Back Fire

While the Vietnam war was played out on your television screens a related war in neighboring Laos took place outside the line of vision of most Americans. It was a different kind of war. In Vietnam hundreds of thousands of American soldiers tried to hold ground and kill the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops. In Laos, a few American civilians working mostly for the CIA helped the Hmong hill people fight a guerilla war against the North Vietnamese. The ragtag forces of the Hmong kept three top-notch North Vietnamese divisions tied down in Laos for more than a decade. This unconventional war attracted unconventional people. Chief among them was Vang Pao, the charismatic Hmong general, who ranks with Massoud in Afghanistan as a genius in conducting a war on the cheap against a larger and better-armed force. The Americans helping the Hmong were a colorful lot. First and foremost was Bill Lair, the quiet, competent agent who organized the Hmong forces. Then, "Pop" Buell a middle aged Indiana farmer who came to Laos as an agricultural advisor making $75 per month and became a key figure in the war. Jerry "Hog" Daniels, a swashbucking Montana smokejumper who was Vang Pao's trusted CIA case officer, is reputedly the model for Mel Gibson's "Air America" character. Many other characters of rare quality dot the pages of this book. Laos in the 1960s and 1970s was a war that appealed to those who didn't fit into the conventional military mold. "Backfire" is the definitive account of the secret war in Laos which ended with the withdrawal of the US -- and some would say the abandonment of the Hmong --in 1975 and the flight of tens of thousands of them to Thailand, and subsequently to the United States. This is one of the essential books on the Indochinese conflict. "Backfire" has also been published under the title "Shooting at the Moon." Smallchief

It is disappointing to learn that Roger Warner's excellent work is now out of print. He and the publisher Simon & Schuster did a national service in producing "Back Fire: The CIA's Secret War in Laos and Its Link to the War in Vietnam." One can only hope that a softcover edition will be forthcoming.Good history doesn't spring readily into public consciousness, no matter how well researched or written. The Vietnam War and related events still carry too much baggage for the American public to embrace easily ... perhaps in another generation this will change.When attitudes do change (and they surely will), Warner's efforts to unravel and explain the events that transpired across Vietnam's western border in the 1960s and 1970s will provide a springboard to understanding and future research.I found that "Back Fire" answered many questions about my own involvement in the war during those troubled times. One instance in particular that Warner recounts was the secret operation of a radar facility on a mountain in northern Laos, from which fighter bombers were vectored to targets in North Vietnam. The installation was destroyed in a desperate fight after outnumbered and unsupported defenders were overwhelmed by North Vietnamese regular troops. Later, not many miles away, a similar radar system was reestablished on a peak in the northern part of South Vietnam near the A Shau Valley. It too came under attack by enemy regulars and its defenders withdrew after a 23-day siege. (See Keith Nolan's "Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970.")There are many key individuals that make up this intriguing tale. One of the most interesting is the charismatic Vang Pao, a Humong (or Meo) tribesman who rose from obscurity to lead the only effective Laotian army to fight the communists. Tragically for the Humong, when the U.S. sent combat troops to South Vietnam the CIA lost control of the air war in Laos. Subsequent mismanagement of air assets began the downward spiral of defeat for the tribesmen.In the end, "Back Fire" is about more than just secrecy. It is about the cruel side of war and about war's illusions. It chronicles the sacrifices of small countries and naive, primitive groups to the hubris of more powerful neighbors and larger countries.If you can get a copy of "Back Fire," do so. It will be an acquisition the military historian and history buff will not regret.

The author of Shooting at the Moon certainly does capture the "magical perversity" of Laos which sometimes reads as a tragedy-comedy. And he does so by detailing not merely the lives of those involved but also by showing how their backgrounds prepared them for their roles. I arrived in Thailand in 1966 but didn't make it to Laos until 1972. Mr. Warner's book has the ring of truth as to the political and cultural background as the drama unfolded, and also portrays the almost indescribable feel of Laos, its perverse magic, its beguiling lethargy. It is certainly the most innocent who suffer the most. This is a fine book well worth reading.

Shooting at the Moon is the great image Roger Warner employs to shed light on the USA strategy in Laos and perhaps for all of Southeast Asia. With literary aplomb, Warner brings to life many of the key figures in the CIA 's covert attempt to level the playing field in Laos as the overt war raged in Vietnam. The incredible shift from a small operation to a technically air dependent approach in the context of global political strategy, set up the Hmong people, our allies, for inevitable genocide. Warner succeeds in placing the reader inside Laos in its last days of glory as "The Land of a Million Elephants and a Parasol." In the end, shooting at the moon eclipses the sincere efforts of a handful of people to stave off the darks days in Laos following the communist takeover.

Buy it, read it, live it. Evenhanded for a change account of a good war -- noble cause, ably fought -- by a very fine writer