|
The 1967 Opium War took place in northwestern Laos between February and August 1967; actual fighting took place from 29 July to 1 August 1967. A Burmese mule train carrying 16 tons of opium crossed into Laos to Ban Khwan, where they were attacked by rival drug smugglers from the Chinese Nationalist's Third and Fifth Armies. The intended recipient of the shipment, Royal Lao Army General Ouane Rattikone, bombed both sides while moving in troops to sweep the battlefield. With both Burmese and Nationalist Chinese defeated and expelled from Laos, the Lao general confiscated the opium for himself. With this supply of raw opium base, plus his greater grasp on the drug trade, Ouane's refineries began to ship their heroin worldwide. He also supplied this injectable heroin to his allies—U.S. troops in the Vietnam War. == Background == As World War II ended, the French found themselves embroiled in the First Indochina War. On 23December 1950, the United States signed the Pentalateral Treaty with France, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam binding them to financially support the French effort.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/Law-War/law-06.htm )〕 From that point onwards, the U.S. would fund an ever greater proportion of the French war effort; by 1952, it was funding about a third of the French budget for the war. Beginning as early as 6May 1953, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used its proprietary airline, Civil Air Transport, for combat supply drops in support of the French Army in Laos. Following the North Vietnamese 1953 invasion of Laos and the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the independence of the Kingdom of Laos was confirmed by international treaty on 20July 1954. In December 1955, the secretive Programs Evaluation Office was established in the American embassy in Vientiane, Laos to help the Royal Lao Government battle the communist insurgency.〔Castle, pp. 7–19.〕 The CIA was the lead American agency in the American penetration of Laos that resulted in the Laotian Civil War. One of its agents, William Young, was a missionary's son recruited for his cultural understanding of hill tribes in northwestern Laos. He founded a base for a guerrilla force at Nam Yu, Laos, near the triple border junction of China, Burma, and Laos.〔Conboy and Morrison, pp. 164–166.〕〔Warner, pp. 74, 129–130.〕 Marooned in the vicinity were the remnants of the Kuomintang that had been stranded there when the Chinese Civil War ended in a communist victory. Although Young recruited some of the Nationalist Chinese into the Royal Lao Armed Forces ''Batallon Especiale 101'' (Special Battalion 101), many of the others became involved in the opium trade. Although they were funded by the Republic of China for intelligence activities and espionage, their money was cut off in 1961. When the KMT generals shifted to opium trading, they claimed it as a necessity to fund their armies. In short order, the KMT troops soon controlled 90 percent of the Burmese opium. Still maintaining their military capabilities, including a radio net for communications and weaponry that included crew-served weapons such as .50 caliber machine guns and 75mm recoilless rifles, the KMT would move caravans of 100 to 600 pack mules loaded with raw opium without interference. Their largest shipments contained nearly 20 tons of raw opium. They charged a "transit tax" on the opium they handled or protected.〔McCoy (1972), pp. 315–322.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1967 Opium War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|