Stuff about Laos & Gen Vang Pao

This is one of the saddest stories I have seen, and another example of the terrible consequences of the CIA's efforts around the world at the expense of everyone else.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/magazine/11pao-t.html?scp=1&sq=vang+pao&st=nyt

Basically, the CIA armed the Hmong (a minority people in Laos) and enlisted them to fight the North Vietnamese and Laotian Communists in the 60s/70s during the Vietnam War. Of course, we weren't officially in Laos during those times but our "presence" and efforts resulted in Laos being the most bombed country in the history of the world (a stat that still stands). When the U.S. pulled out of SE Asia, we took some of the Hmong leaders (including Gen. Vang Pao) to the U.S. and left the rest of them to fend for themselves in the jungles, on the run from the victorious Communists.

Now, the U.S. government is prosecuting Gen. Vang Pao, 78, as a terrorist for allegedly trying to purchase arms to overthrow the Laotian government. Never mind that the evidence seems dubious and close to a set up. Even if it were true, he is only doing what we asked him to do 40 years ago. And now, our government is trying to put him in jail.