Talk:Vang Pao

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This article is about a person, place, or concept whose name is originally rendered in the Lao script; however the article does not have that version of its name in the article's lead paragraph. Anyone who is knowledgeable enough with the original language is invited to assist in adding the Lao script. For more information, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Lao).

Contents 1 NPOV? 2 Newly added material about McCoy 3 removed section 4 Year of birth? 5 Drug running

[edit] NPOV?

I am not familiar with this article's subject, but it appears to be lacking any references and I also detect an underlying bias against Vang Pao. I recommend that more information be given about the subject and that certain phrases like "being duped" be removed in favor of more neutral (and documented) statements. --Impaciente 00:42, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Newly added material about McCoy

The following was recently added by an anonymous IP [1]: "Allegations of drug trafficking and war crimes as circulated in the media are made by Professor Alfred W. McCoy. McCoy's own credibility comes into question when accusing Vang Pao since he spent a mere two weeks in Laos and never stepped foot in Long Cheng where Vang Pao's military headquarter was located and where McCoy claimed was the center of the alleged drug trafficking. Furthermore, in an interview, McCoy's alleged that he was "ambushed by a group of C.I.A. mercenaries".^[1] When asked by Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now, "How did you know they were C.I.A.?", McCoy responded, "Oh, look, in the mountains of Laos, there aren’t that many white guys, okay? I mean, the mercenaries? First of all, the C.I.A. ran what was called the Army Clandestine. They had a secret army, and those soldiers that ambushed us were soldiers in the secret army. That, we knew." McCoy's ability to distinguish between the 'non-white' faces fighting is questionable since there where multiple factions fighting in the Secret War, each having constituents from different ethnic groups. McCoy's characterization of the fighters for democracy who sided with the Royal Lao Government and C.I.A. as mercenaries also underscores his lack of knowledge in Lao history, warfare, and situation during the Secret War."

Some of this material might be worth incorporating into the article, but as short as it is right now, I feel this material places undo emphasis on the debate surrounding McCoy's controversial assertions. This article should focus first and foremost on Vang. Nposs 01:49, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't think any of this needs to be in the article. It's a flat-out lie to say that McCoy is the only one making these accusations against Vang, or that they come only from people who spent little time in Laos. Gazpacho 06:23, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] removed section

I removed the "also see" section, we have a perfectly good "see also" section. It referenced a Vang Pao Incident article. There is no such article, but there is an article called, similarly, Vang Tao Incident. This one has not been edited since December 2006, but says, interestingly "There is a possibility that the military attack on the Communist government was financed by a California based group called the United Lao Nation Resistance for Democracy in Laos." Because it says that and _predates_ the news here, some cross-referencing might be warranted. Chris 07:19, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Year of birth?

What is the source for his year of birth? Most sources I've seen give his year of birth as 1927 (or thereabouts). Josh 19:31, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Drug running

I don't know why certain editors keep trying to spin and defame the allegations of drug running, but it comes down to this: Vang Pao not some perfect man who never did anything questionable in his life. He was fighting a war and he had to pay his soldiers. The drug trade was one source of money available to him. A lot of people who were in a position to know, say that he used it. Don't go rewriting history so you can set up this man as some kind of idol. WillOakland (talk) 03:10, 11 June 2008 (UTC)