Be Ever Vigilant!
Posted on 04/08/2006 2:21:14 PM PDT by bad company
Bangkok, Thailand
In the few months since leaving the war, I’ve crisscrossed the United States several times, talking with infantrymen in their twenties and veterans in their eighties, helicopter pilots, special forces soldiers, families and friends of wounded and killed warriors, all for a book about the Deuce Four’s Battle for Mosul. But it’s time to take a break from writing to let the facts and details steep. I’ve headed back to war.
I am writing now from the Middle East, poised to reenter the war in less than 15 hours; this time without the protection of the military.
Originally I planned to fly straight to Dubai, but flights on the desired date were going for about $3,000. Having been to Asia many times, I knew there was a backdoor with a low cover, so I flew to Bangkok for less than $600. From Bangkok a flight to the United Arab Emirates runs about $400. The slight detour was worth the price in time.
Thailand was once called Siam, but whatever name is used, the Kingdom has long been a gateway to Asia. Today, flights are cheap and plentiful; the food is good and the people friendly. For all these reasons, it’s often been my entry and exit point for the Near, Far and Middle East.
Thailand is having its own Islamic insurgency in the South. This one has nothing to do with America, Israel or the Palestinians; but a philosophy that breeds flames and bleeds carnage.
Like other countries with a relatively free press, Thailand’s English language editions show their media is continuously under siege. As with our own often vilified press, sometimes they are targeted unfairly, but generally the scrutiny and skepticism is earned. For instance, Thailand is today experiencing political intrigue and light turmoil. During a snap-election a few days ago, bombs reportedly exploded at some polling sites in the South. Major western publications reflexively linked the attacks to the voting. But people who’ve paid attention to our friends in Thailand would likely be suspicious of attempts to relate the explosions to the elections, or the current Prime Minister, or the peaceful and much beloved Thai Royal Family. Bombs are exploding here with or without voting; more than a thousand people have died violently in recent times.
The gentle King of Thailand has long been known as a man of vision. He likes photography, and can be seen with his camera in untold thousands of large signs around the Kingdom I’ve never seen an image of the Thai King swinging a sword or shooting a gun over the heads of his people. This King wants his people to go to university, not war, and they dearly love him.
Although some attacks occurred at voting centers, only irresponsible journalists would join these elections like Siamese twins to those attacks. And yet they did. The same thing occurs daily in Iraq. I call it “illegal joining.” A good example is how some reporters are now joining the Iraqi civil war to the invasion. The civil war was already there, just underreported. Even CNN admits that it failed to report previous atrocities in Iraq so that it could retain access under the former dictator. Resorting to mass murder to maintain “civil order” is a hallmark of an uncivilized government. The most generous interpretation might posit that a ruler engaging in atrocities against a faction of his populace is probably facing a serious threat to his authority. But the media didn’t even resort to euphemisms when it came to reporting these atrocities, they bought access with silence, and so few outside of Iraq knew how bad things were.
But Thailand is far more civilized and advanced than Iraq. Thailand’s problems and challenges may be myriad, but the Thai people are increasingly educated, hard-working, and their society is largely open and very Buddhist. Their belief system seeks enlightenment through contemplation, and Buddhists are not compelled to commit crimes in the name of religion or tribe.
Ironically, Thailand is also, I believe, a safe-haven or sort of zona franca for terrorists. This nest is not the result of a docile or accommodating government, as was the case with the Taliban hosting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Thais fiercely oppose terrorism, actively fight it, and are close allies with the United States and other western countries, especially in the GWOT. The US and Thailand have long had close intelligence, military and law enforcement relationships. The CIA, DEA and FBI, for instance, have long-established offices in the Kingdom. It is not ideology, but rather geography and circumstance that make Thailand a waypoint for the wicked.
For many of the same reasons that I’ve decided to enter the Middle East through Thailand so, too, do the terrorists. Upon landing in Bangkok, I quickly bought a new chip for my cell phone without presenting identification Within 10 minutes of coming to the counter, I had a new and largely untraceable cell number with which I could call, or receive calls, from most places in the world. The number would have been even more untraceable had I bought a new phone with the chip. In fact, I could have bought ten chips and phones that day; or a hundred. A person could change chips and phones with every new call.
Bangkok has thousands of internet cafés Every new message could be made from a new address and computer. I’m not giving away state secrets; the terrorists know this already. Add this easy access to transportation and communications to the high-end shopping, and the millions of foreigners from around the world who visit the Kingdom each year, and we are half-way to a safe haven.
There are more land, sea and air routes into and out of the Kingdom than can be accounted for. The potpourri of foreigners makes Thailand an easy place to melt away in, or slip out of. Despite the homegrown strife in the Southern region, many knowledgeable people remain curious about how and why Thailand has escaped a more serious wave of homegrown Islamic terrorism in its heartland.
Perhaps the foreign terrorists do not want to disrupt a conduit and RR spot, a place whose airports dispatch passengers directly, and cheaply, to points the world round
I speak occasionally with friends who work in the Kingdom. Some days ago, I met a long-time friend who works there, and years ago he had a Thai girlfriend from a village. Although he lived in Bangkok, she would come to visit. He came home from work one day to find her squatting in the kitchen pounding spices with mortar and pestle, and when he said he could buy a machine for the task, she smiled and said no. Another day he came home and found the bathtub full of water, and three large fish swimming around. When he asked why there were fish in the bathtub, she answered, “It keep fish fresh.”
She was away and called his cell phone and he said he was sick. So she traveled to his door, showed up and would not sleep while he was sleeping. She sat up through the night, patting the sweat from his forehead, waking him up late at night to give him medicine. When he recovered, he was surprised and even embarrassed that she had done so much. He joked, “Next time I am sick, I will not tell you.” She went silent, thought for a long moment, and then said with apparent sincerity, “If you get sick and not tell me, I kill you.”
Some years ago, I was walking briskly in a Thai city, and when I turned a corner I ran straight into a large elephant. There we were: nose to trunk. I nearly had a heart attack. I’m not sure if the elephant was laughing, but the mahout atop him was smiling in the dim light, as man and Chang (elephant) ambled into the darkness. A small red light was tied to the Chang’s tail, and that taillight blinked on and off as they walked away
That’s the Siam I know. Mostly safe, filled with mostly good people, except now there are the terrorists, killing women and children in the name of God.
Yon bump.
It's a pleasure to see good writing.
Yon is great as always. Thanks for the post - very informative and enjoyable reading, as usual.
BTTT
Michael Yon is on the move again. He was with our Stryker companies at Mosul last year, and is returning to Iraq to write a book.
Suggest bookmarking and visiting his website occasionally as he is poised to reenter Iraq.
Still another terrorist haven.
Thailand is a wonderful country. Spent many wonderful moments there up and down the country meeting gracious, warm people. Just had a friend who I flew with in RVN go through Bangkok and said the smog was atrocious...but everything else was just like we remembered it....The words...."You are cleared to the Bangkok airport" still sounds awfully good.....
Thanks for the ping, Patty.
Wow. Thank you for the ping.
Thanks for the ping...and I took your advice and bookmarked his site.
Ping!
My feelings of Thailand as well. I really enjoyed my visits...in fact, I just love Asia.
Thanks for the PING :)
Be Ever Vigilant!
Thanks for the ping.
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