VZCZCXRO3362
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHCHI #0107 1640143
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 130143Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0501
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0733
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0549

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