the courage of his rhetoric? Please, take it upon yourself to call upon President Obama and Congress to grant citizenship and restore the right to live in the United States to these banished and betrayed veterans of our country's wars.
xMore information on this topic can be found at http://banishedveterans.intuitwebsites.com/.

Contact Jan Ruhman to become actively involved:
jan@vetspeak.org
Cell # 858-361-6273

Contact Legal Team:
Heather M. Boxeth, Attorney-At-Law
hmboxeth@gmail.com

Freedom isn't Free, please Donate to assist our campaign against this outrageous behavior towards Veterans who have honorably served their country, the United States of America.

http://www.vetspeak.org/

Martin Luther King and his Opposition to The Vietnam War

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Martin Luther King, Jr. – Beyond Vietnam – A Time To Break The Silencex

By: Chuck Palazzo
Contributing Editor
www.VetSpeak.org
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Danang, Vietnam - Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the Vietnam War. In an April 4, 1967 appearance at the New York City Riverside Church—exactly one year before his death—King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".  In the speech, he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".
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 He also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:
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A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."
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King also was opposed to the Vietnam War on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare services like the War on Poverty. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".
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Many white southern segregationists vilified King; moreover, this speech soured his relationship with many members of the mainstream media. Life magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi", and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."
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King stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands".  King also criticized the United States' resistance to North Vietnam's land reforms. He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."
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The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with whom King was affiliated.  King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Towards the time of his murder, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice.
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Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."
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King had read Marx while at Morehouse College, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."
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King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring".  King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to South America to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution."King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution. 
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King spoke at an Anti-Vietnam demonstration where he also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft. "I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both.
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The words above are from Dr. King and some commentary about that famous speech which was held at the Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967– in my opinion, a genius of a man, who was ironically assassinated exactly one day from the speech which I quote parts from, above. How prophetic were his words? Look at the messes we are in today - we spend and spend and spend on wars in foreign lands. We have no reason to be there. And those are monies that could be used right in the US – to feed the poor, to house the homeless, and yes, to help all of us, the Veterans who bravely fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice, unwillingly and unknowing.
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Here is a link to Dr. King’s entire speech from that day. I urge us all to read it, listen to it and ask ourselves, are we any further along? I say we are not – I say we are moving in the wrong direction!  http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
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An appropriate tribute to a great man? If were were at peace with the world, that would truly be the tribute that Dr. King would embrace, and comprise some of his Dream.
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Wikpedia was the source reference
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http://www.vetspeak.org/

Forbes Company of the Year - Anti-Green Monsanto: Agent Orange Creator and Defense Department Vendor

By Chuck Palazzo

Agent Orange Editor

www.VetSpeak.org

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Danang, Vietnam - A slap in the face! What an insult. What a display of ignorance. What little to no compassion, let alone admission of guilt to the war crimes this company was involved in. No, they were never convicted – because they settled out of court like Dow and the rest of the criminals who created, sold, and made hundreds of millions of dollars creating, selling and reaping the profits from Dioxin – yes, Agent Orange. (Photo: Vietnam File Photo - circa 1965-1968)
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http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0118/americas-best-company-10-gmos-dupont-planet-versus-monsanto.html

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This week, Forbes Magazine named Monsanto its company of the year. Can you believe it? Forbes – sure, a conservative, capitalist magazine – but nominating and approving Monsanto? A killer that was and continues to be, responsible for MILLIONS of deaths, MILLIONS of humans affected with disease as a result of being sprayed and exposed, MILLIONS of offspring whose health (and most of the time, untimely deaths), all caused by the evil poison known as Agent Orange.

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They still produce Round-up, a watered down version of Agent Orange. However, the French Courts have found in favor of those who brought suit against them – Monsanto was accused and convicted in the French Courts about the make-up and what actually Round-up is and does – they were convicted of lying to the courts - perjury. Their sentence? A fine – a pittance, compared with the BILLIONS of dollars in revenue they achieve each year.
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However, that recent series of court cases in France is indeed significant – Round-up sales have dropped since the court’s decision, and this might just be a start – because Monsanto did in fact earn less than their forecasted revenues in 09 as a result in a drop in sales of Round-up.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8308903.stm

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Their CEO did in fact receive less in bonus compensation as a result of much of this being revealed – but he still earned millions of dollars!

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http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/mound-city-money/st-louis-companies/2009/12/monsanto-ceo-grant-sees-bonus-shrink-in-09/

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Today, Monsanto is viewed by many, as a savior in terms of world hunger – because of its creation of genetically engineered seeds. Two very important facts:

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   1)  GE seeds are in fact NOT better than natural seeds and are, some believe, even worse – in terms of the environment, human lives, spread of new diseases and humanity in general.
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2)  It has been revealed by the AP as well as other trusted sources, that Monsanto has and continues to use strong arm tactics in forcing farmers to buy and use their seeds.

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This is a short video about the lie of what Monsanto and others preach about GE crops:

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http://www.techblogarchives.com/2010/01/06/genetic-engineering-the-worlds-greatest-scam/
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The GE seed issue is certainly a serious one – but brothers and sisters, let us never forget Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, Korea and other countries where Agent Orange was sprayed in both war and peacetime. Let us not forget all human tolls it has taken – and continues to take. The lives that have been devastated, the lives removed. The profits and GE seeds and eventual crops that wind up on your supermarket shelves have all been brought to you buy the profits Monsanto received as a result of the US Government paying them hundreds of millions of dollars for the poison we all despise:  Agent Orange.
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More about Monsanto, the food industry in general, and the devastation and lies they and others like them are propagating, in this wonderful piece called “Food, Inc.”

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http://www.theconsci​ous.com/?p=61

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This may or may not be available free of charge, depending on what country you reside in, but it IS available to all from www.thepiratebay.org. Remember, you will need a torrent program to download it. Email me if you need further instructions.

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http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5142533/Food__Inc__%282008%29

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I urge you all – please login to Forbes, create an account, and comment about this truly wrong winner this year. Monsanto and its executives belong behind bars – not recipients of Forbes’ Company of the Year Award!

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Not a single word about their involvement with the US Government during the Vietnam War. Not one mention of all the death and destruction they have and continue to be responsible for. This is the true corporate world – its finest for its shareholders and executives, but its worst for all of us who were exposed to, suffer from, and pass on the devastation we know as Agent Orange. Genetic alteration to seeds? What about the genetic alteration, eventual disease, disability and death from Agent Orange?

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www.VetSpeak.org

New Years Resolution, CHANGE, and Afghanistan...

Cracker Swamp. Fl - After giving it much thought, my New Years resolution is, to write more.  Most of my contributions to VetSpeak in recent months, have been editorial comments on others' works that I thought were in keeping with our VetSpeak mission, but that's not really writing.  We are most fortunate to have a group of contributing writers who not only have strong feelings on related issues, but as well as being writers, are Veterans activists, military family members, or related issue organizers and/or issue oriented writers.  They are a fine chorus, one with which, as we begin the 2010 campaigns for peace and justice, I feel compelled to rejoin my voice. 
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2009 has really sucked!! In just a year's time, CHANGE has become disappointment and despair. The only relief from the pain of our current dilemma regarding CHANGE, primarily the escalation of force in Afghanistan - but also health-care and the economy, as well - is to channel my energy into the things that I know, and things that I know that we can actually do something about.  Things learned over a thirty year period of Veteran advocacy and organizing, and a few years of anti-war service with VVAW, back in the day.   The most productive use of my time, at this point in my life, would seem to be to make that  knowledge of those things learned available to others.  Others, who I would hope might somehow be motivated to become activists and/or organizers, through my writing.  
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Selfishly,  it is therapeutic to me, in that it provides a medium for venting frustration and rage against the empire, rather than letting it build up to a boiling point, inside my head and heart. I have incorporated it into my anger management therapy.  A good thing, not only for me, but for others close around me, as well.  My VA shrink suggests that I quit watching the news, if it makes me so angry.  He figures increased Xanax, and less TV, and I'll be on the road to recovery, and all that Iraq n' Aghanistan stuff will just quit being a stressor for me, Vietnam aside.  He indicates that the bonus is that the same thing happens regarding politics...take your meds and turn off the TV, and it will all go away.  On paper, maybe!  If you don't know what they are sayin', then you don't know what game they're playin', I allus say.
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Truth is; reality dictates, at least for me, a different path, than that preferred by my VA shrink.  My family motto, "Persistance brings down even the strongest walls", 10 years Marine Corps service, and 4 years of back-in-the-day VVAW activism, all have me conditioned to another kind of  lifestyle...that, of direct involvement in things that directly impact my life, and the lives of those that I love, respect, and otherwise care about, or am associated with. 
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That is, to me, how CHANGE is brought about...outreach, issue orientation, education, and direct action out in the grass-roots.  That's how it worked so well for VVAW, back in the day...one chapter or campaign at a time, unified around a mutually agreed upon set of principles (then 11 Objectives), democratically organized around issues of mutual concern that are in relationship to the ugly side of US Imperialism, whether military, political, or corporate in nature, as practiced right here at home, as well as abroad.  I believe that it can happen that way again.  It is to that I end that I make this New Years resolution to write more, in 2010.
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Veterans' issues are the same as others' issues, when you stop and think about it.  Our current national profile is not truly indicative of us as Americans.  It is, in objective reality, more indicative of the type of people that are in control of our government, and how, and for what purposes they use their power, at any given time, than us, as a people. In my opinion, we have once again allowed the tyrants to re-frame the argument. The argument that I'm referring to, is the one regarding our national identity and international policies being manipulated through government and/or corporate control of the media.  It is now time to seize the initiative and change the national debate, rather than to simply keep reacting to events, often too late .
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The most powerful weapon that we have at our disposal is objective truth, spoken by those who have lived it, rather than those who make it an art form to design truth to their political, economic, or personal and/or corporate power grabbing ends.  We should speak for ourselves and not allow others with hidden agendas to speak for us, if we hope to succeed in bringing about our vision of CHANGE...just as VVAW, united with many others did, re Vietnam and Nixon, back in the day. 
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So my resolution is to write more in 2010, and to share those hard earned lessons that I mentioned earlier with as many folks as I possibly can, in the mission to help empower folks with information, and win hearts and minds and activists to the cause...even if it's just one heart and mind at a time.  Especially considering the current Afghanistan escalation, and the work that we all now have ahead of us, as a result.
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I hope many of you will join me in my resolution, and resolve to write more, too. We're gonna need all hands, to turn things around at this point.  Our voices linked together voicing one message of CHANGE, especially regarding our policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a very powerful weapon in the cause of peace and social justice.  To that end, your voice is welcome here at VetSpeak.org.  I will be happy to post any articles that reflect our mission statement.  You are welcome to share your stories and organizational event information (with citation and attributions, when appropriate) in Word.doc, with ARTICLE in the Subject field, and e-mail it to me, willie.hager@vetspeak.org, with a short bio...not required...it's just in the spirit of getting to know you.  And as always, your comments on our postings are always welcome. 
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Best New Year Wishes to All...
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Willie Hager
On-line Editor
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www.VetSpeak.org