A Slow Walk Through the Gardens of Hell, A CIA Man in the War in Vietnam and Laos

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781879222052
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis A Slow Walk Through the Gardens of Hell, A CIA Man in the War in Vietnam and Laos by : James Louis Gardner

Download or read book A Slow Walk Through the Gardens of Hell, A CIA Man in the War in Vietnam and Laos written by James Louis Gardner and published by . This book was released on 2006-05-09 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lt. Face advised the CIA on the Secret War in Laos, and when the program collapsed, he became a roving intelligence officer. After being wounded while assaulting a village, he was transferred stateside to a fake mental hospital where he was told he had never been to Southeast Asia, and that the government could prove it.

Back Fire

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Back Fire by : Roger Warner

Download or read book Back Fire written by Roger Warner and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1960 to 1973, the United States and the communist powers waged a hidden war in Laos, which led ultimately to the catastrophe of the Vietnam War. Warner's groundbreaking book offers the first full account of this secret war, based on his access to previously closed files and to interviews with intelligence players, military officers and government officials who have not spoken out before.

Battle for Skyline Ridge

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Publisher : Open Road Media
ISBN 13 : 1504060156
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Battle for Skyline Ridge by : James E. Parker

Download or read book Battle for Skyline Ridge written by James E. Parker and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An incredibly powerful account of a little-known chapter in the Vietnam War saga” written by a CIA veteran who fought in the Secret War (Booklist, starred review). In the 1960s and ’70s, the Laotian Civil War became a covert theater for the conflict in Vietnam, with the US paramilitary backing the Royal Lao government in what came to be known among the CIA as the Secret War. In late 1971, the North Vietnamese Army launched Campaign Z, invading northern Laos on a mission to defeat the Royal Lao Army. General Giap had specifically ordered the NVA troops to kill the CIA army and occupy its field headquarters in the Long Tieng valley. The NVA faced the small rag-tag army of Vang Pao, mostly Thai irregulars recruited to fight for the CIA. But thousands more were quickly recruited, trained, and rushed into position in Laos to defend against the impending NVA invasion. Despite overwhelming odds in the NVA’s favor, the battle raged for more than one hundred days—the longest battle in the Vietnam War. In the end, it all came down to Skyline Ridge. Whoever won Skyline, won Laos. Historian James E. Parker Jr. served as a CIA paramilitary officer in Laos. In this authoritative and personal account, Parker draws from his own firsthand experience as well as extensive research into CIA files and North Vietnamese after-action reports in order to tell the full story of the battle of Skyline Ridge.

Secret War

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Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 9781453564851
Total Pages : 473 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (648 download)

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Book Synopsis Secret War by : Billy G. Webb

Download or read book Secret War written by Billy G. Webb and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If war really is an extension of politics by other means, as Carl von Clausewitz declared back in 1827, then few wars have served as better examples than the Secret War in Laos from 1961-1975. A clandestine conflict fought in parallel with the Vietnam War, the Laotian Secret War ostensibly set the United States, Thailand, and various Laotian factions against Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnamese Army (NVA). In practice, the conflict was as much a civil war as an invasion; and ultimately, it devolved into a slow-motion act of suicide on the part of the Lao nation itself. The U.S. military and its Laotian Hmong allies, led by the resourceful General Vang Pao, made a disciplined effort to prosecute the war though from beginning to end, that effort was steeped in self-serving politics, and hamstrung by factional infighting, irrational decision-making, and self-imposed constraints that ultimately hurt more than they helped. Micromanagement by officers and clueless politicians far from the front was bad enough; far worse was the corruption of the head-butting Lao factions, who seemed unable to see beyond their own immediate needs and certainly had no vision for a strong, united Laos. The so-called Rightists, Leftists, and Neutralist factions simply could not wrap their heads around the concept that their only hope of survival lay in coming together against the relentless, well-equipped NVA. In fact, one faction, the Pathet Lao, repeatedly allied with the NVA against their own countrymen. But the Americans and Vang Pao's Hmong, those who repeatedly found themselves on the sharp end of the spear in the face of waffling, lack of discipline, and, occasionally, sheer cowardice on the part of their allies, refused to give up until, finally, their political leadership turned their backs on them. This is the story of those brave men, and the civilians who helped them fight an increasingly painful and mismanaged war. It was a war in which the political leaders involved proved conclusively that they had learned nothing from history or simply didn't care. Through ineptitude and back-room politicking, the leadership of both Laos and the United States eventually gave Laos to the Communists who proceeded to crush the Lao people into the dust, in the name of a morally bankrupt ideology that they themselves neither practiced nor truly believed in. Billy G. Webb lays out their story with both great precision and compassion in this lively, well-researched book, outlining the events that led us into the morass of the Secret War, and then detailing each bloody campaign of each bloody year. In addition to following the key characters on the U.S./Laotian side, especially the charismatic Vang Pao, he peppers the story with tales of courageous individuals who fell victim to the NVA and the Pathet Lao and, occasionally, the stupidity, incompetence, and gutlessness of people they trusted. Some survived to fight again; but many of these men, military and otherwise, paid the ultimate sacrifice in their fight to keep Laos free. Webb takes special care to showcase two organizations: the brave Forward Air Controllers who called themselves "the Ravens," and Air America, a civilian company (run by the CIA) that supported the military effort and aided the Lao populace whenever they were called upon. Few people have ever heard of the Ravens, those USAF and Army airmen who risked life and limb in tiny Cessna aircraft to locate targets for bombers and fighters to strike. Air America is more famous, due to the 1990 movie of the same name a film that unfairly maligned Air America as a parcel service for Laotian powerbrokers moving drugs and gold out of the country. Webb sets the record emphatically straight. That's not to say that such things weren't happening in Laos; they were. In hindsight, it's easy to condemn the CIA and the U.S. military leadership for allowing the corruption to spread; but as Nietzsche has pointed out, when you look long in

Covert Ops

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Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780312963408
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (634 download)

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Book Synopsis Covert Ops by : James E. Parker

Download or read book Covert Ops written by James E. Parker and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1997-11-15 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the same time the Vietnam War was being broadcast into the living rooms of Americans across the country the CIA was conducting a large-scale secret war in northeastern Laos that few heard about. Agency case officer Jim Parker's five years of combat and immersion in Southeast Asian culture had a lasting influence on him and his family. His dramatic, provocative reminiscence of those years is the first account by a participant to portray America's involvement in Laos.

Secret War in Laos

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781694374110
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (741 download)

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Book Synopsis Secret War in Laos by : Steven Schofield

Download or read book Secret War in Laos written by Steven Schofield and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tale of a young Green Beret medic, Vietnam combat veteran with the top secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG) who was recruited by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).Schofield worked 51/2 years providing medical support for the Hmong and other Hill Tribes who fought the CIA's secret war in Northern Laos, and was among the last Americans to leave SE Asia in May 1975.It was a surreal time and place that would be impossible to even imagine today."Schofiled's book reflects a genuine love for the Hmong and their culture, as well as a vast knowledge of their efforts during our 'secret war' in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. Read and learn some actual facts; not overblown rhetoric from another barstool hero." -Stephen R. Leopold is Colonel, SF, USA (Ret)"Schofield's book will be a welcome, informative addition to recent books released on the early days of Green Beret history in Southeast Asia. De Oppresso Liber." -John Stryker Meyer is author of SOG Chronicles, Across the Fence and On the Ground

A Great Place to Have a War

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451667892
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis A Great Place to Have a War by : Joshua Kurlantzick

Download or read book A Great Place to Have a War written by Joshua Kurlantzick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of how America’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy. January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever. With “revelatory reporting” and “lucid prose” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today’s war on terrorism.

Black Erawan

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Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 9781636240190
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis Black Erawan by : Ken Conboy

Download or read book Black Erawan written by Ken Conboy and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2021-07-31 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first detailed look at the CIA's clandestine operations in Laos during the Cold War.

John Willheim, War of Whispers

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9783960700654
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis John Willheim, War of Whispers by : John Willheim

Download or read book John Willheim, War of Whispers written by John Willheim and published by . This book was released on 2021-05 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Codename Mule

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Publisher : Naval Inst Press
ISBN 13 : 9781557506689
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (66 download)

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Book Synopsis Codename Mule by : James E. Parker

Download or read book Codename Mule written by James E. Parker and published by Naval Inst Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the same time the Vietnam War was being broadcast into the living rooms of Americans across the country the CIA was conducting a large-scale secret war in northeastern Laos that few heard about. Agency case officer Jim Parker's five years of combat and immersion in Southeast Asian culture had a lasting influence on him and his family. His dramatic, provocative reminiscence of those years is the first account by a participant to portray America's involvement in Laos and the people who served there.

At War in the Shadow of Vietnam

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231079778
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (797 download)

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Book Synopsis At War in the Shadow of Vietnam by : Timothy Neil Castle

Download or read book At War in the Shadow of Vietnam written by Timothy Neil Castle and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 2, 1975, the Lao monarchy was abolished and replaced by the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This marked the end of a controversial U.S. policy in which the State Department, the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the United States Agency for International Development supplied covert military aid to a nation that was technically neutral. At War in the Shadow of Vietnam is the first book to recount the full story of U.S. covert activity in Laos from 1955 to 1975. Based on newly declassifled materials as well as interviews with scores of key American and Laotian participants, it describes in detail the structure and execution of America's "secret war" and the long-term consequences. In an effort to defend the Lao kingdom - and to disrupt the flow of communist arms, material, and soldiers traversing Laos en route to South Vietnam - the U.S. created and clandestinely administered a covert military aid plan that fueled a unique and little-known conflict. Castle chronicles the close relationship between the CIA and the Lao army, the role of the CIA's proprietary airline, Air America, and the evolution of U.S.-Thailand cooperation and the impact of Thai support on the Lao military assistance program. Until now, the covert war in Laos has been documented only in fragmented and speculative fashion. By synthesizing an enormous amount of source material - much of it gathered in Laos - Castle not only deepens our understanding of American intervention in Southeast Asia but also provides a masterful reconstruction of a secretive and ultimately tragic episode in United States foreign policy.

Sky Is Falling

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Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 9780786437535
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (375 download)

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Book Synopsis Sky Is Falling by : Gayle L. Morrison

Download or read book Sky Is Falling written by Gayle L. Morrison and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2007-12-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Starting in 1960, Hmong guerrilla soldiers, under the command of General Vang Pao, functioned as the hands and feet of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's secret war against communist forces in Laos. Operating out of Long Cheng, the Hmong soldiers allowed the CIA to accomplish two objectives: to maintain the perception of United States neutrality in Laos and to tie up North Vietnamese troops in Laos who would otherwise have been sent to fight in South Vietnam. The U.S. government had quietly pledged to General Vang Pao and the Hmong that the Americans would take care of them in the event that Laos fell. In May 1975, this promise was redeemed when the CIA generated an air evacuation that moved more than 2,500 Hmong officers, soldiers and family members out of their mountain-ringed airbase. Fifty or so Hmong and Americans involved in the evacuation provide herein a firsthand account of the 14-day evacuation and the events leading up to it. Their accounts document both the political and human aspects of this unusual historical event.

Spies on the Mekong

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Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 1636240208
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (362 download)

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Book Synopsis Spies on the Mekong by : Ken Conboy

Download or read book Spies on the Mekong written by Ken Conboy and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2021-08-09 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency’s biggest and longest paramilitary operation was in the tiny kingdom of Laos. Hundreds of advisors and support personnel trained and led guerrilla formations across the mountainous Laotian countryside, as well as running smaller road-watch and agent teams that stretched from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Chinese frontier. Added to this number were hundreds of contract personnel providing covert aviation services. It was dangerous work. On the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, nine stars are dedicated to officers who perished in Laos. On top of this are more than one hundred from propriety airlines killed in aviation mishaps between 1961 and 1973. Combined, this grim casualty figure is orders of magnitude larger than any other CIA paramilitary operation. But for the Foreign Intelligence officers at Langley, Laos was more than a paramilitary battleground. Because of its geographic location as a buffer state, as well as its trifurcated political structure, Laos was a unique Cold War melting pot. All three of the Lao political factions, including the communist Pathet Lao, had representation in Vientiane. The Soviet Union had an extremely active embassy in the capital, while the People’s Republic of China—though in the throes of the Cultural Revolution—had multiple diplomatic outposts across the kingdom. So, too, did both North and South Vietnam. All of this made Laos fertile ground for clandestine operations. This book comprehensively details the cloak-and-dagger side of the war in Laos for the first time, from agent recruitments to servicing dead-drops in Vientiane.

Last Man Out

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (89 download)

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Book Synopsis Last Man Out by : James E. Parker

Download or read book Last Man Out written by James E. Parker and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Last Man Out is the remarkable story of Jim Parker, a former C.I.A. agent and the last man to leave Vietnam. The author explains how the agency worked behind the scenes to assist the military in the war. Last Man Out also explores the anti-war movement back home and its effect on how the war was conducted. Parker makes the point that the price paid in Vietnam ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, rid the country of Lyndon Johnson and enabled the U.S. to gain a foothold in China.

Cash on Delivery

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780984105922
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (59 download)

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Book Synopsis Cash on Delivery by : Thomas Leo Briggs

Download or read book Cash on Delivery written by Thomas Leo Briggs and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Briggs presents a detailed accounting of a CIA program that sent small teams of irregulars behind enemy lines in Laos to destroy North Vietnamese Army units, capture NVA soldiers or encourage them to defect, intercept NVA radio communications, and recruit NVA soldiers to spy and report on their comrades.

When Hell was in Session

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis When Hell was in Session by : Jeremiah A. Denton

Download or read book When Hell was in Session written by Jeremiah A. Denton and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A personal story of survival as a P.O.W. in North Vietnam.

Slow Burn

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780671739973
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (399 download)

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Book Synopsis Slow Burn by : Orrin DeForest

Download or read book Slow Burn written by Orrin DeForest and published by . This book was released on 1991-12 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the CIA's organization in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975.